Preparing for NaNoWriMo

by Sal Florentine

It's cold and chilly today and I haven't dared to leave the house yet. That's why it's the perfect morning for the last preparations concerning NaNoWriMo (add me if you're participating, I love having writing buddies --> SalFlorentine).

Many of youz have already blogged about their NaNoWriMo-tactics, offered tips, advice and general encouragement. As a first-timer, I feel I cannot add to the good stuff that's already out there, but here's a list of what I did to get ready for NaNoWriMo - and what I do for any writing project:

Hunting for inspiration

I make a list of things I find interesting and about which I'd like to write a. I look for additional inspiration in the news, history books, and things that happened to me personally.

Picking a subject to write about

The first inspiration that I wanted to write for NaNoWriMo seemed to promise so much fun putting it to paper, but after having outlined the whole thing I felt totally indifferent about the protagonists.

I found a different prompt on my inspirations-list and did another outline. When I came to the point where I needed to find the reason why the murderer had killed a bunch of innocent teenagers on a party I couldn't find one. Plus, the whole storyline was one large cliché.

On to the next topic on the list. Writing down the first outline was like floating. Ideas kept coming. 

Everything feels right about this one so I'm going to stick with it during NaNoWriMo.

Outline 

If I like a story, I write more than one outline.

The first one is pretty rough, it doesn't contain any names or places. I only refer to City A and Person B.

The second outline is more complex. I add names and subplots. Conflicts get more complex.

That's what I did for my NaNoWriMo project, too: write three outlines.

Characters

Sometimes I know a character before I know the story. Sometimes I come up with plot and don't know the cast yet.

But no matter what, I always write down some basic stuff about a character.

• What's his/her name?
• Who/what is he/she?
• What's her/his job?/What does she/he do?
• What does he/she want? Why?
• What does she/he fear? Why?
• Details about her family.
• Details about her appearance.

One-sentence blurb

I like the idea of one-sentence blurbs very much. One has to stop and think about a story's basic conflict and sum it up in one sentence only. 

Having done all that, I start writing.

What about you? How do you prepare for NaNoWriMo and/or any other project?

Overflow

I rarely suffer from writer's block. In the contrary: My mind is constantly overflowing. There's so much in my head I can't concentrate at all.

Recently, I decided to write a paranormal romance novel. So I sat down and thought about plots & subplots, internal & external conflicts. Then I started to write a few thoughts down. A few more ideas followed. After that, I decided to pick one plot idea and do some brainstorming. I put lots of stuff down and scribbled some additional thoughts down on an extra sheet. These were inspiration for other stories.

I started writing an outline. Right in the middle of it, I had an epiphany - which brought a whole new set of plots and conflicts. Suddenly, I had several concepts for more stories in mind. I started writing them down. I wrote and wrote and wrote. It got stressful; I couldn't sleep because I HAD TO WRITE.

Still, the ideas keep coming. My head's full of characters, plots, conflicts, beginnings, middles, and endings right now. At first, I thought I could simply mix and match those snippets and an outline would be done in no time. Wrong.

My mind is overflowing. Each new thought distracts me and keeps me from discovering the potential of the previous one. That way, I will never write another novel. 

How do you keep your inner muse in check when the ideas won't stop flowing? How do you channel your creativity?

*   *   *

Ich leide selten am "Writer's Block". Ganz im Gegenteil: Meine Gedanken laufen über. Mein Kopf ist so voll mit Ideen, dass ich mich kaum konzentrieren kann.

Vor kurzem entschied ich mich dazu, ein Buch im Genre "Paranormal Romance" anzusiedeln. Ich setzte mich hin, plottete vor mich hin und überlegte mir endlose Konflikte. Ich schrieb die ersten paar Gedanken auf, dann weitere. Dann entschied ich mich, einen Plot genauer unter die Lupe zu nehmen und alles, was mir dazu einfiel, festzuhalten. Mir fiel immer mehr dazu ein, genauso kamen mir Ideen für andere Geschichten, die ich ebenfalls notierte.

Ich begann, die Handlung zu umreißen. Während ich dabei war, traf mich der nächste Geistesblitz und zig weitere Ideen für Handlungsstränge und Konflikte strömten in mich hinein - und aus mir heraus, als ich sie aufschrieb. Es wurde Stress; ich konnte nicht mehr schlafen, weil ich SCHREIBEN MUSSTE.

Die Ideen kamen weiterhin. Mein Kopf ist im Moment voller Charaktere, Handlungsideen, Szenen, Dialoge, Konflikte... Zuerst dachte ich, ich müsse diese Puzzleteile nur zusammensetzen und hätte schnipp! eine Geschichte. Falsch geraten.

Meine Idee fließen über. Jeder neue Gedanke lenkt mich davon ab, den vorherigen weiter zu verfolgen und seine Möglichkeiten zu erforschen. Auf diesem Wege werde ich nie einen weiteren Roman schreiben.

Wie lenkt ihr eure innere Muse, wenn die Gedanken nicht aufhören wollen zu fließen? Wie kanalisiert ihr eure Kreativität, wenn sie mit euch durch geht?