Two Weeks Until NaNoWriMo
Let the brainstorming begin!
Hello, writers!
The countdown seems to be accelerating! Here comes November and the frenzy—or serenity—of NaNoWriMo—depending on your chosen path. Remember, you can define your own writing challenge to suit your life!
Personally, I’m choosing to approach November in a spirit of “nano write more,” with a goal of 300 words a day. While I have done the full novel-writing challenge several times in the past, I know what fits my life best right now, and it’s a bite-sized challenge, not the whole enchilada.
Anyway, whatever writing jumpstart you intend for this November, one thing is for sure: Some advance planning will help you succeed. Last week, I encouraged you think about the kind of book you want to write. This week, it’s time to start brainstorming in earnest.
If you’ve read anything at all about writing fiction, you already know there are two main camps: Plotters and pansters. That is, those who outline their plots in advance, and those who fly by the seat of their pants, seeing what unfolds as they go. Another way of grouping writers might be plot-driven and character-driven. If you are a writer who is most interested in characters and how they grow and change, you are likely a pantser, although plotters can certainly write character-driven novels. No matter which way you like to approach story, the fact is compelling fiction and memoir needs both. Stuff has to happen to interesting characters.
So today I am going to offer up two brainstorming activities: One to help you think about potential plot points and one to help you get a strong image of your main characters. I think these activities are well suited to both plotters and pantsers, but use whatever is useful to you! And I’d be so excited if you could chime in in the comments if you give any of these a try!
Plot Development: Burning Questions & Scene Cards
STEP 1: In order to even begin to plan a plot, the first question you must ask yourself is what question will your story answer. I call this the “Burning Question.”
I have a theory that we write fiction to work through the burning questions that obsess us, the questions that keep us up at night, the questions that keep coming back like a song that haunts us, the questions we find ourselves puzzling over with our dearest friends. Questions like:
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Is it possible to live a moral, ethical life in our modern world?
How do people move on after unspeakable tragedies?
Why is it so hard for us to learn from past mistakes?
Does anyone ever really change?
These are philosophical questions about the human condition and in-and-of-themselves, they do not suggest any particular plot or genre. But burning questions can be more action-oriented, too. For instance:
What would it take for someone to get away with murder?
How would an investigator go about solving a cold case?
How will the inexperienced sailor survive a solo journey around the world?
Whichever way you lean, your first task is to sit down and brainstorm your burning questions. Come up with three, four, five—however many questions keep you up at night. Once you have a few, think about which one or two you most want to explore in your NaNo project and then continue with step 2. If you are a character-driven writer, you might need to do the character exercise below before you can move on to step 2!
STEP 2: With your burning question in mind, brainstorm ten potential events a character might experience. Don’t worry about sequencing events. I highly recommend you write each event on a separate index card or sticky note. Just come up with events that will move the story closer to answering the question without any worry about the order in which they will occur. Later, when it’s time to write, you can grab a scene card and go! Just as you can brainstorm them without any thought to order, you can write them out of order, too, which can be very helpful when trying to meet daily word counts.
On the scene card, for now, simply write the basic plot point. Later you can go back and make notes about what characters might be present, where the event will occur, and if they event will have a positive or negative arc (more about that next week).
Here are some categories that you might want to think about:
Events that cause your character to ask the burning question
Examples: For a detective mystery, some ways the detective receives the burning question might be a stranger showing up and asking for help, evidence of a past crime surfacing during the investigation of a new crime, or someone from the detective’s past returning with information about a mystery from the past
Events where your character will doubt his/her ability to answer the burning question
Examples: The detective learns key records have been destroyed, the detective learns relevant witnesses have mysteriously disappeared, the detective doesn’t get any support with his department, someone begins threatening the detective
Events where your character will feel confident in his/her ability to answer the burning question
Examples: The detective is able to use modern technology to get new leads, the detective sees a pattern previous investigators ignored, the detective discovers falsified testimony and has a witness ready to correct the record
Events where your character will ultimately fail or succeed
Examples: The detective realizes a close personal friend is the culprit, the detective is injured in a car chase, the detective finds an ally in the FBI who is able to offer new leads
You can add more scene cards over the next couple of weeks anytime you think of an event that will help you ask and answer your burning question! You are creating your own prompt deck to get you through November.
Character Development: Profiling your main characters
It can be very helpful to explore your character’s traits before you dive into writing. Having a strong sense of their physical and personal qualities, their work life and home life, and their struggles and dreams will help you be more consistent in your portrayal and ensure a multi-dimensional character.
To start, try completing this character biography sheet for each of your main characters. Having this document handy when you are writing gives you a cheat sheet so you don’t have to go digging through your draft to remember details.
A general guideline for drafting a story is that in the first few chapters, we should get to know the protagonist’s life in three arenas: home/family, work/career, and fun/friends. So, once you have your character biography, brainstorm a list of scenes that would introduce the character in those three arenas in their ordinary existence before the burning question has upended their world.
Just as I advised in the scene cards exercise above, don’t worry about the order in which these would appear or how to make them fit together. Just focus on what self-contained moments would let you show the reader how your main character behaves in those three arenas. You are generating a pile of scene cards that you will be able to pick and choose from as self-made prompts during your Nano challenge, so try to think of several options for each arena!
That’s all for this week, friends! I’ll be back next Friday with some final preparatory ideas before our challenge gets under way. I’d love to hear from you in the comments if you give any of these exercises a try or if you have any questions.
Stay creative!
Diane