It’s over. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) came to an end last Monday.
I had planned on writing a couple more blogs on the subject but (as you have probably gathered) a combination of work and life as well as writing the novel has left me a little short on time.
I thought I’d finish this blog series by answering the questions that I imagine you have now that the challenge has come to an end.
So, did you ‘win’?
Yes, with a word count of 50,173.
How easy was it for you to end the story?
I was lucky to have worked out what the ending would be quite early in the challenge. I’ve learnt from previous years that this can really make a difference to stress levels as you near the finish line. An important part of my plan for the end was to make sure that Agatha’s character arc – her transformation throughout the story – was not too predictable but still suited her personality traits. It ended happily and hopefully for her.
Was it a struggle to reach 50,000 words?
There were some scenes that I thought would have been longer, so I wrote fewer words than I predicted. Despite this, I didn’t have to force in more words and additional scenes after reaching the end, which is a tactic I’ve had to use in previous years. It wasn’t a struggle but it would have been if I’d had to reach 51,000 words.
What tools did you use throughout the process?
- Google drive, my tablet and fold-up bluetooth keyboard – essential for writing on my commute
- Trello – for planning and making notes
- My ‘dead time’ – I wrote most of my words on my commute and during lunch hours
- Caffeine – essential for…writing in general
What was the most enjoyable part of the challenge?
The moments when the characters took the plot into their own hands and made improvements for me were the most enjoyable. And, obviously, the excuse to buy myself lots of pumpkin spice lattes in the name of writing.
And the least enjoyable?
I still struggle with the last few thousand words. I’m sure that most participants find this the easiest part because they’re rushing in full flow to the finish line. For me, however, it tends to become a battle with the characters to wrap everything up whilst still achieving the word count. This year was the easiest I have found it, but it was still tough.
Another aspect that wasn’t enjoyable was having to scale back some of my other writing, such as for Backseat Mafia, and turning down gigs, social events etc to make room for the novel.
What happens now?
This is the first NaNoWriMo draft that I’ve written that I actually want to edit into a finished manuscript. I think the key to turning this into a novel fit for publishing will be setting myself a clear goal for editing it. NaNoWriMo is great because it gives you a deadline, but when it comes to editing it’s easy to slip back into bad habits by telling yourself that you’ll start the editing process next weekend/month/year.
I left it far too long before revisiting my first NaNoWriMo draft and I was so appalled by it when I finally got around to reading it that I couldn’t bear to edit it. I’ve just realised that I never even bothered to revisit last years draft!
This time I plan on leaving it until the New Year and then setting myself some realistic targets for finishing the rewriting and editing process. The NaNoWrMo website supports editing during the “now what?” months so I might try using that resource this time.
What would you say to anyone considering taking part in NaNoWriMo 2016?
Just go for it. If it’s not going to be workable you’ll probably find out pretty quickly, but whatever happens at least you’ll be writing. NaNoWriMo unlocked something for me when I first took part a few years ago. I’d always wanted to write and now I do. I’m a writer. If you’ve ever said “I’d love to write a novel” use NaNoWriMo as a means of making that happen. Writing is like exercising a muscle – to grow in strength you need to keep working the muscle – your writing becomes easier and stronger when you do it often.
It’s also important to remember that what you produce doesn’t have to be anywhere near perfect. You’re aiming for a rough draft not a finished novel and, as Ernest Hemingway said, “the first draft of anything is shit”.
With Hemingway’s words giving me hope, it’s time for me to take this novel from a rough draft to a polished work. I’ll keep writing about the editing process on this blog over the coming months.
Did you take part in NaNoWriMo 2015? If so, I’d love to hear your experiences.