NaNoWriMo or How To Plan Your Novel

Everyone that reads this blog should GET EXCITED. It's the month of October now, and you all know what that means: it's only 1 more month until NaNoWriMo!

For those of you that don't know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, a 30 day race to write 50,000 words during the month of November. It starts at 12:00 AM on November 1st and ends at 11:59 PM on November 30th. Check out the website at www.nanowrimo.org and get pumped! They have all sorts of cool forums, word counting devices, ways to procrastinate and build your world, and tons of different groups to join. During the month there are Word Wars to boost your word count, forum doctors that will help revitalize your sick and/or dying plot, adoptable characters and plots, and experts in just about any field imaginable. The forums are so much fun that they can distract you from actually getting any writing done!

Last year, I won NaNo (everyone wins as long as you complete 50,000 words in the space of 30 days) with my murder mystery: Death Wears Yellow Garters. All of you can go read it if you are so inclined. It has lesbian sex, crazy relatives, evil dogs, and, of course, a murder that has to be solved.

You can do as much planning as you want before November, but no actual writing. I am actually cheating, and I am going to finish my Senator's Daughter storyline that I started and stopped at 5,000 words (I'm still writing 50,000 words at least, so I'm not skimping on the word count, but I did start early. Shhhh, don't tell!)

Assuming you aren't like me and don't want to "bend the rules", per se, go ahead and start planning instead of beginning your actual novel. That can be a lot of work in and of itself. Write out some character names. Summarize your novel in ten words, three sentences, one paragraph, one page. Use an excel sheet to write a short summary for each chapter. Draw a fun graph with colors. Break out the crayons and put together a map if you are using a fantasy or sci-fi world. Draw your characters. Just draw rainbows if it inspires you. Write poems. Write short excerpts from the point of view of your characters. Just get planning. Hook up with other writers and discuss your ideas. Lurk on the NaNo boards. Visit the Adoptables threads to get some ideas.

Get pumped, because it's going to be a huge sprint to the finish.

What are you doing for NaNo? Tell me in comments, which I always read even if I occasionally get distracted and forget to respond.

To-Do List

Just in case you were interested, here is my writing To Do List. I'm mostly posting it here for my benefit, but perhaps some of you will find it interesting. In no fixed order (although priorities are generally near the top)...


Fanfiction:
- Last chapter of 'Magnetic Resistance' (Law and Order: SVU)
- Finish 'It Happened One Night' (Law and Order: SVU)
- Finish 'Exhibitionist' (Law and Order: SVU)
- Start sequel to 'Magnetic Resistance' (Law and Order: SVU)

///// Half-started ideas /////
- Twilight: The Descent Into Madness (Legally Blonde/L&O:SVU/Twilight crossover)
- By Courier (Devil Wears Prada/L&O: SVU crossover)
- Unnamed Devil Wears Prada fic
- Unnamed Jane Rizzoli/Maura Isles smut (Rizzoli & Isles)
- Unnamed KIGO fic (Kim Possible/Shego... yes, I am a total dork)


Original Fiction:
- The Witch's Daughter (2 more chapters to go...)
- Senator's Daughter (needs a title!)

///// Half-Started Ideas/////
- Lilith's Redemption (new supernatural-themed original fiction novel)
- Murder, Lies, Statutory Rape, and Madison Rose (drama/romance)

///// Other Plans /////
- The two other books in the Chopin universe
- The last book in the Amendyr universe


That list probably makes very little sense to you, but it's good to have goals. Lots of goals. And NaNoWriMo is coming up, so that will be a splendid time to knock out some writing and hit some big word count numbers.