NaNo Prepitude
By Kathleen Bolton | October 18, 2007 |
NaNoWriMo is nigh. For those (few) aspiring novelists who aren’t aware of National Novel Writing Month, NaNo is a cyber community of writers who’s goal is to write 50,000 words of their novel in the month of November. What you write will surely be dreck. But that’s the point. Get the first draft over quickly, instead of crawling through it for six painful months. Plus, it’s fun.
Therese has interviewed Chris Baty, the brain behind NaNoWriMo, and we’ll run his three-part interview starting tomorrow. All in preparation for 2007 NaNo.
Doing my bit as well, I’ve also trawled through Google to find some helpful plotting tips for those who need to do a bit of pre-prep on their novels before jumping into the fray.
Can’t decide if you’re a plotter or pantser? Martha Alderson of Plot Whisperer has devised a quiz to find out if you’re a character-driven writer or a dramatic action driven writer.
Elizabeth Sim’s insights for writers that are frequently hilarious but always useful: https://www.elizabethsims.com/writers.shtml
‘Plot-challenged’? Debbie Lee Wesselman offers her tips for creating a compelling plot.
And Holly Lisle always packs her website full of writerly goodies.
Comic courtesy of inimitable Inky Girl.
Hi Kathleen,
Thanks to Google Alerts I learned of the reference you made to my “quiz” and the link to my blog. What a thrill!! Thank you so much.
I am helping writers right now prepare for November’s NaNoWrMo and agree that pre-plotting helps support writers in making the most of their goals for the month of writing.
Also, though having no plot is no problem for the month of November, I usually get lots of calls and emails after November when writers wish to make sense of what they’ve managed to get onto the page.
Thanks again, Kathleen, and great good luck to all the writers taking part next month in NaNoWrMo.
Sincerely,
Martha Alderson