NaNoWriMo Aftermath and Lessons

I did it! I produced a document that was over 50,000 words in November which might appear to be a novel if you don't look too close.

There were a lot of obstacles. They weren't these massive writer's block issues that other NaNoWriMoers have discussed. They weren't even issues of confidence regarding whether anyone would read my story, although that might be due to a bit of good advice early on.

No matter who you are, when you start writing your first draft, you're shy. You're a little worried about even sharing it with your closest friends, lest they discover how pathetic and flawed you are, and cast you out of the village. You know this is hyperbole, but you can't help it. Experienced NaNoWriMo writers will tell you to let the world know you're writing a novel, to help keep you going, to force you to actually do it.

There's another reason. Your friends are better editors than you realize. As long as you have the confidence to take their advice when you want to and ignore it when you don't, it's really helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off of.

For example, I had one person who helped me work out the logistics, economics, physics, engineering, and societal details of my world before I ever hit November 1st. He had the context, so when I needed to brainstorm a chapter, I had him to go to. His contributions have been so useful that when this thing is printed, he's a co-author credit. He wasn't reading along as I wrote everything, as that would slow me down, and as you all know, slowing down to edit is the death of a NaNoWriMo novel.

Rather, he helped me completely circumvent writer's block when ever the faintest shadow of it appeared. Rather than blocks, I'd encounter situations where I had more good ideas to use than I had pages and plots to use them in. It's a far more favorable situation, to be sure!

Now that the 50,000 word draft is done, I'm having several of my friends read it, and leave footnotes on the Google doc. Once they've gotten through it once, I'll make a copy of that, and start over, filling in all the details that were missed, all the plot holes that were overlooked, and fixing everything that was missing from the write-it-as-fast-as-you-can November version. Every one of these people has made useful comments, regardless of their background or skill set. They each brought a fresh perspective that illuminated some aspect of a scene or plot device that I hadn't considered. While I might not heed every suggestion, their input is an invaluable asset to my future drafts.

You know what I never heard from anyone? Discouragement. There are people I haven't talked to in years that would encourage me when they saw my progress posted to a Google Chat status or Twitter post, telling me that they couldn't wait to read a draft. Not a single person teased me for any reason. Not a single person belittled my amateur attempts at writing, and I have naturally collected a peer group of some very snarky and sarcastic folk. Not a single person gave me any reason to slow down, second guess myself, or give up. I didn't have to worry about whether or not writing amateur sci-fi is "cool". No matter how many times I told people I was "having fun writing terrible amateur sci-fi," everyone would encourage or congratulate me.

People aren't as judgmental as you think, I'll bet. And if I'm wrong, and one of your friends gives you a hard time instead of encouragement?

Screw 'em.

NaNoWriMo this year was my second attempt, and first success. It was huge amount of fun, and I encourage anyone to do it next year. The only thing that keeps you from succeeding at it is letting a draft sit. Getting a group of people excited to read your next draft is a hell of a good motivation, and keeps you excited too.