This week we talked about outlining and checked in on our progress toward our NaNoWriMo goals.

1. NaNoWriMo
Young Writers
Program
2nd MEETING
NOVEMBER 9, 2020

2. Congrats on completing 13% of our shared word
count goals for our classroom!

3. Our
progress
so far!
122,100
16,849

4. Shoutouts to high achievers this week!
25% or more toward goal: Avishi, Layla,
and Lexi!
10% or more toward goal: Thomas,
Willow, and Delight!

5. The highest word count this week goes
to Alana, with 3,186 words towards
her 40,000 word goal! Talk about
setting ambitious goals!

6. Just so you know, you DON’T
have to write your novel in
NaNoWriMo.org for me to
give you credit. You do have
to set up a “novel” and set a
goal, and just record the
number of words you’ve
written. Try to update it every
day so that you get credit for
every day you wrote.

8. Use the Total Word
Count box to update
your total each day.
If Lexi writes 500 words
today, her total word
count will be:
2504 + 500 = 3004
So she should write
“3004” and it will
update the graph.

9. For those of you who are
writing your novels on the
website, your word count
updates automatically each
time you write.
Writing on NaNoWriMo.org
also gives me a chance to
read your writing, and give
you compliments and
encouragement!

10. More Shoutouts:
Elijah, Layla, Delight, Thomas and Aidan started their
books with scary, exciting openings that start right in
the middle of action!
Alana, Lexi, Sedonah, Willow and Avishi have openings
that do a great job of showing us who their characters
are, and what their narrative voice is like!

11. Now… let’s
get to work!

12. Writers sometimes say you’re either an
“outliner” or a “pantser”… But regardless
of how you see yourself, here’s why it’s
important to have at least a basic sketch
of how your novel is going to go, including
the climax and the ending: Because you
can’t get writer’s block if you at least
know where your story is going to end up!
Outlines keep you moving forward!

14. Some stories, like “Boris the Unicorn” on your
handout, start like this:

15. But as we saw last week, you could also write the story like this:
“Boris, stop shaking. It’s going to be okay,” Juliet said. “When Ivan sees how good you are,
he’ll HAVE to change the rules about letting unicorns into the circus!”
“I don’t know… I’m scared,” said Boris, waiting for his turn to audition. “What if I get stage
fright? What if I freeze?”
“You can do this,” Juliet said. “You don’t want to just spend your life at home playing video
games. You deserve to get out there and make something of yourself.”
She was right. Only a few hours ago, Boris was eating his seventh slice of pizza and playing
his fourth hour of Pac-Man, feeling like his life would never change…

16. Anyone want to
share your
beginning/
exciting incident?

18. The upward slope can be
seen as like a measurement
of how scary or exciting your
plot is. The farther you go
into your plot, the more
scary/exciting/intriguing it
should be. Going up the
roller coaster doesn’t
necessarily mean things are
going well for your hero.
Things might be going
HORRIBLE.

19. During Rising Action:
Conflict is intensifying.
Problems are increasing.
Solutions are looking more
and more uncertain.

20. It’s also okay if your roller coaster looks like this:
Problem… solved, for now…
New problem I hadn’t expected… solved, for now…
Worst problem EVER!! FINALLY solved all my problems…
That was scary… But I’ve
grown a lot, learned a
lot, and things are better
than they were when I
started.

21. Anyone want to
share what
problems your
hero will face
during Rising
Action?

22. You know how your stomach
kind of sinks when you reach
the top of the roller coaster,
stop climbing, and start
FALLING? You’ve come to a
turning point, and things are
going to start happening
faster than ever. That’s what
your climax should feel like.

23. Anyone want to
share what event
or crisis will be the
turning point of
your story?

25. There’s been a turning
point, and things are
moving quickly now.
They’re either starting to
get better, or just speeding
to the conclusion. The hero
is starting to get some idea
of how to beat his or her
problem, and gaining
strength.

26. Anyone want to
share how your
hero will emerge
out of that turning
point and toward a
good conclusion?

28. Anyone want to
share how your
novel is going to
end?

30. Hans and Sophie are
in jail, reflecting on
their lives
Interrogation
begins
Hans and Sophie answer questions while
also reflecting on how they went from Hitler
Youth to resistance leaders. We see that they
didn’t always oppose Hitler. They were
brainwashed at first, but learned the truth.
We see Hans had a persecuted past that led
to his radicalization. Other friends are
brought for questioning. Hans and Sophie try
denying everything for a while, but Gisela’s
testimony makes that difficult. She’s a Nazi.
Their accomplices are arrested and the
evidence keeps mounting against them.
Hans tries to save his sister and friends
by confessing and taking all the blame.
Sophie refuses to let Hans take all the
blame. She’s had it with the Nazis and
is willing to die doing what’s right.
She tries to save her friends and
exaggerates her role in it all.
They are tried for treason and
sentenced to death. They
can’t save their friends, but
they can at least finally reveal
their disgust for Hitler and
the Nazis.
They say
goodbye to their
parents, their
friends, and each
other.
They die with dignity and
honor, as heroes and
martyrs for freedom, human
rights, and the Christian
faith.

32. Questions
about the
Plot
Rollercoaster?

33. Want to show
us your Plot
Rollercoaster?

34. Remember…
YOU CAN DO
THIS!
Now let’s go write
some books!

35. If you haven’t
logged on
yet, here’s
how:

36. 1. ywp.nanowrimo.org 2.
3. 4.

37. 5. Create
your account
6. Explore our
group
7. Take the
challenge