This year I am participating in Nanowrimo, writing pandemonium at it's finest. It starts November 1 of each year and finishes off November 30. Your goal is to write a 50,000 word novel during the month. Create and account at Nanowrimo so you can track your word count. At the end of the month you can copy and paste your typed words into a verifying box and if you've reached 50,000 words, YOU WIN! Don't worry, they won't steal your story! It's all about getting that novel out of your head and onto paper (or word processor).
What if you don't have a story?
It's okay if you don't have a story to start with, it helps, but you don't have to have one. If you don't, here are a few steps to follow to get you started and help you find your story. Type it all down! It's part of your novel!
Create a character, item or place, the first 20 words
Think of a character or place and start writing about it in 20 words. This is your eye catching description to lure people into reading your story. I'll make one up real quick to show you how. We'll make a character named... hmmm, Cuppa Joe and he lived in Thermos with a... magical coffee bean. I know, it's silly. But whatever... Let's just roll with it! Here are my 20 words for each one.
20 words for Cuppa Joe:
A round and dark man. Warm and loved by many. Popularity makes him the best man for the morning show.20 words on the magical coffee bean:
20 words for Thermos:
It was a deep roasted family secret. No one knows where how it got her. He must guard it or die!
A highly energetic land. No matter what the season, it is always warm, fragrant and sought out by many tourists.Going further! The next paragraph or so...
Next, write a paragraph about them. Expand a little on what we already know. Tell a little about him/her, the item or the place. What's the best thing about him/her? (Nice to look at, great person) What's the worst? (a bit of an addictive personality, Not a night person) What is the style of Thermos. Is it modern, victorian, primitive, kind of like Vegas or more like a mountain retreat?) Just go into some detail.
And now we start exploring
Start exploring your character with a biography of him/her or you can use these resources to help you develop your character further. Here is a form that really gets into the details of your character. Interview your character! Here are 100 questions to get you started. Here is another character development worksheet that I also like.
Start exploring your scene with a some history about the place. Here are some questions to get you started. answer them in any order you want. This also works for your item.
- Where is this place (or where is it kept)? (City, town, country, mountains, beach, outer space, on the moon, in the town of Thermos etc)
- Who lives there? (No one, 300 million people, a small family, a tribe, a crazy cat lady)
- What is it close to? (Another town, a stream, the mountains, an elk herd, the highway)
- What features are the best about it? (The beautiful waterfalls, the coffee shops, the satanic book store, the schools, the people)
- What is the worst about it? (The crime rate, the vampires, the sharp jagged cliffs, the crazy cat lady, the constant humming on a full moon from the bean)
- What is the history of the place or item? (How was it started, built, supported, etc. How was it found, created or bought. Who first had it?)
- Are there any interesting dark secrets of the place or item? (The butler did it, the mountain that flattened a tribe, a murder no one dares talk about, the pot holes are portals once a year on June 28, The trees talk. The bean is mysterious and people disappear, the town blames the bean)
- Take me on a tour of the place! Imagine that you are taking me on a tour of the place and write what you would tell me on the tour. (We are turning onto Main Street where you find most of the coffee shops. This old building was once a tea shop until the towns people burned it to the ground...)
- Show and tell your item. Same concept. Imagine I came over to visit and you are showing all your stuff. We run across this fascinating item of yours... tell me all about it.
I don't mean to read the whole thing backwards, literally. Start at the bottom of what you wrote. read the last sentence first and highlight anything you can explain further or describe. Here is a sample to show you.
Cuppa Joe is a dark handsome man that lives in Thermos. When he was a young boy, his father gave him a magical bean to protect at all costs, even if it meant dying for this bean. His father disappears, never to be seen or heard from again, before he can explain why. Now, Cuppa has to discover the mystery of the bean on his own.
Go through and highlight some things you can explore further. Here, I highlighted some for you...
Cuppa Joe is a dark handsome man that lives in Thermos. When he was a young boy, his father gave him a magical bean to protect at all costs, even if it meant dying for this bean. His father disappears, never to be seen or heard from again, before he can explain why. Now, Cuppa has to discover the mystery of the bean on his own.
Here are some samples of what you can expand...
Cuppa Joe Fill out a character sheet on him.
dark handsome man Really?! Is he as good as he looks? What style clothes does he wear?
Thermos Read above and start telling about it.
young boy What was his childhood like? What school did he go to, if he went to school? etc
his father OH OH, character development time!
gave him How did that go? Was it a ceremony? Was he like "Here. Protect it or die. Night, son" or was there some huge hubbub about it where he took him on a camping trip far away so no one could hear anything he said? Was it on purpose? Or did Cuppa find it and ask a ton of questions?
magical bean What does it do? Why is it magical? tell me about it!
protect at all costs HOLY COW! for a coffee bean? WHY!? What is so special about it?
His father disappears, never to be seen or heard from again Oh, how did that go? Was it huge media story time, was there a man hunt? Any ideas or suspicions? Does he come back at the end of the book (as a human or a ghost)?
discover the mystery of the bean Yea, what is the mystery anyway?
his own Why on his own? Can he tell someone? Like, his best friend? Or was that in Dad's pep talk about protect it or die? Or maybe no one wants to have anything to do with it?
Keep going!
As you write, continue developing each character that comes along, each place we go to in the story and each item that means something. Then read backwards for each part you write.
Eventually, you will start to form a story that you can work with and form into a novel. As you expand on each item, person and place you will start to see more ideas coming to mind. Keep it up! You can do it!
1667 words a day isn't hard when you are describing things for us! From The Baker's Acres! Read more at http://www.dotchilatham.com
