Signing up for NaNoWriMo, 2018.
Fellow writer's, budding authors, lovers of words and supporters of my writing journey, I have taken the plunge and signed up for the National Novel Writing Month. But here's the thing, I have a lot going on at the moment: between uni, mum life and life in general- as well as the wins and pitfalls that come with trying to build an empire- but I'm doing it anyway. Because I decided to challenge myself...further. I have chosen to lead by example and set myself this enormous goal of getting as close as I can to writing a complete novel in a single month. And in true write-read-talk-live spirit, I have decided to share my plan, ideas, and journey with you.
First things first- I'm really late to enter and I've had very little prep time. But the true goal of NaNo is not the 50,000 words or the completion of a novel; the purpose of this momentous writing month is to put pen to paper- or fingers to keys- and just write.
I have, however, started some last minute planning which is going to kickstart my writing. If you've signed-up late to the challenge like me, and you've had little to no prep time, I've got you covered. Here's what I've come up with:
A road map of the 5-W's followed by the 'How' is the most elementary starting point for writing, so I began with filling in the details of what I do know about my story: who the characters are; where they are; what they're doing and why, and what twists, turns, conflicts and resolution are forming, etc. This is a very loose map in some ways, but really what this is doing is getting me thinking and putting my ideas in print. This also includes a more detailed understanding of my purpose, content, and audience (thank you Roslyn Petelin for teaching me How Writing Works). What this means is, I wanted to understand why I was telling THIS story, who my audience or reader is going to be and what content they are expecting. This helps to shape the genre and develops a clear vision for the story.
I've set myself a few easy-to-achieve tasks and challenges. These tasks are manageable and easy to achieve because there's simply no point setting myself an impossible task. So what tasks did I set myself? I decided to start my writing off with 500-word character portraits that can be extended on and developed further into the story. For a more detailed discussion on developing a character portrait, click here.
I've only planned one week. You'll see in the photo above that I have a paper version of my 'plans'. This is to act as a vision board and a daily visual reminder, but I do also have an electronic system set up. I use OneNote for all of my research notes and tasks, Microsoft Word as my word processing system (although I do loathe Word!) and I have an app for reminders and schedules. I am also trialing Dropbox at the moment to streamline all of this, so I'll let you know how that works out a little later.
Lastly, I have made time for reflection. This might seem strange, but for me, reflection is imperative to my writing success and progress. During this reflection time, I might focus on the characters, twists, plot, scenery, etc. I may just reflect on the process so far which will ultimately help me to set up the next week because I have spotted any holes in my approach. It is important, however, to note here that the reflection phase is absolutely NOT an opportunity to edit. Instead, I will have notes alongside my writing that may reflect on my progress and introduce more ideas, but I will not be changing, spell-checking, or doing any editing of any kind here. The reflection will be a running journal that will help during the editing phase once I have finished writing and only then.
Now all I have to do is write, and as Neil Gaiman says, writing is "put[ting] one word after another...it's that, easy and that hard."
If you would like to connect or buddy up, feel free to get in touch with me here or through my NaNo profile.
Good luck fellow NaNo writers.
If you have joined NaNo in the past, or you have signed up this year, I would love to hear from you.
What goals are you setting for yourself and how do you plan to accomplish them?
Have you got any words of wisdom for me- suggestions, tips, or otherwise?
How or what was your experience in the past?
And...
If you have considered signing up for NaNo and are yet to take the plunge, what's stopping you? Leave a comment or send me an email (write_read_talk_live@yahoo.com).
Until next time, continue to write, read, talk, and live life.
Leah x