#FirstDraft90: Days 1-30 Prep Work Schedule
Welcome to FirstDraft90!
Whether you’re planning to write your own story during the next ninety days, or you’re just following along with my progress, August 1 is the beginning of the process.
As in each first-draft challenge I’ve done in the past, the first thirty days is all about the prep work. In order to make sure that we can start writing the first draft on Day 31 with as much momentum as possible, each day for the next thirty days will have specific tasks to complete in order to get to know our characters, our plot, and our story world as much as possible. This should allow us to write more freely (and faster) later.
If you’d like, you can follow the original prep schedule for FirstDraft60/120, which you can find here or by clicking the FirstDraft60 link near the top of the website (if you’re on a mobile device, the link could be down below the post).
Because I’ve now done this a couple of times, I’ve modified the schedule to something that I hope will suit my process a little better—especially since I’ve already written detailed story ideas (I still have a few minutes in which to choose one before it’s officially August 1) and done a microscopic amount of preliminary research for each one.
My Schedule for 30 Days of Prep
Day 1 (Tuesday 8/1): Create a OneNote notebook for the story with the following pages/sections:
Revisions Notebook, Style Sheet, and Research Repository
Story Bible—Characters, Setting, Props
Day 2 (Wednesday 8/2): Story Structure & Timeline
Day 3 (Thursday 8/3): Continue/Finish Story Structure & Timeline
Day 4 (Friday 8/4): Complete Structure/Timeline, if needed. Create lists of all characters, setting; create style guide
Day 5 (Saturday 8/5): Four Character Building Questions
Day 6 (Sunday 8/6): Hero SHAPE Chart
Day 7 (Monday 8/7): Heroine SHAPE Chart
Day 8 (Tuesday 8/8): Timer Tuesday — Draft Write opening scene of Novella
Day 9 (Wednesday 8/9): Update Story Bible
Day 10 (Thursday 8/10): Characters’ Physical Descriptions
Day 11 (Friday 8/11): Ambitions, Inducements, and Entanglements (GMC)
Day 12 (Saturday 8/12): Heroine Backstory
Day 13 (Sunday 8/13): Hero Backstory
Day 14 (Monday 8/14): Create Writing Schedule
Day 15 (Tuesday 8/15): Timer Tuesday — Draft Write continuing scene from last Tuesday, or a different opening scene (no editing of work from last week allowed, only notes for changes in the revision notebook permitted)
Day 16 (Wednesday 8/16): Update Story Bible (and Skype with Mom for her birthday!)
Day 17 (Thursday 8/17): Rewrite/revise story premise
Day 18 (Friday 8/18): Detailed story outline/storyboards/seven beats
Day 19 (Saturday 8/19): Write 25-, 50-, 150-, and 300-word marketing blurbs; revise premise/synopsis if needed
Day 20 (Sunday 8/20): Setting specifics: research, images, etc.
Day 21 (Monday 8/21): Research (era, events, costumes, etiquette, customs, etc.)
Day 22 (Tuesday 8/22): Timer Tuesday — Draft Write continuing scene from last Tuesday, or a different opening scene (no editing of previous work allowed, only notes for changes in the revision notebook permitted)
Day 23 (Wednesday 8/23): Update Story Bible
Day 24 (Thursday 8/24): Storyboard all known scenes
Days 25–30 (Friday 8/25 — Wednesday 8/30): Review tasks and previous work and complete anything not yet finished; set up Pinterest board(s); collect images; review character info and add to or revise if needed; Timer Tuesday on 8/29 . . .
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KayeDacus.com 
Yay! I always get excited for first draft season. The schedule really helps me stay on track. Thanks, Kaye!
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