Writer's Update: NaNoWriMo review
NaNoWriMo--National Novel Writing Month--is officially over, even for my extended goal, and I'm ready to reflect on the experience and the process.
Goals:
I set my goal to hit the 80,000-word norm for my novels by December 10.
The result: Edited Out turned out to be more like 74K, and even shorter in the quick-and-dirty draft that left out some things. I went back and added some missing scenes, then was left with the choice of "failing" or cheating. Reader, I cheated. I finished out the last few days with whatever other writing I had on hand to do, to make it up to 80K.
Result: I have a very rough and rocky draft of the novel, some personal stuff that needed writing, and partial draft of a short story that may be the germ of the next Seffi Wardwell mystery. Win-win? Maybe. I also have a bit of burnout. Writing daily, and often writing a LOT each day, left me with a story I'm not sure how to continue and a desire not to look at any of it for a while.
On the other hand: The year-end holiday season is a good time to retreat a bit from writing anyway and take a rest. On the other other hand, I'm going to be unable to work for most of February and half of March, so I need to get rolling.
Process:
My approach to the fast-drafting period is to make a lot of notes, get a plan for the book, determine the victim, the perp, and the MO, and select some good red herrings. I visualize the opening scene. Then when I start writing I can use that plan to keep me on track.
The Reality: I thought I was so well prepped. I had, if not exactly an outline, a beginning and ending and a fat list of things that needed to happen through the middle, even something of a schedule for when they should happen. And I still missed a bunch of stuff, flailed around through the middle of the book, and ended up with a short draft, which isn't horrid, but to my mind also a scrawny draft, which is.
Take-away: I'm beginning to think there's no way around the pain of the middle of the book, but I did write every day, even if it was only a few hundred words on busy social days.
The NaNo:
I usually say that the reason I like to draft a novel during NaNo is for the energy and community. And the little word counter thing with the implicit daily deadlines keeps me honest.
The Reality: The deadline thing seems to work. As for the community--I went to a write-in for kick-off, and after that it just seemed like too much work to go out and do any more. In part, I felt like a) everyone else already knew each other, and b) I was old enough to be their mother, and didn't quite fit. Of course, I could have tried other venues and events, but it just didn't work out, between weather and houseguests.
Take-away: That daily word-count thing really does keep my nose to the grindstone. Is there a good way to replicate that without the rest of the NaNo thing? Maybe daily or every-other-day FB posts?
What next?
Up next is a) finish drafting this short story, if possible; and b) start edits on last year's draft, Washed Up With the Tide. I just need a little more recovery time, I think.
Reader, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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