NaNoWriMo Boot Camp Week 3

I had a massive panic when I thought November started next weekend and for some reason I was super behind on Boot Camp, but I'm not, thank god. Although November is only two weeks away - argh!

This week was Week 3 of NaNoWriMo Boot Camp 2014 (you can find all the exercises here). This week involved outlining your novel and planning your subplots.

I actually did the exercises in order this week (how shocking). Although, to be honest, I only did that because it's a little difficult to plan your subplots if you don't know what your main plot is.

Outlining my novel was fairly straightforward. I used the same template as I did for my antagonist's story, and it was made a lot easier by the fact that I already had a rough idea of what was going to happen in my novel (I'd roughly outlined it before and I also drew heavily on the synopsis from last week's exercises).

The most helpful thing about this exercise was that it gave me a lot more detail around my plot. I also now know a bit more about the motivations behind my characters' actions. The other thing I realised, however, is that a main plot definitely doesn't have enough going on to fill an entire novel (you'd be lucky to even make it to 50,000 words, which is technically not even a full novel).

This week also involved planning out subplots. The subplots are what makes the novel, well, actually novel-length (a short story, for example, probably won't have subplots). They also enhance the main plot, develop characters, control the pacing, and generally make your novel more interesting.

I already had a couple of vague ideas about subplots, but this exercise helped me flesh them out. I now know more about my secondary characters and about my main characters motivations, goals, and obstacles. The subplots also all tie nicely into the main plot, which made the second part of the subplots exercise really easy.

This is the point in planning that I get really conflicted. I always start thinking about other plots, or messing around with other vague ideas that just sound more interesting. Too much planning makes me get bored with my novel. But I also know that I won't finish anything without an outline and some basic content beforehand. This level of planning makes me much more likely to finish this novel, even if I feel less interested. The honeymoon period is over. I just have to remember that there are other exciting things about this novel - like exploring the characters and writing the exciting action scenes. I'll also discover other exciting things about this project as I go along.

NaNoWriMo Boot Camp Week 2

Well, I made it through Week Two of NaNoWriMo Boot Camp, and my novel is definitely getting itself into shape. The V key on my keyboard has kind of stopped working, which I feel could be an impediment to writing a novel.

Week Two of Boot Camp involved coming up with a basic plot and developing your setting. I've got to admit - I'm a bit of a Boot Camp cheater. I haven't been doing the exercises strictly in order, and I did have a basic novel plan before I started.

This week I did the setting exercise first. I also drank a lot of cider, so I wasn't sure how well that exercise was going to turn out. The goal of this exercise is to come up with 10-20 facts about your setting and then work out how those facts affect your characters.

I wrote YA fantasy last year, and it made this exercise a lot easier. This year my novel is contemporary, and it's a lot harder to come up with facts about a setting that is essentially the world we currently live in.

Nevertheless, I did the exercise, and it really did help. I have a much better sense of place for my novel now, so hopefully it won't seem like the characters are just floating in space. I also realised that my subconscious was a lot more onto it than I thought - the facts I came up with revealed a coherent setting that made complete sense for my characters.

This is another exercise that's useful about halfway through the month when you're running out of things to write and seriously considering plot ninjas. Instead, you can think about your setting - how can it help or hinder the current situation? Or, if you're really stuck, you could always spend 1667 words describing your setting in excruciating detail :P

The other exercise for this week was 'Come up with a basic plot'. It asked you to write a synopsis similar to the one you'd find on the back of a published book. This was super hard, especially after a consumed a lot of the aforementioned cider. But once I got going, this was a really fun exercise - I'm pretty sure I've convinced myself to read my book, even if I can't convince anyone else. It's not perfect - the end of the synopsis could still use some work - but I like it. I'm starting to get excited about writing my novel now.

Only 19 days until NaNoWriMo!

It's NaNoWriMo time again!

So it's October, which means it's time for NaNoWriMo planning. I'm still plodding away on my main novel project, but NaNoWriMo is a good time to take a break.

With that in mind, I'm writing something as different as possible from my novel. It's going to be light-hearted and fun, with a basic plot and lots of action. The last time I wrote something similar it was the easiest and most fun 50,000 words ever.

 I'm also ML for the New Zealand: Wellington region this year. I un-officially did a lot of the organising last year and I still made it to 50,000, so hopefully I can do it again this year. I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun.

 Last year I did Gwendoline Nelson's Pre-NaNoWriMo Boot Camp to get ready for NaNoWriMo (Gwen is my co-ML this year, yay!). It was a lot of work, and I didn't get through all of it. This year she's revamped it, so I'm giving it a go again. Week One involves planning your antagonist's story and creating your characters. The idea is that you can start with nothing, and by the end of the month you'll have a solid plan for NaNoWriMo. I may have cheated a little bit - I have a very rough outline of my novel already.

I've just finished up with Week one of Boot Camp, which means I now have an antagonist and a cast of characters. I could have done NaNoWriMo without Boot Camp - I already had a rough outline of my novel after all. But I think Boot Camp saves you a lot of work. You've got a lot more to work with when you inevitably run out of steam, for one thing - there'll be no need for plot ninjas when you know your characters well enough that you can predict what they'll do next. And if you do decide to continue with your novel after November it'll be in much better shape than if you hadn't done Boot Camp - much less editing out of paragraphs that are just the same sentence repeated in slightly different ways, or deleting unnecessary descriptions or sex scenes (yes, I am speaking from personal experience).

Boot Camp gives me a different perspective on my novel. Last year I ended up loving my antagonist so much that she became one of the protagonists in subsequent re-drafts. I don't feel the same about my antagonist this year, but planning out the story from the point of view of multiple characters gives it much more depth and makes it much easier to write. I think it will help with pacing, too - if I know what the antagonist is doing and how long that might take, I can make the main narrative flow a lot better.

Knowing my other characters (their personalities and their internal and external motivation) will also help with this. I am a planner in general, and I think knowing about your characters gives your book a lot of depth. And it's not that much work - both tasks for this week took perhaps a few hours tops.

I'll start Week Two of Boot Camp on Wednesday. For now I should use the remaining 26 days in October to do some last minute work on my main novel project before I have to give it up for a month.

WEEK SEVEN/EIGHT - ROMANCE SUBPLOTS

Week seven/eight - it's like two for the price of one or something? This week I'm talking about romance subplots in my novel.

WEEK SIX - CONCEPTS

More writing talk from yours truly. This week I talk about stopping making excuses about not writing and about story concepts.

WEEK FIVE - MULTIPLE PROJECTS

Week five of my novel vlogging. This week I'm talking about my writing process, which includes working on multiple projects at once.

WEEK FOUR - A COLLABORATIVE HEIST

Week four of saying words about my novel. This week I'm talking about collaborative novels.