So Nanowrimo (aka National Novel Writing Month) launches tomorrow, and I am ready.

Reading those words, you might not hear the doubtful tone in my voice. But I am more ready than I was at the start of October, and progress is always something to celebrate.

So far, I’ve fleshed out notes on the gist of this novel, by which I mean one core problem that will drive the plot.

I spent some time jotting notes and ideas about the setting, which went from non-existent (even though I knew it would be critical to the problem of this novel) to details that will serve as a resource to me in writing the story.

I didn’t have to take notes on my protagonist because this novel is part of a series, so I just reflected on her possible internal and external motivators at this point. I then reviewed past world-building notes and identified existing characters who could be part of this novel. Some of them have been a bit flat, so this novel gives me a chance to develop them further. I also identified at least one new central character. Because these novels draw on mystery tropes, I have identified a few possible antagonists to serve as red herrings along the way.

Just fleshing out those notes helped me identify a much-needed subplot that will run parallel to the main plot. I love the way such ideas emerge in the process of asking myself who is in the story and pondering what they want.

I chose Katytastic’s grid available on this part of Nanowrimo’s NanoPrep site https://nanowrimo.org/nano-prep-101#week3 to give myself general goals for about 27 scenes (conveniently close to the number of days in November). I don’t enjoy plotting within a spreadsheet, so I transferred the categories to MindNode, one of several graphic organizer apps that help me feel more playful about brainstorming but that I somehow never use enough to know how to make the most of them. I did figure out this time how to add stickers so I placed little doodle images with several scenes to try to capture the feeling of the scene. I did not write a lot for each scene, especially for the later scenes because I suspect I will be learning more about what is going on as I write out these scenes. I mostly identified key players for the scenes, possible goals, and settings.

I think I read some wise person’s advice about it being helpful for writers to get a clear sense of direction when they write. I think that makes sense, and I suspect that what I have done so far doesn’t fall into that category. It is true that sometimes during the course of a Nanowrimo I fast draft a scene early in the month with specific actions that later in the month I pretend didn’t happen because I can see how they didn’t work.

So there are aspects of the pursuit of 50,000 words in one month that don’t quite fit with Serious Writing. As I thought about it, I realized that Nanowrimo feels a bit like a game for me. Can I dream up the novel with just a few ideas? It’s a bit like a game I recall from long ago called, Name that tune, when you had to bet you could name a song with as few notes played as possible, i.e. I can name that tune in five notes. So I’m challenging myself to “create that novel” with as few notes as possible. I may discover mid-month (or sooner) that I need more plans, so I will have to stop and take more notes and make more decisions, including, as I mentioned, possibly revisiting/changing something I’d already drafted. It may take more time, but I just love being surprised by what I am writing.

So this year I realize that I do this for fun as much as anything else. Which, if I’m honest, has become the best reason to write, especially as I learn more and more about the publishing industry. It’s not that it’s impossible to write for your career, one way or another. But if you want the act of writing to be rewarding in the deeper sense of the word, just write for fun (or for joy or for personal transformation or to tell a story you need to tell).

As I dug into this commitment to pursue the joy of writing, I remembered how much I loved writing exercises with writing prompts. Again, it’s a kind of play or puzzle to see what arises in the moment. So the last stage of my NanoPrep was to identify three of my favorite sources of writing prompts (and I’ve barely scratched the surface with all three books): Everyday Creative Writing: Panning for Gold in the Kitchen Sink by Michael C. Smith and Suzanne Greenberg, The 3 A.M. Epiphany: Uncommon Writing Exercises that Transform your Fiction by Brian Kiteley, and Naming the World and Other Exercises for the Creative Writer, edited by Bret Anthony Johnston. Each day, I will pick one at random… or eventually pick one, in case I keep rejecting whatever I pick at random, and let that be what kicks off my drafting session for the day.

I saw a tweet by Erin Morgenstern that sums up my take on Nanowrimo:

https://twitter.com/erinmorgenstern/status/1454082114081673226?s=21

The only thing I would add is to clarify that “messy” drafts are accomplishments. As far as I’m concerned, that’s what we mean when we talk about drafting a novel. Revising a novel, that’s for later. (And of course, some people clean up the draft as they put it on paper, so you do you—I’m just saying that calling Nanowrimo a time for messy drafts is not a criticism.)

So to anyone else joining in the games and messes tomorrow, best wishes!