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November Spawned: a Novel Writing Handout (2007)

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Here's a handout put together for those attending the kick-off meeting in Birmingham for NaNoWriMo 2007. It's part planning tool, part keepsake, and part something to let the MLs relax at the meet-ups, so we don't have to worry if we don't get through everything we'd like to say!

It's pretty much the same as last year's version, with just a few small tweaks after feedback we received last year (and our own experience of using it). For one thing, there are the correct number of notches in the word count axis of the graph! There are also changes to the character pages, timeline and the list of useful websites.

Anyone's free to download a copy, whether that's for NaNoWriMo or just for writing a novel at any time of the year, and even if they aren't from Birmingham.

There are two versions. One is A4-sized, for printing out to make a magazine-sized thing. The other is also for printing to A4, but with two pages to a sheet, to create an A5 booklet.

In each case, print the odd pages first, then feed the paper back in and print the even ones in the appropriate order.

If you're in the US, just use a Fit to Printer Margins option to shrink it down to fit your paper.

These are all pdfs. You can click on the links to open them within your browser, but it's usually more convenient to right click on them and save them to your hard drive, and then open them there.

A4 version, for printing to A4 paper and then stapling at the left hand side.

A5 booklet, for printing to A4 paper and then stapling in the middle.

We thought about getting our copies done at Lulu, but it worked out to be too expensive. Still, the work's been done and it is up on there, if anyone fancies getting themselves a very smart copy: November Spawned 2007 on Lulu. Revenue is set to zero, of course, so it's as cheap as we can make it. The cover's totally blank so that you can make your own. (And also because I was in a bit of a rush and didn't want to reformat anything!)

And for anyone who needs it, here's a copy of Erik Benson's NaNoWriMo scorecard, updated for 2007.

I wrote my 2007 novel using yWriter, from Spacejock Software. It's brilliant, free, and written by a NaNoWriMo participant (Simon Haynes), who uses it himself to write a novel every year and perpetually tweaks it to improve his writing experience. As a result, it's updated pretty frequently, so it could well be up to version 5 by the time you read this! The best thing about it, for me, is that instead of doing my planning, writing and notes in three or four different places, I can do it all in one place. You can use the program to build the entire structure of your novel before even writing a word, and then move scenes around just as you please. It's also possible (and easy) to transfer the program and all its files onto a USB stick, letting you plug in and write on whichever computer you find yourself.

I use the same programmer's ySync for backing up my files and yPlay for playing my music – his website is definitely worth a few minutes of your time.