Yes, there is life after NaNoWriMo. If you’re anything like me you’re feeling a little lost right now. You spent so much time dedicated to writing and now… you’re not.
Good News, Bad News
Good news is that life does quickly return to feeling normal as the holidays swarm us. Which, if you wanted to get in the habit of daily writing turns this into bad news. However, you just ran a writing marathon. Your fingers and wrists might be angry at you right now. You need to make up lost time with friends and family members. Take this time. Chill, relax. You deserve it.
Once your wrists no longer ache and people aren’t still surprised that you are, in fact, still alive and well, you can get back to writing if you like. And for those of you who are working hard towards publishing, this is the first step. You either have a good chunk of a first draft or perhaps an entirely finished first draft.
Now comes the Novel Draft Aftercare program. Editing, revisions and all the fun stuff. Believe it or not, NaNoWriMo doesn’t just end in November and you don’t think of it again for another 11 months. Nope, there are forums and events dedicated to what they call the ‘Now What?’ months.You can find those forums under the section like 'I Wrote a Novel, Now What?'
I’m not going to get into all the steps of editing and revision here but I want to give you some advice moving forward from this point.
There is no one RIGHT way
Say it to yourself a few times until you really believe it. Like with writing, we all have our own processes. Some of us take more drafts to get the story where we wanted than others will, but the one thing I can guarantee is that the first draft can always be improved. Don’t let anyone tell you that there is only the one way to do things. It’s simply not true.
Find out what works for you. Try different ways of editing. Try editing it right away or put it away and try again later. I know, for me, I am a strange one in that I don’t like putting space between me and my story before I edit, but almost everyone you talk to will talk about distancing yourself from your story. However,for me, I am fairly cut-throat with my novels. I love them, but I am willing to slice and dice for the best interest of the story. I am not the most emotionally invested person in the world.
Do what works for you, and if you don’t know what that is, then try all the methods and make up a few of your own.
A few things, though, that are nearly universal. Beta readers and critique partners are awesome. Another set of critical eyes on your story can really help you see the areas that you might have fallen short of your goals. I’m not saying you should, but I do highly recommend this process once you hit the point of “I don’t think I know how or what to edit in this story anymore”.
Okay, that’s enough. I have ice packs to put on my own tortured wrists here!
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