How I Prepare for NaNoWriMo…

For many in the book blogosphere, the idea of NaNoWriMo isn’t a new one.  For the second year in a row, Jesse is planning on participating and he’s here today to share with us how he prepares for this month long endeavor.

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So, NaNo.

A quick rundown is in order. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, a yearly competition to try and force yourself to write a 50,000 word novel completely within the month of November. You can have all the notes and outlines and such beforehand, but no written prose before the 1st.

50,000 words in 30 days. 12,500 words a week. 1800 words a day. That works out to about 5 pages a day. Last year I was able to get ahead and stay ahead, finishing out at 56,000 words. I mention it because I really want to impress upon you that *anyone* can do it. Even if you think you could never write a novel, you could still attempt it- it’s honestly not that bad. It more about determination than talent or ability.  However, the real work comes the month before the contest.

While you can’t start on the actual book, you can get ready for it. There are 2 real types of NaNo writers I’ve met- the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type (like my friend Pedro), and the meticulous-planner type. I fall into the second group. With 2.5 weeks left to go, I’ve already written a 3k word outline, and I’m not even close to done yet.  I start off with a basic story and characters, then develop an outline, laying out 4 or 5 main plot points. Once the main plot is established, I go through and open each plot point into 5 or so events, fleshing each out as it feels right.

After I feel the juice starting to peter out, I’ll switch over to subplots and motivations- why are the characters behaving the way they are?  What motivates them? I’ll try to write a bit about each character, regardless of significance- flesh out who they are, why they do, why they’re there, and what they think of those around them. Sometimes your bit-player will grow from a 1 scene showing to a subplot and even onto a larger role in the overall plot.  Getting a feel for all of the characters involved provides a more robust storyline. This also helps shape the outline as you find better reasons for their behavior.

Once I got the basic lay of the land, I like to revisit the outline and make updates, fleshing it out further, adding scenes (usually 1 or 2 lines) or removing them as needed. Sometimes I’ll find that I’ll need another/different major plot point and restructure half of the outline. Here’s an example of one line from my outline:

“[Ziggy] got a job as a sailor, ship captured and offered a chance to be a pirate or die”

Now, that one line could entail several chapters, sub-stories, etc- it offers a beginning and an end, but leaves plenty of room for interpretation. Once I grow tired of this, I walk through the story and create a list of places and scenes, from beginning to end. As I go I create the places in my mind, trying to find what’s special about it. Smells, sights, people,landmarks- whatever comes to mind. I even take locations and distances into account, and have drawn maps to help me visualize what will happen.  Eventually a full picture of the story begins to emerge. I locate places in the outline that seem thin and try to flesh it out so it’s even with the rest of the book. Mind you, I’m not actually writing anything of substance, just ideas crammed into an outline.

Then, NaNo starts… and most of what you wrote gets thrown away. Well, not really, but the story will change so drastically over the course of the contest that you’ll look back on your notes and smile, amused at how quaint it all seems. But even if you throw most of it out, you’ll find that you’ll be more prepared for the task at hand when November 1st rolls around.