First off, congratulations! Whether you have finished your novel or just barely limped over your word count goals, there’s a pretty good chance you got a lot of writing done this past month. Possibly more than you ever have!
NaNoWriMo has always appealed to the organization nerd in me. It’s basically a massive to-do list that just says “write 1,667 words today” 30 times in a row, and boy do I love ticking a box. But what comes next after you set aside an entire month to write is a lot more nebulous. It’s easy to walk away feeling unsatisfied and without a plan to capitalize upon your momentum. That’s what we’re here for.
If You Haven’t Finished Your Novel…
Not finishing your novel can look like a lot of different things when working inside the constraints of NaNoWriMo, so knowing how to attack this begins with the question of why it is not yet completed.
Meet your monthly word count goal but there’s still more story to tell?
Congratulations! This is definitely still winning NaNoWriMo. Use all the good habits you’ve learned over November to build out a new daily writing goal to finish your novel. Feel free to decrease your daily word count to give yourself a break, but don’t be afraid to zoom ahead if you still feel inspired! Changing your momentum does not mean you invalidate the progress you’ve made.
Did you lose pace because you had a hard time carving out time to write?
Get back on that horse! If you keep having difficulty finding time to write, there’s a good chance a book coach can help you get back on track. Sometimes having an accountability partner is all you need, and they can help you with literary stumbling blocks to improve your first draft as well.
Did you get writer’s block or a difficult scene and didn’t know how to move forward?
The first thing you should ask yourself is how much do you still love your story. Is it worth fixing? If so, this is another great indicator that a book coach could help you overcome these obstacles with a series of writing exercises and feedback on your existing pages.
If You Have Finished Your Novel…
First off, congratulations! Take some time to celebrate, and enjoy a bit of a vacation from your manuscript for a while. You deserve it, and coming back to review once you have some distance from it will sharpen your self editing process.
Starting Your Rewrites
If you already have ideas in mind of how you want to change things, start there. If you know where to start, it means it’s an important change. You won’t be satisfied until it is complete. Plus, these kinds of edits can sometimes really get momentum up for improvements throughout your manuscript.
But once that’s done, or if you need a place to start, I suggest reading your manuscript again without making any changes. Then make a list of the large scale movements you love, the ones you hate, and what you’re indifferent to. This will give you a preliminary list of things you want to build up your story around, things that need changed, and things that can be used or lost to give your story life.
Knowing When You’re Done
Knowing when you have taken a manuscript as far as you can by yourself is quite difficult. The telltale sign I see from my coaching clients is they find themselves waffling over decisions. If you don’t quite like a scene but you also don’t know how to fix it, it is either unimportant or something you should get help with. Same goes if you’re flip flopping on two versions of a scene. Of course, you may be one of the lucky few who just get a “finished” feeling. I hear it does happen sometimes.
Finding an Editor
Conventional wisdom says to find an editor with a wealth of experience in your genre. This is how search engines are built, so it must be the best way to go, right? Maybe if genre is what you consider the most important aspect of your novel. As a self-publishing author, I highly suggest instead searching for an editor with the same value systems as yourself.
What do you enjoy in the stories you read? Is it a plot line with twists and turns or a quiet moment that connects characters? Maybe you love a book with highly realistic dialogue or flowery descriptions of landscape. Whatever makes you fall in love with a story, make sure that’s what your editor loves, too. It’s the best way to ensure you’ll push your manuscript in a direction that will deeply connect with your readership.
NaNoWriMo is just the beginning of the journey toward becoming a self-published author, but in many ways it knocks out the hardest one all in one fell swoop. You may have a lot of editorial revisions, plot restructures, or scene rewrites, but having your first draft as a framework will guide you toward the best possible version of your future novel!
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