Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo with an Outline by Morgan Mandel

I don't know how I'm going to juggle this into my schedule, but I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo anyway. In the next few days, I'll get some posts ready ahead of time for my blogs and schedule them, so I'll be able to concentrate more on getting a new novel of 50,000 words done in one month's time!

Sounds daunting, but it's a challenge. I'll see how far I can get. If you care to join in the challenge, here's the link: http://nanowrimo.org/ You can sign up to be my buddy also. Just look for MorganMandel.

Anyway, for this NaNoWriMo thing, I'm going to get an outline and synopsis ready, with major characters, plot points, conflicts, anything else I can think of included, so when it's time to write, hopefully I can do just that.

I usually don't have to worry about deadlines and the boring necessity of an outline or synopsis, but I've got to do as much as I can ahead of time. I can't wait for inspiration to strike me, since it may happen in December and not November, which won't count for this undertaking.

I've got to ask. How many of you use an outline or synopsis, or do you just rely on inspiration?

Back to my outline now. I'll let you know how things are going.

Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com/
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/
http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com/

7 comments:

Tracee said...

Boy, I wish I had time to devote to this! But, I'd have to have an idea first, lol! Good luck, I'll be cheering you on all the way:)

Shari Anton said...

Lightly outline. I need some direction! Can't believe I'm signing up for this, but the writers on Twitter have inspired me.

thewriterslife said...

Wow, godspeed to you! I'm too busy to join you, but it does look like fun and what a challenge! I'm looking forward to hearing about your progress...will you be blogging it? That would be fun to read. Good luck to you, Morgan!

Morgan Mandel said...

I probably will be blogging about my progress, since it will be mostly on my mind!

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com

Kelly said...

I have to use an outline. I use my QuickPlot program, set up folders for everything. Maybe this year it will actually work as planned. LOL
Creative Blessings
Kelly
http://cauldroncafe.blogspot.com

Deb Larson said...

Good luck with the novel in a month regiment!! It sounds grueling, challenging and fun! But I have my hands full right now. As to the outline - I usually know where I want to end up ... and then make my characters get me there!
Keep us posted on your progress!
DL Larson

Laura M. Crawford said...

You are all going to think I've lost my mind (oh, wait, I did!), but I don't usually use and outline. I just think of an idea and go with it. I wrote the first one right off the cuff, and I loved every minute of it.

This year, I have been practicing my word counts per day, like a runner training for a marathon will run a certain amount of miles and save the full run for the day of the marathon. I currently write about 2,000 words per day (I was inspired by Stephen King who writes that everyday and wrote about it in his book "On Writing"). If I double my output, and I know I can, I will be able to finish up in about 2 weeks or 14 days.

I will be blogging about my progress and invite anyone who needs a buddy, a cheerleader (I want to be a motivational speaker when I grow up!), or just a shoulder to cry on, just look me up on the NaNo site. I'm using my name Laura Crawford, so you can find me easily enough. :)

Good luck, Morgan, and to anyone else who is up for the challenge.

Laura :)