Your NaNoWriMo Story Prep Checklist

NaNoWriMo is AWESOME for motivating you to get your writing done. But it’s not so great for helping you to actually write a novel (or even a story that you can do something with after the fact). And the reason is because writing a cohesive story that hangs together requires you to think through a lot of stuff, prior to writing a single word of prose.

This checklist will help make sure you cover all the most important pieces of your story plan, so you can go into NaNoWriMo ready to write.

◻ Your Concept and Premise

◻ Who’s your Protagonist

◻ What does he want in the story?

◻ What is his inner demon?

◻ Who’s your Antagonist?

◻ What does he want in the story?

◻ Why does he want it?

◻ How does what the Antagonist wants oppose what your Protagonist wants?

◻ Why does the Antagonist want to oppose your Protagonist?

◻ What’s at stake for your Protagonist once the Antagonist gets introduced?

◻ What POV are you writing this story in?

◻ What’s your theme/message?

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◻ What are your subplots?

◻ Who are your secondary characters?

◻ How does your story open?

◻ How does your story end?

◻ What’s your Hook?

◻ What’s your First Plot Point?

◻ What’s your Midpoint?

◻ What’s your Second Plot Point?

◻ What are your Pinch Points (1, 2)?

◻ What needs to happen in Part 1 (Set Up)?

◻ What needs to happen in Part 2 (Reaction)?

◻ What needs to happen in Part 3 (Attack)?

◻ What needs to happen in Part 4 (Resolution)?

◻ Write up an ordered scene list

◻ Expand on each scene

If you want to dive deeper on all the stuff in this checklist, be sure to grab a copy of my NaNoPlanMo eBook: #NaNoWriMoPrep: A Story Planning Crash-Course to Get You Ready to Write (available only during NaNoPlanMo (aka: October))

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