free story beats & scenes template & more |
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INSIDE: Pitch Wars Update NaNoWriMo Plans & Tips November Reads #Preptober Instagram Challenge |
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Pitch Wars Update In September, I started to query my YA Contemporary Fantasy novel, Rhythm of the Stars. I also submitted it to Pitch Wars, which is a mentor program for writers who plan to be traditionally published. Over the several weeks of waiting to hear if I was chosen, I began preparing a new WIP. | | |
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As the weeks went by, I didn't receive requests from mentors to see more of my manuscript, so I had a feeling I wouldn't be chosen, and I was correct. Even though I was not chosen, I'm still glad I submitted. Pitch Wars is a valuable experience. If you're ever thinking of doing Pitch Wars, I highly suggest you do it. |
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For now, I'm still sending out queries to agents, so hopefully one day I will get a full request and offer of representation. To learn more about the book I'm querying check out the Coming Soon page on my website. |
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NanNoWriMo Plans November is National Novel Writing Month. This month I plan to write 50,000+ words in my new WIP (work in progress), which I've titled Project Mages because it is a YA Fantasy with a group of seven mages who must work together. When you do NaNoWriMo, you need a plan and writing schedule. So in October, during Preptober, I put together my goals and Story Bible, which holds all the information I need from character names and arcs to world-building to an outline using the Save the Cat Writes a Novel scene beats and more. |
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If you'd like to make your own Story Bible and need an idea of what to put in it, here's a picture of part of my Index. You can also check out my Instagram Highlights to see a quick view of what I have in mine. I took several aspects from Brittany Wang's and Bethany Atazadeh's Story Bible templates and then added my own pages. If you want to see their free templates check them out on Instagram or Youtube. @authorbrittanywang @authorbethanyatazadeh |
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So far this month I've written just over 25,000 words, but it hasn't been easy. Even though I outlined, I've still found myself struggling to write some scenes. So recently, I took a break from writing and made a spreadsheet with the scene beats and descriptions of scenes in each chapter that I have written already and ones I still need to write. This helped me to see everything linearly and to brainstorm some more scenes. |
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I still need to add more scenes, so fingers crossed I'll make it 50,000 by the end of the month. Wish me luck! I want to share my spreadsheet with all of you in case anyone else is struggling. Click the button below for a free template of it :) | | |
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The #PreptoberChallenge was so much fun! I loved finding out about everyone's WIP's. Thank you to everyone who participated! If you enjoy photo challenges, we also host a bi-weekly challenge called #StorySnippetSaturday. For more info on it, connect with me on Instagram. |
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November Bookshelf This past month I had a bit of a reading slump. I wanted to read but was so busy I never found the time. But for November, I do plan to read a couple of fantasy novels, and I can't wait to dive into them. :) Have you read either of these books? Let me know if you enjoyed them. Be sure to check out my recommended reads. | | |
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Until next time... Keep reading...writing... and dreaming. :) Always, J.J. |
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