Thread: It's over!

NaNoWriMo is finished for another 11 months. Did you finish? Did you get done what you wanted to? How soon before you start editing/rewriting? Any epiphanies you'd care to share?

For my part, I did far more than I thought I would, finished my novel with time to spare, and have just had a read-through. I can save most of it *chuckles* I've already started on an edit, and then am probably going to do a full rewrite, using the edited ms as a reference. Am hoping to have this all done by the end of January and to get the ms and the ms for the other completed novel in this series out to the market. Don't know yet if I'm going to look for an agent or try to market the thing myself...am mulling over the various pluses and minuses for each.

well done!

I didn't finish - right now i'm at 42k but am pleased that I got that far as its the most i've worked on a single project. I'm about half way through the plot at that.

The whole experience taught me some discipline; before I would work on one thing until I got stuck then jump to the next. When I couldn't get any further on any of them I started editing what I had done and got stuck on repeat with that.

There are a lot of things I can use from the story in the edit. I'm giving myself until March to have finished the second edit then see where to go from there

So nanoing taught you some professional discipline? Excellent! It taught me not to distrust my ideas so much. I got myself blocked because my plots and characters were never good enough for the story I wanted them to tell. Teaching myself a new way to outline/create plot skeletons/storyboard got me beyond that and for once the story seems as good as my ambition hoped it would be.

YAY! I finished, but not too proud of the work itself. I think it's a good story, but I'm not that good a writer. The word count got finished, but not the story. I'll probably work on it a little at a time to try to get it straightened out.

Why don't you think you're that good of a writer? What is it about the story that give you that opinion?

I'm not that good at describing things. I tend to be too simplistic. What sounds good to me invariably gets critiques that make me think my writing is comparable to a 4th grader.

I've always written short stories, so I tend to keep things tight, leaving out anything that's not essential.

The story I wrote is a good story, but I don't know if I can fix it good enough. Actually, I love my MC, and some scenes made me cry. I need to find someone to help me with it.

You should leave out anything that's not essential-if it doesn't develop the plot or a character, it doesn't need to be there.

I have the opposite problem, Foster. I get so wrapped up in description that I forget plot. I've really got to take everything one page at a time. I actually did finish my rough draft this Nov. But right at this very moment, I am procrastinating on the editing process by posting here.

Though I've not been on this forum in ages, I'll announce that I got mine done.

But I am not happy with it, at least I know it needs a lot of work, the fun of redrafting, it is my aim to redraft mine (and extend, 50,500 words won't be enough) for by the end of the year.

I'm not that good at describing things. I tend to be too simplistic. What sounds good to me invariably gets critiques that make me think my writing is comparable to a 4th grader.

I've always written short stories, so I tend to keep things tight, leaving out anything that's not essential.

The story I wrote is a good story, but I don't know if I can fix it good enough. Actually, I love my MC, and some scenes made me cry. I need to find someone to help me with it.

Not everything needs too much description, there is the whole argument of showing and not telling, but 'showing' doesn't necessarily mean a paragraph describing to you how pretty the sky is, great writing can be achieved when it is 'to the point'. Some people do go into my depth with their descriptions (I sometimes do) but it isn't always necessary, it's a matter of style, as people try to immerse readers differently, if you've got something that is well written and can keep the reader gripped and is consistent, then it is good.

However, the other day I was shopping in Cambridge and this book caught my eye:

The Weekend Novelist Redrafts the Novel: A Step by Step Guide to Perfecting Your Work: Robert J. Ray: Amazon.co.uk: Books
[If you're not in the UK, there should be link on the product page to redirect you to it on Amazon USA]
And I just thought of my NaNoWriMo, so I bought it, as I thought it'd give me more direction in my editing. I think it might be a good place to start with redrafting and 'ironing' out anything you've written.


A second opinion always helps, if you're scared of plagiarism, then a friend you know and have met might be a good person to read it and it may be good to get a reader's opinion first. My house-mate has been bugging me to let him read my piece unedited, so having somebody who is interested might be helpful. (Though I'm not letting my house-mate read it until I've edited enough of it)