San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Four tips to get you started on writing a novel
Are you ready to write a novel? If so, the organizers of National Novel Writing Month believe in you.
Even if the popular nonprofit’s signature challenge — writing 50,000 words during the month of November — sounds daunting at the moment, NaNoWriMo has amassed a treasure trove of tips and resources that writers can tap into whenever they feel ready.
Two of the top options come courtesy of NaNoWiMo founder Chris Baty, who has authored a pair of books aimed at would-be novelists in need of a jump-start.
“No Plot? No Problem! A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days” includes more than 100 tips from a slew of successful NaNoWriMo alum, including Rainbow Rowell (“Fangirl”) and Marissa Meyer (“Cinder”). Baty’s “Ready, Set, Novel!” serves as the ideal workbook companion, while Lindsey Grant’s “Ready, Set, Memoir!” tailors the material for aspiring memoirists.
Even better, included in a free registration with NaNoWriMo, participants receive a bounty of complementary resources. They include a digital “NaNoWriMo Prep 101” workbook, which offers stepby-step guidance for a process intended to last six weeks.
In need of a story line to anchor your novel? Here are ideas for generating a plot:
Select tips are adapted from NaNoWriMo’s “NaNo Prep 101” digital workbook. For more resources and to register for NaNoWriMo, visit nanowrimo.org.
1. Borrow a plot
The key word here is “borrow.” If you don’t have an original idea to light your imagination’s fuse, NaNoWriMo suggests writing a summary of three books, movies or stories you personally love. Make sure to include elements like vital characters, important plot points and memorable settings.
Once you’ve finished this exercise, pick one of your summaries and start changing things around. That may mean altering characters, adjectives, plot turns, verbs. What you’re left with is a hybrid of preexisting plot and something all your own.
Do some mental sifting and voila: you’ve got a story.
2. Borrow a character
Like borrowing a plot, borrowing a character is an exercise intended to stimulate ideas by taking away a piece of the puzzle. In this case, NaNoWriMo encourages writers to pick someone — perhaps a distant relative or a person you know mostly through photographs — and invent a backstory or future for them. (For this reason, selecting someone you aren’t intimately familiar with is ideal.)
With this person in mind, prompt yourself to write the details of their backstory, be it one filled with challenges, dreams or triumphs. After that, ask yourself what this character’s “novel moment” would be. Most novels do not reflect an entire life span, so
what part of this person’s life is most suitable for the page?
Find that answer and you may just have your protagonist.
3. News you can use
You can also select a news
event (topical or otherwise) and attempt to channel the perspective of the people involved. NaNoWriMo offers the example of a river flooding, which in turn could inspire narratives of a family out on a camping trip, the park rangers
called to rescue them or the townspeople caught in the chaos.
Though it’s important to dispose of all biographical details when utilizing a news story as a prompt, they can be an excellent source of inspiration for writers staring at a blinking cursor.
4. Photos are your friend
Pick a photograph and describe what you find captivating about it. Is it an abandoned building? How did it land in such a state? Who built it? Is it haunted?
There are endless paths to choose when it comes to how you approach the exercise of creating a story from an image — and there are no dead ends. Simply scroll through social media or a compelling image gallery online until something strikes you.