We are one week away from NaNoWriMo, which means it’s time to start dreaming big. What do you want your NaNoWriMo to look like? Do you want it to be the most productive month of writing? Do you want to use it to jumpstart your next novel? Are you already working on a novel and are planning on using it to finally finish that novel?
No matter what you’re planning for NaNoWriMo, it’s time to get your creative juices flowing.
A Vision Board
Whenever I’m working on a novel, I like to create a vision board for it. You can go the old fashioned route with cut outs from magazines or you can use a tool like Canva to put your vision board together.
I recommend pulling together images that not only represent your novel through people and objects, but also other images that represent what your novel means to you. Go through Pinterest––there is a ton of inspiration there.
If you put your vision board together in Canva, you’re able to adjust the dimensions so you can turn it into your desktop background. You’re going to want your writing inspiration at your fingertips and what better way to have your inspiration at the ready than to have it as your laptop background?
Anytime you open your laptop for anything, you’re automatically flooded with images of what you want to write for NaNoWriMo.
A Playlist
I have individual playlists for each of my books that I’m thinking of. I recommend prepping two separate playlists: one should be a soundtrack playlist with songs that have words in them and one should be a score playlist with no words at all. This way, when you’re out exercising or cleaning up around the house, you can listen to your soundtrack with words for inspiration. And when you actually sit down to write, you have a score that you can have in the background that won’t distract you from getting your word count in.
Have a specific scene in mind when certain music plays? Add it to your playlist. You could even break down the playlists further by breaking up your playlists into different chapters. So chapter one would have its own playlist, chapter two would have its own playlist, and so on.
Now is the time to have fun and be creative.
Television, Movies, and Books
Now, do not use television and movies to procrastinate on your writing. This is not me telling you that you get a free pass to just watch the TV all day and skip out on your writing. This is me telling you that you should gather together some shows and movies that inspire your story.
If you’re writing horror, there are a whole bunch of Halloween movies out there for you to add to your list to watch in November. Search for what makes sense for your genre and gain inspiration from there.
If you’re a bookworm like myself, you might find that television and movies aren’t enough. Have a couple of old favorites at the ready for those evenings where you just need to relax and recharge before you have to dive back into writing again.
When dealing with entertainment, remember this: consume less than you create. So if you spend two hours in the evening watching a movie, make sure you have spent at least two hours that day writing. Remember: this is NanoWrimo and you need to complete your 50,000 word count by the end of it.
Elizabeth Yuen 