It’ll soon be Christmas. No, come back. Even sooner, it will be NaNoWriMo (National Novel-Writing Month).
Okay, that’s not until November, but many serious NaNo-ers will be starting to prepare in the next few weeks. So I’m at Multi-Story, with a plan for creating your NaNo novel – by starting with its people.
Why start with the characters? Because if you know who they are, you’ll want to tell their stories. If you like to plan in detail, you’ll understand who must do what and when. If you like to wing it, the characters will take hold and drag you into an adventure. So if you fancy designing a novel this way, come over to Multi-Story.
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This entry was posted on August 1, 2013, 10:18 am and is filed under How to write a book. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0.
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It’ll soon be Christmas. No, come back. Even sooner, it will be NaNoWriMo (National Novel-Writing Month).
#1 by Katie Cross on August 1, 2013 - 11:41 am
I’ve never had a story that didn’t start because of the characters. :)
#2 by rozmorris @NailYourNovel @ByRozMorris on August 1, 2013 - 10:07 pm
I think I start with a tense situation, but immediately go looking for the characters it will strip raw. Everything else comes from that.
#3 by darsword on August 1, 2013 - 8:57 pm
My problem is when I start planning my novel and get into the characters I usually start writing. I have done so many novels in other months than November because the characters are screaming their way to life. By the way, I am reblogging for my friends. :-)
#4 by rozmorris @NailYourNovel @ByRozMorris on August 1, 2013 - 10:09 pm
Ah yes, the hazard of getting to know them too soon. Hold yourself down! And thanks for sharing my post.
#5 by darsword on August 1, 2013 - 8:59 pm
Reblogged this on Darswords and commented:
There may be 4 months until November. That’s four novels that may be percolating. I’m still working on Camp Nano in a slower fashion. Once my characters are alive they want me to write.
#6 by Cherese Vines on August 2, 2013 - 9:32 pm
Love love Love NaNoWriMo! This is like year six for me. I didn’t get to do it last year and I felt so incomplete! Thanks for the tip. I have a story I’m struggling with. I don’t know who’s story it is. This will definitely help.
#7 by rozmorris @NailYourNovel @ByRozMorris on August 3, 2013 - 7:06 pm
Thanks, Cherese – enjoy the voyage.
#8 by Debb Stanton on August 27, 2013 - 5:44 pm
I’m so thankful for this article. I was just contemplating my first try at NaNoWriMo and deciding that now I can be writing up character sketches and doing some plotting. It sounds like you think this is a good idea… Thanks! I’ll join you now so I can learn the latest and greatest! :)
#9 by rozmorris @NailYourNovel @ByRozMorris on August 27, 2013 - 7:57 pm
Thanks, Deb. Planning your characters will always stand you in good stead and you’ll have a lot more fun once you start making them do things in the text. Good luck getting those words down in November.