Revolution 2: NaNo
Reflections on 50k words in one month...
It all started with a single thought at the end of September, and the rest, as they say, is history:
This is not my first rodeo when it comes to National Novel Writing Month. It is, in fact, my third (technically). The first two challenges were for BURNED, the novel I’m currently querying, while this month’s challenge was for a brand new super-secret (for now) WIP.
The first time I participated was in July of 2020 for Camp NaNoWriMo. This was the push I used to complete the first draft of BURNED. For Camp, the suggested word count goal is 30k, and I ended up writing about 37k.
I started strong, didn’t write for two weeks, then had some semblance of a consistent climb until July 24th. I remember this date because this is when I made the unhinged decision to pull an all-nighter and simply write until the end of my manuscript. I did in fact manage to do that. I wrote over 14,000 words that night. (I do not recommend this. It was fun tho lol.)
My second go-around was also as part of Camp NaNo in July of 2021 for a complete rewrite of BURNED, which ended up being much closer to the draft I’m now querying. I opted to go for the full classic 50k. Not to brag, but I kinda crushed it that time around! I didn’t skip writing a single day and ended up hitting 50k four days before the end of the month, at which point I wrote an additional 4k words.
Both of these experiences unlocked and revealed to me a new mode I possessed: Turbo Drafting Mode. When it comes to drafting, I’ve learned I prefer to finish a draft over the period of a couple of months in what, to some, may seem like a mad flurry of writing. These are the periods during which I hit a stride and (typically) manage to get into a writing schedule. I find it really works for me to throw all of my energy into the project with tunnel-vision intensity until it’s finished.
But once the draft is done, I must let it sit. Marinate. Depending on what state it’s in, it might go out to beta readers. Regardless, once I’ve completed the rush of The Draft, I then have to take a while to breathe. The same is not necessarily true of revising and editing, which I could do all day every day. I have come to adore that part of the process, which would shock any version of me from, say, 2021 or earlier.
I digress!
The Break™
I finished grad school back in May of this year, then proceeded to stop writing almost entirely, for months. Though that break was much needed, I’m not sure if the extended length was necessary. But I moved, had to adjust to a new schedule, and I was hyperfocused on querying BURNED. (Don’t ask me how it’s going I don’t wanna talk about it hehe <3)
And then the end of the year began approaching. I had the seeds of a new novel that I started toying around with at the beginning of 2021. Because my focus shifted to BURNED pretty heavily around that time, I figured I would probably never write this other novel and that planning it was just a fun little side project. Let’s call that book AAA for now, partially because that’s the acronym of the working title and also we’re all screaming with joy that I decided to dust it off and launch into a draft for NaNo 2022!
Yes, I decided to take the characters and approximately 2.5 strands of plot I’d dreamt up and cobble them together into something more or less cohesive. I remembered how excited I was by this project, and I took the plunge back into that world in hopes that it would wrench me out of my Funk.
By the end of October, what I had was a general outline, much less detailed than I am wont to create before starting a draft of anything. That outline contained a plan for a novel with four first-person points of view, a form/tense shift after the first act, and a whole lot of vibes. I sent it to a few trusted friends. They told me I was out of my mind, at which point I said CHALLENGE ACCEPTED and prepared for takeoff.
Still, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do it. Part of me was terrified by the very idea of writing again—which in hindsight was quite dramatic but ultimately it makes this story better. (Maybe I actually knew unconsciously what I was doing re: my own character arc and the melodrama was necessary.) I wasn’t confident that starting with something as intense as NaNo was a good way to get back in the game.
Remember that whole Turbo Drafting Mode I mentioned earlier? As it turns out, that mode is still very much available to me! I’ll quit beating around the bush and reveal that I did win NaNo this November, and with a few days to spare, even. Not only that, but starting a new project has greatly reduced my BURNED querying angst, as it no longer feels like the only novel I’ll ever produce. (Again, melodramatic, but I’m sure some folks will relate!)
Of course, now the question is: what are my next steps?
My loose goal is to finish this draft by the end of January (which will involve approx 40k more words) and get it from zero draft—>first draft. For me, a zero draft is what happens when I just write forward and don’t look back at all, unless I literally have to reread something because I forget what I wrote. This means getting the words down and creating a finished “piece,” albeit not one I would let people look at yet. With some line editing and some less intensive developmental revision, to me, that will bring the zero draft manuscript to the coveted First Draft Status.
Why NaNo?
We’ve reached the segment of the program where we discuss what we’ve learned. Some questions to guide us: Why take on the NaNoWriMo challenge? Is there really a benefit to churning out so much content in the span of just 30 days? Isn’t it more stressful to try to hit word count goals as opposed to taking your time and ending up with a stronger draft?
Well, as a recovering edit-as-you-write truther, my opinion is that a major upside to NaNo is the way it forces you out of that mindset. There’s certainly a healthy amount of editing as you go that can be helpful in the drafting stage, but if you’re anything like me, it actually becomes debilitating to the creative process.
Racing toward the goal became about more than just the goal itself. It forced me to get out of my head regarding silly things like quality or pacing or chracterization. (I kid. These are important tools that will help us later. But when drafting, I believe it’s best to trust your gut and come back to fix things later instead of agonizing over whether your character would wear boxers or briefs.) I had to rely on my writing brain as I went and trust that I was making the right choices, and that everything I’ve learned about writing made its way onto the page based on instinct.
It forced me to accept that a first draft is almost always pretty crappy.
That’s something that I hadn’t yet accepted at the time of my first NaNo challenge in July 2020. Once I finished that mansucript, I truly thought it would need some editing, a couple of beta readers to get it into shape, and then it would be finished!
Spoiler alert: NOPE. Not the case at all. I LOL at the very thought. What ended up happening was a fairly long process (which I think was somewhat extended because my attention was then split between my MFA and other writing) of revising, re-writing, re-structuring, and eventually arriving at a book that is vastly different from that first draft.
I learned a lot along the course of completing BURNED, all of which made it much easier to sail through NaNo this month for AAA. Learning to embrace the garbage first draft and also learning to love the revision process made it much easier to leave behind self doubt or other obstructive thoughts. I was able to simply write and have faith in my outline and my grasp of the craft. Ultimately, it was a lot of fun!
Even after editing all of this, I feel like my thoughts may be a bit disjointed and rambly, so here’s my main point: You can’t improve your book until there’s a book to improve. I simply cannot emphasize this enough!!!!
Get everything down on the page. It’s going to be messy. Possibly disastrous. There will probably be errors and discontinuities and lines of dialogue that make you cringe upon re-read. All of this is not only okay, but it’s normal and expected. Even the best writers out there regularly produce first drafts that would make readers scratch their heads.
The crucial thing is, until it’s all out of your head and on the page, there’s no way to edit, revise, improve. Sometimes the best thing you can do is write a truly awful first draft, at which point you have, at the very least, a starting point, as opposed to a blank page.
That’s why I enjoy NaNo so much. Sure, you could self-impose a word count every month. But for me the community is a huge aspect of it, the knowing that there are thousands of other writers making fun and unpolished things with so much promise and potential. The balance of peer pressure and encouragement is a great way to break any habits that may slow down your drafting process.
All of this to say, after my third NaNo, I attribute a lot of what I enjoy about my own writing process to participating in this challenge. I’ve learned quite a bit about letting go and drafting from the creative core, in trusting that this disfigured and terrible creature I’m dragging out of some dark grotto can be tamed and made beautiful—only once it’s been brought into the light.
On a final and somewhat self-congratulatory note, I recently had a piece of flash fiction published! It’s called Surrogation and you can read it here in Unstamatic. I affectionately refer to it as my “spider baby story.” Do with that what you will!
I suppose that’s all I have for you this time around. If you’re a fellow NaNo-er, let me know how your challenge went! Word count met? How do you feel? Did you have fun???
Until next time!