Preparation

I posted a series of preparation challenges in the lead up to SoCNoC. These were things that I had done or were doing myself.

What do you do to prep? What would you recommend others try?

No Excuses. Just Write.
SoCNoC - Untitled Chick Lit
Freeing the Flame - 30,065/40,000 words rewritten for May

That's all the prep work I have ever done Kerryn! lol before that I was just a 'roll with it' kind of girl. I'd come up with an idea and not usually make any notes, not write anything down, just let it sit in my head and brew until I was ready to write.
That isn't so easy to do with a novel though and I found that the prep work really helped with level of detail and meant I could work out some problems before they came up. I did find that having a focus for my preparation and 'brewing time' meant that the time I did spend thinking (obsessing) about my story was more productive.
I still haven't tried plotting something scene by scene, it's normally the background stuff that a lot of the time doesn't even show up in the story that I like to get done, helps me know my characters and my world better, makes me feel like I can write more confidently.
That said though, rolling with it as it comes along is still a really fun thing to do and it's never too hard to work out those details later on.

http://vyanae.blogspot.com/

It's changed with each book. I'm definitely checking the facts earlier, which means having more of the plot outlined, which means thinking up more key scenes, which means settling the overall arc and theme.
Didn't I do a klog on working backwards??? (walks away, muttering)

maggenpye -
"He's not my dad, he's just my father - big difference."

maggenpye: you certainly did do a Klog on working backwards Sdrawkcab Gnitirw

So far, the only prep I've ever done is think about the story for a few days beforehand. While traveling to and from work before NaNo last year, I wrote down some of the characters and the main plot-outline onto a piece of paper. On day 1, I made it official and typed it up. That's about all for me really.

I didn't do anything at all before SoCNoC this year.

Andrew Chilton - http://kapiti.geek.nz/
SoCNoC 2008 - Unknown and Untitled