Preparation for NaNo

This is my first year doing Nano. I've been planning since March. My outlines are very detailed.

dealing with the "wall": have an outline before you start

If you outline, are they very detailed or do you sketch a character, scene? Do you prepare your outline all the way to the conclusion?
My outlines are normally chapter by chapter things that briefly describe each scene within the chapter. At least that's why they've been thus far. Usually I have a fairly detailed beginning, some notes in the middle, and a vague end... then keep fleshing it out. The more I have the more I've probably developed subplots and the less likely I feel ready to hit writer's block

Do you prepare at all for the write-ins? Never done one before.

Any tips for how you deal with the "wall" -- that space where you are unsure of how to go on? Plotting. See the first question. Also, taking a break sometimes helps as does sitting away from the computer and fleshing out what should be happening... (Depending a lot on God's grace doesn't hurt either!)

Do you freewrite? Freewrite? I guess given all I've just said about plotting, no...?

Personal Nano Goals 2009: Wordcount - 13,571/162,191
Books:
Breaking Lily: 10,498/100,000 (Mainstream Fiction)
Hiding Places: 3,074/60,000 (Young Adult)

(Extra can fall where it may.)

I try to have a relatively detailed outline ready to go, or at least mostly ready, before November. If I don't, I tend to start flailing aimlessly when I hit the middle of the story. In terms of characters, I try to have a good idea of who they are and where they come from, but little quirks and habits I usually develop as I am writing. Every one in a while I'll pick something in advance because I saw it in a movie or in a book or out in the real world, but that's about it.

I wrote a prep guide myself, but I've seen a lot of good ones around. A couple of my favorites are the Snowflake Method, Jim Butcher's blog (read from the bottom up, it's reverse chronological order), and Holly Lisle's writing workshops.

For the write-ins, the only prep I really do is to have my outline ready and maybe give myself a goal of what I want to get finished that day. Some people like to have their chapters all divvied up with assigned word count goals, and that's cool too.

Ah, the wall. It's easier to get through if you have an outline. I think of plot as the route you take to get you from point A (the beginning) to point B (the end). Along the way, you want to visit major landmarks because it's a long trip and you don't want to get bored. However, which landmarks you visit are your choice, and the route that you take can change.

Writing yourself into a corner is the same as hitting a roadblock on that long trip. Ideally, you want to figure out that the block is there before you even start moving by having a detailed outline and character descriptions, but sometimes it's unavoidable. When that happens, the options are to back up to the last major point and pick a whole new landmark to visit, or detour around the block, or plow right on through and keep going.

Backing up entirely can be the most frustrating option, but often the best in terms of the cohesiveness of the plot and characters. You go back to the decision that led you on the dead-end path and change it. Have the character do something else instead, something that is equally appropriate but won't lead to an unresolvable problem. Maybe this takes the character to a different landmark than the one you had planned, but in the end it probably works out better.

Detouring around the block is essentially keeping the same landmark in mind but approaching it by a different route. Instead of doing one thing, the character does another that, while having the same result, makes more sense in the context of the story.

Plowing through the roadblock can be the hardest option because it requires a whole lot of brainstorming to figure out just how you can logically get your characters out of the corner you've painted them into. This one is a matter of time and lots of thinking. No tricks, no shortcuts, just brain power.

Remember that, for all the cute allegories and metaphors, the story and the characters are your creations and you can make them do what you want. If you suddenly realize that your character would never do this or that thing because of how you wrote him, you can always go back and change the character so that he would. And in real life, perfectly normal people sometimes do things that are out of character--why would your character be any different?

For the purposes of NaNo, no matter how you try to get through the wall, DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING. You wrote it, so count it towards your word count. Put it somewhere off to the side if you must but don't delete it. Just pretend it isn't there and write whatever else you want to write instead, or highlight it and start writing something else after it and make a note to go back later and change that portion. Again, I repeat, DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING.

"The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness." --Joseph Conrad

Cafe Con Letras: a Miami fundraising phenomenon

I'm using fanfiction characters as I write and I already know them like I know my own family so there isn't a whole lot that needs to be done with them. However, I'm writing a prequel to a fanfic AU that I posted recently so I do have some notes about things I need to remember about the AU version of my characters.

I've never been especially good at outlining other than making lists of things I need to include and ideas for scenes, but this year I'm doing something new (to me). You can find the info and a link to the full article here:
http://beckyo-nano.livejournal.com/16511.html

I'm planning to have the 93-item list ready for next week.

I'm excited about finally being able to attend write-ins, so I don''t know what to prepare. The biggest thing is making sure I have all the files I need on my laptop so I don't get there and need something I left at home. To that end, I'm also using this:
http://www.mywritingnook.com/

Someone asked me "why not just use Google Docs?" And I really didn't have an answer. But I've never used Google Docs before, and this is tailored specifically for NaNo, so I suppose that's my answer. :)

Becky

2006 The Road Back Home (50,224)
2007 untitled (50,262)
2008 untitled (12,788)

Wow, those are some pretty long answers! What I do is start outlining the story waaaaayyyyy ahead. I've been planning my story in my head since last school year and today I finally worked out some of the most important "landmarks" as lastsyllabe calls them. I only have a bit left to plan out. I usually use steps like this: sketch characters, create setting, plan theme of story, work out landmarks, invent interesting scenes in between landmarks, and choose what person you'll be writing in. After all that just start writing!

As you probably know already, this is my first NaNo too so I'm not entirely sure about write-ins. I'm just planning to take a notepad, my laptop, and my thoughts. (That is if I can attend a write-in.) I'm not sure what a "wall" is. Do you mean writer's block? Please clear that concept up for me. And finally, of course I free-write! Whenever I get a good idea that I just have to write down it's impossible to stop me. I also like to write poetry a lot of the time.

Persistence and consistency are qualities you'll find in every good writer. -My literature teacher

Thanks to all of you.

It's nice to know I'm not the only newbie.

lastsyallable, your prep guide was very helpful. While I had much of it in my outline, you did pose some additional questions for me that may be just what I need to get past that wall.

Now, I need to figure out how to run my day (can you tell I'm a listmaker?). Things like, how to make sure I take care of those daily necessities of life while trying to make sure I make time to write. I truly believe everyone needs a "wife" in that horrible stereotypical sense -- someone to do laundry, cook, do errands, make the money, etc. If I had had one in grad school, I'd be in a much better space today! LOL

Looking forward to meeting all of you.

Lydia Evelyn Eato
lydiae.harris@gmail.com
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"Keep swimming!" Courtesy of Dora (Ellen DeGeneris) in "Nemo"

Hi Lydia!

I'm trying to 'schedule' myself this year. What I'm planning to do is set a minimum goal of 600 words, three times per day. (Morning, afternoon, evening) If I go over, great! But it's not going to allow me to slack the next day or the next 'time period'. I see this as easily do-able chunks. I'll let you know how it works. *g*

Becky

2006 The Road Back Home (50,224)
2007 untitled (50,262)
2008 untitled (12,788)

So I'm working on my outline for act 2 now and doing a pretty terrible job of it. I've basically got a bunch of bullet points of stuff that I want to happen, but I need to figure out an order that makes sense. Also, whether to have one big sea monster or lots of little ones. Or both!

"The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness." --Joseph Conrad

Cafe Con Letras: a Miami fundraising phenomenon

I do this thing now where if I manage to do everything on my daily list I give myslf a gold star on the day in my planner. It's psychological, but it's been working for me. 3 weeks ago I started doing laundry at 8pm because I didn't want to go three days in a row without a gold star.

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"If a lover in a story wins his true love, that's the end of the tale, even if World War III is about to begin, and the sky is black with flying saucers." - Kurt Vonnegut

I'm so sorry I could not make the kickoff party. My partner got sick and we opted to not possibly spread anything.

Between lastsyllable's prep guide and a couple of books I bought, my outline is taking full form. I feel better and better each day about the possibility of making the finish. It is important to me that the finish be a workable novel, ready for revision -- ah, maybe that is the perfectionist in me. But the closer we get, the more ready I am.

Lydia Evelyn Eato
lydiae.harris@gmail.com
*************************************************************************************
"Keep swimming!" Courtesy of Dora (Ellen DeGeneris) in "Nemo"

I'm so sorry I could not make the kickoff party. My partner got sick and we opted to not possibly spread anything.

Between lastsyllable's prep guide and a couple of books I bought, my outline is taking full form. I feel better and better each day about the possibility of making the finish. It is important to me that the finish be a workable novel, ready for revision -- ah, maybe that is the perfectionist in me. But the closer we get, the more ready I am.

Lydia Evelyn Eato
lydiae.harris@gmail.com
*************************************************************************************
"Keep swimming!" Courtesy of Dora (Ellen DeGeneris) in "Nemo"