I finished NaNoWriMo Monday at just over 52,000 words. It felt amazing. I have the skeleton of my newest novel, Eidolon, completed. Now I’ll spend the rest of November adding more character and setting details to the skeleton, fleshing it out with the meat of the story, checking and strengthening all the plot and subplot threads. By the end of the month, I’ll have a very rough first draft.
In writing, I use Karen Weisner’s First Draft in 30 Days model. It seems to work well for me. I took her class last summer, and it helped clarify some of the techniques she introduces in her book. She is very much a left-brain writer, organized and logical. That kind of planning works for me. I wrote the feature article NaNo Applied for Wow! Women on Writing, giving tips for success.
If you haven’t finished NaNoWriMo, never fear. You have one more weekend to put the final words on your manuscript and cross that 50,000 word line. You can do it! When you finish, celebrate your success!
Congratulations. It is an amazing feeling in completing the challenge. P.S. thanks for the links in this article – I’ll be putting those into my kitbag of NaNo next year!
Thank you! I’m glad the links in the article are helpful.