Hello! Man, it’s good to be back! I haven’t blogged for quite some time now as you might have noticed. Today I’m going to take you along while I Prepare for NaNoWriMo!
NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month is a genius way to get writers to finish that book asap. If you are unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, basically it’s a challenge where you have to try to write a novel in a month. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? I have been telling myself it’s easy for the past four or five years and I still haven’t been able to do it.
If you’re interested visit https://www.nanowrimo.org/ to sign up! Or, if you’re under eighteen visit https://ywp.nanowrimo.org/
Ok, now that we got that out of the way, we can get on to the point of this post, which is… How will Sarah stay sane over the next few months? No, I’m just kidding. That is another story for another time. Today we are just going to walk through what I’m doing to prepare.
So I already know what I’m doing, I came up with an idea a few months ago that I’ve been really excited about.
My main goal for this NaNoWriMo (apart from finishing) is to keep it as simple as possible. No over-plotting, no overthinking, no over-editing. These are the things that stop me every time I try to write something. But no more.
But, I’m not going into this without a plan! I need to do some preparation, which brings me to… The Plot rollercoaster…
The plot rollercoaster is the simplest form of plotting. I grew up using this method and for pantsers who can’t go into NaNoWriMo completely blind, this is perfect!
It all starts with the exposition which is basically all the background stuff everyone hates. Next would be the inciting incident which is the event that forces your protagonist to go on the journey. This is where the tension starts. Then there’s the rising action, which is a series of events that lead up to and builds up the excitement before the climax. The climax is the big fight scene or the gasp moment. In the falling action, everything starts to calm down, this usually doesn’t last very long. And then finally there is the resolution, the conclusion of the story.
Usually, I go through about three to five different stages of the plot rollercoaster before I have something I’m happy with, but this week I’m going to focus on the characters. I have already named half of them. Everyone except for my protagonist, and a few smaller roles.
I’ve been thinking about the name Aurora for my protagonist but I feel like I have too many characters whose names start with the letter ‘A’. That’s probably really silly.
I hate and love working on characters. I like making them complex. I also like to plot their deaths…
But I hate spending the time to work on them.
I created a character design worksheet that is basic and easy to answer but still provides the same level of depth needed. I usually include a photo so I have a little more to go off of. Some characters I can picture in my mind clearly, and others need a little more help.
I’m hoping to get characters done asap. I want to do some word sprints so I can practice getting into my character’s head. I always find that almost impossible to do if I don’t work on it first.
Well, I better get back to work. Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? What do you do to prepare?
I’m hoping to post a bit as the months advance but I can’t make any promises.
The Adventures of a Nerd. 
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