Tag: NaNo Prep

NaNo Prep 2019 Recap: Lessons of a First-Time Fiction Writer

  • World-building is hard. I almost wanted to give up and write a realistic novel because it would be so nice to just do some research and come up with a right answer. Deciding on details past the initial idea is super difficult, without relying too much on classic cliches. Kudos to all the scifi/fantasy writers who make this look effortless.
  • If you don’t like the way your book is going, you can change it! And the sooner you scrap what you don’t like, the more time you have to spend on what you do like. I had plotted out a whole war between three nations in my book. Then my book started morphing into a depressing war novel that I didn’t want to write. Saving that plot somewhere else and starting over was a great choice.
  • Plots require both internal and external action. After scrapping the war, I tried to re-outline my book and found that nothing was happening in it. My main character was still making internal progress because a lot of the plotting advice I was following focused on character arcs. But there was nothing to happen on screen while my character worked on her insecurities. I had to swing my planning away from character for a while to focus on having something happen.
  • Novel planning is a balance between planning and pantsing, even if you are otherwise a heavy planner. In other areas of my life, I have a spreadsheet for everything. After a few false starts with more organized plot methods, I ended up using the snowflake method to plot my book. And the steps where you expand the summary of your book (steps 2, 4, & 6) inevitably led me off in weird directions which turned into whole subplots of the book. The difference between plotters and pantsers is when they take these diversions, not if they take them.
  • Don’t give into the first hour anxiety. Everything you do looks terrible in that first hour because it’s hard to get back into it. Stick with it into the second hour and you’ll fall in love again.

Tomorrow is the big day! I’m terrified but excited.

3 Tools for NaNoWriMo Fantasy Writers, Including the Best Map Maker Ever

As I’ve prepped for NaNoWriMo this month, I’ve discovered something: worldbuilding is hard.

Well-thought-through worlds and logical magic systems are some of my favorite parts of the fantasy genre. Until I tried to make one. It is hard! So much work goes into making up a lot of things that will never go on the page, but that you need as background to even start creating a plot.

My respect goes out to those epic world builders who make this process look effortless. I am not one of those. I don’t have fully formed fantasy worlds and ideas just lying around, and I need to come up with them fast. (NaNo cometh!)

I’ve found a few tools this month that have allowed me to take lots of shortcuts (shh!) in getting my fantasy world into shape and let me spend more time on characters and plot:

  1. Azgaar’s Fantasy Map Generator – Exactly like the title says, this is a fantasy map generator, but it’s really so much more! Not only can you choose the type of map you need (Civilization style–continents, archipelego, etc.) and how many countries, but you can set the number of religions and cultures you want. You can select a base language structure for the names of each country/culture and it will name all the rivers and towns for you, give you historical sites, show you the boundaries on different religions and give you a basic structure. Then you can customize the random map with drawing tools. Not only is it nice to have a map, but the generated religions and cultures can give you great ideas for plot conflict: why is this country split into two different cultures and what do they disagree about?
  2. TV Tropes – If you want to know about a cliche idea in television or literature, it’s here. This was a great way for me to look up what elemental magic systems had been done before and their variations. I found some interesting ideas that I was able to pull into my work. Also great for finding out what promises you’re making to your reader by picking certain tropes so you can either fulfill or play with audience expectations. And I feel like the random trope button is going to be a great tool for when I get stuck during NaNoWriMo. Instant plot idea! Just don’t let the fact that everything has been done before get to you.
  3. Springhole’s Random Generators – This site has random generators for so many different things. I’ve specifically been using the character flaws and motivations ones as I brainstorm characters other than the main character idea I had to start with. They have generators for everything. So helpful in getting creative juices flowing.

So those are the things saving my (writing) life right now. I had to throw out my novel’s plot last week and start over, as it started to become a depressing war novel that I didn’t want to write. But I’m soldiering on.

How’s your NaNoWriMo (or other project) going right now?