nanowrimo

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After The Lovin’: Revising Your NaNoWriMo Novel

Posted by george on December 12, 2011
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , . 2 comments

Image from Bubblecow

I was contacted by Brittany last week about writing a guest post on this topic. I said, “Sure, send me something.” I was a tad hesitant because a lot of what I get for guest posts is unusable. On Friday when I got Brittany’s article I opened the doc and was very happy to see this great article. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Revising Your NaNoWriMo Novel

In an interview with NPR, Chris Baty, the founder of National Novel Writing Month (more commonly known as NaNoWriMo) stated that he believed that everyone had a novel in them. Well, now that you’ve gotten that novel out, what do you want to do with it? Although the mad rush of cranking out your manuscript is over, there’s still plenty of work to be done to make it into a publishable piece.

Start by putting the manuscript aside. This may seem counter intuitive, but it is a good approach whether you are a student working to gain experience through master’s and PhD programs or an advanced novelist. The theory behind this method is that after all of the work that you have put in, your feelings about that text are going to be running hot. Thus its a good idea to use December, January and possibly even February to give your mind a break from the protect and work on something else. You can think about your novel or let other people read it, but otherwise leave it alone.

After allowing the manuscript to cool down a bit, sit down and read it as if you were reading it for the first time. Try not to anticipate what you know is coming and be in the moment. This gives you an idea of what you are working with as a whole, and how the work stands as it is. Next, make a list of obvious fixes that the novel requires. For example, one important thing to remember is that most commercial novels are between 90,000 and 100,000 words long. That means that you may have to double the word count on your NaNoWriMo novel. Similarly, think about things that you have left out, or things that you need to explain more thoroughly. This is where handing the manuscript to others is a good idea, as another pair of eyes can often spot gaps and plot holes that you may have missed.

When editing your piece, it is a good idea to print your manuscript out and go over it with a red pin. By having a tangible copy of the manuscript in your hand, you will be freed to make specific notes. Alternately, if you prefer to work on the computer, use the comment tool to leave yourself notes in the text itself. Making these notes requires you to go through your manuscript again, and while it is tedious, it is an extremely important part of this process.

The next step is to start your rewrites. While some people prefer to work through their manuscripts from beginning to end, other people prefer to to skip through and work on the piece as they feel like it. While both approaches are certainly valid, it is important to ensure that you do not skip or forget anything.

As you rewrite, it is crucial your are patient with yourself and your work. Keep in mind that NaNoWriMo is dedicated to getting words on the page, and that those words will need considerable refinement before the piece can be considered finished. Take it slow if necessary, and remember that even if you only edit 500 words in one day that you might edit 2,000 the next.

It is also important to show other people your work during this process. Whether you join writing group that meets regularly or sign up for a writers’ group online, you need to get outside input on your work. You never know when something is too obscure for someone else, and the more people who review your work, the more understandable it will be to a wider audience.

Finally, rewriting and fixing a first draft is not easy, and you may get bogged down in the details. The important thing to remember is that revising any novel is an endurance trial. Make time to revise every day. Even if you do only a small amount of work, it does add up. Also, don’t rush yourself. Novels can take a while before they are ready to be submitted, so don’t forget or give up on your ultimate goal.

NaNoWriMo has given you a great way to get words on the page, but now you need jump back into the piece and revise. This will allow you to polish your work so it can shine. While revising may be time consuming and not always easy, it offers you a chance to review your work and to bring the novel closer to your true vision.

Bio: Brittany Lyons aspires to be a psychology professor, but decided to take some time off from grad school to help people learn to navigate the academic lifestyle. She currently lives in Spokane, Washington, where she spends her time reading science fiction and walking her dog.

NaNoWriMo Is Right Around The Corner

Posted by george on October 1, 2011
Posted in: Fiction, Writing. Tagged: . 16 comments

One month from today, thousands and thousands of writers will take part in what is arguably the triathlon of novel writing. These wingnuts are going to attempt to write an entire novel in 30 days. What’s that you say? Impossible? Any sane and rational person would think so. Nano participants do not.

Last year I gathered up with the rest of the lemmings and flung myself off the cliff. Let me tell you something: By far, hands-down, it was the coolest writing experience I have ever had. The discipline required to write 2000 words a day, every day is tremendous. The experience forever altered my view of fiction and how to write a novel. The format requires a writer to cast aside previous notions about structure, detail scrutinization, and plot outlining. NaNoWriMo is all about the words, baby. Word counts specifically. Your job is to let the words flow. Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. No editing allowed. You are on a mission to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. You can revise and edit when you’re dead. Although this seems counter-intuitive it is amazingly liberating and refreshing.

For me, the writing took place every morning before my normal day started. 5am to 7am. Bam! Gitrdone. On day one, all I had were two things: A title and a list of potential characters. That’s it. No detailed outline, no plot-point graphs, no nothin’. This equated to a whole lot of freedom and at first there was too much canvas. On about the third day of writing, Story came in and took over. I was merely a channel through which the words flowed. It was incredible. My characters said and did things I had no idea they were capable of saying or doing. The story chose a path and marched right the hell down it.

I finished NaNoWriMo. Four days ahead of schedule as a matter of fact. What did I gain? Well, first and most importantly I gained a completed manuscript. Albeit one that needs a heavy dose of editing and revising but a manuscript nonetheless. There are “writers” who dilly-dally and struggle with every nuance of their book for years and don’t have a manuscript. More importantly I learned that I can write a long story, I can develop rich characters and when I devote myself to the cause, I can write like a sumbitch.

So, writers. Do yourself a big ol’ favor and sign up for NaNoWriMo this year. I guarantee you will have a blast.

Reflections On The Nano Experience

Posted by george on November 29, 2010
Posted in: Fiction, Writing. Tagged: , , , . 21 comments

Well, I did it. I participated in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) this year. I won. 50,000 words in 26 days. I’m proud, pleased, ecstatic and all the other describers that fit for accomplishing something really cool. I feel the need to post a nano debrief. I’m sure that those who participated this year can relate. Those that didn’t participate may find this an interesting glimpse into what happens when you write a novel in a month.

Novel Background

I didn’t know I was going to participate until about a month beforehand. I had been reading the Alexander McCall-Smith series 44 Scotland Street which was originally published in a serialized format in a Scottish paper. I thought, hey, what a cool idea. Perfect for one of the local Alaska papers. I got the notion that mayhap I could put something like that together. As happens so often with my blog posts, a title popped into my head: Talkeetna Trouble. Immediately I had an idea about a cast of miscreants and Alaska anomalies that would fit just right into such a novel. For the first time in my fiction writing career, I sat down and listed characters along with some descriptions, I listed plot points and developed a basic structure.

Then it hit me. Nano was a little over a month away. This could be the perfect project for such madness. I made the decision to participate. I updated my Nano profile and even set up a display at the library announcing my intentions. No backing out now.

The Process

I didn’t get all whacked out crazy about getting set up. I cleared the writing desk in the bedroom, made sure I had plenty of coffee in the cupboard and set my alarm for 5am.

I caught myself up on my monthly writing obligations, scheduled “Classic” posts from the archives for Tumblemoose and essentially cleared as much of my writing plate as possible.

Other than those very basic things the only thing I did to prepare was get the book  No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Blaty. Nano Founder. This is important and I cannot emphasize it enough. If you are going to participate in Nano, you must read this book. The insight was invaluable. Everything Chris said would happen throughout the month happened. It provided perspective, encouragement and super-sage advice. Do not do Nano without it.

What I did

I awoke at 5am every day, including weekends. I mean every day. My regular work days span anywhere from 7am until 8pm. I knew if I was going to make nano progress I had to do the writing during those first two hours in the morning.

I wrote every day. Just under two thousand words. My nano commitment was done before I left for work every day so I never gave it much thought throughout the day other than to consider story lines for the next day’s writing.

That’s how I came to upload my novel on day 26 and collect my winner goodies.

I was interviewed at the mid-point by Judy at the Fear of Writing Blog. It is kind of a fun read, so I’d appreciate it if you took a moment and went over there to have a look.

What I Learned:

I can write much faster than I ever thought I could. I averaged about a thousand words an hour without being ridiculous about it. That included breaks to pee, refill the coffee mug or have a puff or two off the old pipe. (Regular tobacco, not the wacky kind.)

The characters themselves decided where the story went to some extent. I had an idea about a basic story line when I started but I really didn’t have any idea where things were going to go. Amazingly I was writing a particular scene and all of a sudden I knew exactly what was going to happen in the story. I knew the climax and the characters that would be involved and I also figured out how to get there, what building blocks were needed.

There are nano ramifications. One of the hints that Chris gives in his book is to decrease the amount of hyphenated words, since most word counters will count as one instead of two words. In the few days since completing the novel, I have a hyphen phobia. I don’t hyphenate words that are in desperate need of that little dash.

I learned to not look back. Once, I scrolled back two pages to find a little detail I needed and that was the only time I ever went back. Right now, I’ve got NFI what is in the book. I have vague remembrances of some scenes I wrote but most of it is stuck in a haze. Not looking back stopped me from letting my inner editor out of his cage and bogging me down.

As I approached the end, I started suffering from post-partum depression. I was already missing the characters, the story, the routine of writing so much every morning. And while I was so happy about typing “THE END” I was truly sad.

It’s only been a few days since I finished and I’m having a hard time focusing on all of the other writing I need to get done this weekend. It’s not that I’m burned out or anything, I’m just in a different writing place and I don’t know how else to describe it.

The Final Question

Now that I’m done with it, what do I do with it? Do I park it for a month and then dig in to the rewrite phase, polishing it up for submission? Do I bask in the afterglow that comes with finishing a real live novel, leaving it to rest in the confines of My Documents?

I think I know the answer. I like the story, I believe in it so chances are that sometime after the first of the year I ‘ll print it out and get busy.

Overall, this has been one of the greatest writing experiences I’ve ever had. Highly recommended.

What say other nano types? What did you learn about yourself, the process or writing in general?

Write a Novel in 100 Days? Really?

Posted by george on April 26, 2010
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , . 22 comments

Image from: EinSpine

Lately I’ve been running across these ebooks about writing a novel in 100 days.  I admit to being just the opposite of a skeptic (read: Rube) but I wonder how many folks try to eat this elephant in one sitting.  I’m thinking a Costco sized jar of Tums would be needed for consuming an elephant in this manner.

On one hand, if the end result is a completed novel then I guess it could be an okay thing.  On the other hand, what happened to the love of the craft?  What happened to the pure joy that can only be had by building plot, characters and scenes, then rebuilding them as needed to make them work?  I’m not sure that writing should be a meat grinder.  Some things are just better when they are slow roasted instead of microwaved.

I’m thinking, wouldn’t it be cool if there had to be included as part of the cataloging of books a field for the number of days  it took the author to complete the work?  Of course I’m a statistics geek so that may be just me.

Now, I’ve been known to advocate the “write every day” premise.  I think it makes a bit of sense in that it works to polish and hone your skills and it keeps you writing.  If you write 2000 words a day and do that for a couple of months then I guess you really could write a novel in 100 days.  I can write a couple thousand a day but I tend to spread them out over several projects for clients and myself.  Unless I’ve got a brilliant concept rolling along in terms of novel writing I’m not too keen to torture myself by spending hours at the computer, pumping out dribble for dribble’s sake.

No post on this topic would be complete without mentioning National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) Oh, and whoever coined that acronym needs to be taken out back and horse-whipped.  But I digress ;-) natch – Ash

Every November, maniacal scribes from throughout the land sign on to write a novel length manuscript in 30 days.  Quite a few are way successful at accomplishing this task and many have done it more than once.  I think from a motivational perspective this is a very good thing.  If someone ends up with a draft that they can then rework over a period of months then I say “Yee-Haw”.

I guess what I’m less fond of are “systems” that are promoted that give struggling new authors the impression that at the end of three months of daily writing, they will have a manuscript they can print and send off.  I think that’s a bit disingenuous.

Heck, I’m no expert.  What do you folks think?  Have you ever done something like this?  If so, what were the results?  How about NaNoWriMo?  How’d that work for ya?

NaNoWriMo – Less than 3 days! Get Busy

Posted by george on October 29, 2008
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , , , . 2 comments

November is the traditional novel writing month for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).  What’s the big idea?  Easy.  A commitment to write a 50,000 word novel starting with word one on November 1st and completing the project by November 30.

Are you afraid of commitment?  So what.  Cast all of your worries and baggage aside and get to it.  What a great motivator.  Commit to doing this.  Work under deadline.  There is pressure.

Here’s the idea in a nutshell, taken directly from the source:

“Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.”

Now I ask you, How fun is that?!  Think about it.  You’re not writing for a fussy editor.  You’re not writing perfect prose for the sake of perfection.  This is in the trenches, take no prisoners, kill ‘em all – let God sort ‘em out, balls to the wall writing.  At what other time would you allow yourself this kind of writing freedom?

So head on over, sign up, and get ready to have some fun.