November is national novel writing month – whether you call it Nanowrimo, Novelember or anything else! So with one week to go, here are five ways to get ready:
1. Get your main characters ready for NaNoWriMo or NovelEmber
World Anvil’s corkboard for plotting story beats!
Use a character template, like the one on World Anvil, to make sure you cover the nuts and bolts – what they look like and what they can do. Then dig deeper, exploring their backstory, traumas and their motivations. The prompts on World Anvil will help you make sure your character is properly prepared for an insane month of novel writing! Who hurt you, main character? Well, you’ll answer that question in your upcoming novel! 😀
2. Sketch out your plot using a corkboard in advance
A corkboard is a great way to experiment with scenes for your novel. You can move scene ideas around, test out different orders for your plot beats, and get a feel for the flow of your novel. Unfortunately, physical corkboards take up a lot of space… so digital can be better. World Anvil’s novel writing software has a built in plotting corkboard that’s super useful for sketching out scene ideas. So download everything you have in your head NOW! Then you have something to write towards during NanoWrimo or NovelEmber.
If you’re looking for some inspiration, check out our plot ideas to create conflict or our guide to plotting for fantasy!
3. NaNoWriMo or NovelEmber – it’s all about that wordcount!
Both NaNoWriMo or NovelEmber are about hitting 50,000 words (although you can set yourself a rebel goal instead)! So set yourself a clear, trackable word count goal!
On World Anvil, just set your wordcount goal for your manuscript and it’ll update dynamically as your novel grows! That means you always know how much you need to write each day, making it easier to finish.
You can also set targets for individual chapters… and it’ll show you if you’ve written a monster chapter too!
And speaking of monsters…
4. Start worldbuilding before NaNoWriMo or NovelEmber…
…or at least, get the basics down in writing. I bet you already have ideas for your setting – whether that’s images of your fantasy world or a fully thought out magic system! Now’s the time to write notes, so that when Novel writing month starts, you can quickly reference them while you’re writing.
On World Anvil, your novel’s worldbuilding notes and your novel writing software are integrated. it’s really quick to check a detail as you’re writing — without leaving the page and forgetting what you were doing. you can also add and edit your world building notes as you’re writing. and you’ll never lose hours sifting through random documents or loose stacks of paper when you’re supposed to be writing words to meet your word count goal!
5. Book dates with yourself to write!
This last step is critical if you want to complete NaNoWriMo or NovelEmber. You need to figure out when you’re gonna write! If you already have a regular writing habit this is easier, but if you’re just getting started in November, figure out WHEN you’re gonna have time to write those words! You might even book writing dates with a friend (I’ve found this really helpful), or hang out with a great online writing community! It’s the accountability that matters – because you can’t write words if you don’t have your butt in your seat!
So, are you writing a novel this November? Share your pitch in the comments (it’s a great chance to practice!)
And make sure you check out NovelEmber – you can win a certificate, badges, and chat with other writers to get unstuck or fear up your motivation!
And I’ll see you over there 🙂
