Last year, I took on what I thought to be the daunting task of participating in Nanowrimo. Basically, you write 50,000 words in the month of November. It serves as a push to get your novel started, and you are surrounded by the support of other Nanowrimoers when you need help.
As November approached I was nervous to say the least, I didn't know where to start, or the story I was going to tell. I wasn't even sure that I had the capabilities to write a novel. So Basically, I threw caution to the wind and started typing. A mere 10 days later I was 50,000 words in and baffled that the story was actually interesting. I owe this, for the most part, to Tania who challenged me to write offs, and always encouraged me to "type on" when I was feeling discouraged. Only ten days later I had made it through. 10 days! I thought to myself, "the hard part is over, time for adding and editing." I could not have been more wrong.
I find it is best to take a break from your work before editing. Let the words rest and take a moment to seperate yourself from the story before you take on the huge task of ripping apart every single sentence that you painstakingly created. Before long you are surrounded by too many "ly abverbs" and sentence fragments that you need to keep but don't know exactly how to fix them. Fixing those errors does not even include adding in transition areas, and core parts of the story you need to make your novel polished not to mention readable. I myself, am now knee deep in the crap they call editing, and I have a LONG way to go, but I have to admit I am secretly loving every minute of it.
My official goal is to be at least halfway done editing my first novel before starting Nano again this year to start my second. I guess I better get going!
I'm glad you are secretly loving it. I hate every second of editing. It is no where near as fun as the no holds barred frenzy of NaNo.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, in my experience, your first NaNo is the hardest; my second NaNo was so much easier! I think there must be something in the simple act of breaking through that barrier in your mind that changes the second time. You know you can do it, you've done it before. You no longer worry if you have a story in you, if you know how to tell it, where to begin, etc.
I cannot wait to read your edited book again, and to do NaNo with you this year!!