Kristina Van Hoose

NaNoWriMo Prep Tools

General Writing & Writing HabitsBook ReferencesStory BiblesGeneratorsBeat SheetsCharacter DevelopmentDialogueOutlining and PlanningPlot, Conflict & Scene BuildingWorld BuildingWord Counting and CharactersOtherTools for DURING NaNoWriMORevisingFinishing the Novel & Beating Writer’s BlockCreditsRecommend Another ResourceReport a Broken Link

An infographic about the habits of highly motivated writersto help you stay driven.7 “fear nots” of writing, with an infographic.6 pieces of advicefrom successful authors about writing the first draft, plus thisinfographicwith 10 rules for the first draft.- Make your own NaNo survival kit. Writing Tips- A stellar infographic of the Shapes of Stories that Kurt Vonnegut came up with, made by Maya Eilam. - Plus Kurt Vonnegut’s 16 rules for writing fiction. Kurt Vonnegut is so cool, guys. 5 tips to write a good plot twist.A blog all about the writing process from beginning to end

(Free ebook!)NaNo for the New and Insaneby Chris BatyNo Plot, No ProblemWriter’s Workbook: Ready, Set, Novel

This guideon how to make a successful Story Bible by RJ Blain is a dream come true.- More in depth Character Bibleoutline/questions. Another good oneherewith 100 questions.

- A million name generatorsfor every genre/species/gender/occassion. - Easy and fast family tree/lineage chart maker. - Quick story idea generator. Random line generator.Random title generator.GeneratorsDonjon Generator (Several Types)Chaotic Shiny (Several Types)

The 15 Questions Authors Should ask CharactersThe Editing Hart Personality Profile.- From PoeWar: Basic character bio sheet, exploring your character through his/herpossessions, and12 questionsthat will help create your character. - Will Greenway’s advice about handling a large cast of characters. - The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test. I’d advise you to take it with a grain of salt though, and trust your characters. Cool articleby Alicia Rasley about making audiences sympathetic to your character without turning them into a saint.- The one I listened to yesterday was especially good, it’s all about creating realistic charactersthat your audience will believe and love (or love to hate) using a 3-prong “slider” system. Hope it helps! tips on making more 3D characters25 waysto f* with your characters and9 waysto undermine their plans- 80 ways to keep romantic tensionhigh - on villains - reference sheets for character motivations,hobbies,fears,habitsandcareers - diagram of the hero’s inner journey http://thechugsboson.deviantart.com/art/Blank-Character-Sheet-Over-370-Questions-460031650this FABULOUS character bible with 200 questionslist of character traitsthat has helped me focus a few of my characters today.Character Development- “Reflections of the Shadow” by Jeffrey Hirschberg. This book is about creating memorable heroes and villains. 10 signs of underdeveloped charactersto be aware of.TV Tropes – a giant list of various character and plot tropesCharacter & Worldbuilding WorksheetsbyBookCat9The Big List of Character Questionsfor taking your character to the next level (some NSFW items)Fleshy Character QuestionsWhat Really Motivates Your Characters?

HiveWord– Online Plot Outliner & Organizer- Instructions for how to create a story grid to outline your plot (which I haven’t tried using yet): one hereand anotherhere. - The Snowflake Method. Duh. Everyone better know about this. - Free online mind-mapper. How to outline your novel in 30 minutes, another article by Alicia Rasley.- Another no-nonsense plot outline structure. Andthis oneabout one-page plotting. - Need some time management and outlining tips? This blog post has all that and more, including an infographic and video! – http://goo.gl/RmVVqm Structuring Your NovelandOutlining Your Novel, both by K. M. Weilandhttp://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/how-to-write-a-novel.htmlThis is a step-by-step page that gets you through the pre-planning and started on the outline. It helped me get my premise down as well as a few great ideas to keep the story moving. I ended up switching for a more structural outline.http://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-structure-a-story-the-eight-point-arc/This is what I used for my basis of the outline. After coming up with all 8 points, I then started on chapter outlines that included: main story arc, main character arc, impact character arc (in my case romantic interest), and the relationship arc.I want to contribute this really good novel plot outline worksheet.4 stepsto putting your novel in order.October Preparation CalendarBeat Sheets and Worksheets for PlanningHow to Plot During National Plot Your Novel Month(Uses Profanity)Cheaters Scene Cards for Plotting a NovelStoryPlanner8 Ways to Outline a NovelNaNo Jar

- Article about creating conflict/sustaining suspense. - Article by Rekha Ambardar with advice for starting your story. - The basic 3 Act Structureof a plot outline. - The 37 basic dramatic situations. This is great. - A conflict testfor your scene. Not perfect, but I still think it’s useful. Writing the Perfect Scene, by Randy Ingermanson (the Snowflake Method dude). Super helpful.- Jim Butcher on how to get through the icky middleof your novel. - This article is about creating the perfect setting, not world-building. Here’sanother. And here’s a cool one aboutsetting-character interactions. - Helpful article on description. - Dan Wells’ video serieson story structure. So helpful. - on try-fail cycles - how to write Act I, Act IIpart 1&part 2,Act III - on subplots and the midpoint - on cliffhangers - how to write a one-page synopsis - on character arcs scenario generatorfor two charactersdeveloping a basic ideasolutionsfor common plot problemsHow to Hook a Reader(it analyzes a few great opening lines).Rubiks Cube Plotting MethodTV Tropes – a giant list of various character and plot tropes

World Building in 30 Days- A few for world-building: this guideis probably the best and most extensive (and you can download the whole thing as a PDF or EPUB on the site!),this oneis shorter and poses some great questions to get you into your world, andthis onehas even more questions to think about. - How to world-build with mapping. Hellfrost History of the World. It has helped me figure out so much backstory that, even if it doesn’t feature in the novel itself, strengthens the whole.- A chart of 16 government typesand how they work (for worldbuilding). How to research setting/placefor your novel.Character & Worldbuilding WorksheetsbyBookCat9Indent World Building

StoryToolz: Word Counters- Looking for a pretty, printable word-count calendar with inspirational tidbits? We’ve got you covered! – http://goo.gl/2gQiJr - IN LOVE with this word-counting calendarfor NaNo 2014 by David Seah! Rewards System schedulefor NaNoRewards System Excel Calendar for 2014.HabitRPG– Keep yourself together and game your way through Nano with this daily tracker and challenge tool. I like to reduce cleaning and other tasks to tiny habits, like 1 minute cleaning each room challenges. If you want something a little more zen,Mindbloomis a good alternative.October Preparation CalendarNovember CalendarReverse NaNo Word Count Calendars

somethings that would make cool storiesFree online novel-writing app(LitLift).- Descriptions of the 12 most common archetypes. - I wanted to add a link to this amazing podcast series about writing, hosted by the fabulous Brandon Sanderson, plus Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Howard Tayler. Podcasts are each 15 minutes long, and they cover ALL writing topics, basically Lino– Private pinboards that work just like your home corkboard. I love this tool so much, and I think it works way better than Pinterest for storybuilding.Songza– My preference for free music tracks. Love the Post-Rock Bliss channel for writing.Firestorm– I live in Kitely grid and host a write in on Thursdays, but there’s virtual write-ins all over virtual worlds like Second Life. If you want something really low resource,Radagastis a text viewer.

Write-o-MeterWord counter, timer, and moreNovember CalendarWerdsmithEvernoteGoogle DocsScrivener

Thanks for the shout out to my beat sheets and worksheets! :)

You may have this here and I just missed it, but I really appreciate Donald Maass’ Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook — it was mentioned in one of the NaNo webinars in October. You need to have the basic premise and a few characters for this workbook to help, and I found the exercises to be very thought provoking — helped me build in some much needed tension and complexity. (And thanks for compiling all these resources!)

Thanks for the suggestion. I will add it to the list. What section(s) do you think it fits in?

I wrote a word count tracking app for iOS (iPhone/iPod) called Chronical. If you want to try it out (and you have an iPhone) I can send you a copy or you can just add it to your list. I use it daily but I may be bit a bit biased. Here’s the iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chronical/id918895788?ls=1&mt=8

Email me ([email protected]) if you’d like try it out and I’ll email you a code to redeem for a copy.

This is so great! Thank you for doing this! Great blog! :D

Glad to be helpful! Best of luck to you on NaNoWriMo!

Great list! I would add (in the Tools for DURING NaNoWriMo section), Write or Die http://oldandbusted.drwicked.com/. It’s an app available on several platforms as well as a free web app. I have used it during NaNo when I needed a boost to finish a chapter or a section. It’s like your own personal word war/sprint.

This has me pretty armed with resources for finishing my nanowrimo this year. Great resources in one place.

I would suggest the “Track My Words” (http://bit.ly/1lcIFD1) Google Docs add on I created. It tracks your words per minute and word count for each day you type automatically, and then generates stats for you so you can see which days you type the most, how you compare to other writers on the site, and more.

Glad to share. I’m still actively updating it, so if there are any changes you think would make it better, just let me know!

Prepare for NaNoWriMo, or any other writing project, with over 100 tools and resources for planning plotlines, creating characters, developing worlds, and more!

Know of a resource not listed here? Make sure you let me know so I can add it!

Last Updated: Oct. 29, 2015

Topics

General Writing and Writing Habits

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Book References

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Story Bibles

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Generators

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Beat Sheets

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Character Development

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Dialogue

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Outlining & Planning

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Plot, Conflict, and Scene Building

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World Building

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Word Counting & Calendars

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Other

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Tools for DURING NaNoWriMo

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Revising

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Finishing the Novel

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Credits:

Links found from NaNo users: averyink, Will_Watanabe, ushotmedown, debso, Leechy, scriobhnoir, Roswenthe, Allocin, girl-king, shand21, Chandeere, zvi, BookBaby, KristinaVH, Jillieji, purplegracenotes, Zette, ChaosFox, RiverSong906, and ToolUsingMonkey on NaNo

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Have a resource you’d like to recommend?

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Links found from NaNo users: averyink, Will_Watanabe, ushotmedown, debso, Leechy, scriobhnoir, Roswenthe, Allocin, girl-king, shand21, Chandeere, zvi, BookBaby, KristinaVH, Jillieji, purplegracenotes, Zette, ChaosFox, RiverSong906, and ToolUsingMonkey on NaNo

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