Fast Start for NaNoWriMo Day 17 - P**t - 5 Days until...

[ladyseishou]

The beginning of a plot is the prompting of desire.

- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt



There are five more days until the start of NaNoWriMo, Nano Writers! This gives us plenty of time to talk about... you know... the "p" word (hint: it rhymes with "lot"). The poor p-word has gotten a lot of bad press in recent years, taking heat equally from both the vocal pantster party member and the grow-it-organically artiste... But for our Fast Start version, we're going to do this by making up a

Setting aside methods to build snowflakes or save cats, for a fast start let's make an event "map" for our story!

We already have a driver for our car: your protagonist. Piled in the back are a few close friends and somebody who's giving our driver looks-that-could-curdle-fresh-yak-milk in the rear view mirror while clutching some kind of bag that makes an ominous clatter whenever it's jostled by one of the backseat merry-makers.

"Where we going today?" the driver asks, giving you (the navigator) a winning smile.

You unfold a piece of paper and pretend to read it as it's as blank as the fancy notebook stashed in the back of your closet. To buy some time you look out the window. You take out a pencil and make a short note about what you see:

We're starting out from: (name of place)
It's that time of year when: (note time, season, weather)

To buy more time, you look out at the horizon assuming what you hope is an inscrutable, all-knowing look. "So what are you hungry for?" you ask casually, ignoring the squabble in the back as one of your minor characters tries to look into the "secret" bag.

Your protagonist shrugs. "I dunno. Chicken maybe?"

This is bad. Your protagonist seems bored and road weary before the trip even begins. So you try again, this time with feeling. "No. I mean, what do you really want? Something so bad that you'd do almost anything to get it?"

You notice two things now: it's gotten very quiet in the backseat and that there is a kind of manic gleam in your protagonist's eye, staring hard out at the far horizon with you.

"Well since you asked, what I really want is..." (your protagonist's answer here)

Write that down. Now. Really. IN BIG LETTERS. Because without that desire, that need, that want, your story isn't going to go anywhere far.


Tomorrow, we'll add more detail to our road maps as we sketch in the first roadblock. Until then keep writing, Nano Writers!

Comments

[zana16]

I've really enjoyed these tips. Thanks for taking the time to write them up!

[ladyseishou]

Very happy to hear that you've enjoyed them! :-)

[way2dawn]

A good thing to remember. Noting this :)