Six Tips to Take You from Nada to Novel this NaNoWriMo
When I think of October, I think of the trees changing colours and writing. Autumn is the best time for drafting, in my opinion, because it’s so cozy! And there’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo or NaNo) in November. What more reason do you need to commit to your writing this autumn?
Have you decided if you’re doing NaNoWriMo this year?
If you’re considering it, you might want to make a decision soon. You make it a lot easier on yourself if you prepare in October—or Preptober as it’s known. Making decisions now will make it easier to consistently pump out the words you need to win NaNoWriMo.
Writing a book can be intimidating—and that's to say nothing of writing one in a month—so here's my breakdown to get started planning for NaNoWriMo.
Please note: These tips are based on the assumption that your NaNo goal is the classic one: to write the first draft of a 50,000-word novel. If that’s not your goal, some of these tips may not apply to you.
1. Pick your premise.
If you don't already have an idea for your book, it's time to figure it out. You need to know what you’re going to be writing about or you’re going to spend more time thinking about your book than drafting it during NaNoWriMo.
It’s important to be specific about your premise. If you’re thinking, “I’m going to write a romance novel about veterinarians,” that’s a good start, but you’ll have to flesh it out and refine it before November arrives. Being able to state the premise of your book in one sentence while giving the reader a roadmap to your book will help you, the author, stay on track as you write.
Your premise should be a statement of one to three sentences that includes the characters, plot, and theme. Let’s take the veterinarians example and build it out.
Rival veterinarians team up to uncover why sheep across the county keep dying mysteriously in this enemies-to-lovers, small-town rom-com.
This sentence describes briefly who the book is about (rival veterinarians), what problem they face or what the plot is (teaming up to discover why sheep are dying), and the theme (loosely, teamwork makes the dream work).
If you're struggling to find something to write about, try taking a writing prompt and asking yourself "What if this was a book?"⠀
2. Make preliminary writing decisions.
By this point, if you’ve picked your premise, you should have a rough idea about your characters, plot, and themes. Now, it’s time to start thinking about them in more depth. You’ll want to flesh out the themes, characters, and conflict before you start writing and outlinining to make sure you’re maximizing your writing time in November.
There are big questions to think about. For example: Are there any big ideas you want to talk about? What does the problem your characters are facing mean for society or for others who may read this? But those are difficult and tricky to answer, so it’s helpful to start with getting specific about different aspects of your story.
Here are some questions to think about:
Characters
Who are the central players in your novel?
What drives them?
What do the characters want? Is that the same as what they need? How aligned are their goals and actions?⠀
Conflict
Is the main conflict in the book a world-level problem or is it a character-level problem?
What is the protagonist's biggest problem?
Is the conflict mostly internal or external?
If we look a few layers deeper, what is the struggle really about?⠀⠀
Setting
Where is the novel set?
How does the environment influence the actions of both the people in the story and broader society? For example, if your characters live in a snowy place, how does that affect food production and what people eat?⠀⠀
Themes
What are the big ideas you're going to explore in your novel?
Are you going to explore them overtly (the characters will discuss the themes openly) or covertly (the characters will grapple with the concepts without talking about the themes directly)?⠀
3. Outline your novel.
Once you’ve got all the details figured out, it’s time to create an outline for your novel. It’s easier to stay in drafting mode when you’ve already decided what the scenes are going to be. Basically, the fewer decisions you have to make during November, the more words you’ll get on the page.
How much you need to outline will depend on you and the project. Every writer is different and every project is different, but for NaNo, I suggest erring on the side of being overprepared. You can always throw out a scene or idea if you don’t like it when you sit down to write. It’s harder to come up with new ones on the spot.
There are several ways to go about outlining a novel. You can create a spreadsheet or a bullet-pointed list. You can create a mind map. There’s really no wrong way to do this. My favourite way is the index-card method.
Basically, you write out the scenes on index cards (or post-it notes) and lay them out on a flat surface or pin them to a bulletin board. This way you can move them around to change the order as needed, and nothing is stuck in place. You can find out more about the index-card method here.
4. Set your schedule.
Setting your schedule matters because you want to make sure you’re both dedicating enough time for yourself to write and giving yourself enough rest so you don’t burn out. The most important thing to remember here is to be realistic.
I suggest you make a preliminary schedule by thinking about when you have free time now. Can that time be spent writing? If so, block it off. At this point, don’t block off time you don’t usually schedule but when you have things to do. For example, don’t block writing time during the time you normally prepare meals.
Once you can see where your free time is, decide if those times are convenient/good writing times for you and if you think you can write enough words during that time to meet your daily or weekly goals. If you think you’re going to need more time, now is when you can start to move things around in your schedule. If you think you can save time by batch meal prepping in October, now you can block writing time where you’d normally cook.
Don’t forget to build in rest days! Rest is crucial for all humans. I like to build in one rest day a week, but you know yourself best! Maybe you have one day a week that’s lighter than the rest or maybe you plan for a certain number of rest days during the month and take them when you feel like it.
5. Assemble your writing tools and keep them together.
I’m a creature of habit, so to me, getting my writing space set up and ready for me to write is key. I like having everything ready to go. For others, being able to write on the fly is important. That’s cool too. Here are two different ways to keep yourself organized.
For Your Dedicated Writing Place
Keep your notes and research in a dedicated notebook or folder near your writing space. (This could be a digital folder.)
Have snacks and drinks ready.
Save your draft to an easy-to-get-at place. (For example, on your desktop.)
Place your outline board in your line of vision.
For Your On-the-Go Writing Space
Keep all your notes and research in a digital folder you can access from any device.
Make sure your draft is accessible on whatever devices you use to write.
Keep any paper notes in a small notebook or pouch that you can place in your bag.
Prepare your bag with any devices, snacks, or notebooks before you leave for the day.
6. Build your support system.
Writing a novel in a month is a huge undertaking, especially when life continues around you as normal. (Don’t people realize this is November and there are novels to write? No? Okay.) Surrounding yourself with supportive people will help you recover after a setback, push through times when you don’t want to write, and help you stay accountable and consistent.
Some ways to build your support system are by:
Telling your friends and family what you’re up to and getting them to check in on you
Using hashtags on Instagram to find your writing community (ex: #findmywritingcommunity) and commenting on some posts to make friends who are working on similar writing projects
Asking a writing buddy to be your accountability partner and celebrating wins together
Signing up to the NaNoWriMo website to track your progress and find community events
Joining a writing group, like Manuscript Magic, that meets regularly, will support you, and keep you on track
Now, do you feel ready to go from nada to novel in November?
Getting ready for NaNo is one of those things that can make or break how successful you are (if your goal is to write 50,000 words—there are, of course, many ways to measure success!). Making sure you have all your decisions made and our story outlined will keep those fingers moving once we start the marathon that is NaNo.
Don’t forget to gather your supporters, too! They’re going to help keep you on track and cheer you on when you don’t feel like continuing. If you don’t have a support system already and want one that comes with group coaching and writing sessions, I’ve got you covered!
Check out Manuscript Magic by clicking below.