Preparing for NaNoWriMo

You have disappeared for months on end. Friends, family, and dedicated readers are wondering where you’ve gone. You don’t remember the last time you saw a light that wasn’t coming from your computer screen. The plot is laid out before you, you’ve compiled your own soundtrack to listen to while writing- everything is going smoothly, except your anxiety is through the roof! That’s right; you’ve been spending the entirety of summer (and a bit of fall) preparing your novel for National Novel Writing Month!

Many of you are probably wondering why I haven’t posted anything in a while, and you would be wrong because I have posted something: a new book! I spent my summer preparing my second book, Barely Adrift, for publication. Sadly, a writer’s job is never finished, for immediately after Barely Adrift was released to the public, I began preparing myself for NaNoWriMo with the determination of actually making an effort to win this year… or at least start. I had wanted to take part in 2016, but life got in the way. It has come to my attention that writers are not allowed to have lives, so I will allow myself to be consumed by the page this year and let the words come flying forth from my fingertips. I’m so excited!

Now, for those of you who do not know what NaNoWriMo is, it is an entire month (officially November, I’m assuming because it starts with the same four letters as “novel”) that is set aside for starting a completely new novel manuscript and attempting to reach at least 50,000 words by the end of the month. This is no small feat, especially for us slow writers who take months to write even 8,000 words. Don’t judge me. As such, there is a lot of planning and mental preparation that goes into this challenge.

Since I am not a NaNo veteran, I won’t say that my methods are the best, but I wanted to share what I’ve been doing to get ready for a month of intensive, continuous writing. First of all, I wrote a summary of the story- not the synopsis, but a very rough version of what the story as a whole is. Then, I tried to outline the novel, and I got about a third of the way through when I discovered that outlining is not for me. I do enjoy writing character bios, though. I do the ShaelinWrites method of putting down a bunch of things that I would associate with each character (thoughts, feelings, moods, etc.) and add their physical descriptions afterward. That way, I get a sense of the characters’ personalities first, which is far more important than their looks.

The part that really gets me motivated is planning scenes. I start out with just the dialogue happening between two characters and where it is taking place- the first one I made took place inside a school bathroom! Strangely enough, that scene marks an important moment of character growth for the two main characters. This is where the novel really starts to take shape. The characters are interacting with each other, you can get a feel of the language your book will be using, and one scene can even spark some inspiration for a completely different scene. For example, this bathroom scene caused me to think of another bathroom scene that happens later on in the novel and has a much darker tone. The first one symbolizes the reconnection of an old friendship, and the second one represents a shattering of trust.

Now that I’ve gotten a feel for the characters and the overall tone of the novel by practicing with some small scenes, I think I am ready to take the plunge and begin writing the novel! Of course, I have to wait for November to begin. However, I am very excited to begin and will be posting updates on my progress on my YouTube channel, KiraKira Clover, since I am sure that I won’t have enough to say for an entire blog post with each update. If you are interested in keeping up my progress, you can follow me on there or simply search for Clover S Laurel on the NaNoWriMo site.

And now, I will leave you with the “finished” synopsis of my novel:

Lydell is in her second year of high school and attends an all-girls boarding school in Vermont, where she wants nothing more than to have an uneventful and stress-free experience. On the first day of term, she encounters an old friend named Chiara who seems ecstatic to see her. However, Lydell does not feel the same. Crossing paths with this acquaintance has brought back painful memories that she has repressed during her time at the school, and she finds that she cannot avoid running into her each day.

The girls discover two mysterious stones left in their dorm rooms one night and learn that they possess powers that have lain dormant within them throughout their entire lives. They are soon plunged into an ongoing battle with an ancient enemy that could come at them from anywhere at any time. Tensions run high between Lydell and Chiara as they reflect upon the past they share while trying to identify the source of the evil that threatens to destroy humanity. Armed with bow and rapier, the girls must open up to their true selves and learn to fight as one.