For many writers, November marks an attempt to write an entire novel in just one month (trademarked as NaNoWriMo). Usually, the goal is to churn out 50,000 words – which averages over 1,500 words a day! Many young adult novels fall around this length, as well. But seasoned November novel-writers will tell you that everyone has a different approach to the grind. So here at Young Adulting, we are offering some tips and tricks, as well as a list of suggestions for scenes and prompts that might get you writing – novel or not!
Novels are marathons, not sprints. This means that you will need to build your physical and mental endurance through taking care of your body and your hands (try doing wrist exercises to help stretch before you set into a session, and take breaks before there is pain), managing your energy and fatigue levels by finding activity schedules that makes sense for you, and carving out deliberate time for writing as well as research. Thinking about writing or pitching ideas out loud with friends is writing too! There are handy, free-to-use word trackers online as well.
Optimize your workspace. In the same way that a painter or sculptor may have a studio or a central place for their writing, try to figure out if this is something you need. Some of you may enjoy writing in a café or a library, others will want to dedicate a single space somewhere around you with a notebook or a computer ready to go – so you can simply slip onto a chair and get going. If you’re relying on screens then an ongoing Word or Google Document can be a lifesaver on the go, or lying in bed, too (don’t tell your optometrist).
Don’t delete your drafts! A month is a long time to take a single idea and see it through to the end without letting the journey change your story. Keep your work somewhere you can look back on for inspiration or even future projects.
Accept failure and practice grace. It might be ambitious to write over 1,500 words every day – so try to schedule in days or plans for ‘catch-up’ and other days for rest. And if 50,000 words is simply too much for you right now, change the goal posts – you can opt for any format you like because novel writing month is all made up with no prizes or podiums to be had. If it doesn’t bring you joy—you don’t have to do it!
And now, here are some scenes and prompts you can return to:
Generate a Story Idea:
- Is there something that you’ve been through that made you so angry you can’t forget? What sort of circumstances and events led to this precipitating event, and what story still matters afterwards? If it made you upset, it is probably worth writing about.
- Create a story-bingo card based on your favourite tropes, settings, places, or conflicts – and see what sort of story can hit all the boxes you like best.
- Start at something you are passionate about and look up the most pressing concerns in that field today. What’s a solution that a character might need to learn to reach? What’s something bad that might happen?
Prompts for Creating Characters:
- Think of your favourite characters in stories you love – what made them memorable? You don’t need to imitate them, but maybe a character had a particular skill that made them stand out, or maybe they struggled with something you do. Start a character study where you pick three and three: 3 characteristics that are like 3 characters you admire, and 3 characteristics that are like you or someone you know well.
- If your character is culturally diverse or otherwise, investigate if you are accurately representing that culture and what might constitute speaking over a marginalized voice that isn’t your own. Diverse characters are good! But if your depictions rely on harmful stereotypes, language, or generalizations that erase nuance, then it might be time to do more research, seek out members of that community to openly chat with, or stick first to your own circles and move from there as you go.
- Map out a character that must exist in a particular world – if they are a social character, what sort of social skills do they need in this world? What about wealth, ability and disabilities, or language? How does their setting determine who they are?
Prompts for Setting the Scene:
- Visit the physical starting point of your story, if you can, and take photos or record field notes on what that setting looks, sounds, and feels like. If your setting is fantastical, is there a texture or a soundscape you think of when imagining it?
- Pull out a map and try outlining the places your story takes place in proximity to each other. It can help to start with a place you know – if your story is in a real-world setting, it is totally fine to use the real place.
- Sketch out whatever comes closest to a character’s most common physical space. This can be a campfire, or a school, for instance.
- Create a wardrobe for your character (or express the footprint you’d like it to take up) – does your characters’ clothing matter significantly in your story? What sort of fabrics, textures, or cuts might be relevant to your imagined period? Does your character have sixteen and one knives and weapons they need to unbuckle occasionally?
- In a make-believe setting, can you collage or sketch some ideas of what your made-up world looks like?
Outline Your Characters’ Forgetfulness:
- Write a scene or a piece of dialogue with information that your character(s) will forget that ends up being important later.
- Write about a missed event, such as a show or a flight, that impacts your character(s) in a positive way.
- Write about your character losing an everyday object on their journeys (such as a sword, or a wallet, a phone, or a wooden stake, etc.)
Prompts for Writing Dialogue:
- Try to write 7 lines of dialogue at a time – in narrative stories, too little or too much can interrupt pacing.
- Let your characters repeat their tone and energy – try writing dialogue where characters speak in the same tone at the end as they do at the start and see how it affects your story.
- Write a scene where characters (or other elements) are expressing anger through their language.
- Write dialogue that takes place silently – such as through email, text messages, messengers or scrying, pictures, etc.
- Mix in some inside thoughts with outside dialogue, especially for a character who may feel at odds with the world around them. Like this.
We hope these initial ideas get something going! And if not – we’ll see you at the halfway mark, with some new ideas to help.
Nisha Patel is the Managing Editor at Young Adulting. She is a poet and artist, and is an avid fan of all YA literatures. You can learn more about her at nishapatel.ca.
YOUNG ADULTING 