We all have different ways of working - some of us like to plan, some of us like to wing it. For last year's NaNoWriMo I had an intro, and the conviction that I wanted to story to be told from the point of view of a jar of jam in a cute country cafe. I had no clue where the story would go, or even who the characters were, so I just made it up as I went along. When I got stuck, I went to my partner for help and filled a space on a wall at home with yellow post-its with a couple of words each - "sheep", "man falls from sky", things like that. It was fascinating letting the story take on a life of it's own, back tracking every now and then to shape my characters.
This year, I'm taking a different tack - I'm planning the story in the hope that I won't get stuck, because this year I don't have time to get stuck, I have too much else going on in my life to spend days agonising over my next step. I think the best way to start is the way I plan most projects - with a blank A1 piece of paper propped up on my artist's easel, as I always feel like I need loads of space to just let my ideas run free. So that's my task for this week: plan and prepare. I'll let you know how it goes!
How are you planning for NaNoWriMo? Or are you just winging it? Tell me about it in the comments!
