Setting is important to make your novel realistic. Think about the time period you are working in. Make a list of what is popular at that time - think of fashionable clothing, slang expressions, gadgets and technology, music, vehicles, foods etc. Think of where you could work this kind of information into your story in order to bring it to life within the year that it’s set. It might also be an idea to check what important news stories were around in the year(s) you are setting your story in - this will not only give authenticity to your story, but also flag up any major issues that may need addressed by your characters, say for example you set your romance in a mid west town that actually exists - but you fail to acknowledge that during the time your protagonist was getting to know her love interest the rest of the town was almost levelled by a tornado, you might lose some reality points! If you are using a real town, check to see if they have an online newspaper with an archives. Check out what was happening during the period you are writing about - could be situations there that your muse would like to grapple with!

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Characters
Using your storyline, work out the main GMC for each character. That is, their goal, their motivation for that goal, and the conflict they have that stops them achieving it. This needs to be done twice for each character. There’s the external GMC - involving things you can see, the tangible things, and then the internal GMC - those which the characters feel but can’t see. You might not be able to do this for all your main characters, but doing it for the most important will help you later in writing your novel as the GMC for each is what will motor them through the novel. As a general rule of thumb, your protagonist will achieve his/her goals by the end of your novel - the reader (and probably the publisher!) will expect that, and your antagonist will fail to achieve their goals.

Plotting
You are aiming to write a 50,000 word novel in the month. You already have (or should have if you completed Tuesday’s exercise) some idea of the beginning, middle and end of your novel. Today, stretch that a little further. Split the 50,000 up into approximate chapters - perhaps 2000 per chapter, or 4000 per chapter if you prefer longer ones - or cut it to 1000 if that fits your novel better - and then using your beginning as chapter 1, work out the scenes you could fit between the beginning and the middle, and then from the middle to the end which will fill those chapters - remember to weave in your characters GMCs and to have closure for all characters in some way by the end of the story.

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Now you have a story idea, identify your main characters. Instead of the usual questionnaire approach, have your characters dictate their life story to date and you just write it down. Make a list of each of your main characters, if they have a role ie protagonist, or love interest, or whatever, put that in brackets after their name so you know where they fit into your novel. Then taking each name in turn, have them describe themselves, their life to date and how they interconnect (if at all at this stage) with the other main characters. These biographies should be in first person so that it really feels as if the character is talking. You might be surprised at what you learn!

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What are you going to write about? Write about it. Can you reduce it to a single sentence beginning with “My Nano Novel will be about….”

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Today think about the organisation of your NaNo month. Where are you going to write? When are you going to write - be as specific as possible? What goals are you setting yourself each day? What rewards will you give yourself for reaching those goals? What ideas do you have to stop yourself being distracted by day to day life around you?

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1. It was a perfect summer’s morning, not even a whispy cloud in the sky on the day that ….

2. Hazel had always loved the fairground. As a child she had fantasied about ….

3. As she watched the drama unfold outside her window, Eliza fought back tears as she thought about the missing little boy. It was a long time ago now, but the pain of ….

Write a scene for your novel that is set in winter. Bring the season to life with the words you choose to illustrate this scene.

Often writers are given strict guidelines to follow by editors of magazines. This exercise has similar rules! You may write whatever genre you feel comfortable in, perhaps you may even find yourself writing a fictional news story, but you must keep true to the three compulsory elements.

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Your exercise today is to incorporate all of the following words into an article, short story, poem or whatever comes to mind. You must use all of the words (in any order) to complete the exercise, but the context in which they are used is up to you. Think about the words for a few minutes before you start to write and see what pictures come to mind - then see if you can weave them all together into a piece of writing.

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Which celebrity do you admire the most, and why?