October 1, 2007: Protagonist Description

Let's name a few: Odysseus, Jesus, Hamlet, Holden Caulfield, Harry Potter. You just have to say their names and you know all about them. In 500 words or less, tell us about your protagonist for your new novel. A physical description, an emotional description, and a little bit of history will help you understand who you're going to be following around for the next two months.

October 2, 2007: Protagonist Support

Even Gregor Samsa, who woke up one day as a cockroach, needed his family, music and friends. Who are the people that love your protagonist and why do they want the best for him or her or it?

October 3, 2007: Protagonist Today

One day, King Lear asked his daughters to say how much they each loved him. It turned out to be a bad idea and a very bad day. But the day BEFORE was pretty good. He taxed the tenants, he had a lovely breakfast, his stroll in the gardens seemed particularly refreshing. What does your protagonist do on an ordinary day ... the day before all the things in your novel turned into a story.

October 4, 2007: Supporting Cast: Round

You may have the need for one, or two, or three other characters with fully developed appearances, personalities, histories, and support systems of their own. Who are the other characters you intend to build full blown lives around? Why are they important?

October 5, 2007: Supporting Cast: Dynamic

Maybe it's your protagonist, maybe it's somebody else, but you're very likely to need somebody to change in an important way during the course of your novel. Who will be your dynamic characters? Why do they need to evolve? How will they change? What will make them change?

October 6, 2007: Supporting Cast: Flat

Ahhhh, the much maligned flat character. You need them! Your point of view in your novel means you're not going to spend time fully developing the funny boy at the coffee shop, the gay cowboys' boss, the surprisingly pretty girl on the subway. Take a moment to imagine and share some of the people in your protagonist's life who might be necessary, but won't play a leading role.

October 7, 2007: Supporting Cast: Static

Second Lifers may understand this character type better than others since we deal with inanimate objects seeming to be alive all the time. Take a moment to picture the big scary house in the movie Psycho. Or Hogwartz. Maybe the Death Star in Star Wars. Blood on Lady Macbeth. Or maybe Little Stinky the INKsters bear. Sometimes things grow in importance to the point of being characters themselves. What stuff in your protagonist's life is so important it becomes a character in itself. Describe those things and explain why they are important.

October 8, 2007: Supporting Cast: Antagonist

Our favorite character. Who will be the troublemaker in your little world? Lovingly describe your antagonist. Maybe try speaking in the antagonist's voice so you can come to know the inner soul of the person we love to hate. A word of caution here, if your antagonist is 100% evil with no redeeming qualities at all, and even you as the author don't like them, you've probably created a flat character and you'll have a difficult time making us care.

October 9, 2007: Genre

We've spent over a week thinking about our characters because they (not you!) drive the novel. Once you know your characters and how they will react in any situation, you ... the writer ... become the observer recording the salient points of their drama. So now let's give our characters something to do and a place to do it. If you took the genre challenge in August, you already know you have the skills to write across the spectrum. If you didn't take the challenge I'll spank you when I see you. So now, let's pick. Will your characters ride a horse and sing? Will your characters play baseball with ghosts? Will you spend time with unicorns and sorcerers? Will your character find meaning in her kitchen making toast for her gardener? If you haven't been in awhile, go to a book store, buy a cappuccino, and wander the aisles until you find the shelf where you want your novel to be sitting this time next year, and then tell us why this will be your genre this year. Don't tell us the plot in today's assignment, but tell us why you love science fiction, or romance, or epic poetry? What is it in you that drives you to that shelf?

October 10, 2007: Story

Finally! Ten days later I finally ask you what the story is. Picture yourself on an elevator. The editor-in-chief from Random House steps onto the trolly car (see, I can talk British!) and pushes the 23rd floor button. Your palms get sweaty, your voice shakes, you find yourself inexplicably standing on your toes. You know you have exactly one minute (or 500 words) to tell her what your novel is about in the hope you can convince her to look at it. Go!

October 11, 2007: Plot

You're sitting in New York City (the not so good part) in your agent's ratty office surrounded by stacks and stacks of paper, dusty furniture, and Taco Bell cups. She's smoking and speaking to you in that condescending accent of hers. She peeks up at you over the top of her half-framed glasses, ashes fall onto her desk from her Marlboro, and she says, "I know, I know, you told me they're in love, but it's a video game, this Second World whatever thingy of yours. You tell me right h'yere on page seven how two avatahs go about falling in love. But sweethawt, I need to know WHY they're in love." Why why why. You have your characters, you have a sense of what happens to them, but tell us about the bottom of the iceberg. Why are these things important?

October 12, 2007: The Big Conflict

There's a school of thought in the literary world that conflict is the only plot line. It drives a storyline conveniently for the author. There's a reason why conflict happens (and someday I'm going to write my deconstructionist treatise on this very notion) and you as the writer need to understand the one big problem making your protagonist's life cumbersome. You love your protagonist, you even love your antagonist (if you have one), you hate to see troubles come their way, but go ahead and send it in. What's the big problem in your novel and how will they ever set things right?

October 13, 2007: Little Conflicts

It might be Hannibal Lecter's annoying brilliance, it might be a fender bender on the 405, it might be phonies, it might be your skull just turned into a donkey's head. If you watch Seinfeld, you know about millions of little funny conflicts, and if you watch CSI you know about millions of un-funny conflicts. Examine your storyline and describe the bumps along the road your characters will face.

October 14, 2007: Style

When I write, I start out trying to be flowery and literary. This usually gives way to me trying to stay on the topic. In the end, I'm telling jokes and being sarcastic. Imagine you're being interviewed for 60 Minutes tonight and Mike Wallace asks you, "How would you characterize your writing style in this novel?" And you smile quirkishly, and say....

October 15, 2007: Tone

You're writing a horror novel and you have a choice between "Scary Movie" or "Halloween." Your science fiction novel could be J.R.R. Tolkien or Douglas Adams. Your readers want to have a certain "feeling" as they make their way through your work. You'll be in charge of setting the mood and atmosphere for your protagonist to endure. What is the final feeling you'd like the tone of your novel to leave?

October 16, 2007: Language

Now we get down to the evil part of writing. We write our daily shorts to work on our weak spots, but we undertake novels to celebrate our abilities. Do some self analysis and identify your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. What things go well for you, and what things give you a struggle? How can you focus on your strengths and avoid your weaknesses?

October 17, 2007: Language Models

If we can't write like William Shakespeare, we can try to be Earnest Hemingway. If we can't write like William S. Boroughs, we could try our hand at William Carlos Williams. We all want to write like J.K. Rowling so we can get one billion dollars. None of us want to write like Stephen King, but we sure want his success. Who is the writer you want to emulate as you begin your journey on this novel. What makes their use of the English language the model you admire?

October 18, 2007: Point of View

Pesky pesky. Readers don't care who tells the story, but editors and critics get all high and mighty about shifts in point of view. You can speak from an omniscient all-knowing god-like point of view, you can be Spartan and self-righteous and allow only a first-person view of the action, or you can jump into the action too, just as you've done in Second Life, and celebrate us and our and we, in the fun and exciting world of participatory second person viewpoint. All of these points of view have benefits and limitations, but if you switch from one to the other, you better have a good reason! Who will tell your story and why?

October 19, 2007: First Person

You settled into your narrator's voice yesterday, now let's question that decision. What if Helen of Troy wrote her own version of the Iliad? What would Oedipus's mom write? Pick one of your flat or static characters and have them describe the plot of your story from their own point of view. We know they're not going to be a big deal in the story, but for just a moment, let them speak in their own authentic voice about what they've seen and done to be a part of your novel.

October 20, 2007: Parody

Twenty straight days of obsession over your new project. You don't eat right, you don't sleep well, you daydream about the day your character will finally set ablaze the antagonist with your loving verbs. Then you get a telephone call. Fox's MadTV plans to do a parody version of your award winning novel and they've managed to talk George Clooney and Angelina Jolie into playing the lead roles. They want you to toss together a funny little skit to poke a little fun at your novel. Can you write it down real quick? It's due today.

October 21, 2007: Un-Parody

Harvard and Oxford contacted their benefactors and they've agreed to provide you with a substantial honorarium if you'll come to a hoity-toity literary conference in Sydney and speak (oh say, 500 words) on the subject: "My novel: The real story." Can you drop your rough draft of your speech into the mailbox today so we can look it over?

October 22, 2007: Setting

We're two-thirds of the way through the month and we've never talked about setting. Here we are in beautiful Second Life and we know the importance of the environment and how it affects the life we lead. In novels, only Jane Austin can get away with one setting ... the parlor. Now that you know almost everything you need to know about your novel and the creatures inhabiting it. Describe in excruciating detail ONE of the principal locations where you anticipate an important piece of action will happen to your characters.

October 23, 2007: Locations

Review your story line and imagine all the locations you'll need to make this novel happen. Your evil character will need a demon's lair, your happy housewife needs a yellow kitchen, your pilot needs his spaceship, and your teenager needs the back seat of the Oldsmobile. You might not need to flesh out every detail of these locations, but you'll need to be able to help your reader find their way around these settings. Write an overview of the many other places you'll need in your novel and the key descriptions you'll need to make them come alive.

October 24, 2007: Era

You know that guy who does the movie trailers with the deep voice? He always begins every trailer with the same phrase: "In a world where...." Whether it's a galaxy far far away, a Grecian amphitheatre with Euripides underway, a boxing match on the streets in the late 1920s, or Second Life last month, your novel will be set in at least one era and you should know a little bit about the zeitgeist of the age. Take some time to capture the reasons why you've selected one of these eras. Remind us (and yourself) of the key aspects of the era you're bringing to life.

October 25, 2007: Socio-Economics

Rich or poor? Fitzgerald or Hemingway? Consider the impact affluence will play in your drama. Poor people have one kind of problem; rich people have another kind of problem. Somebody climbing their way through the ranks has yet another type of problem. Describe your vision of the economic status of your characters and how that affects the way they think and act.

October 26, 2007: Furries Dilemma

It's not the same from country to country, from land to land, from this world and that world, but it seems like everywhere you go, somebody is discriminating against somebody else. I won't let any furries buy my scooters for example. (Just kidding … I'd sell a scooter to Osama Bin Laden.) Do any of your characters have racial biases? Sexual-orientation biases? Does one of your characters really truly hate a class of people? How will you build a world of love and light if your readers are used to bigotry? Take a moment to analyze your plans and discuss how embedded social stigmas might affect your novel, both for you as the author and for your rag tag band of merry ones.

October 27, 2007: Symbolism

Black is scary, red is mean, yellow is happy, white is virginal. A pencil means you draw. A typewriter means you're way the coolest. An orange sunset stands for hope. Edible underwear stands for, uh, well, it means you won't be writing much. If you're writing about vampires, you have an inherited set of symbols at your disposal. If you're writing about Second Life, you know what a boy in a white T-shirt, blue jeans and flip flops means. Sometimes a symbol becomes symbolic only after repeated appearances within a literary work, as classical music does in A Clockwork Orange, or the Virgin Mary does in the Bible. As you make final preparations to dive into your masterpiece, what existing symbols do you imagine will be useful in your work? What things within the body of your work will end up with symbolic meaning?

October 28, 2007: Theme

We now must tread carefully. Nothing will ruin a book faster than an author dead set on cramming a thematic message down the reader's brain. Less competent writers don't have faith in their readers' intelligence. Those authors feel like they need to spell out the moral of the story. If you believe in your protagonist's ability to run the show and live through the complications of the storyline, you'll let the theme evolve naturally from the actions of your own characters. Nobody needs to tell us that Oscar the Grouch really isn't all that grouchy. When we hold our Second Life book club for your novel, and we all sit around and talk about what your book meant to us, what will we say? What message will we have taken away from your efforts?

October 29, 2007: My Life

The last three days of October is a time to remember yourself. You've done the pre-planning. You know what you're going to write. There's no way you're not going to be successful. So you need to write your "About the Author" biography for the back page of your book. Who are you? What makes you the right person to write this story? This is the part that will be quoted in high school book reports for all eternity, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to find yourself utterly fascinating.

October 30, 2007: My Goals

The goal of NaNoWriMo is 50,000 words by November 30th. That's 1667 words per day. Take a moment to jot down your other goals. Maybe you need to write a little more to feel a sense of accomplishment. Maybe you need to call your mom, your high school teacher, your agent, and let them know what you're doing. Maybe you owe it to yourself to spend a night in a fancy local hotel on November 29th and your lazy ass husband needs to watch the kids. Maybe you need to promise yourself that you'll rent the big space on Ina Centaur's sim to display your novel for sale. Whatever your goals for the next month are, share them! Writing them down will make them happen, and where else do you have the opportunity to win a dime for recording your plans for making history?

October 31, 2007: The Commitment

"I, (name), take the Second Life version of the NaNoWriMo challenge, to be my obsessive commitment for the next month, to have and to drive me and my family and my acquaintances completely crazy from this day until December 1st in the afternoon when I wake up from a nap; for better or for worse but hopefully better because I sure don't want a crummy novel after all this work; for richer (ah yeah!), for poorer (no way! I'm the next Sidney Sheldon), in the mental sickness bordering on derangement for undertaking this insane idea, to love and to cherish and to write my little fanny off from this day forward until I write the best novel of my life." You can write better vows than this one. Do it now and go to bed. You have a busy day tomorrow.