The question posed for this month is "I want to participate in NaNoWriMo in November. Any tips to make the writing go more smoothly or help me achieve my word count?"
You are wise to begin planning now for NaNoWriMo (the National Novel Writing Month, https://nanowrimo.org) because it can save you countless revisions and rewriting as well as avoid a story that dead-ends or one that goes off on tangents.
When it comes to writing a story, I truly recommend doing as much preplanning (and thinking) as is possible based on the idea and characters that have been conjured by the imagination.
I am also an advocate of writers embracing "structured creativity," which doesn't limit but liberates creativeness.
Structured creativity can be as simple as having a personal Project Bible to keep track of and ensure a story comes alive (which nets fewer mistakes when drafting). That Project Bible could be nothing more than reminders, forms, or check-off lists. You see, by my count, there are 144 aspects of a novel. Unless you have a genius mind with total recall, how can you possibly keep tract of all that information about story, plot, characters, setting, time lines, etc.? Most writers can't. I certainly can't. But having a "guide" and "reminders" is a godsend to creativity and generating a completed story that readers will pay money for.
Again, now is the best time to begin your process, to think about your story, your characters, the theme, the plot, etc. and jot down the bones of the story. That way, when November comes, you have a better chance of completing a worthwhile tale.
*** August 2018 topic — Misplaced Modifiers
Become a producing writer of quality fiction -
http://www.rimstoneconceptsllc.com/The-Project-Bible-a-1-on-1-course-for-fiction-writers-PUB-1500-ProjectBible.htm
# # #
