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How to Dominate NaNoWriMo

You write in your journal to createย a more fulfilling life for yourself. Now, take it to the next level and writeย a novel in November!

ย 

NaNoWriMo is upon us! Here's a peek at my process and my bullet journal word count spread.

NaNoWriMo is upon us! Here's a peek at my process and my bullet journal word count spread.

|Howย to Dominate NaNoWriMo|

That’s right, it’s NaNoWriMo time! All you writers out there are screaming, “Yeah, NaNoWriMo!Woohoo!” My other readers are like, “Gesundheit.”

Don’t worry, I’ll get you up to speed and you’ll want to jump in on the fun, too!

NaNoWriMo (also known as National Novel Writing Month) takes place each Novemberย to encourageย creative writersย (pros and amateurs alike) to crank out a book inย 30 days. Ambitious, you say? Yes, it is. That’s the fun!

A Peek at My Prep Work (Hint: I’m a Plotter)

A few weeks ago I posted my fall bucket list on Instagram, and some of you noticedย my NaNoWriMo goal right away! I was nervous about announcing my participation to the world.ย In fact, here’s something even my husband didn’t know until recently: I participated last year. And failed. Miserably.

Butย this time I’mย serious about finishing. One of my 2016 goals was to finish aย manuscript, but when life happened, I migrated the bullet. No more excuses! Many of you may not know this, butย my original motivation for starting my bullet journal wasย to improveย and organizeย my creative writing.

This year, I got an early jump on NaNoWriMo planning. Back in July, I started creating flow charts, and nowย I’m ready to show you the full plan (minus the story details).

My plan involves 3ย November essentials:

  1. My outlines
  2. Scrivener
  3. My bullet journal

NaNoWriMo is upon us! Here's a peek at my process and my bullet journal word count spread.

My Bullet Journal

First of all, I won’t get through November without my bullet journal, plain and simple. I’m using a very simple word count tracker, along with a column for story events I need to finish. I plan to fill those in as the month progresses (just in case the story changes along the way). BTW, Justin McLachlan created a freebie Excel trackerย I also keep on my desktop.

So why not organize the whole project in a bullet journal?

You certainly could!ย Kara from Boho Berry created a separateย journal for her NaNoWriMo prep. Like everything Kara does, it’s beautiful and carefully considered. ย She took the time to think about how she works and created a system that will help her through Novemeber. It works for her.

Do whatever gives youย freedom with your writing.

I opted to keep my writing notes separate from my bullet journal. A folder andย yellow legal pads work for me. I think you’ll understand why once you see my Scrivener setup. Keeping my notes loose also allows me to spread them out while I’m writing.

See more about bullet journaling>>HERE<<


My Outlines

Remember how I said this isn’t my first year to participate? The biggest problem I had last year was a lack of planningย (I also kept my participating a secretย because I was afraid to fail, but more on that later).

So, a plan! As I mentioned, Iย started developing this book in July. No, that’s not cheating.

I already had a protagonist in mind, but I needed to give his story a nudge. Iย worked on story flow charts, bounced plot ideas off other writers, and even got together for a white board session with a prolificย author in my circle. This occurred over several weeks. Iย write better when I let an idea age a bit.

NaNoWriMo is upon us! Here's a peek at my process and my bullet journal word count spread.

If you’re completely unfamiliar with story structure, I recommend James Scott Bell’s Plot & Structure. I bought it after many hours of banging my head against a wall in creative writing master’s classes with questions like, “Butย how do we plot a story? What makes a story work?” I never got a straight answer, so I found my ownย resourcesย to learnย about effective plotting. Bell isย incredibly thorough, and he takes the mystery out of story craft.

Next, I started putting together the outlines of my story. For plotters like me, an outline is essential. I can’t trust my characters to take the story where it needs to go. You have to watch those characters…They’re shifty.ย 

Before you have flashbacks to those Roman numeral skeletal outlines of 10th grade English (Why, oh why, do schools forceย such a horrible format?), let me assure you, an outline can be whatever style helps you visualize the major points of your story.

Right now, I’m using a combination of Scrivener notecards, a sketchย note flow chart, and an excel “beat” sheet. Theyย can be amended on the fly if I decide toย explore a rabbit hole. Having a plan doesn’t mean you’re handcuffed by it. The inspiration for the chart below came from the Lady Writer over atย eadeverell.com. I can’tย praise her site enough. It’s a treasure trove of writing resources.

NaNoWriMo is upon us! Here's a peek at my process and my bullet journal word count spread.

I blurred out the details of my story, but as you can tell from the photos above, I went through a couple of rough flow charts. Eventually, I put the story down on a simple three-act EKG chart.

Moving on…

Scrivener

Oh, I have the feels for Scrivener!ย I fell in love with it when I took it for a desk drive on a novelist-friend’sย computer. ย I bought the program that same day. I’ve been playing with it for about six months, and I love it more each day. This isย not your mother’s word processing program. It’s built for serious writers.

For reference, I’m a Mac user. Here’s a peek at my setup for this year’s NaNoWriMo project (yes, I masked the spoilers):

NaNoWriMo is upon us! Here's a peek at my process and my bullet journal word count spread.

This is my Scrivener cork board. Each one of those big white rectangles is a notecard. I have a chapter summary on each card (nicely hidden by my “Spoilers!” stickers).ย When November kicks off, all I have to do is review the summary on each card, click into it and start writing.

I adopted the notecard method after reading Robert Olen Butler’s book,ย From Where You Dream.ย It allows you to visualize your story and move sections around before ever writing a word of your first draft.

With Scrivener, you can click into aย notecard to access the document associated with that card (a scene, chapter, etc). Slide theย card around on the cork board to move the whole section of your manuscript associated with that cardย (no more scrolling for hoursย in Microsoft word!).

In the lower left, you can see my character list. Each character card allows you to develop a profile for each of your characters (you can even add a photo). I’ve barely begun to scrape the surface of everything Scrivener can do, and it’s already my favorite writingย toy!

Are up to the challenge?

If you’ve ever considered NaNoWriMo, I say go for it! Here’s my (very salty) adviceย for you.

NaNoWriMo is upon us! Here's a peek at my process and my bullet journal word count spread.

Plan Ahead

You’ll hear conflicting advice on planning.ย The world of writers is divided into roughly two camps:

The “Plotters” (that’s me) have a hard time executing a story if they haven’t already worked it out.

The “Pansters” (as in, “write-by-the-seat-of-your-panst-ers”) like to sit down and just write, even if they have to suffer through the occasional dead end.ย The key is to choose theย method that works for you.

Most writersย swear their method is the right one (but mine is.) Seriously, try both methods and decide what works best for you.

As part of my plan, I’ve already createdย synopses and a list of character names to pull from. I’m notoriously picky with names, so this list saves me from hours of wringing my hands in frustration. There are about 5 more pages to that list…ย Once the name is in place, the whole character can move forward according to the plan. Plan. Plan. Plan.

NaNoWriMo is upon us! Here's a peek at my process and my bullet journal word count spread.

Announce Your Intentions

Last year, I didn’t tell a soul about my participation, and it was a huge mistake.

I was afraid people I cared aboutย would see me fail. I had just finished my master’s in creative writing, was working with an amazing new writing group, and was trying to get a new blog up and running. I didn’t want to let any of them down.

This year, I told my husband, my parents, my friends, my blogging pals, and of course, YOU!

Here’s why this is so important:

  1. People won’t ask for your time; you should be writing
  2. You have a cheering section
  3. The pressureย helps your performance
  4. Making it official solidifies your commitment

That’s not to say you have to share the actual story with them. Manyย famous writers (Norman Mailer and Elizabeth Gilbert, among others) support the idea that new writing projectsย are like illicit affairs. Secret, mysterious, belonging only to you.

Don’t worry, my husband knows I’m here. ๐Ÿ˜‰

So,what do you think? Is a love affair with NaNoWriMo in your future?

Brainstorm with me!

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Megan Rutell
Megan Rutell
Writer & Creative Blogger
Megan Rutell is the blogger behind Page Flutter. She's also a writer, stationery lover, Air Force veteran, and homesick Colorado girl.

14 thoughts on “How to Dominate NaNoWriMo”

  1. Beth Genenbacher

    I’ve done NaNoWriMo for a long time, but it’s been several years since I won. I’m hoping the bullet journal and the prep I’ve done so far will help me. I’m a pantser all the way, but I feel like I’ve been able to write out a few more ideas and plan much better this year.

    1. You and me both! I keep telling myself all this intense planning will pay off. I’ll admit, I occasionally have to let the words flow away from the plan. It helps me re-connect with the story. Sometimes I think plotters and pantsers are more alike than we want to admit. ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. I’ve been in love with Scrivener forever, but since it lets me plot so deeply, sometimes I get distracted from actually writing. This year I’m writing the entire draft on my phone with their new app (to help focus).

    I wish you so much luck with this. I’ve found working as far ahead as possible in the first few days (when you have all that momentum) helps me breathe better at the end of November when it comes down to crunch time.

    I’ve also found the easiest way to win is to go at it with a buddy. When you get stuck, you can give them a four sentence blurb about the scene and ask them to throw out as many crazy plot twists as they can for you to stuff into it. Sometimes I don’t use any of their suggestions, but hearing them always helps get my own brain going again.

    Good luck!

    1. Thanks for the insight, Alice! I can definitely see how the bells and whistles of Scrivener could take the attention away from writing. Composition mode helps me power through! And I completely agree that writing with a buddy is important. I’m taking your suggestion to crank out as much as I can in the beginning. It’s too easy for life to derail big projects like this. Thanks again, I hope to see more from you in the future ๐Ÿ™‚

  3. To a fellow mom like you, I’d suggest trying Reverse NaNoWriMo. It’s a thing. ๐Ÿ˜‰
    You can google it, but I wouldn’t use the pre-made plan.
    Make up your own.
    Essentially, it uses your enthusiasm and steam at the START of a new project to make good word count.
    That gives you more breathing room for any days where you can’t write at all or where you don’t have enough time to fill 5 pages.
    I aim for around 3K per day for about a week. Then 2.5K for one more week.
    Even if you don’t make it, you’ll still be far ahead compared to a steady output of five pages a day. It worked beautifully last year when my parents were coming to visit for a week and I knew I wouldn’t get much writing done when they were here. Good luck!

  4. Oh, and I discovered “Take off your pants” ((or a similar title like this) two weeks ago for plotting. I’m a Pantser at heart, so I’m always on the look out for good plotting books.
    This one might work for you, because the author has you working with a character arc from flaw to resolution, filling in the scenes of the novel based on character. For the next step, she offers the best description of how to craft beats that I’ve found so far.

  5. Pingback: NaNoWriMo and Bullet Journals | mortem auctoris

  6. I love getting a peek into other people’s writing processes! I’m not doing NaNo this year, in part because I’m less than 2000 words into a project I’m really excited about. Ironically, it’s the story I tried to write for NaNo back in 2011 (which fizzled out within a few days); it’s been marinating in my head for five years now and I’m starting to feel like it’s finally ready to come out!

    I’m not a plotter, but I’m not really a pantser, either. I daydream a lot, I play out scenes in my head, and I roughly outline scenes before I write them, but I am forever in awe of people who actually manage to figure out where a story will go without actually writing it first XD

    Best of luck with NaNoWriMo!

    1. Thanks, Nicola! There’s a lot of daydreaming in my process, also. It really helps to let the story mature into something cohesive rather than disjointed plot pieces. Thanks again, and good luck with your new (revived) WIP!

  7. Pingback: NaNoWriMo- or How to write a book in 30 days | Miss Musings

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