October is finally here, which means there are officially less than 31 days before the novel writing commences! Woooooo! Get hyped! Whip out some apple cider (or your preferred fall drink) and prepare to plan.
You may be thinking, what do I do now? Well, that depends on what type of planner you are. The NaNoWriMo website jokingly classifies all writers into three types of planners: planners, planters, and pantsers. Planners are people who love to plan ahead, creating detailed plot outlines, characters backstories, and setting histories. They know everything and anything about their novel heading into the writing process. Conversely, pantsers start writing with few or no ideas, literally “flying by the seat of their pants.” Those who take the middle path are planters, people who do some planning, but don’t know everything about their novel. Deciding which type of planning style you want to use will help you choose how to prepare for November.
If you’re interested in learning more about novel prep, or you’re interested in a more structured type of planning, NaNoWriMo hosts a five-week Prep 101 Workshop during September and October, which is super helpful. The general outline is below:
1. Develop a Story Idea (September 9 to 13)
2. Create Complex Characters (September 16 to 20)
3. Construct a Detailed Plot or Outline (September 23 to 27)
4. Build a Strong World (September 30 to October 4)
5. Organize Your Life for Writing! (October 7 to 11)
6. Find and Manage Your time (October 14 to 18)
You may be thinking, Wait! It is no longer September… THERE IS NO WAY I CAN PLAN NOW! Never fear! You can download the NaNo Prep 101 Handbook and complete it yourself, modifying their strategy to fit your own style (there is no right way to plan). The prep page provides additional resources each week, such videos, helpful articles, and discussion forums where you post questions to a community of writers. If you want even more advice, simply Google “NaNoWriMo Prep,” and you will find many articles.
My go-to novel planning strategy has been to have no strategy. Each year I do something drastically different, with varying degrees of success. My first year participating in NaNoWriMo, I knew the name of my novel, the setting, and the cast of characters, but I had literally zero plot. I knew I wanted my story to be a coming-of-age, coming-out, space-fight, heist novel, but I had no specifics. After I described the characters, how they met, and their initial relationships, I ran out of stuff to write. I was also deeply indecisive about creating plot; I had so many ideas that it felt like I had an infinite number of possible plot points, and I wasn’t able to pick just one. At the end of the month, I had written a great beginning of a novel, but not much else.
In 2017, I had zero ideas for NaNoWriMo. When I started writing on November 3, I was literally pulling characters, setting, and plot out of thin air. I had no real objective, and I ended up writing very little.
Last year was the most confident I have been heading into November. My novel, called The Daughter’s Dilemma, was based off a short scene I wrote in my drama class. Basing my plot of a scene allowed me to spend more time focusing on characters, plot, and conflict before I began writing. I headed into November with the one scene for inspiration and several other tangentially related moments I had dreamed up. Writing became the process of connecting the plot points, or scenes, and then deciding what to do next.
This year, I am aiming for the “planster” strategy. I don’t want an outline for a full novel, but I am aiming to have some characters fleshed out, at least one location, and a conflict. (While writing this article, I took the “What Type of Plotting Method is Best for You” quiz, and was informed that 33 percent of me should try the 9-Step Plot Dot. So, I’ll also be trying that.) Please understand that this is deeply ambitious, but I am deeply ambitious, so we’ll see how it goes.
Next time, I’ll be writing about different ways I’ve seen people participate in NaNoWriMo, some useful websites, and an update from my planning adventures. Until then, best of luck!