October Outlining

NaNoWriMo: After stumbling across NaNoWriMo, I just had to do it. The month of November is National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo. I had heard about it maybe once before, but that was before I was really ever interested in looking into things.
I read the site and found out the interesting part of this month (that I usually drift through) On finding that it was more than just acknowledging novels, but to write them. The goal of the month is to write a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days of November.

For some this sounds like an impossible task. But really all it is is 1667 words a day. I did a small estimation, and it turns out that if your story is going to be 50,000 words, then your could have 25 chapters with about 2000 words in each one. That means reaching the goal of writing a chapter a day. At first I thought I wouldn't do it. Cause I was already in the midst of writing another novel, although it was very on and off, struggling to express ideas. I was trying to give myself time to think about, time to take a break from the stress of it. But I find it hard to leave these types of projects, I like to finish things.

So the thing with NaNoWriMo is to start with a clean slate. Just start a new story, its just for a month. So I started to think on a new story idea. I wanted to write something I would enjoy writing, something that I would read myself. It had to be appealing to me.
It took a bit of thinking. I needed mental pictures to move me on. Finally I came up with a slight story idea. And over the days I have built it up into a plot, characters, genre, etc... I'm loving it. I always get so exited when I create something... and to me its perfect! (almost)

Outlining October: So I'm going to take October to outline my whole story. I need to have the whole thing thought out, on paper/laptop. I cant start writing the story till November the 1st. But I need to know my story before I start.
I'm journaling every day on the story. Putting down thoughts, ideas, books I've read that inspire ideas. I feel as if I need the proof of my thoughts down, so that I can go back when I'm writing the story, and see where I was going with it. Even the begging ideas are important. I try never to shrug off an idea I had in the past of a story process. Those ideas are what built what you have now.

Over the month you will be writing, a novel. But what I know is that when you finish, it will NOT be publishing material. It will be that lovely first step called a "First Draft."
The first draft is the first step in away. When you are done you can start editing it, to create your second.... and so on!

I'm really exited for this. I think the one thing that's motivating me, is that I might actually come to the end of the month with a finished first draft. And for me that will be enough!
http://nanowrimo.org/

-Rachel