The Write Zone

Yes, I know National Novel Writing Month isn’t official anymore, but that doesn’t have to stop you from doing the challenge of writing a novel in a month. (You can see my To Write or Not to Write a Novel post for more info) When you begin, you want at least some characters and your world and probably a general idea of what you want to write about. Okay, you may not do anything and just jot down random things that might evolve into a story, but if you’re like me, you’ll want a general idea of what and who you’re writing about.

Step One: Idea Prompting. If you already have one, great, but if not, I posted a list of idea-generating exercises to get your brain moving. Once you’ve got your idea, move on to the next step, but not before.

Step Two: Characters. Okay, this is my favorite part of writing a novel! I love creating characters, both bad and good, because that’s what your story revolves around. For me, I don’t have too much problem coming up with characters, but some people struggle with making them relatable or believable. (If you need help, I wrote a full out guide to creating them. ‘Dragons, Damsels, and the Distress Your Brain is in When Creating Characters’ is out under Fiction.

Step Three: World Building. This is another task entirely, so I recommend reading ‘How to Build Worlds (And Still Have Time to Write the Actual Story)’ under Writing Advice on The Write Zone. But you do need your domain.

Step Four: Decide if you want to attempt an outline, or just go into the book with an idea and determination. Work on an outline if you wish.

Step Five… Actually, I’m going to stop there. You need to expand on those steps, and that will create a solid foundation for your novel. Once you have that, you basically just wait in anticipation for November First. Then the journey of NaNoWriMo begins!

Till my pen meets the paper again,

Tatum