Novel Planning

I'm back with another post about Camp Nanowrimo, this one mostly on time! I just have to say that I am glad that Camp Nanowrimo isn't this much because I have had so much that is going on this month. I've been working on planning while trying to get ahead on other stuff to have more time for writing in April.

Planning, Plantsing, and Pantsing

Before planning, you first have to decide how much you want to plan, if even at all. Some people will have nothing prepared for April. Others will have enough paper to write a dissertation on their future novel that they will be writing. There is no wrong way to do it. This is all about what is best for your personal preferences.

I have prepared stuff in a variety of ways, but through trial and error, I have found I really need to have some stuff that is written down, especially in terms of names and knowing in general what has to happen next. I'm happy with what I've been doing so far so I'm going to share my process here. Do whatever it is that works best for you. You might do three of these steps, or none, or all and then even more. You don't even have to do them in the same order.

No one writes a book the same way or plans it. You know yourself and your future book and you should do whatever you think will work best.

Step One: One Sentence Summary

I had a basic idea of what I wanted for this plot but it was awesome to try to have to condense this down into a basic sentence. My sentence about my book is:

"The princess and a female squire fake a relationship to advance in status and stay in their own relationships and end up falling in love."

 No names, no specific details. Just keep it super simple and easy.

Step Two: Basic Plot

For this step, you just write a basic five sentence summary, making sure to focus on having a beginning, a middle, and an end. This really helped me to try to focus on the main plot and the main ideas, only including the really important stuff because I was so limited. It's all about going back to the basics and I found this a challenging and refreshing exercise to try to keep it all so basic.

Step Three: Character Basics

Getting into your characters! For the major and really important characters, I wrote a paragraph about each of them. I included their name, identity in terms of everything else, their storyline, their goals and motivations, what stands in the way of their goals, and how the character develops throughout the story. This ended up being about five characters for me. I also listed other characters I need and their context in terms of the major characters and the storylines I plan on including.

For me, characters are the really important part. I need to continue working on getting names because if I don't get names now, then the characters will remain nameless for far too long. One of my pov characters in November didn't have a name until halfway through the month and I only referred to him as "the boy" or pronouns. That was really annoying, but it is so important for me to work on getting all of this stuff done now rather than later, because later always ends up being way too much later.

Step Four: Expanding the Plot

This is getting more into the nitty gritty and more subplots, some of which you may have figured out during the character basics. Each sentence from your paragraph in step two should become a paragraph, including more names and specific details. This is seriously about what you need. Mine ended up being almost two typed pages. If you want it to be more specific, you can always work on developing it some more, or come back to it later.

Step Five: Worldbuilding

This is the step that I am currently on. I have some ideas written down- like a far too complex religion- but I need to work on condensing it all down into one place that is organized rather than just a few pages of me ranting on about magic and religion and forests. I need some names as well, because like I mentioned, I do not do well when I do not have names already prepared and laid out ready for me to use as needed. Most of these details will not be explicitly used in my story, but especially in fantasy, it is essential to have a solid world. Even in contemporary you may want to have some worldbuilding completed before April 1.

If you have a lot of worldbuilding to be done and have no idea where to start, there are so many resources out there. I did a bunch of freewriting but plan on using some of these questions to organize what I already have done.

Step Six: Character Biographies

You should have everything that your characters do and their purposes, but now it is time for all of the mundane details that might come up in your story. There are a ton of character questionnaires out there for public use or you can just freewrite about your character. This is an important step, but there are so many methods out there that it's hard to narrow it down to just one. Just be yourself and get it done. Make sure that your characters have quirks! Relatable characters are the best and no one is perfect.

Step Seven: Scene List

It's finally down to the last step that I plan on doing before Camp Nanowrimo. I actually have started using Trello to help organize my scene list, making sure that I include everything and the pieces from subplots. It's a task management site that I've also been using for a todo list but created a board just for planning out my scenes. I'm not very far working on this, but this is what I have done so far. I expect to continue working on this throughout the month and keep it as a consistent work in progress, changing with how the plot and characters progress as I write it.


Then, you just need to freaking chill and write it. It will work out. You can freaking do this. You can see it all the way through to the end. This is just going to have to be how it is all going to end up working out, no matter what. Things are going to be unexpected. Sometimes characters end up doing things that you honestly would never expect to occur. This was a note to myself I found in my personal writing notes but I thought it funny and true. It will work out and be awesome in the meantime.

So, how do you plan on planning? What do you usually do? Are you planning on shaking things up, like I decided to do? Let me know your planning tips and tricks in the comments.

Thanks for reading!
Alyssa