how to prep for writing a novel in one month

It's the time of year when writers all over begin preparing for the mammoth achievement of writing a novel in a month. While it is definitely attainable, it is definitely a moment where one has to truly rise to the task. If you've done this before, you probably know what I'm talking about, but if you haven't let's jump into why people even want to do something like this in the first place.


SO, WHY SHOULD I WRITE A NOVEL IN A MONTH?

• It encourages you to write a lot of words without getting bogged down.
• It gives you that push on an idea you are interested in.
• It's a great challenge for writers, especially because so often writing just becomes routine.

There are plenty more reasons, which we've covered in the past. We have a previous post about why you might want to participate in National Novel Writing Month and more on what that is, but the truth is that even if you don't want to join an actual organization the points in that post about WHY you should try writing a novel in a month are still super valid. So if this is a new concept to you, definitely go check out all our reasons on why writing a novel in such a short amount of time is a great idea.

Now that you've decided to take up the challenge, it's important to prepare properly for the month to come. October is commonly referred to as Preptober in the writing community, so we're here with the entire master list on how to prep effectively.

HOW TO PREP:

• Decide on how you will do it. Group? NaNo? Personal Challenge? The first step is to make a decision on what route you want to go. Do you want to get together a bunch of writing friends and have a private group together? Are you interested in joining the official NaNoWriMo? Or do you want to go lone wolf and just make this a personal challenge? Each of these options have pros and cons, so figure out right away what is the best option for you.
• Sign up if need be, and familiarize yourself with websites and programs. Next you need to make sure you complete the necessary preliminary work for whatever route you chose. This means that if you're doing National Novel Writing Month, you need to hop on the website and sign up, create your new project, find your region, and take some time to get used to the website and see all they have to offer. If you're creating a group, make sure you communicate with the other participants. Decide on things like the overall goals, create a group chat, and schedule times for either local or virtual write-ins, word-wars, and more. If you're tackling this alone, make sure that you contact an accountability partner (whether they are also a writer or not), choose your goal, and decide on a way to keep track of your word count.
• Download prep workbooks and worksheets. NaNoWriMo offers a good workbook to get you started, but they're not the only ones who have great resources to help you organize ideas, form plots, get to know your characters and more. We even have some of our own! Now is the time to download these and print them out if you choose. Here are some of our favorites that are completely free.
  • The Fearless Type Character Workbook
  • 100 Questions to ask your character (See this post for why this is important!)
  • NaNoWriMo's Preptober Course and workbook
  • Novel Software's worksheets. We particularly like their Novel Outline sheet, Character Voice page, Character development sheet, and their Scene Overview one (head and tail versions).
  • Go Teen Writer's plot outline worksheet for two points of view is both unique and extremely useful if you're writing a dual-viewpoint plot!

• Choose an idea. Of course one of the most important things to do is to make sure you're settled on what idea you want to bring to life. This needs to be an idea that can be fleshed out to fill a novel and is also something you're excited about.
• Decide whether you will plan, pants it, or go in between. Next you will need to pick your writing style. If you haven't heard of this, it's pretty simple. Some people thrive when writing "by the seat of their pants" while others produce a better draft when they spend the time to plan in depth scenes, world building and more before ever writing a word. Lastly, there are some people who fall somewhere in between-- We like to call them "plantsers" around here. They plan the important things, but they leave room for inspiration to change their course during writing if it feels right. Knowing how you want to approach your novel will help you know how to plan better for you and your strengths. Before you think that if you choose to pants it, though, just know that even pantsers need to prep in some ways, so keep reading.
• Get to know your characters in depth. Stories revolve around characters, so take the time to truly understand your characters. You can use the completely free workbooks available for download here at Fearless Type, or browse our Fearless Type Pinterest character boards.
• Pick an outlining style and get a basic plotline. This applies more to those who are planners or plantsers, but it's important nonetheless. It's important to understand plot structure, so deciding on a tried and true outlining style to get your basic plotline can really help. Here are some great free resources for outlines and story structure.
  • This blog post from How to Write a Book Now gives a great 8-step intro to plot structure.
  • This blog post from How To Write a Book Now goes in depth into 9 different types of basic plot structures. 
  • If you want a complete guide to crafting a great plot that focuses on structure, character arcs and more, check out this post from How to Write a Book Now. 
  • If you want a program that works like a charm for outlining and is also useful for brainstorming, try Gingko. 
  • K.M Weiland has dozens of posts all about outlining, and she has them all listed for easy access on a "how to outline your novel" page! 
  • If you want a super in depth look at story structure, there's a whole series of blog posts on it at Helping Writers Become Authors. 
• Write a list of what things you might need to research and do that now. Right from the start, there will probably be things you will know you need to research. Write a quick list and tackle that during this prep time so that you can try to be as knowledgeable ahead of time and won't need to stop to research during the month you write your novel!
• Create a mood board for inspiration. Hit up Pinterest collect photos in a folder or file, or cut, paste or pin onto a bulletin board or your wall. Mood boards are not only inspiring but help you envision things better in your own head. Pin quotes, character photos, landscapes and setting, objects and more. Try to follow not only the story details but also the theme and feel of your novel.
• Make a novel music playlist to work to. Preptober is the perfect time to create some music playlists for your novel. You can craft one for the book as a whole, for your characters, or even just put together playlists to help you focus.
• Design a mock cover to get you excited. Especially if you're on the NaNo site where they have a space to insert a book cover, creating a mock cover helps amp up the excitement. Even if you're not on on the NaNo site, investing in a cover makes you feel more serious about your challenge and also motivated. Share the mock up cover on your blog, social media, or with friends to get some feedback and encouragement from them!
• Plan out a writing schedule. There are actually various ways to tackle the challenge of a novel in a month. Below we list our top favorite tools to creating the perfect writing schedule and tracking your word count.
  • At Write Track, you can pre-plan your schedule based on the day. So if certain days you already know you will be busier, you can plan your wordcount based on that. The nice thing about this tracker is it also automatically adjusts as you go so you don't get overwhelmed. 
  • At Pacemaker, you can customize your schedule based on various different styles of work. For instance, instead of writing the same amount a day, it could have stair-stepping word counts, valley-style graphs where you write the most in the beginning and end and less in the middle, and so on. With this program there are so many different options to personalize it as well. 
• Prepare for your month ahead of time as much as possible. Don't just prepare your novel for a month of writing. Preptober is also the perfect chance to get ahead on various other areas of your life too so you can free up some space. Make meal plans ahead of time, do class assignments and studying now, schedule out your other commitments, and do what you can now so you don't have to worry about it later.
• Stock up on writing goodies. Right at the end of PrepTober is when stocking up on your writing goodies comes in to play. Prepare healthy snacks and make sure you have writer fuel to keep you going, as well as fun treats for when you hit those milestones. Make sure you have coffee on hand (or tea if you prefer), and also a water bottle ready to go. Writing goodies can extend past fueling yourself, though. Make sure you have a stash of pens and highlighters, sticky notes, thumbtacks, tape, candles, inspirational quotes or whatever it is you find helps you work better as a writer.
• Make sure you have a space to write to keep you in the zone. While not everyone has the opportunity for a dedicated office or even a desk, prepare a committed writing space now while you have the chance. This can be simply reorganizing your workspace from clutter, creating a cozy nook in one corner of your room, or creating a habit of setting up shop at your kitchen table. Creating a writing space was actually the first point on our Introverted Writers post, so be sure to check it out. If all else fails and you know you're unable to have a dedicated, consistent space to write, consider a portfolio. This can be a folder or a box where you store your novel notes, research, sticky notes, pens, a journal, chargers/battery packs, and items for your writing rituals like a list of positive affirmations, a pair of blue light blocking glasses, a symbolic token or writing-only snacks. Simply by having everything in one place and having the habit of taking everything out to begin work can help give you that sense of a consecrated writing space.
• Dedicate a notebook to the cause. Grab a small notebook that is completely empty just for your novel-in-a-month venture. You could use a notebook you've already been using, but starting a fresh one can give a clear mind going into things and it's fun.
• Read posts about the topic. As you go through Preptober, be on the lookout for blog posts, articles, podcasts and even YouTube videos about novel-in-a-month prep. You can get off to a good start by making sure you're subscribed to The Fearless Type!

• Connect with other writers doing the same thing. It's important to find a sense of community if you are able. You can join in local NaNoWriMo events, find a group of likeminded people online, or even chat one on one with someone else doing the same challenge.
• Warm up with some writing exercises. Don't neglect actual writing in the middle of all your prep! Be sure to get some good warm up times in if you aren't already writing consistently. You can do this with freewriting, joining in challenges on social media, or working on some prompts in a prompt writing book.
• Get accountability, and make sure you have a reward for yourself at the end. Let the people in your life know what you're going to be doing, and make sure you have at least one accountability partner before you get going! This will help when the motivation gets low. And lastly, be sure you've planned a reward for yourself at the end. You can choose to do this only if you win, or you can have an option just to celebrate the progress you made no matter what the end results are. Having a fun reward along with your satisfaction at the end can be super motivating and an awesome finish to an awesome challenge.

So there you have it! Before this post ends, we wanted to share one more resource called Plot Factory that can totally explode your novel planning and help you stay organized. There are several levels of subscription options, but also a free version. Here you can create and store information on your world, characters, plot, scenes and more! It's especially useful if you're planning an epic series, world-hopping projects or even novels that tie into other books.

That's all for today. Leave a comment on your favorite part of Preptober if you've done it before, and if not, what was your favorite idea listed in today's post?

Stay Fearless!