As I said in my last blog post, I love participating in NaNoWriMo. I almost always mark myself as a "panster" instead of a "planner." I don't really map out my story ahead of time. I might make a couple character notes, decide on names for my characters or save pictures that inspire me and remind me of my story. But I do not map out the plot. I do not make story webs. I do not have a grid with each chapter and subplots.
Recently I found the Better Novel Project through a Harry Potter podcast. The website's creator, Christine, analyzes the first book in the best-selling series Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Twilight. She breaks them down using a master outline that includes hero traits, character cards, themes, symbolism and scenes. When I say breaks them down, I mean really breaks them down. Each break down has its own blog post about how each book does it and why it works.
Now, I'm not sure if I'm going to be writing sci-fi or fantasy for my NaNoWriMo 2016 project, but I thought it would be interesting to intentionally follow her master outline for this year's story. I have Scrivener and it really is the perfect resource and application for this type of planned writing. I used it for last year's NaNo for the first time ever and even without a ton of planning ahead of time, it helped me write more than I ever have before for the month of November.
It's only August, so we are a ways away from the actual start of National Novel Writing Month. I don't have a story idea yet. I don't even know what genre I want to explore. But I think it will be really fun to use this researched method of writing that have worked for some of the 21st century's most respected and successful authors.
You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal, Those patient Hufflepuffs are true And unafraid of toil. Writers are also unafraid of toil, and I happen to be both a Hufflepuff and a writer. So I shall toil away!
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