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 22: Vision
- How is your protagonist or antagonist’s vision of where they’d be at this point differ from reality?
- If one of your characters has supernatural abilities, now is the time for them to gaze into the future or past.
- What would happen if your characters suffered a figurative or literal loss of vision? What would that mean to them, and how would that change how they feel about and interact with their environment?
November 23: Worth
- Has your protagonist’s self worth increased or decreased? What has this story done to it?
- Does your antagonist still think what they were after is worth the fight?
- Put this line of dialogue somewhere in your story: “Worth it.” Or, “Was it worth it?”
November 24: Excuse
- Will your antagonist—or protagonist—try to excuse the actions they’ve taken to get themselves where they are now?
- One character excuses themself from a conversation. Why?
- Someone’s been following your protagonist. When they’re caught, what’s their excuse?
November 25: Yellow
- Show us a character dressed head to toe in yellow.
- Yellow is quite a common color in nature. Think of bumblebees, flowers, and even the sky at some points in the day. When your character catches their breath, what in their environment could be yellow?
- Yellow is a color associated with cowardice. How could you use the color to show spinelessness in your character, or even in a whole society?
November 26: Zero
- This adventure is almost over. Who is returning to nothing?
- You would be surprised how many idioms contain the word zero!
- Still struggling with this prompt? Swap out the word for any synonym of zero: goose egg, nought, null, nil, nothing…
November 27: Wild
- What a perfect excuse to throw your characters a wild party mid-manuscript!
- Use this word to describe a color. (Just not yellow!)
- What would your tamest character have to do to be called wild?
November 28: River
- Use this word in a metaphor for your character’s emotions.
- If you named a character Rose last week, then River is their sibling.
- Mention the river closes geographically to your characters.
- Alternatively, mention or allude to a famous or mythological river: the Nile, Mississippi, Thames, Styx, Lethe, or whichever makes sense.
November 29: Ahead
- What lies ahead for your characters? What do they think is ahead? Are they wrong? Are they appearing in a sequel?
- Separate the word: a head. What can you do with that?
- Or overrule me entirely and use its opposite: behind. Use both words for extra credit!
November 30: Tempt
- This story may be over, but what could tempt your protagonist to venture out again?
- Was your protagonist or antagonist ever tempted to turn to the opposing side? If so, reveal that now.
- You’re done with NaNoWriMo today! After the final line of your manuscript, add a few blank lines and write out what you’re tempted to do with this story next.
Bonus Prompt: Space
- Your characters have been through a lot. What will they do to get themselves some space?
- Space can also relate to rooms and environments. How do your characters navigate the space they’re in?
- You may have noticed that there’s something of a celestial or space-y theme in our novel planner this year. How can you nod to similar themes in your novel on this last leg?
