Tips for NaNoWriMo

StoryADayInMay was asking for tips for Nano. These are mine.

• Get as many ideas before you start as you can. You’re allowed to plan and plot and it’s easier if you do.
• Write every day before you surf the net or whatever you do for fun. Write 2000 words. Don’t stop even when it’s rubbish.
• Plan the next day’s writing while you’re out walking or cooking dinner.
• Use a spreadsheet to keep track of your word count. (I have one I can email you if you like.)
• Go to meetups. They’re fun!
• Have fun!

Have you got any tips? 

Change of tone

Why do writers change the tone of their books half way through?

I've just read Deaf Sentence by David Lodge and it started out wonderfully funny and ended up rather sombre and thoughtful.

A hard-of-hearing professor can't make out what a student is saying to him and as a result finds himself drawn into a compromising situation with her. 

I can relate to the hearing problems as this is something I struggle with, although not to the same extent as Lodge's main character, and it made for a lot of laughs at the start of the book. But then there was a sudden change in the story nearer the end and the focus changed to themes of human tragedy and death with some genuinely sad moments.

It must be very difficult to maintain a tone throughout a whole book but I think this novel would have been better if Lodge had decided which way he was going to go: humour or pathos. Personally, I would have preferred a funny ending.