With November 1st. looming, these are some of the choices I have:
- Do not take part in NaNoWriMo this year and continue with my planning
- Use the discipline of the month to get back into writing - maybe short stories and flash fiction pieces - both of which I have neglected since editing novel two.
- Write scenes from the novel to use later, based on my newly met characters and see where they take me.
For me, the advantage of taking part in NaNoWriMo has always been the increased word output, the curbing of procrastination and complete immersion in a story and that is why I'm loath to not participate entirely. The disadvantage is that the writing often needs a great deal of editing and after a mammoth edit of my novel this summer, do I want that again?
It was while I was mulling over the situation that I came across this article, The Six Month Novel Writing Plan for 2018/2019 by Emily Harstone. It was featured in Authors Publish Magazine and she talks about a month by month plan over a longer time instead. She recommends it for people like myself who work better if there is a deadline. She believes that 'one of the enemies of novel writing is not having a strict deadline. If I take too long writing a novel I often forget most of the details and plot that were covered in the beginning of the novel, so that the start of the novel and the end do not match. I then have to go back and edit swathes of writing.' What interested me was that in her plan she has incorporated editing alongside the writing and the word count could be adjusted at any time. For example, she has a Two Hour Editing Binge Once a Week - Once a week, I would make sure to do an extra two hour editing stint during one of those days. Instead of writing new material I went over what I had written so far and edited it a little, just to make sure the story line and character development was as cohesive as possible. Again in Month Four, Harstone recommends this - Take a week off. Read but don't write. You will come back stronger. - and this - Write one hour a day every day outside of the week off. If you are not at least 150 pages at the start of this month, you should write for two hours most days.
If you have time, you can read the whole article HERE. Emily Harstone suggests that you can adapt her plan to suit you but explains how it has helped her write a first draft, edit it and get her novel ready for submission to agents. Would it work for you? Does it appeal more that the pressure of the NaNoWriMo daily word count?
Are you ready for NaNoWriMo 2018? If you are going to take part, I wish you loads of luck and hope you achieve your goal.
Thank you for reading. You may also follow me on @JanBayLit and on my Jan Baynham Writer page.
Hi, Jan. Yes, I'm taking part this year. Not with a new book, but with one I am half way through, with the intention of getting it finished. NaNo doesn't have to be about writing something brand new, although I'm sure that is what most participants use it for. The main thing is that it prompts you to write more than you would normally... even if you don't reach the magic 50,000 words. As to whether you should take part, well, no one can decide that but you, obviously; but it seems to me that you wouldn't be posing the question if you had truly decided against it. Remember - the No in NaNo may stand for Novel, but actually you can write anything, and it doesn't have to be all the same thing. Perhaps a mixture of flash fiction and character work? Maybe get each of your new characters to write about themselves? That would increase your knowledge of them; it would generate ideas for the book; and, because it wouldn't involve actually writing the book itself, it would eliminate the post-Nano editing. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, Sue. You make some excellent observations confirming what I’ve been thinking. Writing about the characters will certainly be useful and, as you say, more ideas may come as I get to know them better. After four years of taking part, it didn’t seem right not to get involved in NaNo in some way. Good luck for finishing your book. 🍀🍀🍀I found when I was at that stage that was when NaNo worked best for me and I exceeded 50,000 words. 🙂
DeleteThe six month writing plan appeals to me - it's more or less what I did this year. After taking years to write my first novel, in February I decided I'd make myself write 5,000 words a week and I was delighted and quite surprised to discover I had a pretty complete first draft ready to edit by spring. I've never tried NaNo and such a tight deadline seems terrifying to me - I'd be setting myself up to fail! Whatever you decide, have a good writing month, Jan x
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sara. I was interested in the fact that the six month deadline worked for you ton write your second novel. I think deadlines are important so I have made a start on NaNo just to get the writing going again but will be looking at the six month plan once the month is over.
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