Instead, try using more descriptive words that evoke a feeling of sadness in the reader. For example, you might use words like “heartbroken,” “deprived,” “devastated,” “disheartened,” or “desperate.” These words help create a more vivid and emotional description of sadness that readers can connect with. Stop worrying, outline the first chapter and continue writing your story. This is really important for NaNoWriMos. You could spend a whole month worrying to death about this thing. Don't do it. That is, under each letter, add any relevant information. For example, under "L" you might have "Locations." Write down each of the locations in your novel as you write your story and create new ones or use real locations. Note any important items next to each entry, for example: "Cape Town, South Africa: seaside town." Ultimately, you have to write what you want to write. Because writing what you're passionate about will create the best story. Be careful to make your words count. When writing autobiographical fiction, it's easy to include elements that seem important to you but aren't actually important to the story. With an eye for revision. Your first reading of your manuscript should be of a high standard. Don't focus too much on sentence level corrections if something seems off, circle it, but don't spend too much time trying to diagnose what's wrong or you'll lose the flow of your book while you read: Map the plot. The first thing you want to do is consolidate the ideas you have for the plot of your series. Write a brief overview of all the key events you have in mind so far, forming a rough timeline. Don't worry too much about the structure or order just yet, we'll get to that below.