National Writing Month

It’s November 1st, which means it’s National Writing month. Yes, I know, just another month with a theme, it’s hard to keep up, isn’t it? Except Nation Writing month, commonly abbreviated online as NaNoWriMo actually has a purpose behind it: to get people to write. NaNoWriMo is a popular hashtag each November to encourage writers to complete works in progress, usually novels (or scripts if that’s your preferred medium). Most commonly, the challenge is to complete a draft of a script or manuscript of a novel in one month. There are varying opinions as to how useful this is, since many (including myself) are skeptical of writing a solid draft or manuscript in a month. To detractors like myself, this month is an opportunity to set more realistic goals.

So what am I working on this month? I plan to dive into my novel outline via a writing software program called Scrivener. I already have my characters fleshed out, and my major story arc and beats. So now is the time to put months of historical fiction research to good use. While I am not sure whether I can finish the outline in a single month, given how detailed my outlines are, I will make it a stretch goal with a more realistic goal of the year’s end.

The way I approach outline work is to provide detailed scene, or in my case, chapter breakdowns. Each scene or chapter must have a purpose, that goes without saying. In my novel, Liberation, there are two POV characters broken up across three distinct time periods, or acts. Each corresponding chapter is therefore a POV chapter. In terms of how I break this down, it looks something like this:

Scene / Chapter Title

1. What is happening here.

2. Why is this happening and how does it advance our story and character journey.

3. What obstacles does our POV character face.

4. What is our POV character thinking.

Each of these four sections can get quite detailed, including several paragraphs to help me stay on track in the manuscript writing phase. I use a program called Scrivener to organize my work. The program allows me to build outlines via folders and distinct sections within these folders, via a card. Each card contains a scene or chapter. The helpful aspect of this software is a detailed notes section which corresponds to each card or section. This is especially helpful when writing historical fiction, as you can attach links or raw notes to each section for helpful reference. The benefit of such a detailed outline via Scrivener is that it also aids in the editing process. Moving scenes or chapters around, archiving scenes which no longer serve the story or character, becomes much easier with an organized interface. It is very easy to visualize the structure of a story because it is in a centralized repository with ease of organization.

Each writer has their own preferred method of outlining work. Some prefer a more loose outline with research and notes, others like me prefer a very structured outline to keep on track. I personally do not like staring at a page wondering what comes next. Others enjoy that creativity of writing on the fly. For me, I do that writing in the outline stage so that I always know I am writing something purposeful. I feel like when I write on the fly I can create filler or scenes which may be fun to write, but may not serve the purpose of the plot or character. To each their own.

So this November, we will see how far I get. My goal is to begin the manuscript phase at the outset of 2026. Later in the year I plan to travel to Paris to spend time where my story takes place in order to immerse myself in the editing stage in consult with a professional historical fiction editor. Beyond that, I plan to build a pitch deck and proposal for query. I am fortunate to have interest in my writing career already from both published authors and literary agents, so with a strong manuscript in hand I hope to successfully query the right publisher for my work a year from now with their help. Building relationships is essential to formal publishing, and I am grateful for every piece of feedback and encouragement I get. We’ll see what happens, but for now I am focused on the outline stage to set myself up for success.

Happy national writing month, and good luck to all participating.