Well, how are you doing? Are you taking on the NaNoWriMo challenge? If not, are you working on your WIP at a reasonable pace?

Good!

Here’s what I love about NaNoWriMo. Fast drafting. There’s an entire movement in the writing world telling us, “You can write fast and get a book almost done!” We’ve been given permission to press on, forget editing, forget fixing and polishing! Just write.

A professor friend of mine tweeted that she was participating in NaNoWriMo for the “fun of fiction.” How true. For one month, you get to just make up a story! She can have red hair on page one, blue on page 50 and brown on page 100.

She can be write, black, Hispanic. He can be a doctor, then a lawyer and maybe end up an Indian Chief. It’s whatever you want. I forget names so I plug in new ones but mark them in some way. I sometimes write ADD SENSES HERE. Or NEED MORE EMOTION.

I might tweak a scene from the first to the last. Yesterday, the heroine started out with lunch in her suite but by the middle of the scene I thought she might be at a reception. In the end, she was back in the room talking to the butler.

I was feeling the scene out, making decision.

But here’s the deal. Start out writing with as much of a solid, planned, developed story and character arcs as you can.

It will make the writing journey easier, faster and in better shape to reuse in the end.

What you want when you start any fast draft:

What the story is about.

1. What the protagonist(s) want.
2. The inciting incident.
3. The black moment.
4. What the protagonist(s) can do at the end they can’t do in the beginning.

This little spine will help your story stay on track! It makes fast drafting all that much more fun.

In fast drafting, if you get too far afield, discouragement sets in. Why? Because you’re wondering if you can use any of your words at the end of the book.

Books, stories, songs, movies are about people. Or characters as we call them in novel world. We connect with people not things.

So when you’re fast drafting, write more about people than events. Have a rip-roaring dialog between your characters. Get to the heart of the story by getting to the heart of your characters.

While you may muddle through the middle discovering your story, do have an idea in mind of the possible black moment, epiphany, change in your character, and what she might learn on the journey.

Lots of times when I’m working with a new story idea or a new writer, the story planning and plotting is a lot about events. He went here, she went there. This happened and that happened. It’s all well and good but it keeps the story on the surface. Really dig in and dig down to discover the character.

I can’t stress this enough. Tell me a story about some ONE not some THING. It’s okay to start out on the surface, it’s not okay to stay there.

So, as you’re gearing up for week two of NaNoWriMo, press into the characters. Don’t pause to research dress fabric or the colors of the Georgia twilight, keep writing. Forget the typos and grammatical errors. Keep writing. Forget you can’t remember the hero’s name. Keep writing. Forget you lost track of your timeline…. Keep writing.

Get it? KEEP WRITING. And oh yea, have fiction fantastic fun!

Happy NaNoWriMo!

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Best-selling, award-winning author Rachel Hauck loves a great story. She excels in seeing the deeper layers of a story. With a love for teaching and mentoring, Rachel comes alongside writers to help them craft their novel. A worship leader, board member of ACFW and popular writing teacher, Rachel is the author of over 15 novels. She lives in Florida with her husband and her dog, Lola. Contact her at: Rachel@mybooktherapy.com.

Go forth and write!