Nanowrimo began two weeks ago and dear reader, I did not sign up.
I did well with Camp Nanowrimo and I had every intention to join and write to my hearts content. However, my self-induced anxiety has been pretty bad for the last month and a half. I lose myself in the worry because I want to do a thousand things at once for fear of being unproductive with my day. I ran out of the dot grid paper for my bujo and haven’t found inserts for it, so I’m going through my day without a plan.
Which is fine…..
But I need a some sort of structure because I overwhelm myself.
Instead of writing the rest of the story that I began in July for Camp Nanowrimo, I decided that this November I was going to finally use the writing resource books that I’ve bought over the last 6 years and have been collecting dust in my bookcase.
I’ve skimmed over them when I’d purchase them, each one providing great information and tips for writing a novel but I never applied what I learned from them. I decided that these next couple of months until the next Camp Nanowrimo, I’ll be making my own Novel workbook using what I learn from these 3 books and finally crafting a structured draft.
Write Your Novel In a Month by Jeff Gerke: Author of other writing resources like Plot Versus Character and The First 50 Pages, Gerke has put together a great tool for preparing to write the first draft of your novel in as little as thirty days. He provides instruction on how to organize the ideas, create dynamic stories, develop characters that are believable and give life to the narrative in your head! The book walks you through each process of Novel building.
Writing New Adult Fiction by Deborah Halverson: Establish Editor and Author, Deborah Halverson shares her advice on how to write that New Adult Novel. She provides a step by step process, including examples for clarity, to building memorable characters that embody what new adults are. The book outlines how to build a captivating plot, goes over finding the tone, voice and word choices that are best for your novel. Additionally, Halverson provides tools for revising successfully and efficiently in such a spreed-oriented market.
The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing by Writer’s Digest Editors: This book is JAM packed with advice from established writers and their methods to writing. Each share new ways to generate ideas and implement new techniques. The book even shows how the find inspirations you might need to finish your story. The best part of this book is that it is sectioned by genre. It goes over the building process for each one, gives advice on getting over writer’s block, revising your work and even throws in some publishing advice! It’s a one stop shop!
Have you read any writing resource books? How do you plan out your novel? Let me know in the comments below!
XOXOXO,
Jeimy