In the NaNoWriMo world, you have pantster and preppers, and those of us in between.
You planner planny plan-type methodical folks have plenty of guides out there to the Perfect (TM) way to prep, so I'm not going to help y'all. You've probably already spent September reading blogs, watching youtube videos, or IDK snapchats? about it. You've got this under control.
This is a blog the messy rest of us.
Hello pantsters and plansters, thanks for reading. This won't be a prescriptive guide because if you're here, we both know that doesn't work for you already. If you're like me, I could create a million outlines and storyboards and still veer off course in a matter of 20 words, because for a lot of us, it's not just about the story, it's about how we engage with the story. When I started NaNo over a decade ago, I tried everything I could think of. My first novel was 100000% by the seat of my pants (and awful and hopefully lost forever). After that, I tried all the different ways. If we're being honest with ourselves, this is an incredibly difficult task and if we get bogged down in the how, we forget the do. So October is crucial, this prep is crucial, but ultimately keeping your ass in seat and writing is the only thing that matters.
Thing 1: Identify what interests you and how you stay interested
Your first step to figuring out how to be effective here is to figure out what gets your juices going (and what keeps them going). This is the most important step. If you're like me, you'll spend October meticulously planning your novel (gets me going), and then as you jump into November, you'll get bored and start changing it right and left (brings me joy). Add a dragon here, an immaculate conception there, maybe some torture? Really bored? Kill somebody. So planning helps me get excited, but being flexible and adaptable while I'm writing keeps me going. Maybe for you, it's the world building? Or the character creation? Do you like to doodle your characters to get ideas? Do it.
Ultimately, no two writers are the same. What works for me may not work for you, but I hope this guide can help you start brainstorming ideas and thinking about what works for you.
Thing 2: Get to know your characters
Do outlines kill you, deep inside? Does knowing where your story will take you bore you down to your bones? Then don't fucking do it. Take this prep time to figure out your characters and the world they'll be in. That way, when you sit down on Nov 1st, you already have a relationship with them and you know how they'll behave and what you'd like them to do.
I do this in a lot of ways:
- Create character sheets (like in D&D)
- Create Pinterest boards of celebrities that look like my characters, of places that remind me of where I'd like them to live or for some of the plot to happen
- Create a playlist that makes you think of the characters or gets you in the mood
- Write a few short stories that are centered on your characters (or in the world) to get a feel for it all and really shift gears into this new and wonderful place.
- Talk it out with your writerly friends. Sometimes you just need to ramble about your ideas (it's called rubber ducking) and be sure to let your friend ramble their ideas too!
- Something I haven't listed- get creative! This is about finding out who you're writing about! This list isn't exhaustive.
- Don't forget your villains. Villains are fun and deserve to be fleshed out, as it were.
Thing 3: Get to know your world
You don't have to know exactly what it looks like but it helps to have an idea before you jump into this. Here's a list of ways I've done it or plan to try it:
- Pinterest that shit, look up pictures of places all around the world and save it to your pinterest vision board
- Create a visitor's guide and include the info you think it's important for folks to know.
- Draw a crude map. My first world map was on a napkin. This does not need to be elaborate.
- Sometimes I like to doodle unusual flora and fauna that might be in my worlds.
Ultimately, you'll probably want to think of the core nugget of the plot.
Thing 4: CONFLICT
You don't have to outline the main story, but you should have some idea as to what your main conflict looks like. Write it out, draw it out, sing it out. Just work through it and keep a note of it somewhere to glance at- it can be one sentence, "Jameela's mother died under mysterious circumstances and she wants to find out what really happened" or perhaps "Randal needs to visit his ailing cousin but there is a Giant Fucking Serpant in the way" are examples that are perfectly suitable.
"Jane doesn't like ham" might even work, IDK your life. Write what makes you happy.
Just figure out what the central conflict is and keep track of it.
Thing 5: Keep track of your shit
This is a two parter-
- Store all of your files together. I use google drive, but you do what you want. You will probably have to access some of your character or world work as you go, so it's good to have it somewhere you can pull up quickly.
- Start & keep an ongoing file of character names, appearance, and relationships. For example:
Durga, sister, tall brown hair blue eyes thick likes apples
Shiela, lover, short, thin, green eyes red hair, slight
I also include like quick world notes here too, and slang I make up along the way. Anything you might forget and need a quick ref for.
This way allows you a quick reference while you're writing, so if you create a totally random character out of the blue, one you hadn't planned, you can pull them up 50 pages later and have the details correct. This is really important time saver for pantsters and plansters, because when we deviate, we can record it and refer back to it without needing to retcon anything or spend precious writing time tracking it down in the rough draft.
Good luck, writers! Have fun and curse the gods!
