Course project

My project for course: Novel Writing: Bring Your Book Project to Life

by Grant Faulkner @grantfaulkner

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Novel Writing Checklist

The final project for this class is to complete each item in the checklist below—going from prepping to writing your novel to writing a rough draft to revising it!

If you'd like to share an excerpt of your novel here, please feel free to do so.

Developing your creative mindset

Hone your purpose: “Why write?” exercise
Face your fears: “Your Five Biggest Fears” exercise
“Make Your Inner Critic Work for You” exercise
“Exorcize Your Inner Critic” exercise
“Beginner’s Mind Reflection” exercise
Explore writing communities to help keep you accountable and support your writing

Prepping to write your novel

Getting ideas: List your favorite novels and reflect on why you enjoy them
Identify what you think are aspects of good and bad novels.
Getting ideas: List your favorite characters and reflect on why you enjoy them
Identify what you think are aspects of good and bad characters
Complete characterization “personality tests” for your main character: the “Proust Questionnaire”
Character log line: Identify the main desires, conflicts, and obstacles for your main character in just a couple of sentences.
Complete “What if?” plot brainstorming exercise
Study your favorite novel’s plot and identify the major plot points
Write the dust jacket for your novel
Complete setting exercise: Go on a story field trip
If writing fantasy, go to worldbuilding track: https://nanowrimo.org/world-building
Go on a time hunt to see how much writing time you have available—and to decide on how you can fit more writing time in
Set a word-count goal and a deadline for your novel
Write with abandon: Explore writing techniques to overcome writer’s “block”
Pomodoro technique
Improvisational writing: Do a writing sprint