I
fyoufancy
yourselfasthe
nextLeoTolstoy,
Novemberisthe
monthtoproveit.
NaNoWriMo–National
NovelWritingMonth- isback,andinthe
comingweeksmore
thanhalfamillionpeople
willbeputtingfingersto
keyboard.Despitethename,
participantsjoininfromallroundthe
world,andyoudon’tnecessarilyhave
towriteanactualnovel:thegoalisto
simplytapout50,000wordsormore
offiction.Thosecouldbeacomplete
story,orachunkofalongernovel–
whatmattersisthewordcount.
While50, 000 wordsmaysounda
bignumber,overa30-daymonthit
breaksdowntojust1,66 6 aday.Ifyou
putyourmindtoit,youcanknock
thoseoutinanhour–andifyou
dictateratherthantype,it’slessthan
halfanhour’scomposing.
Simplyextemporisingabookoff
thetopofyourheadprobablywon’t
yieldthebestresults,however.
Someauthorscandoit,butasarule
thesecrettowritingsomethingworth
reading,whetherit’sanovel,memoir
orworkofnon-fiction,istocomeup
withaninterestingideaand
thoroughlyplanouteachstageofthe
story’sdevelopment.Wecan’thelp
youwiththat,butwecanintroduce
youtosometoolsthatcanmakethe
taskmanageableandevenenjoyable.
Planningsoftware
Thereareafewwell-established
modelsfordevelopinganovel.YouNationalNovelWritingMonthisbackforNovember–whattechtoolscanhelpyouwriteyourbook?NikRawlinsonshareshisnotesNaNoWriMo
Write that book for
mayseesuggestionsincludingthe
Snowflakemethod,the27-Chapter
formulaandthethree-actstructure.
We’llfocusonthelastofthese:it’s
aclassic,andeasytofollow.Thefirst
“act”isthefirstquarterofyourbook:
inthissectionyouintroduceyour
premise,thenmakesomething
happenthatspursyourherointo
action–despitedoubtsandsecond
thoughts.Acttwoisthelongest:start
bythrowingacoupleofobstaclesin
thehero’swayandshowthereader
howtheyovercomethem.Then,at
aboutthehalf-waypoint,introducea
bigtwistorcomplicationthatforces
theherotochangetheirapproach,so
thatwhentheyencounterthenext
twoobstacles,theyovercomethemin
anewandnovelmanner.
Bynowyoushouldbeaataround
the 37 ,500-wordmark,andreadyto
embarkonthethirdandfinalact.
Thisshouldbeginwithsome
seeminglyirrecoverabledisaster
thatpullsthehero’sworldapart
–butthen,againstalltheodds,
theherocanfinallybattletoa
successfulconclusion,
achievingwhattheyhad
fearedtacklingwaybackin
actone.Finishwitha
chapteroftriumph,
exploringwhattheworld
islikeaftertheeventsof
thenovel.
Asyoucansee,
onceyou’veworked
outthekeyeventsof
yourstory,it’snot
hardtocomeup
withaplanfor
fillingoutthe