Every weekend during National Novel Writing Month, we will post a list of one word prompts from our November Novel Planner to inspire you to get the words down. If you’re struggling a little more with writer’s block than usual, take advantage of these suggestions and probing questions to help you on your way to completing your NaNo novel draft.
For the rest of the prompts, daily planning pages, and more, download our FREE Digital November Novel Planner to help you stay focused and track your word count this NaNoWriMo.
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November 15: Offer
- What offer could your antagonist make to your protagonist that’d be (nearly) impossible to refuse?
- What will your character offer in exchange for whatever they desperately need in the scene you’re writing now?
- Your characters walk into the next shop they see. Why, and what’s on offer, goods or a services?
November 16: Pleasure
- What’s your protagonist’s guilty pleasure?
- What relatable, simple pleasure does the antagonist enjoy?
- If your last scene was heavy, take this as a sign to make today’s lighter.
November 17: Quartz
- That important piece of jewelry, magical staff, or other bejeweled MacGuffin? Your protagonist (or antagonist) just discovered that it’s fake.
- Is it a counterfeit, or has the real one been replaced with an imitation?
- Alternatively, you could have a character discover that their cheap trinket is actually valuable.
- Quartz comes in all kinds of colors. Pause your narrative to describe something and liken its gleam to quartz.
November 18: Rose
- If you didn’t name a character North, name a character Rose and drop them into your story now.
- There are many figures of speech revolving around the rose. Invent your own!
- Forget the flower. What or who will rise in your story?
November 19: Steep
- Perhaps it’s time your characters had a tea break?
- Your characters encounter a steep cliff. Is it a moment of danger or reflection?
- What price would be too steep to pay?
November 20: Thousand
- Start a sentence with this: “There are a thousand reasons why…”
- Give this word to a character who isn’t prone to hyperbole.
- Go back through your manuscript and find where you’ve included the word hundred. The next time you bring the same topic up, there’s now a thousand of whatever it is!
November 21: Under
- Your protagonist slips under—what? Under a spell? Underwater?
- What small item could fall and roll under something at an inopportune moment?
- Your character has to look under the hood to figure out what’s really going on.
Bonus Prompt: Square
- Rectangles are everywhere, but squares are a little more common, and perfect squares are an impossibility. Writers don’t often remark on the literal shape of things, so now’s your chance!
- A square could also be someone who’s acting lame. Which of your characters fits that bill?
- Perhaps your character(s) need to visit the town square. What kinds of shenanigans will they get up to there?
