Many people ask me how I can sit down and write a novel. I guess people (non-writers) assume that everything is in my head, and I have a firm grasp of what’s going to happen next.

HA!

I can’t remember what I did yesterday - much less what a character did, or a group of characters. Of course I have a record of what’s going on. Sometimes, I plan until I turn blue - also known as “analysis by paralysis.” No actual writing is being done, but a whole heck of a lot of planning is! (I fall into this trap…a lot.)

There are four ways I prepare. Some may work for you, some may not.

1.) Pants it. (Pantser: A writer who writes “on-the-edge-of-the-seat.” No planning. I can’t do this well needless to say, but some people thrive off it.)

2.) Snowflake Pro software. (I’ve mentioned this so many times, it would be like beating a dead horse…although I’m not sure why anyone would actually do that.)

3.) Phase Drafting. (I learned this during NaNo. Here are two websites you can read to get more information. Click here and here.) This is just a generally amazing resource that I use not only for November but year-round. You can find it here.

4.) Some combination of the above. (My MOST used!)

Well, obviously if you do #1, you can’t do #2 or #3, so it’s likely a combination of the second and third. (Although, sometimes during NaNo, I’ll plan, draft, and Snowflake, etc. everything, and on the first of the month, I wind of pantsing it anyway! Kinda funny.)

Those are just some tips. They may or may not work for you, but you never know until you try. :)