Does it feel natural to you to outline your novel?
Go ahead!
I know many authors who do that. And they are very deliberate about the three act structure. They puzzle over what inciting incident will kick off the action. They scribble down their M.I.C.E quotient, or plot out the 40 beats of the Save the Cat formula. They’ll make sure they’ve plotted a false victory, a dark night of the soul, and a Hero Returns Home.
These concepts are learned through study. They help us reverse-engineer successful stories to see why they work. As we move forward in our writing careers, such learning is essential. And it requires thinking, which I’ve discouraged in every email so far.
To deepen your craft, thinking is necessary.
To learn these models, we have to apply them intentionally. We have to push through the frustration and confusion caused by molding our creative output into unfamiliar shapes.
If I gave you the assignment to write a page without ever using the word “was,” you might have to think about it. You’d have to rephrase sentences that otherwise flowed up from your subconcious. That’s a writing exercise that will train your creative mind to reach for more vivid verbs when they are appropriate.
If I asked you to outline a novel that perfectly matched The Hero’s Journey, you’d have to think about it and puzzle over it.
These are valuable exercises.
But if this is your first NaNoWriMo project, focus on training your mind to just write when you sit down to write. Embrace the Bradbury mantra I’ve been repeating in these emails “Write. Don’t think. Relax.” Trust your subconcious; it knows story. This is the fundamental skill.
If you get stuck, loop back, gain momentum, and write forward. Hit your wordcount. You don’t need to know anything more than you already know to write your novel.
When NaNo is over, study plot, character, or prose style. Do writing exercises to teach the creative mind these skills. Then get back to writing without thinking. Your creative mind will use your new abilities automatically.
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