Category: NaNo Prep

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NaNo Prep

Hello NaNo Preppers!

We are in the final days before NaNoWriMo 2018! I have been diligently (ok, not always so diligently) working through my NaNo Prep materials this month. I have an idea, some characters, my characters have some issues. And … I think that’s as good as it’s going to get. Every October I set out intending to be super organized, starting NaNo with files of research, character profiles, and a detailed outline of scenes to write. And every Halloween at midnight I throw up my hands in defeat and just dive in. I am a wanna-be planner. In truth, I’m a plantser (half planner, half seat-of-my pantser). What did Elizabeth Gilbert’s mom used to say? Oh yeah, “done is better than good.” So I’m calling it. I’m done with NaNo Prep.

So what’s this year’s project, you ask? It’s called To Rebehold the Stars (thank you, Dante). And I don’t really know what genre you would fit it into (please, please, don’t say chick lit), but it’s basically a coming-of-age novel for grown ass women. In it, a handful of women approaching (or slipping quietly by) the age of 40 realize they have worked very, very hard indeed and achieved much in their lives, but always on other people’s terms. They take the chance, at life’s natural midpoint, to redefine themselves (or to define themselves for the first time) through creative pursuits, through things they’ve always wanted but denied themselves. But they must battle that most deadly of foes: the belief that what they want–purely for themselves–has no value. Oh, did I mention that these women have been through some serious shit? And life does not stop throwing fireballs at them just because they’ve decided they will reclaim their identities. Oh no, folks. These ladies are going to have to lean on each other. But first, they need to find each other. Stay tuned.

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NaNo Prep – Week 1 Recap

Hi writers! It was a busy first week of October for me. I posted my second NYC Midnight Flash Fiction entry on the contest forum and have had fun responding to feedback from other participants and reading their entries. I signed up for a noveling conference next month and have been trying to read at least one novel from each of the authors who will be presenting there. And I’m gearing up for an intense 48 hours this weekend as the NYC Midnight short screenplay contest kicks off.

And then there is NaNo prep! I’m loosely working my way through two texts this month in preparation for National Novel Writing Month in November: Lisa Cron’s Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel and the workbook Ready, Set, Novel. So far, the two dovetail nicely. Chapter 3 of Story Genius is called “The What If?” (see last month’s posts for summaries of chapters 1 and 2, which lay out Cron’s story-writing philosophy) and Chapter One of Ready, Set, Novel is called “Storming Your Brain.” Both challenge you to tease out from that nagging little kernel of a story idea  you’ve been carrying around a bunch of potential novels. This is always the nerve-wracking part for me; committing to one idea when there are so many others floating around. What if I choose the wrong one and wind up hating it in November?

But that isn’t really how it works. I’ve gone into NaNoWriMo as both a serious plotter and a pantser (NaNo speak for someone who does no planning and simply sits down on Day 1 to write by the seat of his or her pants) and I can tell you I have never regretted a moment of planning. You are not rigidly stuck with your outline, notes, doodles, random thoughts, character sketches, or other NaNo prep work. You will still be surprised by the directions your writing takes during the month. But a little planning significantly cuts down on the amount of time you will stare off into space (or at a blank notebook page or blinking cursor), wracking your brain for what to say next.

This week I’m diving into Chapters 4, 5, and 6 of Story Genius, titled “The Who?”, “The Why?”, and “The Worldview,” and Chapter 2 of Ready, Set, Novel, titled “Creating Your Characters.”

Not into these books? Here are some other NaNo Prep resources you might be interested in:

  • The folks at NaNoWriMo have a whole workbook full of exercises to get you thinking about your novel that they use with their high school student participants.
  • They are also offering a few webcasts this month, including one this Thursday, October 11, on NaNo Prep, and one on October 15, focused on how to find time to write every day.
  • And you can check out the new weekly podcast Write-Minded, by NaNoWriMo executive director Grant Thornton and   Brooke Warner of She Writes.
  • Are you a checklist person? Check out this one by Deborah O’Carroll.

Happy prepping writers!

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Raw Material – Recap

Hi writers! No, I was not abducted by aliens. Yes, I did completely flake out on last month’s challenge. And just as I was feeling really terrible about that, someone posted this on social media: “Forgive yourself every night and recommit every morning.” I guess I’d like to amend that to “Forgive yourself monthly and recommit on the first of the month.”

I will say, I didn’t flake out completely. I continued to read Lisa Cron’s Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel. I thought it would be a good idea to pair doing that with working in a prompt book to generate a lot of raw material, which I hoped would give me an idea for something to write about next week for NaNoWriMo. But I felt like I was just going through the motions. As it turns out, there was an idea for a novel, simmering in the back of my mind, and reading Story Genius made me want to just steep myself in it and try to really figure it out. So I did a lot of daydreaming and spacing out and jotting incomprehensible notes. Procrastinating, you say? Perhaps.

So what’s the plan for October? I am going to continue to post tips I picked up from Story Genius. I’m also going to go through each of the exercises in the first part of the book, which are designed to get you to work out your protagonist’s internal struggle, the live wire that drives your story. I may also use,  Ready, Set, Novel, a noveling workbook I’ve used before, which also helps you develop your backstory, characters, setting, and major plot points, all before you sit down to write that novel on November 1.

Whether you plan to work with these books or do some other kind of NaNo Prep, I hope you will stick with me and tune in for more regular posts as we gear up for my favorite writing month of the year!