NaNoWriMo Preparations: Part 2 (Outliner or Pantser?)

Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month
In two days I will begin writing for National Novel Writing Month. Joining hundreds of thousands of other writers, I will produce about 1700+ words a day for 30 days.
NaNoWriMo writers often describe themselves as either ‘Outliners’ or ‘Pantsers,’ that is, they write by outlining first or they write by the ‘seat of the pants.’ Of course, these can be combined. Most of my books have been fiction writings in the fields of religion or law, which are heavily outlined and researched before I began any substantive writing.
When I write fiction, I do not do the same detail of outlining. My writing is usually a ‘seat-of-the-pants’ method, at least to some degree, though I have usually been thinking, reading, and even making notes long before I start writing. Seat-of-the-pants writing does make for more work later. My idea might come from an event, or something I read or saw, or something someone said. More seldom, I might just get an idea and I start writing. I have no idea where the story would go from a first scene. As I write, the next scene suggests itself, and often future scenes would come to mind. Eventually I see the arc and know where it should end, but in between the last chapter and that final epilogue, I do not know exactly what will happen.
With this novel for NaNoWriMo (working title, To and Fro Upon the Earth, I decided to be intentional about the preparation and the writing process itself. Below is what I worked on in preparation for the content of the novel.

Choose a Thematic Concept: to explore the tension between faith and uncertainty (in theological or philosophical terms).
Select a Literary Style. I have been reading a lot of Hemingway and Joyce lately; this led me to consider writing something more literary. By that I mean that symbolism, literary devices, and perhaps poetic style would be primary.
Devise a Broad Structure (Outline). I decided I would outline only in the broadest sense, and I would use some external literary structure as my prompts. Because of the theme and the literary style, I decided to use the ancient book of Job as my structure. I am aware that the ancient document has spawned innumerable works of art. So my idea is not to retell the story as a modern novel, but to use the structure of the work as my structure, and use themes or characteristics from each literary subsection to act as a writing prompt for my literary subsections. The result was a general, 14-part outline, consisting of a brief title for each, and one or two subtitles for each of the fourteen.
Time frame, characters, plot, locations. I decided I would write this as a first-person narrative. Partly because I rarely use first-person, and partly because the purpose and themes seem to lend themselves to that POV. The novel will take place in somewhat of a modern time, though I am considering trying to write it in a manner that the time frame cannot be pinned down by the reader by mixing social/cultural elements from 1900-2014, with some anachronisms and such. (This seems to make literary sense for the theme of uncertainty). I have only one developed character so far—the narrator. I have ideas for others, but I have purposely not written them down. I want to encounter them as my narrator encounters them—I believe they will all be strangers to him, so why not for me as well? (I am not flying totally blind here; I have a bank of brief character sketches that I have collected over the years, which I sometimes dip into as needed). As for plot, I am less concerned about traditional “plot arcs” than I am the literary elements and thematic exploration (à la Joyce and Hemingway). I know where the character will begin his story, and I know how. I know some of the places he will go, and some of the things that will happen to him and that he will do. Finally, I know, in general, where he will end up and why.

As you can surmise from my preparations, I have provided myself with a general outline and writing prompts, a theme and a structure, but little idea of what the narrator will actually happen. I am excited about the combination of preparatory work and spur of the moment writing, combined with an intent to write a literary piece. (I am well aware this may make the novel of interest to no one but me…but writers write, right?)
If you wish to follow along with me as I write, check back with this blog. I will be writing a post every Thursday during November to share my experience as well as some of the first draft writing. Or, you can subscribe to the blog entering your email address in the sidebar and clicking the “subscribe” button. You will receive an email notice when a new post is uploaded.

Posts in this series

[box type=”bio”] We are pleased to publish this series of guest posts by Dr. Markus McDowell, an author and editor. He writes primarily nonfiction in the fields of law and religion, but we discovered that he has written fiction since he was 14 years old (but never published any). We convinced him to give NaNoWriMo a try, and to document the experience for us. Thank you, Dr. McDowell![/box]