Every year for the last 23 years, many writers commit to this crazy/amazing/brilliant {free} community and world-wide challenge that is NaNoWriMo.

I know lots of writers who use this month to focus and get lots of writing done (Ezra Barany — my husband, thriller writer, and co-teacher in many of our programs at Barany School of Fiction; me too {Raises hand!}).

Will you join in? Would you like to but don’t know where to begin?

We got you.

The secret for us is… we prepare.

How To Prepare for NaNoWriMo

We usually take the month of October to go through all of the things:

• theme, story summary, what-if, premise
• characters: their wants/needs, conflicts, motivations
• world building
• story structure
• plot
• and more — much more!

I do these in great rambling detail in a pretty organized way inside of Scrivener, trusting my gut; I’m more of a pantser, relying on intuition. I also do tons of research because it makes me happy. By the time I sit down to write, I feel ready! And I write murder mysteries, where I know what my investigator knows, mostly. Hehe

Ezra plans with tons of methodical detail. He’s more of a plotter, loving to dive deep into the nitty gritty before he writes. Spreadsheets, forms, index cards are his speed.

We use the method or framework we teach in our book, Plan Your Novel Like A Pro (comes with a bonus digital workbook), and the course by the same name (with coaching as an add-on.)

The blog post version is here — free; its ebook version is $0.99 — 7 Essential Keys to Planning For Novel, available at many vendors.

Choices!

Get ready for Nano and then get writing your novel!

Cheers!

RECAP: Write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days!

Nanowrimo is coming!

To take advantage of it if it’s your dream to write a novel.

To success, prepare! There’s lots of tools out there.

Here’s our 5 resources:

• Plan Your Novel Like A Pro (comes with a bonus digital workbook)
• Plan Your Novel course by the same name
• With coaching as an add-on. (More about coaching with Beth here.)
• Read the short blog post version here
• its ebook version is $0.99 — 7 Essential Keys to Planning For Novel, available at many vendors.

ABOUT BETH BARANY

Beth Barany is an award-winning novelist, master neurolinguistic programming practitioner, podcaster of How To Write The Future, and certified creativity coach for writers. She specializes in helping writers experience clarity, so they can write, revise, and proudly publish their novels to the delight of their readers. Her courses are packed with useful hands-on information that you can implement right away. Her transformational consulting sessions help you step into the author life you want with ease and joy.

She runs an online school for fiction writers, including a 12-month group coaching program to help them develop an editing practice and get published. 

More resources on publishing, book marketing, and novel writing are on her blog, for and by creative writers, Writer’s Fun Zone. When she’s not helping writers, Beth writes magical tales of romance, mystery, and adventure  that empower women and girls to be the heroes of their own lives. For fun, Beth loves walking her hilly neighborhood, puttering in her garden, and watching YouTube videos about the space industry. Beth lives in Oakland, California with her husband, Ezra Barany, also a novelist, and their cats.