Having already covered Plot Formulae back at the end of September, I’m hoping that those of you without a complete outline at this point have at least some ideas about how to get there. But this is the final stretch, the point where we all are scrabbling at the walls to try and claw out some more time to get things figured out before November 1st. (Is it just me, or did October go even faster than September?)
I, too, am working on the outline of my project, and I’m going to dig into some of the big points I recommend spending some time brainstorming.
Eight Major Story Points!
We have our opening, the inciting incident, and the first plot point which is the point of no return for the hero to choose whether they’re in or they’re out. Then we have a first battle (or first pinch point), the midpoint of the novel, and a second pinch point which I think of as the sucker punch that takes the hero out briefly, literally or figuratively. The second plot point or black moment is followed by clarity and that leads to the climactic final battle.
All of these are really things you need to have thought about before you start, in my humble opinion. If you haven’t considered what the characters have to lose to reach the black moment and despair of ever succeeding, that’s rather critical to the story. Same for what obstacles they must overcome. Yes, you can go into your novel with no plan at all, but that tends to lead to getting lost and frustrated in my experience. So think about the eight points I just named. I strongly recommend having thought about them, whether you’ve nailed them down before you start or not. Just thinking about them gets the wheels turning.
Everything Else Is A Potential Plot Hole.
Let me say that again. Everything else is a potential plot hole.
If you’ve got eight “tent poles” holding up your thin plot outline, anything between those tent poles could fall through. This is where I lose many pantsers, because that’s part of the enjoyment of writing, the navigation of those leaps from plot point to plot point. I say that yes, that is the fun. But you still have to acknowledge that there’s potential for black holes of the plot-eating variety.
So what’s to be done? Just think about the things that could go between the eight points listed above. Not necessarily what should, but what could. If the hero is in one place for the inciting incident and needs to be somewhere else for the point of no return, how do they get between the two? Is there a scenic route they could take instead of the most predictable path? Not that the scenic route is better or worse than the predictable one, certainly in some genres one or the other is expected, but it’s more interesting if you know what the alternative would be, even if that’s not what you write about. It’s also extra depth for the scene you do write.
The second pinch point is a second battle which is either lost or very nearly so. This brings on the despair of the black moment, and rightly so. What does despair look like for the secondary characters, not just the hero? Often we need a secondary character to somehow jump-start the hero’s understanding that yes, there is a way through this; what state is that secondary character in when they encounter the hero? If there’s no secondary character involved in the decision, what is it that the hero realizes? Can you do it with a flashback or subtext instead of monologuing their thought process?
For pantsers, I don’t recommend trying to fill in each space between the major points this early, mostly because you’re going to end up changing your mind about something while writing. Some people (dedicated planners) do, and that works for them. If it helps to make a bunch of scene notecards and stack them up so you’ve got them on hand, great! Do it. This is the week for you to do whatever will make it easier to write come Sunday the 1st. My recommendation is more of the “what if?” variety, and even if all you end up with is a set of scenes that don’t fit that spot in the novel, that’s a lot more information about what you do want than you had before. Those scenes that don’t fit also may be of use somewhere else.
Organize Your Writing Space and Time
If you haven’t already, try to set up a space that is just for writing. It helps to have a mental trigger for writing focus, and having one place you write can be very helpful. If that’s not something you can do, what might you be able to set aside? A specific NaNo mug you bring out and fill with your caffeinated beverage of choice whenever you’re writing? What signals your brain that this is writing time? Do you have a specific noveling playlist? I know a lot of people who have playlists for writing, but sometimes you can narrow that down further to music that suits your novel. I often end up spending long hours listening to music mixes on YouTube; there are a lot of talented people with better ears for music mixing than I have who have posted themed mixes of varying lengths. Some of my favorites are tagged with keywords like “epic”, “adventure”, “dramatic”, and others. If you haven’t considered music, I’d suggest searching for music mixes with keywords appropriate to your novel. I lean toward active music that keeps my head in a forward-progress mindset.
I can’t stress having a schedule more. Setting aside time for your writing is critical to not be constantly in the “I’ve only got a few minutes” mental space. Plan it into your daily routines whenever it fits, whether that’s first thing in the morning or late at night. Set up a schedule of some kind (Google Calendar, Reminders, a big chart on the wall…) and then stick to it. If you can make the same time every day be writing time it will help enforce the habit of writing your daily word count. (I personally think any scheduled time to write is better than nothing, so that’s where I aim. If I can get the same time each day, great.)
This is also the time to warn your family, friends, coworkers, and pets that you will be writing like crazy during November, and you probably won’t answer your phone during times you are writing, have time for as many chores, be as genial as usual, and your life will revolve around writing. There are amusing memes like “caution: writer at work” and variations that are more accurate than you might want to admit. Sometimes posting these on social media might clue in anyone who follows you. Irritation is a common side effect of not being on track, as are dramatic mood swings, staying up till 3am or later, over-caffeination, and so on. NaNoWriMo actually posted some images to share (link goes to a Google Drive folder) that I think are cute. Use these or create your own!
Productivity Tips
Carry a notepad or journal everywhere with you in November. This helps with the random ideas that come at times you can’t sit down and write them. I recommend writing your eight major story points on the first page, or on a page flagged with a sticky note for quick reference. That makes it easier to relate your sudden inspiration to a specific point in your novel.
I strongly recommend journaling about your novel in addition to writing your novel. It really helps to get your thought process into concrete form, both so you can pick it up again next time you write and so you can work your way out of plot holes. I undoubtedly forget to do it every day, but it helps enough I’ve made a goal to try and free write about my novel daily throughout November, and I’ve added that to my schedule.
Set yourself goals. If that means you start week one of National Novel Writing Month with a goal of 2000 words per day to be ahead of the game by week’s end or you plan some reward for each 5k words written, the goals and rewards will help keep you moving forward. The carrot and stick method (referring to getting a donkey moving with positive and negative actions) can be fulfilled with adding tasks for yourself that you don’t want to do. (Example: If I don’t write my daily word count today, I have to clean the bathroom.) Make it a bit more fun by offering IOUs to family, friends, or coworkers as the penalty for not meeting your set goal. (If I’m not on track at the end of the week, I’ll go shopping with mom. If I don’t hit 10k words by Friday, I’ll do Frank’s expense report.) A mix of rewards and penalties can really help motivate you. This is the same logic for why NaNoWriMo helps you write more; you set a goal and race to finish it because it’s there, not because you wouldn’t necessarily have done the writing otherwise.
Create a sticker chart or other visible progress meter, and I strongly recommend it’s something posted on your wall, sitting on your desk, or some spot that’s not just buried on your computer. (Even if you make it your computer desktop, most of us aren’t looking at our desktop much, we’re in our browsers and apps.) It’s almost disproportionally energizing to be able to stick a gold star to your day and know you did well. I’ve started using a whiteboard calendar that is magnetized; I bought a bunch of plain 1″ round black magnets and added stickers to them so I can reuse them each time I participate in National Novel Writing Month.
If you have five minutes to write something, don’t be afraid to use it; I warn people that “I only have five minutes” can be a serious drag on your creativity. The psychology behind it is somewhat beyond me, but when you’re focusing on the clock, it’s hard to focus on your writing at the same time. The best suggestion I have for this is using a timer on your phone or computer (there are plenty of simple timers online) so you can set aside the focus on the clock. Your timer will tell you when you have to stop, so you can focus completely on the writing.
If you’ve never heard of the Pomodoro Technique, check it out. The idea is that you set aside 25 minutes to focus on a task (the “pomodoro”, named for the creator’s tomato-shaped kitchen timer), then take a 5 minute break to stretch, respond to the text you received, and move around a bit. (I also sometimes use 50/10, but 25/5/25/5 in an hour helps keep me from sitting in one position too long.) Every four pomodoros you take a longer break. (This doesn’t suit my OCD tendencies that like nice and even hourly scheduling, so instead I make sure that every fourth or fifth pomodoro is entirely a break. This longer break also helps for those of us spoonies who can’t do for long periods of time.) When you train your brain that you can focus entirely on the task at hand for those 25 minutes, your productivity increases. It does really work. Turn off notifications for emails, set your phone on silent, and focus for a dedicated period of time. Instead of stopping each time a new notification pops up, you’ll accomplish things faster and you can use a pomodoro to batch all those responses to emails, texts, and phone calls all at once. The Pomodoro Method works regardless of the task, I might point out, too. I now schedule my chores into my day to break up periods of sitting at the computer, and I know I’ll stop and return to work again so I’m not fretting about it while I do the dishes or laundry. There are dedicated timers for the Pomodoro Method online you can use, I’ve been using the tomato-timer.com website since it offers options to customize times, sounds, and notifications.
If your workspace isn’t private, consider playing music with headphones that will block out nearby noise. (This can also help clue-in family that you’re working.) You’re less likely to hear your phone vibrate (it’s set silent, right?) or someone ask you a question that really doesn’t need to be answered right now. Hopefully they look over, see the headphones, and just determine to ask you later.
Other than that, you know yourself best! Set up plans that work for you to maximize productivity. If that means you do your meal planning once a week after you meet your word count goal so you don’t have to have that in the back of your head, do that. If you can do it this week instead, maybe make some quick dinners to freeze and reheat, that will help out, too. I use this week to plan out weekly chore schedules for all of November so I don’t get to the end of the week and realize I have no clean underwear. By doing it ahead of time, it’s already on my radar and I plan my writing time around it.
Marie Efromson 