NaNo Prep: Is Your Story Idea Ready?

Many writers will spend the month of November dedicating every spare minute to writing as they participate in National Novel Writing Month (known as NaNoWriMo or just plain NaNo). So now is the perfect time to start thinking about what story idea we want to explore next.

A common assumption about NaNo is that people write gibberish (or close to it) to meet the word count demands, cramming 50,000 words into a 30-day deadline. To be sure, some people do write messy stream-of-consciousness rambles that don’t add up to a story. But NaNo writing doesn’t have to be poor quality.

I’ve participated in NaNo for six years, and twice I’ve “won”—meaning I successfully reached 50K words. (And two of the years I “lost,” I participated as a NaNo Rebel and finished the books I was working on, so those are still a “win” as far as I’m concerned. *smile*) Every NaNo book I’ve written is published (or will be published), and one NaNo story won the National Readers’ Choice Award, so I know what the quality of NaNo writing can be.

To make NaNo work for us, we need to figure out our goals for the experience—and there’s no wrong answer. However, if our goal is to create coherent stories during the mad scramble for words, we should try to understand story structure.

And now that we’re approaching NaNoWriMo season, it’s time…

It’s Here! The Lost Your Pants? Workshop!

That’s right. My popular Lost Your Pants? The Impatient Writer’s Guide to Plotting a Story workshop is now open for registration. *smile*

Whether we’re a “pantser” (writing by the seat of our pants) who just wants to learn a minimalist approach to story development, or a plotter who wants to understand how plot and character arcs work together, this class might be able to help.

Attendees will receive several tools (worksheets and beat sheets) developed especially for the workshop. Also, the class will help us prepare for NaNo, as the tools help writers work out enough story direction to make “fast drafting” techniques work for them.

This workshop consists of two sessions:

• Tues., October 16th, 9 p.m. Eastern (New York) time/6 p.m. Pacific time
• Thurs., October 18th, 9 p.m. Eastern (New York) time/6 p.m. Pacific time

Both sessions are recorded for registrants, so even if you can’t make it at the scheduled time, you can sign up and listen later at your convenience. It will not be offered as an OnDemand class for later registrants.

General Admission:

Learn techniques and receive tools developed especially for pantsers.
More Info »

Gold Level Admission:

Gold Level also includes a Phone Consultation to discuss your Story Plan.
More Info »

Platinum Level Admission:

Platinum Level also includes a Phone Consultation and Editorial Analysis and Feedback for your Story Plan.
More Info »

As a regular reader of my blog, I’m passing on a discount to this workshop, as you’ll hear some stuff you already know from my posts here. Use the Coupon Code JAMIBLOG to get an additional $10 off my usual “Jami’s friends and readers” discount already taken off the price on my site.

(Or if you signed up on my Workshops page to hear about when the class would run, look for your special coupon code in an email from me!)

How Does Knowing Story Structure Help Us?

I’m a die-hard-and-proud-of-it pantser, so I developed this process for myself. In other words, I promise my fellow pantsers that I’m not one of those authors who will tell you that you need to plot because otherwise “you’re doing it wrong.” *smile*

However, if we’ve seen articles about pantsing vs. plotting before, we know that many writers and editors don’t respect the pantsing process. Pantsers are often considered hacks who can’t put together a coherent story.

But I believe that most problems experienced by pantsers come down to whether or not they understand story structure. And a lack of understanding story structure will cause issues for plotters too.

Sure, some writers are instinctively able to put together (mostly) coherent stories while drafting. But without conscious knowledge of the underlying structure of stories, they might struggle to fix problems in revisions.

Other writers put together words willy-nilly and end up with tangents and a story that doesn’t hold together. Or they might zoom through the first several chapters, but then get stuck halfway and not know where to take the story next.

And still other writers want to plan their stories in advance, but having a story outline doesn’t necessarily prevent problems. After all, their plan doesn’t do any good if it’s simply chaos that’s been written down.

All of these writers have one thing in common: A strong sense of story structure would help them during planning, drafting, and/or revisions.

Doing #NaNoWriMo? Make sure you understand story structure. Click To TweetAny author—a pantser or a plotter—will struggle with a story if the structure isn’t sound. If there’s a premise but no plot. If the plot arc isn’t solid. If the emotional growth is stagnant. If the stakes don’t increase. If the scenes don’t have goals. Etc., etc.

On the other hand, any author—a pantser or a plotter—will be more successful at writing a story filled with connections and meaning if their knowledge of structure is complete. Especially if they fully understand how the plot and character arcs work together over the course of the story.

Who Is this Workshop for?

I jokingly refer to this workshop as my “plotting for pantsers” class, but it’s really about how to plan our stories at a high level and work our way down only as much as we need to. We’ll learn the basic “need to know” plot points and character development steps, and more importantly, we’ll learn how those elements all play together.

(And yes, I say “we’ll learn” because every time I give this workshop, the conversation we have in the chat helps me understand all of the intricacies of story structure better too. That’s one of many reasons this class isn’t offered OnDemand. *smile*)

Attendees will receive exclusive tools to step them through a unique process that helps writers no matter where they fall on the pantser/plotter spectrum:

• Those who write by the seat of their pants will learn how to plan “just enough” to keep both their freaking-out inner editor and their diva muse happy.
• Those who plot a story in advance will learn how to use flexible tools to create a coherent outline before drafting.

This workshop shares additional planning layers we can use at any point in our drafting process. The tools help with planning both the plot and character arc, as well as seeing the conflicts and obstacles we can use in the middle of our story to kick start our writing again. When we have to get in 50K words in 30 days, we need to quickly overcome those times we’re stuck. *smile*

Great! But What If the Times Aren’t Convenient?

Unlike the rest of my workshops, which are available OnDemand, registration for the Lost Your Pants? workshop is opened only once a year. However, everything is recorded for attendees.

The webinar recordings include all audio, slide presentations, chat window with questions from attendees, etc. It’s almost as good as being there. *smile*

It’s an intensive class that includes oodles of exclusive materials and always goes over on time because I make an effort to answer every question and help people with their stories. So while this class will be recorded for registrants, the recordings won’t later be made available for others.

In other words, between the fact that it’s only given as a live class and that I don’t offer it very often, I recommend that anyone wanting to take this workshop sign up this time around.

Bummer, What If I Can’t Budget It This Year?

I’ve written several posts over the years with tips on how to get started with our story. So if you’re not able to register for the class, I can at least point you in the right direction for some of those posts here. *smile*

• Planning Smart: We don’t want to spend hours working through a character background sheet if we’re good at winging the character aspect of our story. Alternately, we don’t want to waste time completing a story outline if we’re good at making up the plot turning points as we go. Learn what style of planning will work best for us.
• Essential Elements of a Story: Does our story contain all the essential elements? Does it have the bones of a good story? Learn what elements we need for our story to be strong, have a purpose and an arc, and how we can make it even better.
• Finding the Start of Our Story: What should the starting point of our story be? What opening scene will best get across the right impression, lead to the rest of the story, and grab readers’ interest? Learn what story opening might work best, how to avoid an opening page infodump, and an alternate approach for figuring out the best story beginning.
• Build Arcs & Don’t Get Stuck: What should we do if we get stuck in our plot? Or with our character? How do we develop a character arc? How can we avoid a “sagging middle”? What do we need to include in our story’s climax?
• Nitpicky Issues that Can Wait for Revisions: Should our protagonist be on the first page? Should we avoid prologues? What about first-page clichés? How can we skip time between scenes?

If you’re participating in NaNo this year, I wish you luck! I’ll be doing NaNo this year too (buddy me—I’m Jami Gold). And if you sign up for my workshop, don’t forget to use the JAMIBLOG coupon code! *smile*

Also, remember that I’m currently running an open call for guest post proposals! Have an idea for a guest post? Let me know! And here’s more information.

How important do you think story structure is for storytelling? Do you have a good handle on story structure? Are you participating in NaNo this year? What are you working on for NaNo? Do you have any questions about the workshop?