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@hgm_barnes18 Are you familiar with story structure? KM Weiland’s site has free blog series on the different plot points, which you can use to plan your story around. (She also has a blog series on Outlining Your Novel, which I haven’t gotten around to finishing, as well as character arcs which you can read after story structure.)

So I would suggest reading up on the plot points and having a vague idea of where your character is going to go. Is there a conflict? What happens to your character? What end are they going to end up at, and how are they going to get there?

I’m in much of the same situation. I was going to do NaNoWriMo (and then realized that I would drive myself crazy if I did) so I was planning and developing a story which I’m trying to write in smaller increments now.

I think a few tips I would have is to know how much you need an outline and how much you’ll be able to make up on the spot as you’re writing everyday. This is based on how much you know yourself and how you’ve written before.

Also, you want to keep yourself from “this plot/character needs to be amazing!” mindset. Honestly, it’s a first draft, and unless you’re going to be graded on the cohesiveness of your draft, it’s okay to make mistakes. You don’t need to figure everything out at this point, and it certainly doesn’t need to be stellar. I keep reminding myself while I’m writing that I’m making the outlines for the jigsaw pieces of the bigger puzzle… and in the future I can reshape them, rearrange them, but for now they’re there and I can start fixing my mistakes once I get to the revising stage.

Adding on to the last paragraph, take what you have and ask questions, and go from there. Don’t say “Oh the protagonist needs to have a realistic relationship with his/her parents.” That’s fine, but it can put pressure on you and keep you from actually making progress. Ask yourself “Will having a parent-child relationship be logical in the direction I want the story to take?” and “What’s this person like? How will they relate to their parents?” And so forth. Take elements of the story you have in place and go forth from those to build the bigger picture.

I hope that helps! These are lessons I’ve been slowly realizing in my own frustrations over the past few weeks, so I’m glad I can share them with you 🙂