National Novel Writing Month is over! It’s a relief and a loss, I’ve found, because the crazy and almost manic nature of the writing and socializing with other Wrimos is both energizing during November and then quite noticeably absent once December rolls around. There’s not a lot that does that for me outside of NaNoWriMo, so it’s a blessing and a curse.
My NaNoWriMo
I won NaNo on Nov 22nd, hitting 50,498 words by the end of the day. I love that, and I’m always glad when I can get things done ahead of time. As I chose to be a NaNoRebel this year, of that 50k, not quite half of it was for a ghostwriting job, while the rest was a short story and a new novel idea that I’m working on with curiosity. I haven’t had a truly new novel idea in quite some time, I’m often just finding ways that an old idea might actually work. This inspiration is coming from somewhere, but I’ve no idea where that might be. It’s quite heartening, however, to have it at all. I expect this novel will be quite long, as I’ve only made it through four chapters and into the fifth, and as yet I have no idea where it’s going. The words have been pouring out of me in true pantser (‘by the seat of my pants’) style, and at this point I’m not planning to try and outline a plot yet. If I find I reach an end of my inspiration, I may have to change that, but for now I’m just fascinated with the depth of the story that’s so similar and yet so different from what I usually write.
What Happens After National Novel Writing Month?
If you won, that’s awesome! Grab that winner swag and enjoy your victory. If you didn’t reach 50k, don’t be too hard on yourself. This year especially, I would caution taking life as it comes, and not vilifying circumstances outside your control. I know too many people who have had, or currently have, COVID-19 to tell anyone that not reaching 50k is a loss. No matter what you got done in November, even if you just spent more time outlining an idea, that’s progress you didn’t have before. It’s that simple. The next step is to find ways to work on your idea further around life, holidays, and whatever may yet come.
If you finished your story, congratulations! That’s wonderful, and not as common as you might think. (Reaching 50k is the challenge’s goal, not reaching The End.) Many novels reach far loftier word counts by the time The End is reached, and that leaves many Wrimos with a feeling of incomplete success despite winning NaNoWriMo. I usually advise setting aside a complete draft and letting it “rest”. By this I mean that your brain can relax, let the ideas go which you’ve now documented, and you don’t think about it for a little while. Whether you move on to a new project or just enjoy the down time is up to you. I find that when you do return to the manuscript, you have a fresh perspective to bring to the work, and you can revise and edit from a place of calmer (less manic) writing headspace. It also lets you view the novel from a complete place (from the outside, looking in) instead of the very focused in-progress scene (from the inside). The difference may not always be significant, but you will need to look at it as a whole, and make sure the parts add up and flow correctly.
If you did not finish a manuscript, you have options. You can continue working through December, pushing forward and carrying through the energy of NaNoWriMo, or you can dial it back, setting a slower pace. Maybe you only work on your manuscript on Saturday afternoons through the winter, when you can set aside time that doesn’t conflict with work, school, or whatever events take precedence now that National Novel Writing Month is complete. I don’t recommend stopping entirely, because it tends to break the train of thought your brain was working on, and even if you return to the project, you may not be able to pick it up again. Often that means an abandoned idea that could have otherwise been a very good novel. I, too, will be writing more slowly through December, to finish the ghostwriting I’m working on and get to the new year and a new plan.
If your goal was simply to achieve NaNoWriMo’s 50k, without regard for what might happen next, it’s up to you whether you decide to continue working on your novel or not. I’m the type of person who will feel like it’s been left undone if I don’t. If that doesn’t matter to you, maybe you’re done. Well done.
NaNoEditMo: A Chance to Revise
Many people try to edit in December, which sounds great in theory, until you think about it a little. November is crazy. For most people there are already reasons December will be crazy (like holidays); why would you double that with trying to edit a manuscript that was thrown together with so much speed it will take a lot of work to get it looking like an actual novel? To the bold who will choose to edit in December, I wish you luck. For anyone who can’t conscience that, I understand you. I tend to use December to finish the first draft and then rest.
Regardless of when you choose to edit, whether December, January, or six years from now, you probably want to decide first what your goal is. Are you trying to publish this in the traditional fashion, querying an agent and/or a publisher next? Are you going to self-publish or share it online somewhere? In the first case, they aren’t expecting a perfect draft, just a well written one that they can then work with you to complete to their satisfaction. The latter case is less clear cut. If your goal is nothing more than sharing your idea with others, a single revision pass to clear up any contradictions, fix mistakes, and tighten the writing to your satisfaction is all you may need. Self-publishing is more complicated, and requires not only editing to your satisfaction, but also making it something that will appeal to others enough they will give you money for it. (These are not mutually exclusive, by any means, but expect to put a lot more thought into self-publishing for money than sharing.)
1. Read the entire manuscript without editing it at all.
That might be hard, but try to restrain your fingers twitching for that red pen or backspace key. The first thing you want to get from revising is a view of your novel as a whole. That means not focusing on the individual words, but the entire concept. If you must do something as you’re reading, take notes. Did a certain character seem cookie-cutter until the second half of the novel when you’d gotten into their head? That’s something you can fix, so just take note and keep going.
2. Edit the big picture first.
This is where you want to make sure your characters are consistent, your setting doesn’t change details back and forth because you forgot something, and your plot is believable. If you think the structure is weak, there’s a fair chance readers will, too. Is the plot twist predictable? Did you get lost accomplishing one plot point? Make sure you are looking at the novel as a whole for this step. You need the whole to be cohesive instead of wandering all over the place. If it helps to build character and setting sheets at this point to keep a list of the details you chose, definitely do it. Some authors create such sheets before they write anything, but even those authors may need to update theirs to match decisions made while writing. This includes any information you want to keep in a story bible as reference for your revisions. Write it down and you can refer back to it rather than just trusting your memory to maintain the full novel. You may need some of that space in your head for reworking sections of your novel.
3. Then focus in on the words themselves.
Now it’s time to do some proofreading for grammar and word choice. Did you use four words where one would do? (NaNoWriMo does tend to encourage overly wordy sentences, but that doesn’t make them the best way to say it.) It might be a good idea to keep a stylesheet for yourself as you go, just to keep everything the same. Definitely make sure you have a consistent verb tense. Past tense is traditional for most novels, but present tense is becoming more popular – just make sure you pick one and stick to it.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it’s a list of conventions you use in your writing, from which you can confirm later usage that you’re unsure of. Stylesheets can include anything from whether or not you use Oxford commas (including the comma before the last item) to words you have made up for your novel or terminology you misspell frequently. An author stylesheet is often of use to an editor later on if you do get your novel professionally edited, but for the moment it’s for you. Do you use em-dashes in your text? If so, are you in the old-fashioned crowd who merge the words on either side right up to the em-dash, or do you include spaces on either side as many more modern authors think “looks right”?
4. Get some feedback on your novel.
Whether this is from your agent, publisher, or beta-readers, it’s time to get some outside thoughts. If you’ve done steps one through three to the best of your ability, you’ve poured all the insight you have into your novel. Now share it with at least one person who will give you constructive critique. Note: your significant other or a family member may not be the best choice, because they will enjoy most anything you have written. Find a friend or less-close acquaintance who can give you both positive and negative feedback.
Congratulations again on making it through November in one piece! I have a couple articles for this month in the coming weeks, but once we hit holidays I’ll be signing off until the new year. Happy writing!
Marie Efromson 