This time next Thursday I will be very tired. I will have either stayed up all night to start writing at midnight, or I will have taken a short nap before doing so. I may or may not take a nap after the first push, but the second push will definitely begin at 6 a.m. sharp as I brew that first cup of tea of the day.
I've spent the last week going over notes and filling in blank spots as I find them. As I am working on a sequel this time out, I do have a certain advantage as I have seen most of the characters in action already, though I am adding several new characters, at least one of whom will get to narrate chapters. I've been working on character portraits for them so I will have as strong a base as possible to start from.
I have an outline for the first quarter to third of the story. Again, this almost seems too easy because I'm writing a sequel. I know how this story begins and how this story ends. I just have to hope that my characters are going to take from point A to point B, and that any detours we take along the way are just that, detours and not changes of course. But if I get off track, well maybe instead of a trilogy it will be a quadrology.
There are two particular things I'm doing in preparation this year, one I've done for a couple of years and the other for the first time. First, what I've done before: I don't create a soundtrack for my story, but I create a soundtrack for my writing. It's more about the musical ambiance than about the words, because I'm really using this soundtrack to create a moodscape. The way I do it, which I am by no means insinuating is the only way or even a good way, is to find an artist or several artists that has a sound the either represents the narrator or would be their favorite music in the whole world. I try to get at least three hours worth per narrator and not more than say 12 hours worth because you start getting away from that core sound. I expect I'll be using between five and nine narrators, so I've got plenty of work putting together playlists. Personally, once the playlist is created I like to set it on random. When I know an album, I find myself taking a little break to wait for a favorite song to start and sometimes the little break becomes much bigger. That is not bad in general, but for NaNoWriMo, it might be the difference of 500 words or more across a days writing which equates to 15,000 or more across the month - and that is a lot of words.
I typically use music I am familiar with for my moodscapes. That can mean a favorite album I've played hundreds of times (well at least certain songs from the album) or it can mean something I've just checked out from the library and listened to one time to make sure it is what I want. For example, two years ago I was working on a science fiction story where it was popular in the culture to be nostalgic for your family's historical homeland. I checked out CDs of folk music for China and India, of which there were very few choices through out library system, but the ones I found were exactly what I was looking for. I had a much harder time finding traditional music from Brazil and eventually found some through youtube, which I could not listen to when I was writing because I do not have an internet connection where I live, but none the less they were a good resource for flavor for the character.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that on almost all the days, I couldn't have told you more than two or three songs that I listened to. Once I get into the flow of writing, I concentrate hard enough on what I am doing that I miss the sounds entirely - at least consciously. Subconsciously is a different story and why I cannot listen to my beloved NPR while writing. Words from the radio pop up in the story. Usually they have nothing to do with the story and sometimes can be quite funny on the re-read. I never catch them while writing, it's always at the end of the day or the start of the next day when I am reading over what I have just written that I notice them.
The new thing I am doing in preparation this year supplements my outline and character portraits. I am writing character arcs. A character arc is like a story arc, except it's specific for a given character and contains emotional and psychological changes/transformations as well as the physical events that will happen to the character. I plan on writing a story with more than a dozen named, recurring characters. It is very easy to forget where you were going with a character if you haven't written them in a week or two, a week or two where you have been intensely focused on other characters. I think there will be an additional benefit to doing this along the same lines when it comes around to rewriting for the second draft. It certainly can't hurt. In fact, I'm going to retro-create character arcs for the first book in the series.
There is one final thing I'm doing in preparation. I know I said two things to prepare for writing, but this is preparation for when I'm not writing when I feel like I should be writing. I'm gathering together writer's block breakers (WBB). My main WBB are magazines, especially National Geographic. Can't write? Or get stuck in a spot? Take a break to read a magazine. I choose National Geographic, because my reading might be as quick as just glancing at the pictures, of which every single issue I've ever seen is full of just amazing photography, or I might be need a bigger distraction in which case I'll take the time to read one oor more articles. I also like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics for the same reason. But I also have a few New Yorkers, Smithsonians and Scientific Americans mixed into my pile of several hundred. That's right, several hundred because my library sells old issues and issues donated to the library for ten cents each. I prefer the actual physical magazine for a couple of reasons - it's not my computer, and if I have writer's block stepping away from the computer is more helpful than just changing windows; if I see a particularly motivational image, I can tear it out and post it on the wall. If you've only spent ten cents instead of the full price for a magazine, you do not feel in the least bit guilty tearing it up.
Another WBB I have gathered, that I often couple with eating my meals, are episodes of sitcoms or comedies. I find the half hour variety is better, because when you're watching them on DVD they're only 22 minutes. Again, it's the library to the rescue. I live in a small town that is part of a small county cooperative and we have lots to choose from. It doesn't really matter if you have seen them before or not. These WBBs are to take your mind off what you are doing for a short while, which is why I prefer comedies. I suppose if I were writing a humorous novel, I might choose serious shows, but you get the idea.
The last thing I have to add is kind of preparatory, but mostly just something to think about. I think most of us interested writing a novel are apt readers of novels. And just because we're spending all of our free time writing doesn't mean that we have to give up reading. But, I feel that if I'm writing a novel, it is not in my best interest to be reading a novel. I don't want to subconsciously influence my own story or style by reading a particular book. Though there are many books who I would be proud to write in the style of, I want to do it through practice and conscious thought. The solution, I think, is to find a good non-fiction book or two, of the non-narrative kind. Though you might feel different, and I can imagine reading a biography of a famous person, for example, might be beneficial if you are writing about that person or the time they lived in. I've got Elephants on Acid and other Bizarre Experiments by Alex Boese and A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Both books can be read five minutes at a time if you so choose, or in chapter lengths. I am already reading the former and am both freaked out and intrigued by it, but mostly entertained. The latter book I haven't started, but recently finished another Bryson history book At Home: a Short History of Private Life, which was amazingly interesting and random enough to keep me hooked the whole book. I also recommend any of Sarah Vowell's books. Educational and funny, which is a winning combo when you need to take a break from writing to get some reading done.
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