Ready to Write Your First Novel During Nanowrimo? by Beth Barany
If you want to get ready to write your first novel during Nanowrimo, (or anytime, really!) then check out our resources — courses and books and articles.
That way you can start the writing process clear-eyed, clear-headed, and feel like you’re not wasting your time as you write your first draft.
You can write your first novel!
We use these tools to write our novels, Ezra and I, and have written and published over a 14 books in 4 genres; we’re award winning novelists, and find these tools help us save time and make the writing fun.
Remember: Your first draft doesn’t have to be great; it just has to be done. In fact, we tell our students their job is to write a crappy first draft.
A Crappy First Draft is Awesome!
We celebrate first drafts around here.
That means you did the hard work of getting your ideas on the page.
That means you get to do the next thing — edit your novel. But more about that in another post.
Let’s focus on what can help you gain confidence, so you can sit down and write that first draft.
Some call it an exploratory draft. Some call it Clara. You can call it whatever you want.
What matters is that you write your story down. Start with notes, brainstorms, and random thoughts.
Put them in a structure. Trust your creative soul.
Write…
Tools to Help You Plan So Your Can Write Your First Novel (or Fifth!)
Here are some tools that can help you.
7 Essential Keys to Planning Your Novel: Story Preparation for Pantsers
This book is great if you want the bare minimum to get you started and comes with a fun and useful Bonus Pack that includes a checklist, videos, the “How to Come Up with Your Story” webinar and companion “10 Ways to Generate Ideas” e-book .
Plan Your Novel Like A Pro: And Have Fun Doing It
This book is great if you want extensive story planning tools (over 30 lessons) to help you develop your idea seedling in a fully-fledged story outline, so you can write your story with confidence and clarity. The book comes with a Bonus workbook and a 50% off coupon to the online course.
Jump right into the course at Barany School of Fiction. This course comes with teacher support.
One student said:
“This course helped me get out of my writing rut. I am not one to outline or get to know my characters before writing. By taking this course I learned that plotting and characterization can be fun. Now I find writing to be fun again. Thanks. “
– Kay LaLone, YA Paranormal Mystery Author
BONUSES, BECAUSE THEY’RE AWESOME
When you sign up for the bonuses that come with the first 2 books or you sign up for the class, you also get access to our community, Fellowship of the Pen, and the support we provide:
- Weekly writing sprints to help you focus on your writing
- Monthly Q&A calls to get live coaching and join together in community to learn from each other and support each other
Are you ready to write your novel and take action now?
If you’re ready to take action now, if you want to write your first novel for yourself or for the next generation, or to see if you can do it, or if you have something you need to say, then check out our offerings and see if they’re right for you.
If you’re not sure which of our offerings are right for you, write me to set up an appointment to chat, or go here to sign up for the no-obligation call.
I’ll leave you with this today…
Over the last 20+ years I have devoted my attention to writing fiction, and recently I published my 10th novel, Lured By Light, the next Janey McCallister mystery. Yippee!
I am proud of my books and all the work I have done to get to this place.
I am also amazed at what I have accomplished — I have accomplished what I set out to do.
When I look back at the little girl I was at 8 years old, working on her first story with her brother about their cats, and wanting to be a writer, and then fast forward to now, I’m in awe.
From a young age I wanted to write stories, and now I can. Wow.
If I can do it, so can you.
♥
ABOUT BETH BARANY
A Master NLP Practitioner and certified creativity coach for writers, Beth runs Barany School of Fiction, a full suite of courses designed to help genre fiction writers experience clarity and get writing, so they can revise and proudly publish their novels to the delight of their readers.
Based in Oakland, California, Beth Barany has presented at Ithra Center (King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, at the Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera, Italy, at Romance Writers of America National Conference, at Emerald City Conference in Seattle, Washington, at the San Francisco Writers Conference, and at San Francisco Bay Area chapters of SCBWI, CWC, and RWA.
Award-winning novelist, Beth Barany writes magical tales of romance, mystery, and adventure that empower women and girls to be the heroes of their own lives.
She is the award-winning author of Henrietta The Dragon Slayer, the acclaimed paranormal romance author of the Touchstone series, and is proud to release her newest novels, science fiction mysteries about Janey McCallister space station investigator.
The first book in the series, Into The Black, is a Page Turner Awards Finalist, and as a result, won an audiobook publishing contract.
She has also written books for writers, including Plan Your Novel Like A Pro, co-written with her husband, thriller writer Ezra Barany.
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