NaNoWriMo 2019 Prep- Week 3

This story.  I tell you.

I love to make soundtracks for the novels I’m writing and each story inspires its’ own playlist. I woke up one morning this week with ideas for the playlist for TS running through my head. I grabbed my phone and created the playlist before I forgot any of the songs I wanted to add. It’s a couple hours long so far, but I know I will add more to it.  I haven’t started listening to it yet.  I almost did a couple of different times and then stopped myself.  I decided I wouldn’t listen to it until the first of November.  The soundtracks I create, the music that becomes the background for the story, inspire the writing and have brought out pieces of my stories I didn’t know were coming until I put them on the page.  Because of that, I don’t want to start listening to it until I’m ready to start writing the story.  Another thing I worked on this week that has not come so readily with this story has been figuring out the names of my characters. The name of my main character was there from the beginning, but her sister and the other key characters took some figuring out.  I searched names based on the theme of what I’m writing, and that started sparking ideas. 

I also did something I am VERY excited about.  I created a storyboard wall!  I’ve been mulling this idea over in my mind for a long while.  It was fueled by a couple of different writer friends who’ve talked about how it’s helped them.  I knew I wanted to create a storyboard wall on an actual wall in my writing space, and even though I don’t have a lot of wall space to work with (one my friends has a storyboard wall that is WICKEDLY cool), I didn’t want that to hold me back.  I measured my available space and figured out what kind of material I wanted to use.  I decided to go with a cork board wall, and I very much love it.  I’ve got small note cards that I will use to write chapter notes on.  I’m hoping to have most of the first and second act drafted before November first.  I’ve got ideas for the third act that I’ll play around with, but I know the third act will be mostly driven by what comes out of writing the first and second acts.  

I ended this week by writing another batch of queries.  I’m taking my time with this part of the process very deliberately.  I want to make sure that the person/people/entity I’m submitting to will be peoples/persons/entities that will best represent me and my writing.  It’s important to take the time to research and gather information about them and make sure they would be a good fit for me and vice versa. This week I will be working on the chapter ideas for my story for NaNoWriMo and I’m going to continue to chase the names of my characters.  As the names of my characters settle in my brain, their personalities start to shine through.

Have you ever used a story or plot board?  How did you create yours?  Are characters names a piece of the process that comes easily to you, or is it difficult?  What inspires names of your characters?

Happy Writing!