Keller’s NaNoWriMo Korner: Nah, No Outline

Boring numbers:
Day 1 word count: 2280
Day 2 word count: 1974
Total words: 4254
Cups of coffee consumed: Many

There are two basic ways to approach writing a novel: 1) Start with an outline or 2) fly by the seat of your pants. I’m a flyer, baby. A flyer! Without a net.

I sat at my computer at midnight on November 1 armed with nothing more than two vaguely sketched main characters, a setting, and a boatload of coffee. Here it is a little after midnight on November 3 and I have a pretty decent first sentence and I know exactly how this book is going to end. I even have a general idea of what the creamy filling in the middle is gonna taste like. How did I get there?

I took away the pressure.

I think the biggest obstacle in starting a novel is the pressure to find that perfect first sentence, the pressure to write immediate brilliance. This is what makes NaNoWriMo a great project; it takes that pressure away. The first words I typed on November 1 were far from brilliant. I began by writing my recovering addict/alcoholic protagonist, Kara, out of bed and into the streets of fictional Westville, Maine. I paid particular attention to her clothes and surroundings, both inside her apartment and in the town itself. It’s kind of a boring read, in fact it’s really nothing more than a writing exercise. But in the process I discovered that she’s a slob, an atheist, and that her drivers’ license was suspended because of a drunk driving arrest. Those aren’t just character traits, they’re potential fodder for conflict and plot. After three pages I even had a first line:

It’s easy to be a drunk when you live in the city.

Chances are good that I’m not going to use most of what I wrote in those first three pages in my book, certainly not as an opening chapter (although I kinda like that opening line and may keep it). The information itself will be useful, though, so it all goes toward my word count. I’ve since started on the meat of the book and am very excited about how it’s progressing. But thirty days is a long time, and I know that the excitement of starting a new book will fade soon enough, and that many of those days will find me at a loss as to how to proceed. That’s when I’ll start another writing exercise. And I’ll count all of those words, too.

If you’re doing NaNoWriMo, whether you’re an outliner or a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pantser, you’re going to find yourself blocked some time this month. It’s going to happen. And when it does, going back to the basics with a writing exercise is a great way to take off the pressure and thus keep yourself and your story moving forward. Not just for the word count — although that’s fine, too — but because you never know what you’ll discover. And that’s what makes writing so much fun.