It’s here: the final days to finish your  NaNoWriMo novel and hit your word 50,000 word count.  Your rewards are within reach and you’re likely weary.  But you can do this. The weekend is  sprawling before you with time and space and granting permission to write.

In case your story is stalling or thin here are a few ideas for you:

Introduce a new character: every new character enters the story cloaked in mystery. Because readers know nothing  them, you’ve got a blank canvas and endless opportunites. But characters can expose parts of the protagonist the reader hasn’t seen before. Can complicate, wreck havoc. An old flame–the one who got away is especially effective– can show up just as the protagonist appears to have found a beautiful love.  Can expose secrets or unhealed wounds. So many possibilities…

Add a Plot Point: A plot point  is an event that spins the story in a new direction, often forcing the protagonist to act, decide,  or react. After it happens there is no going back to the way things were. An example of a major plot point from Mario Puzo’s The Godfather is when the son-in-law Carlos sets up Sonny, the oldest Corleone son for an assassination. Once Sonny is dead it’s clear that the Five Families must find a way to stop the war, end the bloodshed. Vito Corleone calls for a major meeting where terms are put into place.

Add a twist: This can be a complication or even a solution  readers didn’t see coming, but shifts the situation in a new direction. In The Hunger Games sponsors viewing the cruel spectacle from the Capitol can send gifts–food, medicine, tools, and supplies to the tributes while they’re fighting it out in the Arena. The gift can be life saving. This factor was foreshadowed earlier when Katniss and Peeta were training for the fray.  “Some water, a knife or even matches can mean the difference between life and death. And those things only come from sponsors. And to get sponsors, you have to make people like you.“―Haymitch Abernathy

Speaking of Foreshadowing: Can you add a payoff at this point for something you foreshadowed earlier in the story? Foreshadowing is such a delicious literary device, don’t overlook it in your repertoire.

Foreshadowing suggests, whispers, or plants information, and deepens the reader’s sense of anticipation by laying down traces about what will happen later in the story. Foreshadowing causes tension because events are hinted at, but not explained. It also lends future events authority and adds layers and depth in fiction that readers appreciate. When you insert foreshadowing, you’re telling the reader, Don’t be surprised if this happens later in the story. ~ Between the Lines, Master the Subtle Elements of Fiction Writing

“The term “Chekhov’s gun” comes from a bit of advice Chekhov shared with other writers. In an 1889 letter to playwright Aleksandr Semenovich Lazarev, Chekhov wrote:

One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it….

Chekhov is warning against extraneous detail. A gun is a looming image. It’s full of meaning; it has the potential for danger and death. To give it attention is a signal to readers that they should pay attention. If nothing comes of it, readers can feel duped. Every detail must have purpose. If you give something significance early in the story, follow through on it.” from Gotham Writers

Return to your outline: What scenes or ideas are you leaving out or can you flesh out?  Ideally your outline, no matter how sketchy,  should lay out:

1. Who the story is about. Can you add a flashback or backstory to enhance their presence in the story?
2. The central dramatic question. An example is will Katniss Everdeen survive the Hunger Games?
3. Where it takes place. Does it make sense to add a new setting to shake up things?
4. What is at stake–or why it matters–a lot.
5. The central conflict. Is the problem knotty enough? Can a subplot make things worse?
6. What obstacles–human and nonhuman–will thwart your protagonist.
7. How it will all turn out.

Aim hard for that ending. At a good clip, but maybe not a gallop. Make a  quick list of questions that need answering, problems that need to be resolved. All the consequences of what has come before are in play now. Are all the main characters going to survive? Will there be a comeuppance, a hard lesson, a battle royale?

Keep writing, keep dreaming, have heart.