What I’ve done to prep for NaNoWriMo 2020

November is just around the corner, and with it comes NaNoWriMo 2020! Today I share the step-by-step process I’ve gone through to prepare myself for this year’s challenge without getting burnt out. Come and join the discussion about planning new writing projects!! →

November is just around the corner, and with it comes the 2020 National Novel Writing Month—NaNoWriMo for short! If you’ve been following my monthly updates this year, you’ll know that I’ve been hard at work planning my NaNoWriMo project for quite some time. The reason for this is that 2020 is the first time I’ll be using this challenge to start a brand new manuscript. I’m so excited!

My goal for NaNoWriMo 2020 is to write the first 50,000 words of a brand new contemporary YA standalone novel.

You’ll have to wait until next week for the details about the project itself, so keep an eye out for the announcement! In the meantime, I thought I’d take you through the step-by-step process I’ve followed since February to make sure I’m ready to start drafting. It’s been a long haul, but by chipping away slowly and surely at the plan, I feel like I’ve managed to prepare myself without getting burnt out. I hope you find this interesting, and I’d love to hear about your own process for planning a new novel!!

Conceptualisation

[FEBRUARY]

The first thing I had to do was flesh out the story concept from the first spark of an idea. To to this, I used what I call the 5W1H method, which involves answering a series of questions:

• WHO are the key players? Identifying the significant characters
• WHAT is the story about? Understanding the story’s plot
• WHEN is the story set? Determining the timeline and time period
• WHERE is the story set? Figuring out the key setting(s)
• WHY are you writing the story? Ruminating on themes and issues
• HOW will the story be written? Deciding on the writing style

Character development

[MARCH]

Once I’d explored the story concept, I moved on to developing the characters. I jotted down a few lines for the secondaries, but spent most of this phase constructing profiles for my MCs:

• Basics: Name, birthday, appearance and any defining characteristics
• Relationships: Parents, siblings, friends and romantic interest (if applicable)
• Key traits: Personality, likes, dislikes, strength and weaknesses
• Motivation: Goals, fears and underlying “story problem”

World-building

[APRIL]

Given this project is a contemporary novel, there was not a significant amount of world-building that needed to be done. I still spent some time considering and making decisions on the following:

• Main setting: Details of the geographical area in which most of the story takes place
• Minor setting: Other places the characters are likely to visit
• Context: I decided not to reference a particular year
• Images: Finally, I collected images of the key setting for inspiration!

Plotting

[MAY – JUNE]

Having conceptualised the story, developed the characters and explored the setting, it was time to start plotting! I spent two full months going through the plotting process, which involved these steps:

• Plot board: I set up a virtual plot board in a program called Scapple
• Key events: After writing down the key events and scenes, I arranged these on the plot board
• Brainstorming: Then I brainstormed a range of other things that might occur throughout the course of the story!

Structuring

[JULY – AUGUST]

With the story roughly plotted out, the next thing I needed to do was give it some structure. Over the course of another two months, I pulled the plot into place by performing the following tasks:

• Organise scenes: I decided on which brainstormed scenes I would include and put them into order
• Move to Scrivener: The plot board, finished, I transferred it into the program Scrivener
• Fill in gaps: I went through scene-by-scene and filled in any gaps
• Notes & ideas: Then I jotted down a few summary notes for each scene

Outlining

[SEPTEMBER]

The penultimate step in my preparation process was to write a detailed outline of the story. Over the course of four weeks, I went through each scene and wrote down these important details:

• Scene details: Chapter & scene number, date of occurrence, POV
• Setting description: Where the scene takes place, with a detailed description if necessary
• Full outline: Start-to-finish outline of what happens in the scene, including key dialogue

Final preparations

[OCTOBER]

And now we come to the last few steps! This month I will be making my final preparations for NaNoWriMo 2020 and intend to take a break so I’m fresh when it starts. These final steps will involve:

• Mock cover: I am finishing up the design of the project’s mock cover!
• Blurb: I will be writing a proper blurb
• Posts & pages: Posting on my website and social media to introduce the project
• Resting up: Taking a break before the challenge starts!

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? Have you done anything to prepare? What is your normal process for planning a new writing project?