NaNoWriMo Prep: The Outline

Just relax about getting ready for National Novel Writing Month. In fact, you might not even need to. There are two breeds of writers in the world - those who like to outline and organize and do background research before sitting down to write, and those that like to go where the muse takes them. NaNoWriMo officially defines these types as "planners" and "pantsers." I, being of the former ilk,  prefer the term "prepper," because what is writing if not an apocalyptic disaster that often results in economic collapse?

This post is for procrastinating preppers. If you're a pantser, go forth and frolic in the autumn leaves or something. Just don't come crying to me when society resorts to martial law, 'kay?

If you're really not sure what your working style is, air on the side of prepper for now. Plans are made to be broken, but they can be comforting to stick to when no titillating alternative presents itself. Since November is only 4 days away, it's really important that to make sure you've purchased enough Halloween candy to guarantee yourself copious leftovers. It's almost as important to construct a rough outline of your story.

A lot of people, especially genre writers, swear by the Snowflake Method, and with good reason. It's a very comprehensive way of developing a plot and organizing subplots, but at this late date, you're going to need to pare it down somewhat. Here's my quick n' dirty version.

1. Write a 1 Paragraph Summary of Your Novel
Don't know what your novel is about yet? That's like, the essence of NaNoWriMo! Just finish the paragraph, even if you know you'll end up scrapping everything later.

2. Expand the Paragraph to a Page
This is where you want to get into the nuts and bolts of how and when everything happens. Again, don't know where you're going? That's okay, just keep going forward. Finish the page.

3. Make a List of Questions
Nope. Not deep, existential questions about why you're doing this. Just logical questions, such as "What was behind Mama June and Sugar Bear's breakup?" and "How do 5 women share a bathroom in the Thompson double-wide?"

4. Write the Page Again
After considering your list of questions, your second one page summary will probably look completely different from the first one. This is good. You're doing it right.

5. Break Your Page Down into Tentative Chapters
Even if you don't plan on breaking your manuscript into official chapters, this gives you defined starts and ends to work with. If you're feeling ambitious, you may want to go a step further and break each chapter down into scenes as well.