Story Arcs and NaNoWriMo

They are related.

This post, on the blog of Western Australian author, Annabel Smith, titled Story Arcs and the Art of Writing a Page-Turner, is about something every writer probably needs to be reminded of from time to time. While it is obvious a novel needs a coherent structure to capture the reader with times of tension to lift it from the banal and ordinary where these actually fit in the novel is just as critical. In her post Annabel Smith analyses this and explains where they belong and why. I was aware of the importance of story arcs but this makes it so much clearer. There's even a diagram. She links to Darcy Pattison's Fiction Notes blog where there is also a wealth of information for writers. I found myself exploring it when I should have been NaNoing.

Okay, I'm pretty sure NaNoing isn't a word but for the uninitiated  NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month - takes place in November every year. This is when a multitude of writers from all over the world sit down and try to get the first draft of a novel written. Although I'm actually adding to my WIP and not starting something new I find the buzz around NaNoWriMo useful. The aim is 50,000 words - obviously they don't know much about fantasy novel lengths - but that is only an aim. The rules are few and the encouragement great so, for me, it's well worthwhile.

I don't think I'll ever be a step by step plotter but even for a pantser like me there are rules to make a novel flow and engage the reader and this is a good explanation of one particular aspect of them.