June 6th, 2020

These are the questions from the planning party hosted in the WriYe Discord chat on June 6h! Feel free to answer these on your own, or keep them somewhere to be answered when you feel the urge.

There are a thousand ways to outline so I am sure you all have methods you prefer, but here are some links to help!

jamigold.com/for-writers/worksheets-for-writers/

byomentor.com/2019/05/20/the-3-act-9-block-27-chapter-method/

blog.reedsy.com/heros-journey/

www.jessicabrody.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Save_the_Cat_Writes_a_Novel_Starter_Kit.pdf

wriye.proboards.com/thread/2372

Q1. No matter what method you use, the first thing that you need to know is your opening scene. What is that image of your MC in their "normal" that needs to be conveyed before you, the author, introduce what will become the change? What points do you want to highlight - a relationship that changes, something that will become lost, calm before the storm, etc?

Or, if you're not plotting a traditional timeline, what is that in media res moment that you envision your novel opening on?

Q2. Now that you have that opening of "normal," something has to cause the change. Usually, you see this called the "inciting incident," or turning point. What is that change that starts your character down this new path into things that aren't familiar to them? 

Q3. Up next is the debate. What are the pros and cons your character has to consider and what is the one major thing (first plot point, oftentimes with the antagonist) that makes them decide to finally go on their journey (or to change how they think/what they do)?


Q4. And now we start our break into "Act Two." Around this point is usually where new characters are introduced (or at the end of Act One with the inciting incident/debate)). This can also bring about your B-story (subplots that bolster our hero's change and/or serve the theme of the novel).

Which characters and/or subplots could you introduce here?


Q5. And now we go into the real middle. This is what is promised on the backcover (the Promise of the Premise). These are the Fun & Games (tests, allies, enemies) that your hero undergoes as they seek the journey (or new path) that they've set out upon. All of these lead up to the midpoint of the novel.

What are some things that your novel needs by the "promise of your premise"? If it's a romance, do you need dates and romantic happenings? If it's a fantasy, do you need to collect pieces of an item? If it's a sci-fi, do you have to travel through dangerous space?

Think of at least three things for this one.

Bonus: How would these three things help your MC's Character Arc?

Q6. This leads into what's commonly known as the "first pinch point." Your MC cannot have an easy time of it. Something (the antagonist) is going to stand in the MC's way. This first pinch point has to directly affect the MC in a way that your reader knows it is the antagonist itself (for example, the brewing storm shuts down power and communications are ceased).

What is your first pinch point?

Q7. And now we reach the midpoint of your novel. Something changes here - new information or something that causes your character to need to adapt and change their plans. This information can lead to a momentary a false victory or a false defeat. Something drastic happens that changes your MC's plans, ending the "fun and games" moments of earlier to solidify the one path the character needs to take to get to the end.

What information could be revealed at the midpoint that would force the rest of your plot?

Q8. Whether the information is culminating in a false victory or defeat, tension has to rise here as well - both internal and external. These next few plot points are usually known as the the decline, All is Lost, or Bad Guys Close In.

This section shows that your character is not just reacting any more but actually acting. They have made decisions, they have made a path. Whether or not they are winning the external battle, the internal battle is growing. The "Bad Guys" (be they physical bad guys or internal demons of the MC) start to attack.

It leads to that darkest part of your novel where the hero is at their absolute lowest - physically, emotionally, mentally - known as the Black Moment or "Dark Night of the Soul."

What internal bad guys is your MC facing (for example: self-doubt, plagued by nightmares of things done)? What external forces are around bringing your MC to their lowest point?

Bonus: Within here is also something some outlines call the "second pinch point" which is another display of the antagonist's power that helps lead to that All is Lost moment.

Q9. But the darkest moments are before dawn, so right after this, we break into Act 3 with our Second Plot Point! Another influx of information that allows the MC to overcome the darkness and realize what they have to do.

What information at this crucial moment would help them solve the problems set up by the Act 2 troubles as well as the MC's internal troubles?

Bonus: Many times, the B story is helpful here. When the A and B story combine, information can be given. Could your B story be useful here?

Q10. And now... the last battle! The climax! The most exciting, tension-filled moment in the novel. Whether it is a real battle, such as a fantasy novel, or that last emotional battle to get the love interest in romances, the MC takes the plan they create in the Second Plot Point and enact it.

What do you envision the last battle having?

Bonus: How can you foreshadow this in earlier sections?

Q11. And then comes the final image, which usually mirrors the opening image. What is your MC's last scene and how do you have it differ from that first scene?

June 13th, 2020

These are the questions from the planning party hosted in the WriYe Discord chat on June 13th! Feel free to answer these on your own, or keep them somewhere to be answered when you feel the urge.

Q1. What is traditionally done on your MC's birthday?

Q2. What is the main conflict of the story?

Q3. What is your MC's favorite way of displaying affection? Physical? Gift-giving? Verbal compliments?

Q4. What is the time period of your story and what does that allow your characters to do that other time periods would not have?

Q5. What is your story's "atmosphere"? (dark and moody? lighthearted? Funny?)

Q6. What is your antagonist's (or the character that opposes your MC the most) best characteristic?

Q7. What is your MC's major flaw (the thing that will need to be overcome in order for them to succeed)?

Q8. How long in your story's timeline does the story last? Meaning: is it days? Months? Years?

Q9. Consider your most important side character or the love interest. What do they carry with them every day?

Q10. If you had to distill your story into a single thematic line, what would it be? (some examples: love conquers all; you can't trust everyone; not all is what it seems)

June 28th, 2020

These are the questions from the planning party hosted in the WriYe Discord chat on June 28th! Feel free to answer these on your own, or keep them somewhere to be answered when you feel the urge.

Q1. What is something vital to your story's conflict that your MC does not know? What is something vital to your story's conflict that your character's biggest enemy does not know?

Q2. What is the most used setting in your novel/story? Answer at least one thing for how it:
- Looks?
- Sounds?
- Smells?

Q3. How does your MC react to praise? How do they react to criticism?

Q4. Has your MC ever had a pet? If so, what was it and its name? If not, what pet would they like best?

Q5. What is a common slang word in your world, and what does it mean?

Q6. Who can your MC rely on/trust no matter what?

Q7. Describe your MC's appearance and then note it down somewhere. Describe your favorite secondary character's appearance. Did you choose certain characteristics for a symbolic reason?

Q8. Why does your MC want this goal?

Q9. What is your MC's view on an afterlife?

Q10. WriMo writing can be tough, so do you know (in general) your:
- Beginning?
- Midpoint?
- Climax?
- End?

Share if so!

July 4th, 2020

These are the questions from the motivation planning party hosted in the WriYe Discord chat on July 4th! Feel free to answer these on your own, or keep them somewhere to be answered when you feel the urge.

Q1. Why did you choose to write this novel? What about the novel's theme, or story, hooked you in?

Q2. Every character has some appeal, even if they're an antihero or the main villain. What is most appealing about your main character? What about your least favorite character?

Q3. What is the scene you are most excited to write?

Q4. What scene do you think will make your readers most surprised? That "omg" moment, so to speak.

Q5. What do you think is holding you back most from writing right now? If it is "real life," please try to be a more specific (at least in your own notes). Is it a certain situation (you don't have to share if you are uncomfortable!), a location, a time management issue?

Q6. Are you on track to finish your goal? If not, does the quantitative goal mean enough to you to keep it? Could you switch to a more qualitative goal? (Example: do you need to hit 50k? Or could you say you wrote "a great first act"?)

Q7. Do you have a writing/editing/working "signal"? For example, do you put on a certain playlist? Do you have a certain location you work at? Do you have a stuffed animal, a toy, or some other thing that you bring with you to tell you that it is writing time?

Q8. What is the last thing you've read? Is it in the genre you're writing in? Could you stop and do some reading to get motivated to write in that genre?

Q9. When you get stuck, what do you do? Do you open a new document try to journal out the trouble? Do you have a friend to talk to like a sounding board? Could you try a different method?

Q10. We're still in week one for a few more days, but week two is around the corner. What could you hang on your wall as writing motivation? (A picture? A quote?)

July 18th, 2020

These are the questions from the motivation planning party hosted in the WriYe Discord chat on July 18th! Feel free to answer these on your own, or keep them somewhere to be answered when you feel the urge.

Novel:

Q1. Are you still working on the same novel that you started the month with? Have you changed your mind? Why have you stuck with or changed your plans?

Q2. What did you feel when starting the novel (such as wonder, excitement, joy)? Do you still feel those? If not, do you remember what scenes were in mind when you came up with the idea to try and recapture that wonder?

Q3. Tell me something unique about your novel (character trivia, worldbuilding fact, theme) that helped spark the original idea.

Q4. Sometimes announcing our goal (edit this novel! finish draft one!) aloud can motivate us to finish that goal. Once it's announced, you know that other people are there to cheer you on. Have you used any social media and/or friends and family to announce your goal to? If not, do it now and share here! We have plenty of <3 s to go around.

Q5. Go crazy right now. If this novel/project comes together and ends up fulfilling your wildest dreams... What are they? Visions boards tend to be helpful as a cue to our brains to fulfill those dreams, whether digital (Pinterest) or printed and physical. Maybe using one will help you!

Yearly:

Q1. Have you figured out a good writing routine for the year yet? I realize that this year has been...strange. But have you found your new writing normal?

Q2. How is your goal working out for you? Be honest about it. Are you stressing to reach it? Are you ambivalent about it? We're halfway through and there's still plenty of time to change it for the year.

Q3. Are you finding that most of your assigned "writing time" has been taken away by other tasks  this year? Can you try to remove some of those tasks or lessen the amount of time they take?

Q4. Have you given yourself a break when you need it? What is your mental sign of needing a break?

Q5. Imagine your perfect writing moment for this month. The place. The atmosphere. The time of day. Things that would make you *write.* What does this perfect writing space include? Can you try to replicate some of it?

August 1st, 2020

These are the questions from the motivation planning party hosted in the WriYe Discord chat on August 1st! Feel free to answer these on your own, or keep them somewhere to be answered when you feel the urge.

Q1. How many languages are in your MC's country? Does most of the country speak one language with a secondary language, or is it different in different regions? Does this cause any difficulty for your MC?

Q2. What does the night sky look like? Can they see stars, or is there city-wide light pollution? Are they on a different planet which has a different amount of moons and stars?

Q3. If your character was to go outside their home, what sort of animals might they see in the normal wildlife?

Q4. What sort of technology exists in your world? If you are writing a speculative novel, is part of that "technology" actually magic?

Q5. If your character was to go to the nearest city, how diverse is it? Whether it be different cultural backgrounds or different fantasy races.

Q6. What is your MC's favorite swear? Is this unique to the region/world?

Q7. What would your MC wear for an everyday occasion? What would they wear for a more formal occasion? What would they wear to a somber occasion (such as a funeral)?

Q8. What sort of government is in your MC's country? What is the general feeling about the government: trust, distrust, favorable, unfavorable, etc?

Q9. What is one type food is eaten only by the wealthy?

Q10. What was your MC's first job? Is that a normal "first job" for people of your world?

September 12th, 2020

These are the questions from the NaNo Idea Generating planning party hosted in the WriYe Discord chat on September 12th! Feel free to answer these on your own, or keep them somewhere to be answered when you feel the urge.

Basic Idea

If you have your basic idea, these can still help you focus on why that idea is the one you want to work on. Why you're passionate about it.

If you don't have your idea, hopefully this starts to lead you down the path of "what ifs!"

Q1. What genres do you like to read? What genres do you like to write? Are there any genres you avoid writing that you read frequently (discounting non-fiction if you're thinking in a fiction sense)?

Q2. Think of the last few novels you've read. What were the themes that you really enjoyed? Was it something like "love conquers all" or "persistence leads to success"?

Q3. Looking at your answers to the last two questions, which genre makes you excited? Which theme best fits that genre (or sparks an idea for that genre)? Which one seems to be the hardest combination?

Q4. Some of the novels we know and love have either directly drawn from history or taken famous people and events and twisted them to replicate in their second world stories (A Song of Ice and Fire takes influence from the Hundred Years' War, for example). Is there anything you can remember, recent or historical, that always intrigued you? It could be specific or more vague (for example: Hamilton's death via duel vs. the practice of dueling itself).

Q5. Could a scene based upon that become an important part of your story? Could it serve as the main conflict? The break into an Act (2 or 3)? The inciting incident?

Characters:

Q6. While plot is an important part, we need characters to hold it up! Look at this list of character archetypes and think about which ones might serve as a good MC for your story? Pick three!

Q7. How many MCs do you need? How many POV characters is your limit? Some people like dual, alternating POVs. Some want to write only one MC. Some (*ahem*) write far too many and alternate between four or more!

Q8. Now that you know the archetypes you're interested in and the number of POV/Main characters you need, can you pair any up? Or does one MC archetype really lead you to need a different one from the list?

Q9. There has to be something working against this MC (an antagonist). It could be another character, nature, society, or even themselves. Which one do you envision for your story?

Q10. If your antagonist is going to be another character, then start to think about what their motivation to work against the MC is. Do they want the same goal (a job position, for example)? Do they want opposite outcomes to a situation?

If your antagonist is not another character, then you should consider having a character that serves as a foil (a character which contrasts with the MC and highlights things in the MC that are important. More on foils here). How does that foil contrast with your character?

(Really, everyone should have a foil of some sort, in my opinion. But I am an unpublished, author-to-be so grain of salt)

Setting:

Q11. Now we've got a basic idea and a basic gist of some characters. But where are they! Does your story call for a real world place or are you going to be making a second world? Or are you using a real world place and adding some speculative elements?

Q12. Settings are supposed to help evoke a sense of place and mood. Maybe you need a scene to be somber, so you choose a silent wood. Maybe you need something confusing so you have a bustling city. To start thinking of moods...

What are some places you find most beautiful on our planet? (Either specific - like Lake Victoria - or vague - Mountains). What about some places that evoke a sense of fear or dread (probably more vague here)? What other moods do you want to have in your novel?

Q13. What type of settings do you have the most experience living in/visiting? For example: Do you live on an island? Do you live in a city? Is your town close knit or does no one know their neighbor's name? What parts of that would you want to bring into your novel?

Q14. Now look at your MC again. What sort of setting would lend to the person they are today? For example: Would having a close-knit town give them the cheerful demeanor they have? Would a hardened, "rough" neighborhood give them the defensive exterior?

Q15. Look back at the scene we talked about in Question 5. Does that necessitate a specific type of setting? Was it the running of Pheidippides from Marathon to Athens, which means you need to base some things on mountains and plains (and other Greek-inspired settings)? Do you want to have a pharaoh-type of situation which would dictate a desert environment?

Planning Party

September 20th, 2020

The following links were provided in the Discord chat for help:

Plot Structures and Development:

blog.reedsy.com/what-is-plot/

www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/secrets-story-structure-complete-series/

blog.reedsy.com/dan-harmon-story-circle/

blog.reedsy.com/three-act-structure/

blog.reedsy.com/heros-journey/

www.well-storied.com/blog/3-awesome-plot-structures-for-building-bestsellers

www.sfcenter.ku.edu/Workshop-stuff/Plots-Story-Structures.htm (Good for shorter works and those maybe aiming for less than 20K)

Character Arcs:

blog.reedsy.com/character-arc/

www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/write-character-arcs/#

writersedit.com/fiction-writing/create-compelling-characters-character-arcs/

www.publishingcrawl.com/2012/07/31/emergency-post-goal-motivation-and-conflict/

www.well-storied.com/blog/craft-strong-character-arcs

www.well-storied.com/blog/write-stronger-characters

Q1. If you have a plot, summarize it into a one sentence log line to the best of your ability. It will give you something to work off of. This, if it is a character driven plot, can even be your MC's goal. It could be as simple as:

- Boy takes back his kingdom.

Or

- Girl wants to have her first kiss.

If you don't have a plot yet, think of a few options that sound intriguing to you for premises.

Q2. Now take your MC and think of why they are the force behind the story. What is their motivation? What is their why? For example:

- Boy wants to earn what is rightfully his and save the kingdom from tyranny

Or

- Girl wants to choose her future husband on her own and believes to give away the first kiss is to give away her heart.


Q3. Take your MC, as best you know them, and think of where they are in the beginning of the novel. List their:

- Emotional State
- Physical State
- Current Location

Q4. To help your character go from this starting point (both physically, location-wise and emotionally), what is the one thing that must happen?

For example from before: The boy has to have a battle for the castle. The girl needs to find her "true love.”

Q5. Now expand on that. Think of three things (or characters) that can stand in the way of your MC reaching that step. Now think of three things (or characters) that can help your MC in achieving the goal.

(These may be things you use or do not use in the novel(la). This is just brainstorming.)

Q6. Choose one harmful and one helpful thing. How would they affect your character's emotional/physical state?

Q7. Choose a plot structure that I linked earlier (or one of your own). It doesn't matter which one. It could be the Story Circle, the Three Act Structure, the Hero's Journey... Whichever.

Look at those things you wrote out before (the big conflict, the help/harm, the starting point and the ending point) and add them into the structure via scenes that would exemplify them (as basic as you'd like). See what you're missing from the structure now and fill in what you can.

Are there any places that are still completely blank?

Q8. Take these blank spaces and look at the event before. See if the event was successful and helped the MC, or if it failed and harmed the MC. If it was successful, ask, "Yes, but..." and see what could come next. If it failed, ask, "No, and..." to see how it becomes worse.

For example:

Did the MC win a battle against the big bad? Yes, but... Now they've ruined the farm of the mayor, exiling them from town.

Did the MC win a battle against the big bad? No, and... Now they're captured.

Q9. Go back to your MC and look at who they should be by the end of the story. How have they changed? Is their character arc one of growth? A negative one (they lose more than they had)? Flat?

Q10. Think of the last scene you want to end on - an image, a word, a sentence. If you can think of one, post it up somewhere so you can see what you're working towards! Oh, and share here.

October 1st, 2020

The first planning party for OctoOctober, coordinating with this thread.

Q1. The first decision is always the hardest: what idea is going to keep us through at least 50,000 words in a month? I'm sure we've all had a thousand ideas in mind so let's go with an old-but-gold question: why this novel?

Q2. Why this genre? Is it a favorite? A new one? Something that you were inspired to do?

Q3. Realistically, how many days will you be writing in November? Will you be someone who hits all 30? Will you need to take breaks for work? Family? Mental health? Knowing this in advance lets you determine the next question.

Q4. Based on the realistic number of days you'll be writing, determine what your personal minimum words per day is to hit that 50,000 words (or more).

Q5. Utilizing your personal writing speed, how many hours a day do you think you'll need to hit your minimum word count goal? Looking at your normal daily schedule (if it varies, use one day as an example for now), where can you fit that time in?

Q6. Next up, we'll focus on our daily plan, the Awesome OctoOctober Outline of Awesome. There's a bit of an explanation in the WriYe thread linked in the introduction. We'll use this time to try and pinpoint options for the big pieces.

First things first: What are some opening images you could use?

Q7. What are options to put in part 16, the turning point/twist/high point? What sort of things could make things worse for your characters?

Q8. The 25th point is the resolution. What do you expect to happen after the most exciting point/climax? Do your characters succeed? Do they fail? What are the actions that lead to the end?

Q9. The last point, 30, is theoretically the ending, which would be the final image. What is the lingering memory you want your readers to take away from this novel?

Q10. The rest of this part is... filling everything in! There's a lot more to do on it, and I don't expect anyone to get it filled in now... So that's a "work on your own" option.

Instead, this question will be: are you going to use a reward system? What rewards work best for you? Food, snacks, presents?

October 10th, 2020

The second planning party for OctoOctober, coordinating with this thread.

Q1. What is your main character(s) goal? This is a specific goal like marriage, family, beating the big bad, etc.

Q2. What does your main character(s) want? This is something they believe will make them happy but most often, is not what they really need to find that happiness. A good way to find this is to think of what the character will feel if they attain their goal (power, love, fame, etc.).

Q3. What does your main character(s) need? A need is usually a lesson they need to learn in order to achieve happiness. Examples are: acceptance of self, finding courage, learning compassion, etc.

Q4. The important thing to know about the want and the need is that they should be in conflict. The want is not always what they need. Often, their actions in the novel will be following the want and pushing the need further away, and it isn't until they realize their need and achieve it that they are able to grow.

How does your character's want conflict with their need?

Q5. Both of these are usually something that stems from a character's inner wound and their inner struggle that came from that wound. What is your character's inner wound? These are usually something negative that has happened before the story that has influenced the character's outlook, beliefs and behaviors that make up the struggle.

Q6. Now that you know their inner wound, what is the struggle that comes from it? For example, if your character's wound was from bullying and lack of friends, maybe their inner struggle is the belief that they have no worth or they have no self-esteem that they need to achieve.

Q7. These beliefs that they have made in their inner struggle usually can be condensed into their fatal flaw. It is the flaw they have that actively works against solving the inner struggle, usually as a defense mechanism against it. Some examples are arrogance, vanity, stubborn, etc. What are potential fatal flaws for your MC(s)?

Q8. To further enhance this fatal flaw and make it an active one, think of how this flaw would make your MC would behave at...
- Losing a game
- Attending a dinner party honoring someone else
- Receiving praise

Q9. Alternatively, what is your character's most positive trait? What is the thing their friends/family would immediately point out as the best part of them?

Q10. Now for the fun one: what does your MC even look like?!

October 18th, 2020

The third planning party for OctoOctober, coordinating with this thread on World Building.

Physical

Q1. What is the most important physical feature of the main setting of your land? (Examples: a mountain, a forest, a river...)

Q2. How do the physical features affect the way people live? (Examples: mountainous regions make it hard travel; deserts make water a rare resource; rivers mean their main focus is farming)

Q3. How much ground will your story cover? Will it be in one place or will they travel far?

Climate

Q4. Are there any aspects of your setting's climate that might come into play to serve as either a help or a hindrance for your MC's journey/goal?

Q5. Will your main character(s) experience a different climate during your novel? If not, would they prefer to be in a different climate?

History

Q6. What is the most memorable historical event of your MC(s) home town/city/country? It might be something monumental like a battle, or it could be something crazy like a Great Sheep Escape.

Q7. What conflict or major event has helped shape the life of your MC(s) the most?

Culture

Q8. What holiday does your MC(s) always make sure to celebrate?

Q9. What was your MC(s) first job, and was that a typical first job for your setting? If not, what is the typical first job?

Q10. Find a picture of (or describe) the typical day-to-day outfit your MC(s) wears?

October 25th, 2020

The last planning party for OctoOctober, coordinating with this thread on World Building.

Q1. We already have made most of the outline's skeleton. As an easy place to find everything, list out:

What is your story's premise?
Who is the MC?
What theme did you feel best fit the story?
What is the big obstacle that the character(s) have to overcome?
What smaller obstacles stand between the protagonist and the resolution of the big plot point?

Q2. Now let's look at how we work best. How detailed do your outlines usually get? Do you just put sentences or paragraphs for each scene? Do you spend time really working on Point A to B, or do you just let that happen while writing?

Q3. Do you think using a more detailed (or less detailed) outline will help your word count? Maybe if you have more details, your pacing and focus will be more honed. Contrariwise, maybe if you were less detailed, your creativity would be able to find new avenues to travel and not make you feel "boxed in."

Q4. What part of the outline do you usually find yourself struggling to fill in? Or, if you are not an outliner, which part of the novel proves to be the most difficult to write? Could you take your answer to Q3 and apply it to that section to see if it would help?

Q5. For now, let's fill in as many parts of the outline as we can. If you need to include placeholders, make a note of that. Is there anything you are completely stumped on? (If so, use the brand new Challenge Chatter thread for NaNoWriMo located on the forum! It's in the General section.)

Q6. Let's look at your outline in general to see if there are scenes that might be best to add in for the placeholders. Do you have a nice build-up to your main conflict? Is there enough growing pressure on the MC(s) to keep the pace and not meander?

Q7. Does your outline cover enough scenes/activities to keep up with the timeline of your novel? You don't want your novel to span a month and have maybe three days of activity and 27 days of inactivity (unless that's the sort of timeline your genre usually uses). Make sure not to bog down readers in minutiae and apply time skips as needed.

Q8. Are there any placeholders which would be good places for the B-story? Remember, it has to eventually lead into the A-story so there are B-story lines that can be used for foreshadowing, character growth, and plenty more!

Q9. Are you prepared to deviate from your outline if you need to? Writing is an activity that activates our creativity and allows us to have new (and maybe better!) ideas as we go.

Q10. We have a week! Take this question to ask us questions or give any motivational advice!

December 19th, 2020

These are the questions from the 2021 Goal Planning Party in the Discord chat on December 19th!

Q1. Ignoring the fact that this year was 2020, how did you do with your WriYe goal? Was it too ambitious? Did you underestimate yourself?

Q2. Looking through your year (and past years, if you have been with us!), what month(s) were your best? Which ones were the hardest for you to get words in during?

Q3. What sort of stories were the most successful this year? Genre, age group, length, etc? Which ones didn't end up as successful as you had hoped?

Q4. Do you have a set of stories that you have benchmarked for next year as necessary to write? Do you know what months you have set aside for them, if any?

Q5. Which WriYe challenges really clicked with you this year? Non-WriYe Challenges? If all things remained the same, and no challenges changed, which ones are you looking forward to next year?

Q6. Now into the nitty gritty. Knowing all of the information from above, what minimum word count would you need to complete all of those necessary stories and fun challenges?

Q7. Is that total number higher or lower than your word count (so far) this year? If it is higher, do you think you can reach it without undue stress/anxiety? If it is lower, do you think you might want to start at a higher challenge word count?

Q8. Since schedules can be tricky, the daily word count might not work for you. What sort of word count check in can you make for yourself to ensure you're on target? A monthly goal? Weekly? Quarterly? Or will you instead go by projects completed/edited and not worry as much about the word count?

Q9. How are you planning on tracking your successes this year? Are you going to use the WriYe spreadsheet? Will you do some sort of bullet journal style tracker? Will you use an external website? a Planner?

Q10. If you had to make one motto or word for yourself next year to focus on, what would that be? Examples are things like "persistence," or "happiness." (There are thousands to use!)

January 1, 2021

Pick a character, any character and answer some questions about them.

Here is a list of questions that were asked in the WriYe Discord Chat during our January 1st planning party. Feel free to answer them here, in a plotting document, or anywhere!

Q1: What smell or scent reminds them of their childhood home?

Q2: Do they have a family member that has ever let them down? If so, how did that affect them?

Q3: Who can make them smile no matter what?

Q4: Is it easy for them to forgive others?

Q5: What quality about their parents do they admire? Abhor?

Q6: If they could change one thing about themselves, what would it be?

Q7: If your character could only save one thing from their burning house, what would it be?

Q8: What/who do they love to hate?

Q9: What would they do if they won the lottery/came into a lot of money suddenly?

Q10: What do they think is the worst thing that can be done to a person?

And a mini badge for you! 

January 17, 2021

These are the questions from the Grab Bag planning party on January 17th, 2021. Feel free to pop on Discord an answer at any time in the #planning-party channel or answer in your own progress thread!

Q1. What was the original idea that made you think of this novel, distilled in just a few words? An example: "Zombie attack during quarantine."

Q2. What place/location in the story holds the most significance to the plot? To your character? How would you describe it?

Q3. What is the scene you are most excited to write (or have written)?

Q4. If your favorite secondary character had a spin-off story about them, what would the main plot be?

Q5. How much time passes during your story? Is it the duration of a day? A week? A decade?

Q6. What sort of change does your main character go through in the story? Do they learn to overcome a fault? Do they succumb to their faults?

Q7. What is your favorite relationship in the novel? How does it affect your MC's actions? (This need not be a romantic relationship.)

Q8. What does your villain's (or the person most in conflict with your MC) lair (home, office, headquarters) look like?

Q9. What part of your planning has proven to be the toughest?

Q10. After the novel is finished and in the hands of your readers, how do you hope readers feel at the end?