Planning Your Book for NaNoWriMo in “Preptober”

Happy October!!!

Or, as we participants of National Novel Writing Month say, Happy Preptober!

October is a very important month for NaNoWriMo. This is the month that we focus solely on our work in progress. We jot down ideas, brainstorm, make character sheets, timelines, and all the things that make planning a book magical. And unless you’re a discovery writer (aka “pantser”), this month is almost as exciting and important as November. Here’s some tips on how I plan my book for NaNoWriMo in Preptober.

What I do to get in the planning mood

• Watch Videos on Writing such as Heart Breathings, Creative Penn, Natalia Leigh, Kate Cavanaugh, and more.
• Make a Pintrest Mood board for the writing project
• Play atmospheric music
• Read books with similar tropes and write down why and how I think they would work in the story
• Share ideas with friends/loved ones

What tools I use

• Notebooks and pens
• Planners and highlighters
• Scrivener
• Pinterest and Google for research
• Speaker or headphones for music
• Blank sheet of paper that I make a block graph with for organizing plot threads. For an example of what this looks like, you can watch this TikTok of what it looks like completed.

Planning your book may be just what you do To break through that writer’s block and get through an obstacle you didn’t even know you had.

My Current Project

My project is a little different this year. I’m not going the traditional route where you start a brand new project in November. I’ve already begun my project, which is Book 2 of my book series (I published Book 1 “Letters to Dogwood“ in August) and I’m going to use November to focus on my developmental edits. Honestly, developmental edits are an even bigger beast than the first draft. There’s a lot of cutting, moving, changing, enhancing…just a ton of things.

So funnily enough, Preptober for me is November for most people. This is the month I finish my first draft, and considering it’s only a quarter of the way in and already 36K words, it’s going to be a beast like Book 1.

Is planning your book for NaNoWriMo in Preptober for you?

You’ll never know if you like it until you try it!

I personally had the hardest time finishing my first book until I actually planned it. It needed to be mapped out on a piece of paper to see just exactly where I was going with it. And after that first book, writing this second one feels so much easier! Planning your book may be just what you do To break through that writer’s block and get through an obstacle you didn’t even know you had.

If you plan yourself into a corner, don’t worry. I do that all the time. As I get further on it this journey, it’s easier and easier to get out. What you should do is make a note, go in a slightly different direction, and KEEP GOING.

“I’m just going to write because I cannot help it.”

Charlotte bronte

Happy Writing!

-Tanya