5 Essentials to Establish Before You Start Plotting (or Writing)

Photo credit: E V Peters on Flickr

So you have an inkling of a story idea with some vague images, lines, or concepts, and the time has come to turn that into a workable plot or (if you're a pantser) a draft. But how do you turn a vague idea into a structured story? It starts with establishing some essentials before you dive into the plot.

(P.S.: As always, these are suggestions and I'm in no way suggesting it's impossible to plot or pants without them. But establishing these upfront can certainly make the process a little smoother—and easier.)

1. The basic premise. What is your book about? What elements does it involve? This is a pretty obvious starting point because it'd be difficult to start plotting or writing a book without a premise in mind. A general idea of the what is important as you get started—even if that what is still pretty vague, it helps to start here so you can flesh that out before you dive in.


2. Your characters' goals. Knowing your main characters' goals upfront is absolutely essential to making sure you don't accidentally write a passive character. This means knowing what your character wants to accomplish on page one and what they want to accomplish near the end (because those things can change!). It's okay if your characters' goals evolve throughout the course of the book—the important thing is that you make sure they always have some kind of goal they're striving for—in every single scene. Because if your characters don't have a goal, chances are likely they'll lose their agency because they won't be pushing for anything—instead, the plot will be pushing them around. 


3. The opposition to your characters' goals. Of course, there's no story if your characters can easily accomplish their goals. Knowing what the opposition is to your characters' goals and what will make it difficult for them to accomplish what they want is important to establish the foundation of the conflict—and conflict, of course, is essential to any story. 


4. What's at stake? Relatedly, knowing what's at stake is important when considering your characters' goals, because with little at stake, your character isn't risking much, and thus there isn't much making your story compelling. Consider both what's at stake in the macro sense (saving the world) and what's at stake personally for your character (saving their sister, for example). By establishing the stakes early on and making them personal, you'll make it much easier both for yourself while you're writing and your future readers to connect with the protagonist and care about the protagonist's journey. 


5. The general setting. While you don't have to have every world building element established upfront (I certainly don't), it's always a good idea to have a basic understanding of the setting. Where is your story located? What basics do you know about this setting? The setting is great to keep in mind as you plot or pants especially because it can play a role in the plot if you let it. 

Once you've established these five essential elements, you have enough to start considering the story as a whole—whether that means brainstorming and plotting in earnest or jumping into a draft is up to you. All the other details—more information about your cast of characters, narrators, tense, POV, the structure of the story itself—will fall into place as you push yourself to consider the story more deeply. But once you have these five essentials in place, you've got a pretty good foundation to build the rest of the story on.

What else do you consider before plotting (or pantsing) a WIP?

Twitter-sized bites:

Think you might be ready to start plotting but aren't sure? Author @Ava_Jae talks 5 essentials to establish first. (Click to tweet)

Think you might be ready to start pantsing your WIP but aren't sure? @Ava_Jae talks 5 essentials to establish first. (Click to tweet)

How to Think Up Book Ideas

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While for some writers book ideas pour endlessly out of the universe, for others coming up with an idea they want to write can be a little more complicated.

I fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, closer to the "complicated" end. For me, book ideas are a little harder to come by than my friends who often have more than they know what to do with, but on the other hand it's been over a year since I've really struggled to think of a book idea. Which is fine—everyone works differently and has different writerly seasons and all that.

But for those who find it a little more challenging to come up with book ideas, this is for you.

• Ask, "what do I want to write about?" I'm very much a list person, and my "what do I want to write about?" list is easily my favorite to work on. Right now my list includes lots of Latinx, chronically ill, and nonbinary characters largely because I want to read much more of those characters having adventures with leads me to...


• Consider what books aren't out there enough that you want to read. This is actually what lead me to come up with the Beyond the Red trilogy. I wanted YA on another planet that included a POV of the natives from the world, plus all the things I love reading about—monarchy, fantasy politics, sci-fi tech, etc—and from there the story grew. I also love doing this because it pretty much guarantees you're going to love whatever you end up with. :)


• Pay attention and ask questions. Sooo many stories start out of questions, and a great way to figure out which questions to ask is to pay attention to the world around you. Whether that means consuming art (movies, books, music, TV shows, games, etc.), keeping on top of current events, experiencing new things or places or something else, story ideas can come out of everyday experiences if we let them.


• Consider what you loved about your favorites. Whether it's masterful world building, a certain type of character, a feeling you had while watching/reading, or something else, a great way to learn is to take note of what makes you love your favorites. Then, when you're ready to write your own, consider how to apply those lessons into your writing and sources of inspiration.

So those are a couple tips for coming up with book ideas—what would you add to the list?

Twitter-sized bite:

Struggle to come up with book ideas? Author @Ava_Jae shares 4 tips for brainstorming ideas. (Click to tweet)

Repost: Pre-NaNoWriMo Tips

Photo credit: Moyan_Brenn on Flickr

The time has finally has finally come and the first post of October is here! Because October is also known as NaNoPrepMo, at least in my mind, I like to talk about preparing for NaNoWriMo here. But I've also written about this pretty thoroughly three years ago, so I'm going to repost what I wrote, but with some updates. Because websites and methods and manuscripts change over time, but much of NaNoWriMo preparation is still largely the same.

So here we go!

• Decide on an idea. This kind of goes without saying, but the sooner you think of your NaNo novel idea, the more time you’ll have to let it develop before the mad dash of November. And you’ll be writing so quickly come November, that you’ll be glad for every iota of pre-decided information you have. Assuming I get all my deadlines done this month, I'll be working on my #MagicMurderMayhem WIP this NaNo, which I worked out over the summer. :)


• Start plotting. If you’re a pantser, then you’re probably going to skip this step. But if you’re even slightly open to plotting (even a very flexible, loose plot), then I highly recommend that you try plotting in advance. As a regular fast-drafter, I can tell you that the best tip I’ve ever received on fast-drafting is to know what you’re writing. Just about every time I’ve ever encountered writer’s block, it was because I didn’t know what was next, or how to connect the dots between two plot points (in which case I plotted in more detail and voila! The words returned).
  
  Point is, when you’re writing like a speed demon for NaNoWriMo, it’ll be much easier to keep the pace if you actually know what happens (or at least have a vague idea). Whether it’s flashcard plotting, a brief list of events, a plotting method similar to mine, or the combination method I used (successfully!) for #MagicMurderMayhem, NaNoWriMo will be so much smoother if you get your events in order before the race begins.


• Tell family/friends about your November plans. We writers tend to withdraw in November. We sneak away to our caves and shoot daggers (with our eyes, of course) at anyone who dares interrupt our precious writing time. Letting your friends and family know in advance about why you’re going to disappear for thirty days can help save you some aggravation and disappointed people. 


• Connect with fellow NaNo writers. Do you have a Twitter? If you don’t, I recommend getting one and searching hashtags like #NaNoWriMo to find fellow NaNo writers. It’s early, but people are already thinking about it (like me), and you’ll be glad for the support of your fellow exhausted/excited/slightly crazed writers come November. 


• Familiarize yourself with the website. I’m not sure when exactly, but the website occasionally goes down before the big event to prepare the servers and give the site a fresh upgrade. That’s normal, so don’t panic when it happens. (It may have already happened this year, but I'm not sure.)
  
  But until then, it doesn’t hurt to set up your account and browse through the site, just to get to know it if you don’t already


• Investigate distraction-free writing tools. Like Write or Die,  Freedom, or my new fave, myWriteClub's word sprints, which I talk about in this post. They come in handy when you're trying to write quickly.


• Mentally prepare yourself. In order to reach the goal of 50,000 words and claim your NaNoWriMo victory, you’ll need to write 1,667 words a day, assuming you write every day of the month. 1,667 words isn’t all that bad, and some days you’ll fly through them and roll right into 2 or 3k. But there are days when you’re going to be exhausted, when time is really short, when every word is fighting you, and those are the days you need to be prepared for.
  
  It’s okay to miss a day. It’s also okay to get stuck and write terribly and cry over your keyboard. It's also okay to realize part-way through you're writing the wrong manuscript and start over.
  
  Here’s what you’re not going to end up with at the end of the month: a masterpiece. You’re writing the first portion of a book (50k isn’t usually a full-length MS, although it can be depending on the category/genre) in a month. It’s going to be messy and occasionally ugly and embarrassing. And that’s totally okay.
  
  The point isn’t to come out of NaNoWriMo with a gleaming, beautiful draft. The point is to get the first portion of a draft finished, so that you can complete your book and then revise it later.
  
  You’re writing the bare bones. They aren’t going to be pretty, but they don’t need to be. 


• Get excited. You’re going to write a book. Or a portion of one, anyway. You. A book. Yours. It’s something to be excited about, it’s something to celebrate, even if the writing is so horrendous that you cringe when you read it back. NaNoWriMo is exhausting, yes, but it’s also exciting because you’re doing something that millions of people only ever dream about—you’re writing a book, and it’s all yours.

For those who have (or are going to) participate in NaNoWriMo, what do you do to prepare?

Twitter-sized bite:

Ready to gear up for #NaNoWriMo? Author @Ava_Jae shares tips to prepare for the big event. (Click to tweet)

We Are Our Own Worst Critics

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Over the weekend I stumbled over my awesome agent sib Katie Locke's newest post, "Juggling, Attention, Ambition, and Goal-Setting." I frequently enjoy Katie's posts because like me, she works best with organization, and she has some really great methods that have helped me in the past.

So anyway, in the post she mentioned putting all her potential project ideas into a spreadsheet to help her organize and also strategize with her agent. This was the second time I'd heard her mention this spreadsheet, which reminded me of my own Evernote note I called my Project Pipeline, but it sounded more organized than the bullet list I had, so I tried it out and made my own spreadsheet.

Now, you guys might remember me mentioning I'm not the kind of writer overflowing with ideas. I often struggle to get any ideas at all, and then kill most of them off when brainstorming/plotting, and then kill about half of those survivors within the first 10,000 words of first drafting, and then often kill half of those after I draft them because...I'm just not feeling it anymore.

So the ideas that do rise to the surface and actually make it to the editing stage have gone through a lot of hurdles already. This is why I often don't feel comfortable talking much about the projects I'm working on while I'm brainstorming and drafting—I know all too well the likelihood of that project making it to the revision stage is...not the best. So telling other people about those ideas before I know for sure whether or not they'll ever get drafted makes me nervous, because once I've told them, I don't want to let them down by deciding not to pursue it.

All of this played into why when I was between projects not too long ago, I was having major self-doubt issues. I hadn't drafted something new in over a year, I was dealing with that what if I never publish anything again ever fear (not uncommon amongst published writers, regardless of how many books they've published), and I was uncertain about the few ideas I did have—they were only partially brainstormed and I felt them slipping through my fingers.

Add this to my first ever impending book release, plus college graduation looming closer and closer, and you can understand why my confidence was pretty shaky, to say the least.

So anyway, point is I had this sense that I didn't have all that many ideas. That I was running out of options and needed to come up with something new ASAP. So I first drafted a thing, and that helped, and then I stumbled over an idea I'd written and partially brainstormed during class then forgotten about, and that helped too. And then I saw Katie's post and made a spreadsheet and realized...

Well. Apparently I have nine projects to play around with. One is already written and ready to go. Some are fully plotted and need to be written. Some were written ages ago and need an overhaul. One I finished plotting over the weekend.

But as much as my brain sometimes makes me believe otherwise, looking at the spreadsheet I realized they were all viable options. Some needed more work than others, sure, and some were absolutely not viable options until I did some major revision surgery (or rewrote entirely), but they were possibilities. Real, actual possibilities.

Nine of them.

It was kind of amazing to see how different it felt to move these projects from an unnumbered list to a spreadsheet. To realize that even if I tossed a bunch of them, I still had plenty more to play around with.

It was also a really great reminder that we are our own worst critics. For so long I was so worried about not having something new to work on, but all I needed to do was sit down and refocus. All I needed to do was give myself some credit for the work I'd already done.

A little organization can go a long way in terms of both productivity and boosting your confidence. Sometimes all we need is to tell our brains to be quiet for a moment while we reflect on what we have simmering on the back burner.

How do you keep track of your ideas or potential projects? 

Twitter-sized bites:

How can spreadsheets boost your confidence? @Ava_Jae explains how @bibliogato's method helped her. (Click to tweet)

On productivity, confidence, and giving yourself credit for the work you've already done. (Click to tweet)

Discussion: Are You a Plotter, Pantser, or Hybrid?

Photo credit: Innovation Lab on Flickr

So as I have frequently mentioned here on Writability, I'm a rather devout plotter—though I didn't start that way. When I first began writing, the idea of outlining my novel ahead of time gave me hives. I told myself it'd be boring and take the fun out of drafting, and I firmly stuck to that belief until I finally gave plotting a try.

Unexpectedly, plotting turned out to be a very effective method for me. I learned plotting ahead of time allowed me to write faster and helped eliminate most of my writers block, which turned out to be actually "don't know where to go from here" block.

While I don't necessarily stick 100% to my outlines while writing (as I've said before, I use them more as guidelines than rule books), I now don't start writing until I've fully plotted out the book idea. It's been an effective method for me so far.

That said! I am more than well aware that plotting doesn't work for everyone, or sometimes only works half the time, or only works up to a point for some. And if there's anything writing with the intent to publish for a decade now has taught me, it's that everyone's process is different. And sometimes one person's process is different book to book. And that's okay.

So since I haven't talked about this recently, I'm curious, and thus am making this discussion post: How many of you are plotters? Pantsers? Somewhere-in-between-ers? What do your first drafting processes look like?

Twitter-sized bite:

What's your first drafting process like? Are you a plotter? Pantser? Both? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)

On the Creation Process (or Why I Prefer Revising)

Photo credit: Dean Hochman on Flickr

If you read my blog here with any frequency or follow me on Twitter, you probably know that I haven’t written any new projects for a while, because I’ve been heavily into revision mode. You probably also know that I did a thing last year where I wrote two new manuscripts back-to-back even though I already had another manuscript waiting to get revised, which is why for the past eight months I’ve been revising and revising and revising.

I’m not done with that, but I have started brainstorming and plotting something new. And even though I probably won’t write it for quite a while, I convinced myself that plotting it out now would be a good exercise.

I haven’t changed my mind, necessarily, but boy. I forgot how difficult it is to create something out of nothing.

Confession: sometimes I open up a Scrivener project and spin my desk chair in circles and circles and circles and call it brainstorming.

— Ava Jae (@Ava_Jae) August 19, 2015

Plotting, for me, I think is the most difficult part of the writing process, because that’s the time when I have literally nothing to go on besides a few vague ideas. That’s when I have to take a sentence and a few bullet points of fragments and blow it up into a full, plausible outline. And to be honest, it takes a lot of staring, (spinning my chair), and asking myself, “Okay…now what?”

This usually takes several days for me, at a minimum. And I have been making progress, which is great, but wow it feels like slow going. Still! Progress is progress.

The next step, of course, after finally finishing the outline is the first draft, which is probably tied for “hardest part of the writing process.” Though at least when it’s time to first draft this project, which will not be immediately, I’ll have something to go on.

But all of this has kind of been a concrete reminder of why I’ve really come to love revising so much. Because yeah, revisions are a ton of work, but taking what I already have and expanding it, and pushing it to its limits, and delving into the details and layers and nuances? It’s fascinating. And it’s so exciting because that’s the step where the distance between the cool story I imagined and the story on the page becomes smaller and smaller. That’s where I really start to see the story reach its potential—and become even more than I first thought it would.

And to me, that process never stops being totally incredible and worth the hard work.

But first I have to figure out where the story is going. And then I have to write it. And as difficult as those steps are, they all become totally worth it, too.

What’s the hardest part of the writing process to you?

Twitter-sized bites:

What's the hardest part of the writing process for you? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet) 

Writer @Ava_Jae says the hardest part of the process for her is plotting and first drafting. What do you think? (Click to tweet)

How to Turn an Idea into a Plot

Photo credit: faungg on Flickr

Note: Quick announcement! The winner of the Trish Doller prize package is Victoria Gender! Woot! Congratulations, Victoria! Now onto the post...

So it was brought to my attention that I’ve written frighteningly little on brainstorming and my brainstorming process, and I suspect that’s probably because my process is fairly nebulous and can vary depending on the book.

That said, I’m going to try to explain the best I can anyway.

So you have some kind of idea. Maybe it’s just a character, or a single scene, or a vague compilation of images. For me, it almost always starts with a character (though Beyond the Red was a notable exception), usually the protagonist. But regardless of where you idea begins, when all you have is a fragment, it can seem kind of impossible to turn it into a whole book.

The very first thing I do when I have an idea fragment I want to explore is make a bulleted list. This list will include anything and everything I think of related to the idea: What If? scenarios, other characters, potential sources of conflict, possible scene ideas, setting notes, genre/category notes, themes I’m interested in exploring, etc. In this stage, I don’t filter at all—the idea is to just get as much down as possible.

Usually, by the time I get to the bottom of the list, I’ve started to get a feel for the potential book. That’s when I go back and start to weed things out by starring bullets I really like. Once I’ve got my main bullets marked out, potential plot ideas start (slowly) forming in my mind.

The very first plot point I tend to nail down is the inciting incident. Occasionally another random plot point will surface before the inciting incident, but once I have the inciting incident down, that’s when I open up Scrivener and start a new project.

Note that at this point, starting a new Scrivener project does not guarantee the book is going to be written. Or even fully plotted for that matter. All it means is I like where this idea is going enough that I want to explore it further. There’s no pressure whatsoever in this stage—I’m just testing the fragments I have to see if I can expand and weave it together into a potential book plot.

I’ve mentioned before that I am a plotter, and this is where the plotting really begins. I go straight to Scrivener’s cork board, write down the inciting incident and any other scene ideas I already have…then stare at it and try to push it further. I like to start from the inciting incident and think, okay, what could happen next? Some questions I frequently ask myself in this stage include:

• What happens next? 
• How can I make this worse? 
• What if x happened? 

While I do this, I try to keep the main points in mind. Generally the first couple points I want down are the big plot points (Inciting Incident, Point of No Return, Rising Action, Dark Night of the Soul, Climax, Falling Action, Ending) but it doesn’t always work out that way. The ending, especially, I often don’t figure out until I’ve plotted most of the book.

From there, there’s a lot of back and forth. I jump around between flash cards and add new scene ideas wherever I can think of them, writing a sentence to a paragraph on each card to describe the scene/plot point. I delete scenes, rewrite them and move them around until the plot makes sense and fits the way I want it to. Once I’ve hit roughly somewhere between 30-50 flash cards (depending on how long I sense the book will probably be) and I can’t think of anything else to add and it all flows together in a way that makes sense, I know I’m ready to start first drafting.

And maybe when I’m first drafting I’ll fall in love with the characters and the ideas and write the whole book. Or maybe I won’t. But either way, if the idea makes it to the end of the plotting stage (not all ideas do), then I know at the very least it’s worth experimenting with with some words.

How do you turn an idea into a plot?

Twitter-sized bite:

How do you expand a book idea into a whole plot? Writer @Ava_Jae explains her process. (Click to tweet) 

On How I Plot a WIP

Photo credit: fadetowhite on Flickr

So I received a question on tumblr recently from a lovely follower, who asked what my outlining/organizing process is like. My first instinct, of course, was to run to the blog and pull up some posts, but I realized that somehow, I haven’t written about it? At least, not directly. 

That changes right now. 

Generally, when I first get a book idea I really like, I’ll let it sit in my head for a little while. Once it’s stewed for a bit, and I’ve decided I still like the idea (usually determined by how much I end up thinking about it during said stewing period), I’ll pull up an Evernote note and start jotting down ideas. How detailed or vague this is depends on the book and what’s in my brain. I don’t really censor in this stage. 

Once I have enough ideas to get a general sense of what I want the book to be about, I’ll put together a logline/one-sentence pitch or a book comp. This helps keep me focused while I’m outlining and writing the first draft, and it doesn’t usually take very long (for more info, check out my how to plot without plotting post). By the end of this process, I usually have a good idea of who the protagonist is, who the love interest is (or are), and who the antagonist is. 

Next step is actually putting together an outline.

As I’ve mentioned before, I use Scrivener to put together my outlines, using the cork board feature. Initially, my first few flashcards are usually near the beginning of the book, starting with the the inciting incident. And from there…it’s pretty scattered. I jump around from beginning to end, adding things in between, filling in whatever gaps I think of, changing plot points when I think of something better, etc. I ask myself “What if?” questions frequently, try to make the stakes as personal and big as I can, and when I think I’ve put my characters through a lot, I put them through more. I make the lows lower and the highs higher, I add conflict everywhere I can, and if I see opportunities for some twists, I take them. This process continues until I've got a fully fleshed-out plot from beginning to end.

Generally, I don’t go into huge detail with the plot points I figure out. Each flashcard usually will have somewhere between a sentence to a paragraph describing what will generally happen in the scene, and that’s it. How many flashcards I have at the end depends on the book, but I’ll usually end up somewhere between 30-50, and from there I can guesstimate how long I expect the book to be and get ready to start drafting. 

And that’s it! 

If you’re a plotter, what does your outlining process look like? 

Twitter-sized bite: 

Struggling to find a plotting process that works for you? Writer @Ava_Jae shares her method for loose outlining. (Click to tweet)  

Brainstorming, book comps & Scrivener are all a part of @Ava_Jae's plotting process. What's involved in yours? (Click to tweet)

My Favorite List: What Do You Want to Write About?

Photo credit: Chapendra on Flickr

When I’m ready to think about starting a new manuscript, the very first thing I do, before I even begin brainstorming, is revisit my favorite list of all time.

This is the list that reminds me why I love to write. It helps me to remember all of the potential for great stories out there, and most of all, it inspires me with all of the things I still want to write about. Because it forces me to ask just that:

What do I want to write about?

This is a list that I add to and rewrite and change all the time. It’s a springboard of ideas, both vague and specific.

I love working on this list, because it makes me excited, both for stories I haven’t written, and for books that I have that cross off items from the list. But most of all, it serves as guaranteed inspiration to launch me into brainstorming.

The list can include anything, from a specific manuscript idea to overcoming a struggle you have with writing. It can be an image, a character name, a trait, an idea, a world, a writing characteristic, or a goal.

I’ve rewritten my list several times (in part because I keep losing the hard copy, but never mind that). To give you an idea, here are a few items on my most recent list:

• Diverse characters
• Rich, interesting worlds
• Combining Sci-Fi & Fantasy
• Flawed characters 
• Sympathetic antagonists 
• Ninjas

I also have some characters names and more plot-specific items, but hopefully you get the idea.

This is the list I go to whenever I’m low on inspiration, or am struggling while trying to brainstorm, or even just want a refresher. It’s my favorite list, and one that I intend to continue to use over the years.

Do you have a what I want to write about list? What are some items that are (or would be) on it? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

Do you keep a list of what you want to write about? Here's why one writer swears by it. (Click to tweet)  

What do YOU want to write about? Writer @Ava_Jae shares her favorite inspiration list. (Click to tweet) 

Writing Discussion: When Do You Research Your Novel?

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I’ve been thinking about researching, specifically, researching for a WIP. 

Whether you’re writing a fantasy, sci-fi, contemporary, romance, thriller or something else entirely, some form of research usually comes into play, whether it’s looking up how long it takes a bone to heal, or what the weather is like in Arkansas. 

For me, my research tends to come in three stages:

1. Brainstorming. This is the initial research done while developing the book idea. Researching in this stage tends to be more for purposes of inspiration (Pinterest comes in handy), and the amount of research depends pretty heavily on the idea. For me, it varies anywhere from 100% inspiration fun, to more detailed what is this country/time period/culture like?


2. Quick search. This is the research I’ll do while writing the actual WIP. Usually, as the title indicates, it’s a quick Google search to answer a question or double-check a fact, and it most times it only takes a couple minutes.


3. Filling in the gaps. This is more intensive research done while revising. In this stage, I’ll really get into fact-checking and I’ll gather as many details as I can to add some verisimilitude to the writing. Whatever question marks, blanks or uncertain elements I incorporated into the first draft will be ironed out in this stage. 

With a few exceptions, I complete most of my research in the revision stages, but it varies from WIP to WIP. However, I’m curious about your process: when do you get the bulk of your novel research done? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

When do you do the bulk of your novel research? Join the discussion at @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)  

What is your novel researching process like? Share your experience at @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)

Pre-NaNoWriMo Tips

Photo credit: mpclemens on Flickr

It’s October! Or, almost anyway, as it’ll be October tomorrow. Or if you’re reading this a day beyond posting, then it is October. But I digress.

What’s so special about October, you ask? Well, of course, it’s the month before NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, A.K.A.: Lock Self Into Writing Cave And Write Like Hell Month), also known as NaNoPrepMo, at least in my head.

As most of you know, NaNoWriMo starts on the first of November and lasts until the end of the month, in which many writers (hopefully) emerge exhausted and pale with 50,000 shiny new words written (or tan and full of energy with 50,000 new words, in which case the rest of us are jealous).

I may very well write a post later about why you should consider participating, but today I want to talk about how to best prepare for the big event.

• Decide on an idea. This kind of goes without saying, but the sooner you think of your NaNo novel idea, the more time you’ll have to let it develop before the mad dash of November. And you’ll be writing so quickly come November, that you’ll be glad for every iota of pre-decided information you have. 


• Start plotting. If you’re a pantser, then you’re probably going to skip this step. But if you’re even slightly open to plotting (even a very flexible, loose plot), then I highly recommend that you try plotting in advance. As a regular fast-drafter, I can tell you that the best tip I’ve ever received on fast-drafting is to know what you’re writing. Just about every time I’ve ever encountered writer’s block, it was because I didn’t know what was next, or how to connect the dots between two plot points (in which case I plotted in more detail and voila! The words returned).
  
  Point is, when you’re writing like a speed demon for NaNoWriMo, it’ll be much easier to keep the pace if you actually know what happens (or at least have a vague idea). Whether it’s flashcard plotting, a brief list of events or a twenty-page outline, NaNoWriMo will be so much smoother if you get your events in order before the race begins. 


• Tell family/friends about your November plans. We writers tend to withdraw in November. We sneak away to our caves and shoot daggers (with our eyes, of course) at anyone who dares interrupt our precious writing time. Letting your friends and family know in advance about why you’re going to disappear for thirty days can help save you some aggravation and disappointed people. 


• Connect with fellow NaNo writers. Do you have a Twitter? If you don’t, I recommend getting one and searching hashtags like #NaNoWriMo to find fellow NaNo writers. It’s early, but people are already thinking about it (like me), and you’ll be glad for the support of your fellow exhausted/excited/slightly crazed writers come November. 


• Familiarize yourself with the website.  I’m not sure when exactly, but the website occasionally goes down before the big event to prepare the servers and give the site a fresh upgrade. That’s normal, so don’t panic when it happens.
  
  But until then, it doesn’t hurt to set up your account and browse through the site, just to get to know it if you don’t already.
  
  UPDATE: The blackout has happened and the shiny new website is up! Have fun exploring. :) 


• Investigate distraction-free writing tools. Like Write or Die. Or Freedom. Or Write or Die. (Have I mentioned how much I love Write or Die?) They come in handy when you're trying to write quickly.


• Mentally prepare yourself. In order to reach the goal of 50,000 words and claim your NaNoWriMo victory, you’ll need to write 1,667 words a day, assuming you write every day of the month. 1,667 words isn’t all that bad, and some days you’ll fly through them and roll right into 2 or 3k. But there are days when you’re going to be exhausted, when time is really short, when every word is fighting you, and those are the days you need to be prepared for.
  
  It’s ok to miss a day. It’s also ok to get stuck and write terribly and cry over your keyboard.
  
  Here’s what you’re not going to end up with at the end of the month: a masterpiece. You’re writing the first portion of a book (50k isn’t usually a full-length MS, although it can be depending on the category/genre) in a month. It’s going to be messy and occasionally ugly and embarrassing. And that’s totally ok.
  
  The point isn’t to come out of NaNoWriMo with a gleaming, beautiful draft. The point is to get the first portion of a draft finished, so that you can complete your book and then revise it later.
  
  You’re writing the bare bones. They aren’t going to be pretty, but they don’t need to be. 


• Get excited. You’re going to write a book. Or a portion of one, anyway. You. A book. Yours. It’s something to be excited about, it’s something to celebrate, even if the writing is so horrendous that you cringe when you read it back. NaNoWriMo is exhausting, yes, but it’s also exciting because you’re doing something that millions of people only ever dream about—you’re writing a book, and it’s all yours.

For those who have (or are going to) participate in NaNoWriMo, what do you do to prepare? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

Considering #NaNoWriMo this year? Here are some steps you may want to take before November. (Click to tweet)  

Gearing up for this year's #NaNoWriMo? Writer @Ava_Jae shares some tips to help you prepare for the big event. (Click to tweet) 

Writing Discussion: Are You an Idea-Generating Machine?

Photo credit: avianto on Flickr

I’ve always been slightly envious of writers who have so many ideas they can’t decide what to write. Writers, who after finishing a manuscript, debate between writing awesome book idea one, or fabulous book idea two, or maybe shiny book idea three.

I would like to have that problem, but most times, that’s not the case.

Now that’s not to say that I never have any ideas at all—like most writers, I keep an ideas list and jot down snippets or a character or scene or premise as it comes to me. But most of the time, out of the many scribblings I put down, I’ll pull out maybe one or two lines to explore further. And after that exploration, more times than not, I’ll decide it’s not strong enough and move on.

For me, coming up with a novel-worthy idea takes time. A lot of it. Oftentimes I’ll brainstorm something for days, then decide it’s not strong enough. Or I’ll brainstorm, love the idea, start writing it and immediately realize it’s not going to work. Or I’ll brainstorm, love the idea, start writing it, and lose interest a few thousand words in.

All are scenarios that happen pretty frequently while I’m working. I have loads of documents and notebooks full of what I call explorations—partially baked ideas that I tried out, then lost interest in.

Very rarely will I come up with more than one novel-worthy idea at the same time, or even within a couple weeks of each other. And as scary as it is sometimes, particularly when I’ve started querying and I’m blindly grabbing at ghostly wisps of an idea, I’m ok with it.

Part of me wishes it was different—I would love to have a folder of ready-to-go novel ideas so I could jump right into a new idea after finishing one. But that’s just not the way I work, at least, not right now. Everyone’s process is different, and it’s ok.

But I won’t lie—sometimes I finish a book and start querying and a part of me wonders if I’ll ever come up with a good idea again. Sometimes I’ll scrap idea after idea and a little panicky voice whispers this is it. You’ve run out of good ideas. 

But the thing is, I’ve been through that frustrating between-WIP stage enough times to know it’s not true. Sure, sometimes it takes longer than I’d like, but inevitably the ideas do develop, the characters start to come alive, and a new story forms.

And every time it does, I smile smugly at that panicky part of myself and get to work.

That’s my process—now I want to hear from you: do you generate several ideas at once? Or do you take more time to develop an idea?

Twitter-sized bites: 

What is your book idea generation process like? Join the discussion at @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)  

Do you have loads of book ideas, or does it take you longer to generate them? Join the discussion. (Click to tweet)

How to Write Through the Unknown

Photo credit: Johnson Cameraface on Flickr

With many WIPs that I’ve plotted out, I’ve found that I eventually hit the Dreaded Scene. Most times, this isn’t a scene that I dread because of the content (ergo: I don’t feel like writing this)—it’s a scene, and often an important one, that intimidates me because I’m not entirely sure how it’s going to happen.

If you’ve been a reader of Writability for some time (or have dug through the archives), then you may remember that I once wrote about how to plot with flashcards. I still use flashcards for plotting purposes, I just use virtual Scrivener flashcards rather than physical pile-on-the-desk cards.

The reason I mention this, is that while I swear by this type of plotting, it does mean that I don’t plot my scenes in detail—instead, I’ll have a couple sentences summarizing the action.

This works wonderfully, because it gives my characters room to stretch and make their own (sometimes unexpected) decisions within the framework of the semi-plotted scene. It does, however, have a downside, namely the Dreaded Scene.

This is probably partially my fault, but oftentimes while I’m plotting I’ll know that something especially important has to happen, but I can’t figure out for the life of me how. I’ll work out everything before and after that point, and I’ll get a general sense for what happens, but as for the details? I figure I’ll work it out later.

Inevitably, later comes when I’m writing and I hit the Dreaded Scene, and I’m still not sure how to work it out.

This is a how to post, however, because I’ve found that the best way to eliminate the dread and get through the scene is to sit down and force myself to figure it out. And as you may or may not have guessed, I use brainstorming lists to do so.

I head the list with the issue that I’m stuck on with the Dreaded Scene, in the form of a question, usually something along the lines of How does x happen? From there, I brainstorm as many possibilities as I can come up with. As is often the case with these kinds of exercises, the key is not to censor yourself, and write down even the most ridiculous of ideas. Once you have a significant list, you narrow it down to the more feasible options, and expand from there to detail step-by-step what happens.

You may now be wondering if the step-by-step bit is necessary. This will vary per writer, but I’ve found that when I’m truly stuck, most times it’s because I can’t envision what will happen. Writing down the steps, then, eliminates that problem and allows me to dive into the writing knowing full well how the events will unfold.

As it turns out, it’s significantly easier to break through a block when you know what lies on the other side. Go figure.

Have you ever encountered the Dreaded Scene? If so, what did you do to overcome it? If not, have you ever plotted or brainstormed with flashcards or lists? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

Stuck on a scene in your WIP? Here are some steps to breaking through the block. (Click to tweet) 

Do you ever get stuck while writing? Here’s one writer’s strategy to beating the Dreaded Scene. (Click to tweet)

Writing Tool: WorkFlowy

Photo credit: paloetic on Flickr

So about a week ago, I came across this blog post on YA Stands about A Cool Way to Outline Your Novel. The post was a recommendation for a free online tool called WorkFlowy, and it sounded interesting so I decided to check it out.

The basic idea behind WorkFlowy is to imitate our thought process—you start off with one bullet point, then build off from it to create more points, and before you know it you have several sub-lists with their own sub-lists and so on and so forth. It's a clean, minimalistic layout and it allows you to open up and collapse your lists and sublists and create a nice, organized, outline-like list.

Here's a video that can explain it a lot better than I can:

You guys may or may not remember my post from forever ago about how I'm a list person, and that has not changed since writing that post. I still enjoy working with lists, and when I begin my initial brainstorming, I do so with (surprise!) long, bulleted lists. I usually start this brainstorming with a pencil and paper, but there was always the issue of my bullets starting to not line up (straight lines? Who can actually draw straight lines?) and not really being able to add to the previous part of the list, and it can get a little messy on paper.

You can imagine, then, that hearing about WorkFlowy made me a pretty happy writer. And trying it out made me even happier.

The great thing about WorkFlowy is that it makes brainstorming ridiculously easy. The bullets work off of each other beautifully, you can move things around and add and delete points effortlessly, and when you're done, you can export the list into whatever format or document you'd like and continue writing from there. The only downside is that while it is free, the free version only gives you 500 items a month, which seems like a lot, but if you fall in love with it as quickly as I did, you will use those items up faster than you'd think. Nevertheless, it's still a great tool for brainstorming.

So if you're a list person like me, or would like to try brainstorming with lists, I highly recommend WorkFlowy as a wonderful writing tool. It's easy to use, intuitive, and it makes what can be a very messy part of the writing process simple and organized.

Have you ever used WorkFlowy or something of the like? Do you brainstorm with lists, or use another method?

Twitter-sized bites:

How one writer uses the free tool WorkFlowy to make brainstorming easy. (Click to tweet)

Have you tried this writing tool for your brainstorming and outlining needs? (Click to tweet)

How to Think of Blog Post Ideas

Photo credit: Cayusa on Flickr

For roughly a year and a half now, I’ve written blog posts three times a week. I haven’t made any changes to the blogging schedule because I believe it’s important as a writer and a blogger to post consistently, and as of yet, I’ve never missed a day. I’ve also never run out of ideas.

Well.

That last part is a little misleading. Saying that I’ve never run out of ideas makes it sound like over the course of the last year and a half, I’ve never had a day where I wasn’t sure what I was going to post about, which is nowhere near the truth. I have, in fact, often had days where I stared at the screen, wondering how in the world I was going to come up with and write a post over the course of the next twenty-four hours.

But being the stubborn, stick-to-the-schedule person I am, I’ve always managed to wring a topic out of the air, one way or another.

The truth is, there’s nothing mystical about thinking up blog post ideas. While some days I’m lucky and the idea will just make itself known to me with little effort on my part, most days I have to go looking for ideas. Lucky for me, I have plenty of sources of inspiration all around me. Such as…

• The blog archives. For those of you who run a blog, I highly recommend keeping a blog archive list. The funny thing about blog archives, is that while I originally created mine to make it easy for readers to dig through my old posts, I soon realized it was just as useful for me as it was for my readers.
  
  You see, when your posts start reaching triple digits (and even before that), it can start to become a little tricky to keep track of what you’ve written about and what you’ve missed. When I’m searching for blog post inspiration, I nearly always start by scrolling through my archives: not only does it keep me from unintentionally rewriting an old post, but it gives me a general idea as to what areas I could explore more in, and what areas are already well-saturated with posts.


• The brainstorming list. I’ve written in the past about how helpful it is to keep a running list of ideas (both for writing and blogging), and this is a large part of the reason why. When I’m low on ideas and searching the archives isn’t helping, I often turn to my brainstorming list and either spend some time thinking up new ideas, or choose one that I’ve already thought of but haven’t written about yet.


• Life. You’d be surprised how many ideas you can generate just from your everyday life. I’ll often turn to a problem I’ve recently encountered in my WIP, or a stage of writing I’m in, or a book I’ve recently read to try to think up of some blog post ideas. Another great life source is current events: whether in publishing or just a topic that’s trending online (that’s related to whatever you post about, of course), writing about current events or topics is a great way to tap into a collective discussion online. 

These are just a couple examples of places I find blog post inspiration from—now I want to hear from you. Where do you find blog post or writing inspiration?

Writing Tool: Scrivener

Photo credit: Mine

I'd first heard about Scrivener something like a year and a half ago when some wonderful writing tweeples mentioned it to me. At the time, I was a Microsoft Word person, and while I knew there were other word processing programs out there, I'd used Word for ages and I didn't see any reason to switch programs. I did take a brief (read: exceedingly brief) look at Scrivener, but I didn't really give it much of a chance.

Over time I started to realize that this Scrivener program was actually more popular amongst writers than I'd initially anticipated. Some of my favorite authors like Veronica Roth and Beth Revis used Scrivener and it seemed that no matter where I turned, a writer somewhere was raving about Scrivener.

So I gave it a second shot and decided to play around with the cork-board feature to do some brainstorming for a potential WIP idea I had. That initial Scrivener test turned into a full outline for said WIP, and I had a revelation—I sort of liked Scrivener.

Unfortunately then my laptop died and took Scrivener (and the files) with it.

My new computer did not have Word installed, but after a couple months I downloaded a Scrivener trial again. And now that I've been using it to write, I have to tell you I sort of still like Scrivener. A lot.

Scrivener makes it easy for you to consolidate all of your writing notes in one place—everything from your initial outline (which, by the way, allows you to brainstorm on virtual flashcards, which I love), to character and setting sketches, to random notes about your WIP, can all be saved into a project that is the novel you are working on.

Even better—it encourages you to think in scenes or chapters, which makes the intimidating process of having to write an entire novel much more manageable. Writing a novel doesn't seem quite as scary when you break it up into bite-sized chunks.

I've only just scratched the surface with Scrivener, but between it's fantastic brainstorming capabilities, note consolidation and distraction-free writing modes (can you say beautiful, focused full-screen mode?) it's quickly becoming one of my favorite programs to use for writing.

Have you ever used Scrivener? If so, what did you think? If not, what word processing program do you use?

Writing Tip: Keep an Ideas List

Photo credit: La Famille Rapp on Flickr

So you're away from your computer and you get an idea for not one—but two fantastic blog posts. You write the first one as soon as you get to your computer and smile happily because you already know what you're going to write in a couple days for the next post.

A few days later you sit down in front of your computer and realize you've completely forgotten what you were going to write for that second post.

That definitely didn't happen to me this weekend because I keep a running ideas list and I would never neglect to write an idea down before I forgot it. *ahem*

Regardless of whether or not the aforementioned example is in fact based off of recent experience, I'm sure many of you have had something similar happen—and if not with blogging ideas, then with WIP or otherwise writing-related ideas.

An ideas list is a simple and helpful tool that can be used for various aspects of your writing career. I tend to keep two runnings lists: one for blog post ideas and one for WIP ideas. The format, how often you use it, and how often you refer back to it is up to you, but the only rule is this: don't censor yourself.

You see, the ideas list is a sort of never-ending brainstorming sheet. Whatever bits and pieces of inspiration you get—whether it's a full-fledged concept for a new WIP, or a wisp of an idea for a character, can be added to the list for future use. Don't worry about something sounding silly or overly-ambitious—no one else will ever see the list, and just because you write it down doesn't mean you have to go with it. The point is to keep track of your ideas while you have them, so you have something to springboard off of later on when you're fresh out of inspiration.

That way, when you realize you've forgotten that awesome idea that hit you while doing dishes yesterday morning, you won't have to worry because you've already written it down.

Do you keep an ideas list or something similar?

How to Use Brainstorming to Edit

Photo credit: Wiertz Sébastien on Flickr

So you're re-reading a scene in your WIP and as much as you hate to admit it, something's off. It's boring, or your characters aren't reacting properly, or the tone is off, or one of dozens of other writing issues is plaguing the scene and you realize that the best course of action (even though you'd rather not) is to rewrite it.

I've already written about the importance of reliving a scene instead of rewriting it, and this is an extension of that, because when you decide it's time to sit down and relive a scene, it's not always as simple as diving into the writing again.

You see, the idea of reliving a scene is to write it better than you did the first time. But if you really want to edit properly and accomplish your goal while reliving the scene, it's often a good idea to do some brainstorming before you begin to write.

Brainstorming while you're working on an edit is a little different than initial plot discovery brainstorming, because this time you're not creating the clay—you're remolding it. You already have words in front of you and a scene that has potential, but it clearly needs reworking. The foundations are already there; your job now is to manipulate it into something better.

So how to begin?

1. Re-read the scene. In order to do an effective round of brainstorming, your writing should be fresh in your mind. While you're reading, take some notes that will help you while you edit — what do you like about the scene? Is there anything you love and want to include in the new version of the scene? Make a note of it. What definitely doesn't work? Make the list as long or short as you like, then move on to the next step. 


2. Put the writing away. Remember, your goal isn't to rewrite what's already there—it's to relive the scene and write something better. The easiest way to ensure you don't end up rewriting the scene with the same issues is to not look at the original writing while you work on your edit. 


3. Begin brainstorming. This is when your edit notes will come in handy. Thinking back on the scene, ask yourself what you can do to improve the issues you made note of in step one. If it's boring, what could you do to make it more interesting (assuming you need the scene at all)? If your characters aren't reacting properly, how should they be reacting? What can you do to make their actions more realistic? The golden rule to this step is this: don't settle for "I don't know." If you're unsure of how to answer a question, brainstorm ideas until you've settled on the right one. "I don't know" is not an acceptable answer. 


4. Write. This step is pretty self-explanatory. Once your brainstorming session is complete and you know what you need to accomplish with your scene, get to work and start writing. And remember—no peeking at the original version of the scene until you've finished writing. 

The best part of using brainstorming techniques like this one while you edit is that you can do it on any scale—whether it's a chapter, a scene, a paragraph or even an entire character arc or sequence of scenes, brainstorming is an essential part of the writing process and shouldn't be overlooked while you write.

Do you use brainstorming while working on edits? What other brainstorming and editing tips do you have?

Character Names: How Do You Choose?

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During Friday's discussion on first drafts, one of you fantabulous readers asked about the process of choosing character names, and it occurred to me that I'd managed to go all this time without talking about naming characters. Silly of me, I know, especially considering how important it is to choose names for the stars of your story.

For me, the process of naming characters varies from character to character. Sometimes I come across a name that I love and I build a character around the name, while other times I work out just about everything about the character and still don't have a name by the end of my brainstorming.

Naming characters isn't always as simple as it sounds, because there are many different factors that must be considered when choosing a name, such as...

• Setting. Are you writing a fantasy novel based in a time period similar to the medieval times? Then your main character's name probably shouldn't be Cayden Smith or Taryn Brown or Xander Johnson. The names you choose for your characters should fit in naturally with the world you've created. Severus Snape, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin all sound like they come from the same world as do Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark and Finnick Odair. Try putting any one of them into the cast of, say, The Lord of the Rings, and they would sound pretty strange standing next to Aragorn son of Arathorn, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee.   


• Meaning. How much stock you give the meaning of your character's name will vary from person to person, but as we get to choose everything about our characters, it's not uncommon for writers to take a good look at the meaning of a name before choosing one. If you're unsure about the meaning of a name, here are a lot of great websites that will show you tons of information about names including 20000-names and behindthename. 


• Personality. Regardless of whether you want the name to fit your character or if you want your character's name to act as a contrast, personality must also be taken into account. The names you choose should fit your characters one way or another. 

Of course there are other factors to consider as well—sometimes, for example, characters will choose to change or shorten their names or have their names shortened for them, which often signifies a shift in the character (i.e.: Beatrice to Tris in Divergent by Veronica Roth or Augustus to Gus in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green). Other times a character will lie about their name or choose to rename themselves entirely, which also brings attention to their new chosen name.

Naming your characters is a process that should be given plenty of thought, and it's not always an easy decision, but with the help of some brainstorming, research and sometimes feedback, you'll know when the right name for your character has presented itself.

How do you choose names for your characters? Do you have any character naming tips? 

Is Your Idea Novel-Worthy?

Photo credit: qisur on Flickr

When it comes to ideas for a novel, there are many different approaches that writers take. Whether it's keeping a notebook or box full of snippets of ideas that are written down regardless of how much sense they make or how ridiculous they are, or storing ideas away in your mind while working on a WIP, every writer has his own method of idea keeping.

Many writers will eventually find that they have more ideas than they know what to do with. Their idea box is overflowing with scraps of paper begging to be remembered or their brains are bursting at the seams with stories that could be interesting to pursue.

But how do you know if any of those ideas are novel-worthy?

I came across this tweet the other day via @4KidLit that I thought summed it up particularly well:

Good ideas stay with you until you eventually write the story. ~ Brian Keene #writing #amwriting
— YA Lit (@4KidLit) March 27, 2012

It really is that simple.

Writers will encounter thousands of ideas within a lifetime—snippets of an image, fragments of a character, a haunting scene, interesting line of dialogue or intriguing thought—and no one has enough time to turn every idea into a novel. But the truth is, not every idea has enough substance to be turned into a fully plotted story, and that's ok.

Because the ideas that are novel worthy demand to be written. While other ideas fade with time, a novel-worthy idea will haunt you day and night. Rather than disappearing with time, it'll grow and develop into something complex, something that can't be ignored, something that has to be written.

Those are the ideas that you need to pursue.

Writing a novel is tough. It takes months, even years to turn a first draft into a polished, readable story and throughout that time if you aren't passionate about your idea, the novel will never reach completion. Writing a novel is an exhausting thing, which is why those other ideas, those non-novel-worthy ones will fade with time. Because if the idea hasn't fully captivated the writer, there's little chance it'll contain the spark it needs to captivate the reader.

So next time you're unsure whether or not your latest idea is novel worthy, give it some time. You'll know it's right when the idea refuses to leave you alone.

Writers: how do you tell if an idea is novel worthy?