As we’re getting ready for Nano, the first step is to come up with an idea. I wrote a post about finding a novel idea the other day. Let’s explore idea generation a bit more before moving on to the outline.

You need to have a driving idea for the novel in order to move forward. Here are some examples…

A group of people face the end of the world — twice. After being mysteriously spared from a virulent plague, they must band together to save the world. Stephen King’s, The Stand.

A young man lives out the curse on his father because of his unusual pride. Tolkein’s, Children of Hurin.

A girl follows her father into Eastern Europe and discovers an ancient evil, and her long-lost mother. The Historian.

Of course, you can simplify any novel this way. If you were to take any of these ideas and write them yourself, it would be drastically different from the original (obviously!)

The gist is, you don’t have to come up with an “original” idea. Your execution, not your idea, is what will be original. Besides, you’d be hard pressed to come up with an idea that hasn’t been done in some form. I think writers tend to get bogged down in finding a perfect idea. Instead of focusing on that, take a good idea that you have and start working with it.

If you haven’t come up with your novel idea yet, try these tips.

1. Carry a notebook for the next few days. Write down any conversation snippets, ideas, descriptions, etc. that come to mind. If you don’t have a notebook, fold up a couple sheets of paper and put them in your pocket.
2. Go back through your old notes, short stories, abandoned novels, etc. for anything that might be resurrected or revamped.
3. Jot down the plots for some of your favorite novels. Simplify them down to one sentence and think about how you might do it differently.
4. Start with a character instead of a plot. Write down what she does during the day, what her goals are, etc. Think about how you’d approach a novel about this person.
5. Stop stressing. Sometimes, the harder you try for an idea, the more elusive they are. Sit down and just start writing; you’d be surprised at what might come to you.

Next, we’ll start talking about outlining the novel.

Are you writing a novel this November? If you’re interested in participating in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), then that’s exactly what you’ll be doing.

Specifically, you’ll write 50,000 words (at least) on a novel that you haven’t already started. You can outline it beforehand, but not start writing until November 1.

This year will be my fourth, and I can tell you that it’s a challenge, and a blast!

If you’re planning on participating, then the first thing you’ll need is an idea. Over the next weeks, I’m planning a series of novel-building posts to help you ramp up for NaNo. I’ll be using the same ideas to get ready myself.

Where do you get your ideas?

Yep, a stereotypical question, but you have to get them somewhere. If you’ve been keeping an idea journal, then you have some material (maybe lots) to start with. If not, then now is a perfect time to start. Go through your journal and see if any ideas sound promising.

Another idea is to grab a general plot idea and start with it.

• Two people fall in love who shouldn’t.
• Someone gets murdered, kidnapped, raped, etc.
• Someone discovers a something or some place.
• A character goes through a life-altering discovery or change.
• A marriage falls apart.
• A person’s life falls apart.

You can turn any of these into any genre you like.

Another approach is to start with a character, instead of plot. Again, this all depends on your writing preference. I tend to do a bit of both, depending on the work. Think about who your main character will be and jot down some notes.

• Describe your character’s physical characteristics
• Describe your character’s personality
• What does your character want? What does she fear? Frustrating these can make for good story lines.
• See my character building worksheets for more exercises for developing your characters.

Post your NaNo ideas below.

Here’s the example of the novel and how I’m doing the outlining that I promised. Of course, all standard copyright applies. Please feel free to link to it here, but please don’t copy it on your own site.

Novel excerpt

I used OpenOffice.org software to write the novel and do the table of contents, which is actually an outline for me. I can work from those notes as I’m doing the editing/rewriting that’s next in the process.

I used the following abbreviations and style formatting.

S: subject heading1

C: conflict heading2

N: notes heading3

E: ending heading4

You could, of course, add even more layers to the outline. If you prefer, you can even set Open Office to include the paragraph text in the table of contents/outline. I’m sure something similar is possible in Word, but I usually don’t use Word for anything more complicated than a simple document.

This is an extremely rough draft. One thing that jumps out at me is that. the scenes are far too short and choppy. Not all the characters are going to stick around until the end of the novel. Teresa and her story just dwindle away, so I’m probably going to remove her entirely. I’m also going to redo the ending.

By the way, these scenes were written last November as part of NaNoWriMo, so I’m not kidding when I say they’re rough!

I know that writing a novel, and editing a novel, are very personal tasks. I hope that something I’m doing might give you some ideas or come in handy in some way.

Yes, I’m roughly 2000 words behind where I wanted to be by this point, but I did spend a good amount of time yesterday planning and outlining, so it’s not as bad as it might seem. Expect another word count update tomorrow morning; I’m rising and shining and getting my butt in gear first thing.

We were supposed to head out of town this weekend, but it turns out that hubby is on call. That’s okay, it’ll give me a change to write and get some much needed girl time between me and my mom.

Stay tuned, I’m putting together some links on outlining and planning a novel that I hope to get posted within the next few days. Keep writing!!