Today, I read how redditorarector502plans to tackle NaNo.

arector502 wrote:I did this a few weeks ago when I planned out my NaNoWriMo novel. I used concepts from James Scott Bells bookWrite Your Novel from the Middle. To capsulize

• Start at the 50% part of your story (25,000 words for NaNoWriMo). Your protagonist makes the decision to go kick ass, or whatever to achieve his goal.
• Work backwards from the half-way point. Everything before the half-way mark is defense. You start with your protagonists world changing and obstacle after obstacle thrown at him or her until you reach the half-way mark. The Protagonist reacts to the situations.
• Work forwards from the half-way point. Everything after the half-way mark is offense. The protagonist becomes proactive and starts to do things to achieve goal
• Finally, protagonist reaches goal despite adversity.

Even pantsers could use this concept. Bells book also contains a list of important scenes to include in a novel. Worth checking out.

There are, of course, other novel structures out there that can help guide story development. Some people like the Blake Snyder Save the Cat beat sheet.

What do you plan to do for this NaNo? What has worked out well for you?

Here's a helpful blog on breaking down screenwriter and writing instructor Michael Hague's story planning:

http://hollybodger.com/according-to-hauge-five-stages-of-a-character-arc/

A common mistake I've been told I've made in the past is to not outline my novels. I always find myself getting halfway through a book and then getting stuck! I don't know how to move things along to get to where I intend to go, and it's so frustrating that I just give up.

So this year, I'm taking everyone's advice and preparing an outline. I first started with characters and a little bit of background information on them. Once I had those sorted out, I wrote a lengthy synopsis of how I would like to see my novel play out. Once I had a plan for beginning to end and everything in between, I did a chapter by chapter plan so I would know how to space things out, what I need to focus on, and could step back and see what is needed where.

And after that, I decided to revisit my characters and map out who they are. What is their purpose? Goal? Quirk? Motivation? Fear? History? Present? Personality? Interests? It's important to have these pinned down for your characters so you don't lose touch with them. I've had trouble with writing characters with no personality, and I have to be able to let my individual character's traits to run the show, not just force them into a plot.

It's a bit unorganized, but it was definitely a place to start for someone who usually does no planning!

This is the first year I'm plotting before November begins.

I use Scrivener, and I'm building my novel by scene. With the help of some research I've done, and an outline plotting the story all the way to the end, I feel I'm prepared this year.

I'm also taking November 1-2 off work!