NaNo Prep, Day 9-No Plot? No Problem!
As the final post in our series on preparing for NaNo (National Novel Writing Month), how could we overlook the ultimate prep tools for NaNo… Chris Baty’s own books – No Plot? No Problem! and No Plot? No Problem! Novel-Writing Kit. Chris Baty, for those new to NaNo, is the founder of NaNo and he’s written these two books to help you through the NaNo (or any other fast-writing) experience. The best part of these two books is Baty’s sense of humor. His writing is exuberant and over-the-top, perfect for ramping up to start a new novel.
No Plot? No Problem!
Section One of the book covers several vital elements for NaNo:
- the proper mindset for starting NaNo – a willingness to write something crappy
- getting motivated by your loved ones – through guilt or terror
- sustaining yourself through 50,000 words – restaurant meals are essential
- planning your novel with two lists – things you love in novels and things that bore or depress you in novels
Section Two has a chapter for each of the four weeks you’ll be writing and a final one on what to do when your novel is finished. I’ve written a review of the book that you can read here.
No Plot? No Problem! Novel-Writing Kit
The kit is not a duplicate of the original book with a few more doodads. It contains a condensed version of No Plot? No Problem! Just the essentials in 42 pages versus 172. But the kit is long on Rah-Rah, feel-good items:
- a Novelist Affidavit for committing your intention to paper
- commitment coupons for you to fill out – “I promise to (insert awful chore here) if I fail to write (insert # of words) by (insert date).
- inspirational cards for each of the 31 days
- “Ask Me About My Novel!” stickers
- a monthly calendar for recording your daily word count goals and progress with gold star stickers
- a sealed “I Quit” envelope – you DON’T want to open it
- a Novelist! pin that you can wear to announce your victory
Just looking through the package is fun. If you know a writer who could use lots of encouragement, like a younger writer or a first-time writer, the Novel-Writing Kit provides enough structure and instruction without feeling overwhelming along with plenty of encouragement.
For the more serious writer, the original book, No Plot? No Problem!, is the better choice. There’s a lot more meat about getting started and maintaining your momentum all the way to the end.
And this is the end of our series on preparing for NaNo. It starts in two days and I’m excited to get going on my story. Hope I’ll see you around the NaNo site!
Have writer friends who might enjoy this post? Send it to them with my compliments! And add me as a writing buddy at nanowrimo.org so I can follow your progress in November!
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