Post NaNoWriMo-itis

For the past few days I’ve been wandering around in a daze. It’s been a hard return to the real world from my story world. Last month I spent so much time with my characters I feel like I’ve come home from a faraway vacation and now I have to unpack and look at my pictures to reminisce about the fun times.

I think I paced myself really well this time around, both in terms of consistent daily word count and in reaching plot points at the right time.

Daily Word Count

Oh, I’m going to miss having a tangible method of accountability. Yes, I can make up my own charts and keep track on a calendar. But when it’s just me—with no promise of a 50% off Scrivener coupon at the end of my journey—the pressure isn’t there to make me try extra hard to get in another 200 words or 350 words, or even 25 words.

I’m back on my own.

Pacing Plot Points

Best NaNoWriMo advice I read this year? Storytelling in Chunks: a NaNoWriMo Tip on Larry Brook’s website. He lays it all out for you–where you should be at the end of week 1, week 2, etc, based on how he teaches story structure. In past NaNoWriMos, I was aiming for the end. I knew about plot points, the hero’s journey, etc. but I never purposely wrote by phases. I don’t know why—it seems obvious, doesn’t it?

By pegging up my tent poles (see Tent Beat Sheet–scroll down to Story Structure Poster for a pdf file) I knew where I had to go, even if I didn’t know all the details about how I was going to get there. By not allowing myself to write past a tent pole until I had developed the story to that point, I have a fully developed first draft (for a tween novel).

Now what?

Well, revision, of course, but not on this year’s NaNo novel—it has to cure for at least a month.

I’ve got last year’s NaNo novel to work on. Still? Yes, I may be able to write a novel in a month, but it takes me more than a year to edit it, especially when I’m busy querying and revising on other projects.

If only I could find a way to blast through editing like I can blast through a first draft!

Maybe I’ll give NaNoEdMo a try next March.