Can you still prep for NaNoWriMo?

Edited for readability. Passages from the original recording that are out of date have been left out and are marked in brackets.

Welcome back to the Author Revolution Podcast. I'm your host, international bestselling indie author Carissa Andrews and CEO of Author Revolution. the indie author source for all things rapid releasing. We are officially a week and a half away from Nano, right, my friend?

Yes, National Novel Writing Month is coming up November 1st. And as I said last week, I am 100% going to be doing it this year. It'll be the seventh time I've participated, and every time I walk away from it feeling completely validated in my author journey and process, you can too. Today, I want to talk a little bit more about the special Twilight Hour before NaNoWriMo starts, because it's still an important time.

October is affectionately dubbed Preptober, and for good reason. It's the month where we all scramble to get our Nano projects in order, so we can hit the ground running on the first. Without getting focused, you'll likely find yourself flailing about a bit or quitting before the end of the month. I've seen it happen, and I've almost done it myself.

Now, this year, I'm going to be writing the second book in a series that began back in 2018. I didn't originally plan for it to become a series, but I knew by the end of the first book that it was a world I wouldn't mind diving back into. So I deliberately gave myself an opening. Just a little opening, just in case.

And luckily, readers loved it as much as I do. So the book I am talking about is Oracle, and the series that I'm now going to be working on is going to be called the Diana Hawthorne Supernatural Mysteries. Now, I have to admit, it's a little strange being able to work on that series after finally getting finished with the Windhaven witches. It's nice though, diving back into Diana's world a little bit more fully and bringing her back to the forefront of my mind.

She's been very bossy, actually, and she's had a way of making herself known. Ever since Oracle first made her debut. However, those of you who have read any of my other books already know that now. Spoiler alert yes, she's even managed to wiggle herself into the Windhaven books.

It's okay, though, I can say this because Soul Legacy has been out for a few weeks, and that's the first book where she comes into the picture just a little bit. What's new about this Nano prep work for me is that I'm not only going to be planning for the single book, but in a lot of ways, I'll be setting the stage for how the rest of this long Tale series will go. I plan to use Diana in a never ending story type series, where each book has its overall arc, but wraps up nicely on its own without needing to read on to the next one or even reading it in any particular order necessarily. Whether or not that will come to fruition.

I'm not entirely certain, but that's the goal. It's going to be my version of Nancy Drew books, only with a 2000 year old psychic who's a little more than sick of people at this point, and who, for whatever reason, one way or another, can't seem to stop herself from helping out. Now, however, if you're like me, maybe you've been procrastinating a little bit on your Preptober prep work. Maybe you've thought about your project.

Maybe not. Maybe you've done some work on it. Maybe not. Well, I'm not going to lie, I haven't even given the series much thought at all since I finished Windhaven.

But back in June, Diana did start bending my ear, wanting me to take notice of her. So I did a little bit of ideation. I got a mind map made of her and her adventures. Plus I decided on titles for the next five books, and that's pretty much where my prep ended.

However, that doesn't mean there isn't time to get prepped and ready for November. In fact, I plan on diving in by the end of the week. So if you're like me and you're wondering, can you still manage to get your head wrapped around a novel before November 1st? I am here to tell you it is totally doable, my friend.

In fact, in order to get started, there are really only three things you have to do. That's it. No big deal, right? Just three.

So why don't we go over them? The first one really is character prep. One of the single best uses of your Preptober. Time is to plan out your characters.

Spending some time in character development can ensure that you have strong, dynamic personalities taking center stage. And we all know it's the interesting characters that steal the show. So don't head into Nano without putting a little bit of effort into this area. Readers stick with authors and series because the characters resonate with them, not because the prose was perfect or the cover was beautiful.

In fact, I'd say the more time you can spend here giving your characters backstories, quirks, and idiosyncrasies, the better. Check out the Positive Trait Thesaurus and the Negative Trait Thesaurus to make sure you're giving those characters some added dynamic.

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I love using them, and I use them pretty much with every single book that I've ever written. But I also know that we're coming down to the wire, so be sure to keep an eye on the time. At the very least, pick the top three characters in your book and flesh them out to the best of your ability. Trust me, you will thank yourself later.

All right, so tip number two is outline your novel. I know, I know, I can hear you groaning from here, but trust me, the outline is truly your trail guide when it comes to staying on track this month. If you fail to outline, chances are you will write yourself into a corner or two and end up either feeling stuck, confused, or both. Right around November 20th would be my guess.

Don't be that person. Give yourself every advantage for writing this first draft quickly by having a map to follow. Depending on your time and how detailed you want to get. I do encourage writing out both a skeletal outline of your book and a chapter by chapter synopsis to keep you centered.

If you want to learn a little bit more about my outlining methods and how to implement them, be sure to go back and listen to episode 16, Pantsing versus Plotting. Time to talk outlines. You can find it at authorrevolution.org/16.

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It will give you a clear idea of how to go about outlining your novel, and making sure that you have all the information you need before you get started. All right. Tip number three get your novel set up in Scrivener. You probably thought I was going to say something else, but it's Scrivener.

In order to hit the ground running on November 1st, you do need to have your manuscript obviously prepped and ready to go. The actual manuscript part that means having it's home or file, I guess, set up and ready to rock and roll. Like I said, I personally recommend Scrivener for all of my authors. I know many of you are probably writing in Word or maybe even Google Docs, but believe me, once you get a program like Scrivener, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.

There are so many ways to be able to organize your chapters. Plus, you can get an app that you can download and write from literally virtually everywhere. The line at the grocery store while you're waiting for your kid in the doctor's office, or the dental visits, anywhere, everywhere you can write. It's fantastic.

And you know those other two tips that we've already talked about, both character development and outlining your novel can be done within Scrivener. So then everything is kept in one nice and neat package. In fact, I love it so much. I even use the binders to keep the rest of my worldbuilding organized, especially for series.

And it follows from each book to book to book because you can copy and paste the whole thing. Students in my Rapid Release Roadmap course will also have access to my exclusive Scrivener Worldbuilding template that takes you in-depth into worldbuilding and character development. Should that be something you want to do? So put that in your back pocket for perhaps next year's NaNoWriMo.

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All right. You know, I have to give you a bonus tip. I said three, but we're going to give you a bonus tip because this is kind of a smaller episode. Bonus tip is getting signed up on NaNoWriMo.

We talked about this a little bit last week, but I'll reiterate it again today if you want to hold yourself accountable. Plus, get in on the fun community that is NaNoWriMo, you're going to want to get set up on their site. So go to nanowrimo. org and get a profile set up.

If you don't already have one, then declare the book that you're going to be working on. Even if that's all you do, you can hold yourself accountable by adding your daily word counts and watching as the graph gets bigger and bigger. It's pretty fun, actually. Plus, you can also join in with other groups or find fellow authors like me to be friends with.

I think the best part really for me is when I enter in my words at the end, and then you get the little confetti thing at the end with the thing that says, you're a winner. You completed this NaNoWriMo challenge. You get like a little PDF where you can put your name on it. It's like a little certificate that says you're a winner of this year's NaNoWriMo, and then you get a whole bunch of really cool bonuses at the end where it's discounts, to try different things, one of them actually being Scrivener because they are a partner with NaNoWriMo, you get all sorts of things, like access to t shirts that say that you are a winner of Nano right now, and I love getting those every year, because it's just fun to be able to promote yourself as an author and someone who participates in something that most other authors or writers know about.

Now, just to recap really quickly, the three tips were get your character prep done. Make sure you know who your characters are and why they're dynamic. Number two, outline your novel, whether it be a skeletal outline or a chapter by chapter synopsis, and get your novel set up on Scrivener. If you don't have Scrivener, any other program definitely will work.

But Scrivener is the one that I do recommend, and especially if you like to stay organized with your novels. And then don't forget the bonus tip get yourself signed up on NaNoWriMo and I'll see you over there. Now, if you haven't listened to last year's podcast episode called Five Tips to Take on NaNoWriMo, I encourage you to go back and have a listen to it. In it, I'm talking a little bit more broadly about the mindset and overall tips for being a participant, and you can find that episode at authorrevolution.org/2.

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All right, my writerly friend. That's it for this week. So I want you to go forth and start your author revolution.