ITS TIME TO PREPARE FOR NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH

Its that time of year again. The time when millions of people around the world sit at their computers, or grab their pen and notepads, and write a novel during the month of November. The world wide phenomenon known as Nanowrimo is set to begin Sunday, November 1st. The question is, are you ready? For many, the answer is not quite. So what can we do to prepare? Thankfully, the members of the Naperwrimo writers group, supported by area libraries, are here to help you prepare for the frantic fun just around the corner. During the month of October, there are four preparatory sessions planned for writers to meet and prepare their plots, characters, or writing brains for the upcoming month.

The first preparatory session will be October 3rd at the Nichols Library in Naperville, run by Anastasia Zoldak and Todd Hogan. Are you a planner or pantser? Dont know?! Then join us for an introductory NaNoWriMo session on story beat points, discuss genres and learn how NaNoWriMo can support your writing. Let's have some fun! Join us on our adventure as we discuss the basics and challenges of writing.

The second preparatory session is the night of Thursday, October 8th at the Aurora Public Library. Tim Yao and Catherine Brennan lead this preparatory workshop. The whys & hows of writing a novel in a month. Bring your laptop or notebook and pen to this highly interactive and entertaining workshop to gain a better understanding of how NaNoWriMo works and how you can succeed in writing your novel this November. There will be (small) prizes and even an example word war!

The third session in our series is October 10th at the 95th Street Library in Naperville. Whether youre a plotter strategizing your battle plan or a pantser curious about investing in a Nanowrimo road map, this session will help you visualize your novel rather than writing blind. Led by Sam Brown, aka Basil Cliffside, you will learn how to turn your story idea into 30 bite-sized pieces so you can avoid that deer-in-the-headlights feeling every day youre faced with an empty page.

Our last session of the year is October 17th at the Nichols Library in Naperville. Todd Hogan and Kathryn Stepp will host a session focusing on the characters for your novel. In this workshop, titled Characterology 101: Heroes, Villains, Lovers, and Amigos, you will take a look at Characters' roles in your stories. Also, you will study the difference between stereotypes, archetypes and your own characters. Attendees are encouraged to come dressed as one of their favorite characters. There will be two breakout sessions:

• Explore Character Development and their Motivation / Mindset

• Use Characters Conflicts and Motivations to Create Scenes

Also, be sure to join us for the potluck kickoff party on Saturday October 24th at the lunch room of the Naperville Municipal Center from 11:45 -2:45. There will be food, games, and fun for all. Once the writing has begun, we will have our annual all day write-in Friday November 13th at rooms BC of the Naperville Municipal Center. This write-in will begin at 9am and wont finish until 9pm. This all day event is a great way to sit for hours and churn out words, or even stop by for a short word war or two to get ahead on your word count.

For more information, see naperwrimo.org.

We'll be giving out this year's edition of the NaNoWriMo hipster PDA at the prep workshops (while supplies last):

Designed by Sam M. with a few illustrations by yours truly and with content contributed by Sarah J, Sarah K., Catherine and Sam B, this card catalog-themed hipster PDA is filled with cards to help you plan and write your novel.

Looking forward to seeing people at the workshops, starting with this Saturday's 1-3 pm workshop at Nichols Library by Ann and Todd.

--Tim

For those struggling to find parking at Nichols, you might want to consider parking at the Alfred Rubins center to the west of the library:

Notes, slides and pictures from today's first preparatory workshop have been posted on our blog.

Anastasia Zoldak (anastasia007) gave the first of our four 2015 preparatory workshops today (2015-10-03), looking at advice for plotters and pantsers, how to use story beats and the consideration of genre. Anastasia presented the workshop by herself since her collaborator Todd Hogan (writertodd07) was unable to make it.

Twenty five enthusiastic participants, including a fair number of first-time NaNoWriMo writers, listened, commented, asked questions and worked on creating milestone sentences in a break out session.

****REMINDER****

Tomorrow is the NaNo Planning Accountability Group Kick Off meeting at theHelen Plum Memorial Public Library (110 W. Maple St., Lombard, IL 60148). The meeting is scheduled from 1-3 pm, though we won't get fully started until around 1:15, because the library opens at 1 pm and we'll need a bit of setup time before getting going.

If possible, bring a laptop or device you can use to access google docs. We will be using the google doc spreadsheet at the link below to records our NaNo Commitments:

We'll go over the use of the spreadsheet tomorrow. If you can't make, you canstill use the spreadsheet to track your planning goals. Follow the instructions on the READMEworksheet to create your own worksheet.

Sam McAdams

USA::Illinois::Naperville Co-ML

November is getting closer and if youre like most of us, youre still deciding what youre going to write this November and NaperWriMo has two free workshops are scheduled for this week to help get your novel planning kick started:

NaNoWriMo In A Nutshell:

Tomorrow - Thursday , October 8^th from 6:45 to 8:45 at the Aurora Public Library, 101 S River St, Aurora

Tim Yao and Catherine Brennan lead this preparatory workshop. The whys & hows of writing a novel in a month. Bring your laptop or notebook and pen to this highly interactive and entertaining workshop to gain a better understanding of how NaNoWriMo works and how you can succeed in writing your novel this November. There will be (small) prizes and even an example word war!

Visualize Your Novel:

Saturday, October 10^th, from 1pm to 3pm at the Naperville Public Library--95th Street Library, 3015 Cedar Glade Road, Naperville, IL

Whether youre a plotter strategizing your battle plan or a pantser curious about investing in a Nanowrimo road map, this session will help you visualize your novel rather than writing blind. Led by Sam Brown, aka Basil Cliffside, you will learn how to turn your story idea into 30 bite-sized pieces so you can avoid that deer-in-the-headlights feeling every day youre faced with an empty page

Bring something to write with and come out to the preparatory workshop so you can get ready for November's National Novel Writing Month! Like all our events, this is free.

Plus, the NaNoWriMo Kick-off is coming up soon, on Saturday, October 24^th from 11:45 to 2:45. Be sure to RSVP on the Kickoff Pot-luck lunch October 24^th on the USA::Illinois::Naperville regional forum.

Finally, its not too late to join the NaNoWriMo Accountability Group. Upcoming meetings are scheduled for:

• Monday, October 12^th, from 7:30 to 8:30 via Google Hangout - NaNo Accountability Group Meeting - Oct 12th
• Sunday, October 18^th at the Helen Plum Library in Lombard from 1:30 to 3. There will also be a Google Hangout if you cant make it to Lombard. (NaNo Accountability Group Meeting - October 18)
• Monday, October 26^th, from 7:30 to 8:30 via Google Hangout - NaNo Accountability Group Meeting - Oct 26th

If you cant make any of the meetings, you can still participate by posting and updating your NaNo commitments in the Google Spreadsheet available at naperwrimo.org/nag.

Slides and photos from the second preparatory workshop are now available.

@BasilCliffside Great workshop today, Sam! I'm 210% more prepared for NaNo now than I was before your workshop! I've even started filling out index cards with scene ideas and character bios!

See the slides, photos and notes from Sam Brown's excellent preparatory workshop 2015-10-10.

I'm so glad to hear that! Thanks so much for coming. I'm working on mine right now....I started with index cards and realized I needed to prep a little more before I can finish them. Good luck!