Other things I have to decide on:
A title: It can be a working title, but I need something to call it. I really dislike writing a story without a title. I don't know why. Just one of my things, I guess.
A cast: I like to know who will be in the story before I write it, so I'll make up character lists. For this book Emma, Julian, Carol, Nerina, Marti, Jeff and Olivia are my main cast; I just need to figure out who else will be on the page with them.
A focal image: This is a picture relating to the story that I put in the front view panel of my notebook. It makes the notebook easy to spot (I am the Queen of Novel Notebook Planet) and it often helps me in odd ways.
An outline: I'll write a one-page synopsis first to get down the broad strokes, and then break it up into more detailed chapter summaries (I also do this when I'm pitching an idea to a client.)
A theme: All my novels have a conceptual theme of one or two words. For example, Ghost Writer's theme was survivors.
This is my process, and since it always works I stick to it; you may want to do more or less to prepare. Once I have everything put together I'll also post it online so you can see the actual prep work. Are any of you ready to commit to NaNoWriMo? Let us know in comments.
Image credit: Miiisha
Yes, I am committing to NaNoWriMo! I have my title already, Montana Memories. It won't be fiction (well, not mainly), but rather our experiences of moving from the Southeast to Montana and living here for five years before heading back to North Carolina. A way to preserve those wonderful memories. One of my prep items will be going through all the pictures I have taken and deciding what stories I am going to write about. Thinking of an "A-B-C" of Montana style of stories, that way it doesn't have to necessarily be a linear story telling.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely doing NaNoWriMo this year, but I haven't decided which novel I want to work on. I've got a jar of ideas. I might just pick on at random and see how it goes. September I'm doing 30 days of prompts. I just have to find a prompt table I like.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing NaNo, but I'm a typical pantser. I have an idea, I think I know the ending, it's just all the middle stuff. If I plot all that out, I've written it (yes, I know, not really but, you know) and I don't want to keep working it. I'm fine editing a complete story, just for some reason, I can't get past the plotted stuff.
ReplyDeleteHurray for a sequel to Ghost Writer! I loved it.
ReplyDeleteI agree
ReplyDelete