NaNo Prep: Advice from a 10-Time Plantser

As we dive into NaNo Prep season, we’ve talked to some participants to get the inside scoop on how to best prepare for November. Today, participant Lexi Vranick shares how to plan, but not too much:

So, you’re a plantser.

In laymen’s terms that means you’re the novelist toeing the line between scout-level preparedness and spontaneity central. You’re the one digging up fossilized plot points so that you can polish them in November. You want to have a plan, but you don’t need it to be whole. You just need it to exist in all its fragmented glory so that you can spend November fitting all the pieces together.

Plantsing is great. I swear by it. I’ve spent a decade of NaNoWriMos with it. But it can be risky. It can open up doors to writer’s block, inspiration draughts, and sudden panic. That’s why strategy can be so important, and it’s why I’m here to share some of my favorite plantser tips for getting ready for November.

1. Get some road trip tunes.

I can’t write without a playlist. Actually, I can’t do anything without a playlist, but that’s beside the point. Music is inspiring. It can help set the tone of the story, shape your characters’ personalities, and even mold their relationships with each other. Gather up songs that fit the tone you’re aiming for. Start with what you know, then branch out by listening to online playlists and talking to people in the NaNo Soundtracks forum. And a tip on that tip? Continue to add to your playlist even into November. The longer the list is, fewer individual songs will repeat, and the less likely you’ll be to get bored with it.

2. Guard against writer’s block. 

Writing without a blueprint is freeing, but it can also leave you open to Sudden Onset Writer’s Block. The good news is that you don’t need an outline! But you should have emergency scenes. Buy a pack of index cards and jot down scene ideas. Something as simple as, “John and Anna argue about their relationship” will suffice. Come November, when you find yourself in a rut, you’ll be able to reach for a card and start a new scene!

3. Face your novel. 

Get on Pinterest. Get on Google. Look up actors, or aesthetics, or poetry and gather it all up into an inspiration board for your novel. Pick a “dream cast” to help you envision your characters. Gather photographs that fit your novel’s tone. You’ll have something to look at when you hit a block in November, and you never know when you might stumble upon something that might inspire a new scene or character.

Lexi Vranick is an independent poet and fiction author based in Long Island, New York. She is the self-published author of Ready Aim Fire: A Poetry Collection and Basket Case: A Short (Short) Story Collection. She is a member of the Long Island Writer’s Guild and a student at Gotham Writer’s Workshop. She is a nine-time participant and eight-time winner of National Novel Writing Month. She can sometimes be seen at her local book shops, searching for stories at the bottom of coffee cups.