Get Ready for NaNo! At-Home Workshop: Idea to Novel in 31 Days

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to the home page of my at-home workshop, Idea to Novel in 31 Days. While this workshop is aimed at writers who plan to do NaNo next month (National Novel Writing Month), it’s just as useful for anyone who wants a little guidance and motivation to develop a novel. Just like my at-home revision workshop, this is a work-at-your-own-pace kind of deal. Take as much time as you need per step.

This workshop is based on my book, Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure. It's the Cliff Notes version, and gives a taste of what the book covers.

Plotting Your Novel has considerably more information, examples, brainstorming questions, and novel options to help you develop your novel, so if you enjoy the information and format here, I highly recommend getting the book. It's 300 pages of helpful information and guides, broken into easy-to-follow workshops that focus on the individual things to consider when creating a novel or a novel series.

Some of you might even want to pick up the book and/or the Plotting Your Novel Workbook, and follow along with it at home. You’ll get a lot more educational information than what’s here (there’s only so much I can do in a single daily article).

Workshop Steps By Day

Day One: Idea to Novel Workshop: Brainstorm Your Idea
Day Two: Idea to Novel Workshop: Develop Your Hook 
Day Three: Idea to Novel Workshop: What's Driving Your Plot? 
Day Four: Idea to Novel Workshop: Creating Your Characters
Day Five: Idea to Novel Workshop: Developing Your Protagonist
Day Six: Idea to Novel Workshop: Creating the Novel's Conflict
Day Seven: Idea to Novel Workshop: Developing Your Antagonist
Day Eight: Idea to Novel Workshop: Developing the Character Arcs
Day Nine: Idea to Novel Workshop: Choosing a Point of View Style
Day Ten: Idea to Novel Workshop: Choosing Your Point-of-View Characters
Day Eleven: Idea to Novel Workshop: Finding Your Theme
Day Twelve: Idea to Novel Workshop: Choosing Your Setting
Day Thirteen: Idea to Novel Workshop: Determining Your Goals
Day Fourteen: Idea to Novel Workshop: Discovering Your External Conflicts
Day Fifteen: Idea to Novel Workshop: Discovering Your Internal Conflicts
Day Sixteen: Idea to Novel Workshop: Finding Your Stakes
Day Seventeen: Idea to Novel Workshop: Turning Your Idea into a Summary Line
Day Eighteen: Idea to Novel Workshop: Turning the Summary Line Into a Summary Blurb
Day Nineteen: Idea to Novel Workshop: Create the Most Basic of Outlines
Day Twenty: Idea to Novel Workshop: Developing Your Plot
Day Twenty-One: Idea to Novel Workshop: The Opening Scene
Day Twenty-Two: Idea to Novel Workshop: The Inciting Event
Day Twenty-Three: Idea to Novel Workshop: The Act One Problem
Day Twenty-Four: Idea to Novel Workshop: Act Two Choice
Day Twenty-Five: Idea to Novel Workshop: The Midpoint Reversal
Day Twenty-Six: Idea to Novel Workshop: The Act Two Disaster 
Day Twenty-Seven: Idea to Novel Workshop: The Act Three Plan
Day Twenty-Eight: Idea to Novel Workshop: The Climax
Day Twenty-Nine: Idea to Novel Workshop: The Wrap Up
Day Thirty: Idea to Novel Workshop: Summarize Your Novel
Day Thirty-One: Idea to Novel Workshop: Prepare to Write!

How This Works

Every day in October I'll focus on one step of developing a novel and provide tasks for writers to complete. The plan is to complete one step a day, but we all know novels have minds of their own and don’t always stick to a schedule, so don’t worry if some steps require more time than others. Depending on the novel and the writer, some steps will be easy, while others will take longer than a single day.

This might be a 31-day program, but take as much time as you need and don’t feel pressured to keep up if that will hurt or hinder your process. These steps are intended to guide you if you’re not sure where to start, motivate you on those days when writing is tough, and encourage you to keep writing by breaking the process into manageable pieces. It’ll still be on the site when you’re ready to move on to the next step, even if that’s months from now.

What You’ll Need

An idea, even if it’s rough. This workshop is aimed at writers who already know basically what they want to write about (though the book itself offers more on finding ideas). The goal is to take that idea and develop the characters, setting, conflicts, and plot so you can dive in come November 1 and write like wind to hit your 50,000 words.

A Peek at the Process

The workshop will focus on the elements of the story first, then move on to the specifics of plotting. You’ll flesh out your idea, create your characters, develop your setting, and get a general sense of goals, conflicts, and stakes before digging into the more specific plotting and structure turning points. It’s all about getting the story solid, then figuring out the best way to tell that story. This workshop is intended to motivate and guide you, not heap more stress on you, so don’t feel you have to answer every question or do every exercise if you don’t want to.

Who’s ready to plan their novel? 

For more help on plotting or writing a novel check out my Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure.

Go step-by-step through plotting and writing a novel. Learn how to find and develop ideas, brainstorm stories from that first spark of inspiration, develop the right characters, setting, plots and subplots, as well as teach you how to identify where your novel fits in the market, and if your idea has what it takes to be a series.

With clear and easy-to-understand examples, Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure offers ten self-guided workshops with more than 100 different exercises to help you craft a solid novel. Learn how to:

• Create compelling characters readers will love
• Choose the right point of view for your story
• Determine the conflicts that will drive your plot (and hook readers!)
• Find the best writing process for your writing style
• Create a solid plot from the spark of your idea

Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure also helps you develop the critical elements for submitting and selling your novel once it’s finished. You’ll find exercises on how to:

• Craft your one-sentence pitch
• Create your summary hook blurb
• Develop a solid working synopsis And so much more!

Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure is an easy-to-follow guide to writing your novel or fixing a novel that isn’t quite working. 

Available in paperback and ebook formats.

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter, was chosen for the 2014 list of "Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read" from the Georgia Center for the Book.

She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy.

When she's not writing novels, she's teaching other writers how to improve their craft. She's the founder of Fiction University and has written multiple books on writing.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Indie Bound