Why You Should Edit Your NaNoWriMo Novel Now

This is post #11 in a fifteen post series, entitled “15 Days to Writerly Awesome in 2015,”  posting on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday of January.

the above photo is a modified adaptation of this work

Below is a guest post from my dear friend Marissa Fuller, editor extraordinaire:

January is a time for reflecting on the past year. Just a few months ago now, many of us writerly folk participated in NaNoWriMo, if I’m not much mistaken. If you haven’t started already, you’ve likely been popping your head into your office/ water closet/ cupboard under the stairs, or wherever it is you keep your laptop, thinking it’s about time to get to editing that NaNo manuscript. On the other hand, you may have already finished editing it! I know a few people who pitched and queried their NaNo manuscripts in December (??!!@##UHFSOA).

Here’s the thing—you wrote that manuscript within the confines of a month. It could be absolute gold, but there is no getting around the fact that it was written in thirty days or less. For most of us, that means we just jotted down our story as fast as we could, not giving ourselves many moments to sit and think on the perfect phrasing (this is what drove me mad during NaNoWriMo), or the proper scene sequence, or to mix in the right amount of foreshadowing. Here's why you should edit your NaNoWriMo novel now:

Breathe in Edits

Take your time in editing. Just do a couple hours a day (a week!) if that’s what your manuscript needs. Mull over plot changes, edit out of order—give yourself the time you didn’t take while creating in NaNoWriMo. Even thought you wrote something quickly, you still have to put in the hours in other ways, like editing.

New writers might think that editing is basically syntax and punctuation corrections, and that alone. The truth of the matter is, your manuscript is born out of editing. Edits could (and should) change your manuscript in a huge way, even more so if you’re having a professional edit your manuscript as well.

It’s no small task, and it’s not something that can be done in a rush. Your first few drafts are just as, if not more, important than your first, because you continue to write and to learn your story as you weave through it.

Let your manuscript breathe the sweet air of change, of growth, of synonyms that liven the language and bring it to a whole new level. Oh, and did I mention? You should probably breathe, too.

Novel Advice: What to Do When the Story Isn't Working

the above photo is a modified adaptation of this work

This is post #7 in a fifteen post series, entitled “15 Days to Writerly Awesome in 2015,” 

posting on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday of January.

This is a guest post, brought to you by the lovely Ashley R. Carlson. Read her other guest post here. Enjoy!

I published my debut novel, “The Charismatics,” in December of 2014, and it was a whirlwind six months leading up to the release (read about my process here and how I felt after the release here). So now that things have died down a little, I began to work on something new, because that’s what every successful indie author says to do, right? RIGHT.

Whenever you finish a piece of work, get started on something new. Side note: Don’t spend weeks or even months trying to market the thing. Let your readers do that for you. Just produce more great work and get your name and work in readers’ hands. (I do have a couple of speaking events coming up that will involve “The Charismatics,” and possibly an event at an indie bookstore, but those were in the works before release. Other than that I haven’t written guest posts for it, nor paid for advertising. I’d rather write some new material to sell).

So that was my plan, to begin working on another novella in a completely different genre than my novel (contemporary adult vs. YA steampunk fantasy) because 1) I wanted a break from fantasy and 2) I wanted to push myself with a new genre.

A few things happened when I started working on the first draft of my novella, “Misery and Marlene,” a few weeks ago, and I noticed how nice it was to be writing a first draft again (the freedom! The inexplicably wild naked-and-running freedom of pantsing a first draft of something again!). I also noticed how for some reason, it wasn’t happening very easily for me.

That’s right. I was having a hard time with various facets of “Misery and Marlene.” Firstly, it was a genre I’d never written in before, and didn’t even really know much about: contemporary. No dragons, no magic, no secret governmental plots (all awesome things in my previous novel). Nope. This story had cell phones and a girl who worked at a bar and lived in Missouri but called it “Misery” because she hated it and the whole thing just wasn’t very … inspiring. It was all sort of bland to me, and you want to know why?

Because it felt a little too much like my own life.

A single woman in a dead-end job with huge dreams she doesn’t know will come to fruition or not. Yep, I had inadvertently begun a memoir, hidden under the ruse of fiction. I also noticed that I was used first person present, which is the tense I’ve used in both my short story (“Cruel”) and my novel.

So because I wasn’t feeling the itch to sit down and tap these keys into words of the story, I decided to try some things before scrapping it entirely.

1) I changed tenses and narrative. As mentioned, it was previously a first person present tense story, which seems to be my “go to” narrative style. I like it because 1) it’s personal (you’re in the character’s head, hearing their thoughts and experiencing their experiences) and 2) it’s “in the moment.” “The Hunger Games” series is written in first person present tense, and I think it lends to the intensity and fear of the situations. Both my short story and novel are high-action, tense stories with female protagonists, so it worked for them as well. But this? This contemporary novella about a sad girl in a sad place with a sad life?

It was all just sounding a bit too whiny, a bit too mundane in first person narrative. So I changed it to third person past tense a few days ago. But how?

2) I started over. Yep. I ignored the 10,000 words I’d begun (though I didn’t delete them completely) and began a new manuscript, with the differing tense. I noticed a difference right away; this story was no longer a silly diary of a bored girl. It was deeper than that. It was tragic. I could literally smell the tragedy off the main character, off her family members, off the little town in Missouri itself. Disappointment. Broken dreams. Compromises. Dysfunction. The words were flying into my head and onto the page, and I was looking at things from an entirely new angle. The other good thing was this:

3) I used the previous information for the new version. I had 10k words of good material to direct me with this new draft—characters and their names, places, events. Now, obviously this is what an outline would tell me, if I did those. But even for those of you who outline like crazy, I bet sometimes you get started on a story and it just doesn’t work, for some fundamental reason. That doesn’t mean you get rid of the entire idea—it could still be a great one. You just need to tweak, examine another way. And if you still feel like there’s passion there, that it’s a story your heart aches to tell, than keep at it.

Just remember that if the idea has grown stale in your mind, scrap it completely and start something new. Always, always start something new. You’re a writer, after all—the stories are there in your mind and at your fingertips, just waiting to be placed upon the page.

Ashley R. Carlson grew up wanting a talking animal friend and superpowers, and when that didn’t happen, she decided to write them into existence. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with four (non-talking) pets and one overactive imagination. Follow Ashley R. Carlson’s writing at www.ashleyrcarlson.com or find her on Twitter @AshleyRCarlson1. Her novel, “The Charismatics” has debuted to rave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and can be found here.

Five Ways to Schedule Your Writing Time in 2015

This is the first of a fifteen post series, entitled "15 Days to Writerly Awesome in 2015."

Good Morning, pretty people! Get yourselves a cup of coffee and prepare for some valuable, writer lessons. It's the first Monday of the new year, and with that, the beginning of my first blog series called, "15 Days to Writerly Awesome in 2015." With several guest posts from my much cooler friends, we're going to write ourselves into awesomeness this year. Ready for it? Hooray!

I always start of the new year with a million good wishes, plans and strategies. Some of them stick, while some of them do not. Last year, I made this writing calendar, which turned out to be good in theory, but a bit difficult to keep up with consistently. However, I made a few concrete resolutions that I not only kept, but exceeded.

This year, I plan to publish my book. I couldn't have reached this point without a dedicated, conscious commitment to writing daily. There are a few ways to go about doing this. Let's walk through them together, shall we?

1. Set Time of Day

I can make this statement with utmost certainty: I will never be the type of writer who wakes up before work to get my writing time in for the day. It's just not going to happen. For some writers, scheduling a portion of the morning is a lifesaver. Recently, I've been writing on my lunch break, which has been a great strategy. For the most part, I'm a nighttime, before bed writer. Figuring out the best time of day for your writing schedule is essential to maintaining a consistent writing routine. (That sounded kind of fancy and high-horsey, but you get the gist.)

For me, it's easier to put myself to bed thirty minutes earlier than to pull myself out of it in the morning. It all comes down to what works for you.

2. Word Count Goal 

I've spoken about the magic of word sprinting before, and I've mentioned Jeff Goins' My 500 Words program. Word count seems to be the easiest way to measure your writing. Personally, I aimed for more than 500 words a day, but Jeff's program was a great way to ease into the process. I try to pen at least 1,000 words, because I know I'll end up trashing about half of them. (Did you realize how many words get cut in the book-making process? It's like alphabet soup over here, y'all.)

There are a few options for you: a weekly word goal, that lends itself to some flexibility. I'd say about 5,000 words a week at minimum. A daily word count goal is also a good thing to shoot for, but can be a bit more difficult to manage.

3. A Page a Day 

I'm not going to lie. This is about the bare minimum for writer people. A page is approximately 250 words double-spaced or 500 single-spaced. This is basically a journal entry. However, it's a good way to kickstart your routine, and also an opportunity to practice your longhand. (I happen to be a big believer in writing on paper.)

If you write a page a day, you could have a novel in a year. And chances are, when you get started writing, a page just won't be enough. You writer machine, you.

4. Time Increments (an hour, etc.) 

"I'm going to sit here and write for an hour and I'm not leaving this chair until I do." This kind of writer is a habitual person, and most likely pairs this with strategy #1. Kudos to you, my timely friend. This strategy works as long as you hold yourself accountable. The problem I find is that structuring your writing time around, well, time itself can make your word count fluctuate. Try your best to not squander your first thirty minutes staring at a blank screen.

I suggest pairing this strategy with the sprinting technique. "I will sit here and write as fast as I can for thirty minutes" is usually a much more effective method.

5. Deadlines 

Still with me? Did your forehead just fall on the keyboard? Deadlines are not a negative thing. They're simply a means to an end. "I plan to write three chapters in the next week and a half." It's an incredibly effective way to hold yourself accountable, especially if you tack on some kind of reward or consequence to it. "I will write 2,000 words by next Tuesday or I will have to go a week without coffee."

Yikes.

If that doesn't scare you, involve a friend. Have someone that expects your pages/chapters/words by that date, even if they're not actually going to read it. You feel a lot more pressure when there's someone waiting on the other side.

Discussion Time: How do you plan to make the most of your writing time in 2015? What's your favorite way to schedule your writing time?

A Lesson in Editing and A #TATM Update

This one goes out to all you post-NaNoers. And everyone else knee-deep in the thick of their own rambling, misspelled words. Last week, I talked a little bit about how I just recently merged my dual timelines, and now I'm all, "Holy Heck, this looks like a book." When I made this merge, I realized there were a few filler scenes that I needed to finish writing, before I could print out the dang thing and get a good look at it. I'm happy to say that I only have two more filler scenes + the final scene (which I am shaking in my boots just thinking about) until I can move forward with what I consider to be my second draft editing.

When people say that writing is hard work, I think they really mean editing is hard work. Dear Lord, is it tough. My second draft of These are the Moments is a mix of edited and non-edited chapters, that I am fully prepared to hack into with my pink pen (red's too creepy) once all of the writing is done, done, done. I have a strategy, I promise you. First step, write the book: check. Second step: merge the timelines: check. And for my editing plan? Well, it goes a little something like this (ten points if you caught that Aaron Carter reference):

An In-Depth Read-Through

This is what writer people like to call "macro edits." Big picture stuff. My first read-through isn't going to be a hey, I think you missed a comma there kind of reading. It's going to be a you gave that girl two different last names and a what happened to the cat kind of editing. Here's what to look for in this stage:

• Subplots: Do they each have enough "screen time," so to speak? Are they evolving? Is there a resolution? For example, my main character, Wendy, and her relationship with her sister Claudia is an integral subplot. They begin the novel a little distant, their age difference acting as a kind of barrier, and by the end, well…. you'll see.
• Themes: What's your story trying to say? And more importantly, how well is it communicating that message? I'm not a huge believer in the bold, HEY THIS IS THE THEME method. I think stories affect everyone in different ways. Example: one theme of TATM is the idea of growing up and dealing with that post-college phase of your life. This is communicated through her living at home again, getting used to a full-time job and trying to be self-sufficient. In the end, Wendy has to realize that she's an adult now. But it takes a while to get to that point!
• Transitions: This one is doubly important for me, as I'm basically making two stories fit to one. But in general, is your story fitting together? Can readers follow your zigs and zags? My story covers ten years of livin' so it's especially important for me to keep readers grounded in when things are happening. The last thing you want is for a reader to get confused. They'll most likely give up.

Keep notes from your first reading. In a notebook or in the margins of your print-out. Whatever you feel most comfortable with!

Review and Edit

Wow, what a whirlwind, huh? Okay, now's the part where you go back and check out all the crazy notes you made. Then make the changes. This might involve big edits, like reworking full scenes, or minor edits like cutting sentences or paragraphs. On the first round, try to focus on the big issues first, and then trickle your way down to the baby fixes. With TATM, I don't anticipate too many total scene reworkings. I conquered a good deal of that when I transferred my scenes from paper to computer.

Was that so bad? Yeah, it was. I'm not gonna lie to you. But guess what! It gets easier… I think. The next step is another read-through, with a narrower focus. Look for things like hey I use the word "look" a heck of a lot and okay, I need to vary those sentences a bit. Actually, now that I think about it, this step might be even tougher than the first. I tend to drive myself crazy over this kind of thing, over thinking it, when I should just leave well alone. Hey Jenny, nobody cares how many times you used the word blue. They just don't. Keep a little perspective, I'd say. After this round of edits, make the changes. Read, Edit, Repeat. More and more focused with each cycle. You get it.

END NOTE: This has nothing to do with anything in this post, but I'm currently reading a fantastic set of e-books on self-publishing, called The Indie Author Power Pack: How To Write, Publish, & Market Your Book. I highly recommend!

What's your best advice on the editing process? No, really. Help a sister out.