A Guide to 30-Day Novel Writing 2

So you’ve decided to write a whole novel in just 30 days.  You’ve talked to your friends and family and done all your shopping and put off everything that can possibly be put off. 

So what are you actually going to write?

If you have an idea for a novel then that’s great but stick around for some advice for inspiration emergencies and preparation that can help you to avoid inspiration emergencies.  If you haven’t got an idea for a novel then there are plenty of articles around that can help you so I’m only going to focus on a few of the basics.

Advance plot planning should begin about a month before your start date but I reccomend that you don’t get into too much detail until the last week.

The Idea

Whether you have an idea or not it’s a good idea to head over to the forum at NaNoWriMo.  It’s a good place to look even if you are not planning on writing your 30 day novel in November.  If you are then you should look at a few of the challenges. There are usually threads inviting you to adopt a plot or characters and it’s possible to build a novel entirely out of challenges.

So what if you don’t have the slightest idea?  You’ve looked at the challenges and nothing appeals.  It’s time for emergency inspiration mining.  Pick a genre. If you can’t make your mind up then write down all the genre’s that you know well and stick a pin in the piece of paper.  Remember that when you have an idea that expands beyond your chosen genre it is ok to change it.  If you don’t like to be constricted to a single genre then it is also ok to skip this step

Now go and get a newspaper a local one is good but a national will work too.  Don’t worry I’ll wait for you.

Got one?  Good.  What you’re looking for is the odder stories particularly the very short ones that leave loads of unanswered questions.  It’s going to be your job to answer the questions.  If possible choose a story that appears to be completely unrelated to your chosen genre.

Now switch on the television and look for a channel showing music videos.  If you don’t have one you can try this with the radio.  Music videos are full of odd plots, strange characters and unusual events.   Song lyrics are full of cool lines that you wish you’d thought of and different ways of looking at things. You are looking for some peices  that will fit into your novel.

At this stage you may want to make some notes, draw some diagrams or describe some characters.  That works for some writers.  Some writers prefer to think about the ideas, some prefer to sleep on them and some try not to think about them at all so that the subconscious can work it’s alchemy in peace.  It’s up to you.

Leave the ideas to stew for a couple of days if possible and then see what you think.  Do you still like them?  Do you like them more?  Are there peices missing?  Have you decided that you don’t like them or that they don’t work.  If you’re not happy then go back to the start and try again but don’t abandon your ideas completely.  They may yet come in handy.

The Preparation

The exact sort of preparation that you need to do will depend largely on your genre.  If it’s a historical romance then you’ll have to do a lot of research but research can be more important than you might think in any novel.  If you are writing Sword and Sorcery then you really ought to know something about swords.  If you’re writing generic fantasy then you’ll need to know about bows and staff’s too.  Don’t think that a wave of the hand and a muttering about magic will cover you.

The same goes for science fiction.  While it is possible to tell a story in a science fiction setting without getting into the details you’ll have to be very disciplined about not getting into the details.  A few words about warp bubbles and worm holes and propulsion systems will work a whole lot better than a wave of the hand an muttering about science.

If your novel has a contemporary setting then what jobs and pastimes will your protagonists have?  What sports do they follow?  What books do they like?  What food?  What drink?

Don’t look at this sort of prep as time away from your plot or characters.  There may be whole new subplots just waiting to be discovered in your research.  You may find out things about your characters that you never dreamt.

Of course you can just wing it.  There is a certain exhilaration in saying “never mind the details, I’ll fix it in the edit”  but I don’t recommend it for a first time novelist.

The Special Preparation

There are some special challenges to speed novelling which can be best met with a little careful preparation.  If you run out of ideas or inspiration or hit a wall (as happens to nearly everyone in week 2) then you can’t sit around waiting for inspiration to strike again.  You have to keep writing.  You have to get out there with a net and catch some of that illusive inspiration.

You need plot ninjas.  The plot ninja is the 30 day novelist’s best friend.  It’s not a new idea.  Raymond Chandler once defined plot as “Whenever I get bored a man enters the room carrying a gun”.  The plot ninja is the thing you wheel out whenever you get lost or bored or run out of plot.  You may have more than one.  They may actually be ninjas who jump out and attack your characters whenever they stray too far from the plot.  Whatever your plot ninja is (or are) it should be something fun to write. 

You can have passive plot ninjas which mearly give you something to write about while your subconcious is sorting out your story.  You can have active plot ninjas which drive your story in a radically different direction every time they turn up.  You can have both and you can have several of each.

You can look for plot ninjas in the NaNoWriMo forum, or on your bookshelves but I prefer music videos.  Music videos are so full of random elements that there is bound to be something you can use.

Come back for part three where we’ll talk about actually writing the thing.