While November is officially National Novel Writing Month, October is unofficially prep-your-novel-for-NaNoWriMo month.
If you’re not familiar with it, NaNoWriMo is an international event where you “win” by writing 50,000 words during the month of November. In the official rules, these are supposed to be 50,000 words of a novel that you haven’t started before November 1st. A few years ago, however, my NaNoWriMo novel was one that I had already written a couple chapters for, and nobody rapped my knuckles or anything. A lot of participants are “NaNo Rebels,” actually. They’re joining in the fun in spirit, but not to the letter of the NaNoWriMo law.
You can learn more about NaNoWriMo and register by clicking here.
It’s rare for my novel writing schedule to align with the NaNo schedule, but this year it does! I’ve been working on a synopsis for a new novel, and I haven’t written any of the book yet (unless you count the sentence I jotted down that I thought could maybe be the first line) so I might not even be a rebel this year.
The way I prepare for writing any novel is with a list of questions, mostly about my characters, but about the plot too. Questions like:
- Who is my main character?
- What’s her main goal in the story?
- What’s keeping her from achieving that goal?
- What’s the journey she’s being invited on, and why does she not want to go?
- Who opposes her?
- What’s at stake?
Jill and I put together a list of story brainstorming questions for the original Go Teen Writers book, and it’s in Go Teen Writers: Edit Your Novel too. The book is actually about editing (obviously) but we thought it would be a fun extra to include in the back.
The way I use these questions is more as a springboard than something that I literally go through and check off one by one. I like to do my brainstorming freehand on loose leaf paper with a nice pen. I’m not looking for solid answers to the questions at this point; I’m just thinking on paper. That means instead of my process looking like:
Who is my main character?: Evalina Cassano is an Italian American teenage girl living in San Francisco in the 1940s. She’s tender-hearted but with a fiery personality.
It instead looks like this:
Evalina Cassano is my main character. I see her being a a fiery person, the type who some might describe as “harsh.” But she has a soft heart, and she is really bothered by social injustice. I want to show this early on, so maybe I could have a scene where…
See the difference? This works so much better for me and gives me the freedom to think and write stuff down without freezing because I don’t know The Exact Answer.
Again, here’s the link to see the full list of questions and download it, if you’d like.
When you brainstorm, what works for you? Do you talk it out with a writer friend? Use note cards? Do you have questions you always like to answer before you start a story?
And I’d love to know who in our community is participating in NaNoWriMo this year! How many times have you done it? How are you preparing? Here’s my participant page if you want to be buddies!
Ohmygoodness!!! This could be just the thing I need! I love how you clarify that you don’t use the questions as something you list out and check off as you go–I always seem to get tied down trying to ANSWER THE QUESTIONS when really that isn’t the point.
I’ve done NaNoWriMo twice, in 2015 and 2017 (a win and an almost, respectively). The first time, it pretty much changed my life, and I’d love to do it again this year but also school is a thing. So. I guess we’ll see. Maybe these questions will be the boost I need to figure things out! (Oh, and I go by WaterElf on the NaNo site!)
Thanks for this post!
Jerah, I am SO guilty of doing the same thing with lists of questions. It was huge for me when I finally realized, “Oh. This is for me to figure out my story. It’s not for proving I know exactly what’s going to happen.”
Wow, a win and practically-a-win is amazing! NaNo doesn’t always work for my schedule either, so I get it. Maybe you can at least get a boost from all the writing energy going on in November?
What a great resource, Steph! Fantastic!
Thanks, Shan!
I love this list and I’ll definiytely be going through it this week.
I am taking part in NaNo this year. This will be the fourth year I believe.
I’m still deciding if I’m gonna start a new idea or be a rebel and finish my current WIP. I’m fairly close to the end, so I feel like I should just finish it, but I don’t think there’s 50k left in the story, and starting a new one is always so exciting.
Decisions….
I’ve had a few years like that, Maddie. I don’t envy your decision!
I’m doing NaNo! This year will be my third year, I think, and I’m really looking forward to it!
I haven’t started plotting yet, so this questions list will be a life saver. ?
Yay! I’m so glad!
Thank you so much for making this list! A few days ago, I was worried about NaNo planning then this comes across my inbox!
This will be my second year doing NaNo. Last year I won, but I’m in college now, so we will have to see (though I would say that serious NaNo is do or do not, there is no try).
Anyway, thank you for this list!
Thank you so much! I was just worrying about how I have almost none of my plot figured out and need to get a move on before November gets here. This will be really helpful to me! This will be my first year trying to do 50000 words… I’m excited, but also nervous because I’m already really busy with school and things. Looking forward to it though!
About the questions, same here. But I found a really good character questionnaire that helps me develop my characters a lot: https://thejohnfox.com/2016/06/character-questionnaire/
Hope it works, and good luck with NaNoWriMo!