Hey, friends! I’m sorry this blog has been quiet the last few weeks. The holidays have been catching up to me, and I’ve been really busy planning the writing conference I’m putting on with some friends of mine. More on that at the end, though. Let’s get into the reason you clicked the header, shall we?
NaNoWriMo is over. Whether you “won” or not, everyone who participated is probably now breathing a collective sigh of relief that the pressure is over. As much as it’s beloved by everyone, NaNo is a lot. The pressure is high, and the work load is steep, but nonetheless, hundreds of thousands of people charge into it every year. If you are one of the people who didn’t finish, don’t feel bad. Only about 10% of people who participate in NaNo complete the marathon (at least historically, up through 2018).
However, with NaNo over, many of you will be looking at completed first drafts and wondering what in the heck to do next. While this advice is effective for all first drafts, I’m giving some special love to NaNo right now since it’s the start of December, and there’s always an influx of first drafts this time of year.
One: Take A Break
I know this should go without saying, most likely, but your first step at this point is going to be to step back and breathe a little. Finishing a first draft is a huge achievement and a lot of work. Whether you did it via NaNo or not, giving the manuscript (and yourself) some space is incredibly valuable. Not just because you need some psychological down time to let go of the rush of writing it, but also because if you start editing immediately there’s a much higher chance that you’ll make errors.
When we are too close to a manuscript and don’t create enough mental space between us and the work, there’s a very good chance we are going to miss a lot of things because we are likely to read what we intended to write rather than what we actually put on the page. This will mean missed words, typos, and even plot holes will sneak past us. Being too close to a book creates a whole host of issues when it comes to editing (which is why I always work with an outside editor on my novels).
So how long should your break be? I know this isn’t entirely helpful, but the answer to that question is: as long as you need. Every writer needs a different amount of downtime per manuscript. For me, I usually take a few days or a week before I start really editing anything. Others need more than a week or a month (or longer). There’s no one size fits all answer for this process. You will just need to find your rhythm as an author.
Outline What You’ve Written
This is different than outlining what you plan to write in one important way: this is not an ideal plan. Instead, you need to read your manuscript, word for word, and write an outline of what exactly happens in which chapter. This includes plot holes and other mistakes. Most importantly, during this read through, do not change anything bigger than a typo. Seriously. Don’t do it. To scratch this itch, you can, however, make comments in the margins if you discover something you want to change or address later.
The point of the exercise here is to get a bird’s eye view of your story as it is on the page. Once you have read the whole thing and created this outline for yourself, you can see where everything lies and what needs doing. This technique is actually one of the first things I do when I am doing a developmental edit for a client. So, really, me telling you this might be giving away the secret sauce, but it really is one of the most important elements of self-editing I know of for your first pass.
Do NOT Send Your First Draft To An Editor
This kind of thing happens a lot this time of year. People fresh out of NaNo will start seeking an editor for their work very quickly and do so in the mistaken idea that, that is step two. It is, in fact, not step two.
When I receive what I can tell is an early draft (or a draft not well-edited by the author), I will typically bounce the manuscript. Not because I’m a jerk but because I am trying to save the author the exorbitant amount of money it will cost them to have me edit a first draft. That isn’t to say I can’t do it, but most people don’t have that kind of cash lying around.
If I do take the job, I will only provide developmental editing. A book in that state is definitely not ready for line editing yet, and me trying to do a line edit (which is what most people think of when they think of editing) on a first draft would be me trying to fix the icing on a cake that hasn’t been baked yet. And yes, if there’s icing on an unbaked cake, it’s not going to work. That’s the point.
Look, I’m writing this on five hours of sleep and a lot of caffeine. And I made a cake yesterday. That’s the metaphor you’re getting, okay?
If you are in the first draft stage and cannot figure out what you need to do with your manuscript to fix errors in it or aren’t even sure what the errors are, you can ask someone to do an alpha read of your manuscript. Either that or you can find a book coach to work with you on shaping your book. There are folks like me who offer services to authors to help them navigate these early waters for a reasonable fee. I offer a manuscript assessment package on my editing website for a flat rate that includes me reading the manuscript and writing a letter detailing things the author should work on. I am definitely not the only one to do that, either!
Do Not Publish Your Draft Anywhere
I’ve seen this happen a lot. People finish a draft, slap together a cover in MS Paint and upload the whole deal to Amazon. Or, more recently, they start putting it up on Vella. This kind of thing makes my hair stand on end. It’s not a good look for a writer, and it’s definitely not a good plan for your career. Back to the unbaked cake analogy (I’m hungry today), this kind of behavior is usually exhibited by people who have no experience in publishing.
The pipeline between manuscript and print book is full of a significant number of steps that cannot be ignored in favor of throwing something out there. Being an author is a business, and you need to treat it that way. Yes, the art of creating is just that: art. However, once you decide you want to sell a product, you have to change how your mindset works and start seeing your writing through the lens of business. And that means you are only going to succeed with a high quality product. As much as I say authors aren’t in competition with one another (and we aren’t, really), if your book cannot stand up alongside authors like Garth Nix, Holly Black, G.R.R.M., Neil Gaiman, Terry Goodkind, Terry Brooks, Anne McCaffrey… You get my point. While I’m not competing with those folks, and I’m not saying I need to be one of the greats, if my book looks like a one of those hand-shaped turkey drawings kids make in school next to a Rembrandt, I need to reconsider whether I should be selling it for money.
Furthermore, publishing a book properly costs money. There are overhead costs associated with business of any kind, and book publishing is no different. ISBNs, cover design, layout and typesetting, editing, interior design, distribution… The business end of publishing has a lot of costs and fees you need to be aware of and plan for. If you are trying to skirt around them by hurling your unpolished work at Amazon in bulk, you need to be aware that nobody is going to buy it. Or, if they do, they’re going to leave you an atrocious review that you will well deserve.
I hope these four things help as you prepare to navigate the post-NaNoWriMo waters, and I am intending to get back into the saddle of weekly blog posts and videos as we go forward. The holidays are always a tough time. And this year is tougher than many because it marks the 10-year anniversary of my father’s passing. Which is a difficult thing to wrap my head around.
