Preptober, anyone? in Planting Trees

Is anyone else using October to get organized for NaNoWriMo/NoJoMo? I’m curious to know how everyone else is going about it this year. I know preparation methods probably vary wildly on what kind of story or theme you’ll be writing about/from.

I want to be a graphic novelist, not an author, so I don’t use November to put together a book. I use it to make me develop the story. Last year, I did an exercise where I wrote about a random person each day to “populate the series,” even if I had to make them up on the spot. It was fun, but I didn’t do one every day of the month like I wanted to. This year, since the story is moderately populated, I plan on writing a short story every day (quality and length may vary.)

Right now, I’m making cheatsheets for characters… sort of profiles, but only with information that I’m afraid I’ll forget when it comes time to write. (It’s about a cafe and the stories of their employees and customers, so it’s a lot of random people to keep track of.) After I finish that, though, I have no idea what I’ll be doing yet.

I’d love to see how other people mobilize for this stuff. I don’t know many writers anymore, lol!