Monday, December 3, 2012
On NaNoWriMo and Second Drafts
It's three days after the end of this year's NaNoWriMo and I'm sitting here thinking about writing. This past month has been a good one writing wise. In one crazy, writing filled month, I've done more writing than I've done in any other month of the year. And I have plenty of good material now.
I'll be the first to admit, not everything I write in November is any good. Maybe even less than half. But inside the bad writing, the spelling mistakes and the clunky prose, there's a spark of a good idea, that something that got me writing in the first place.
There might not be a workable novel yet, but the ideas are there, and I certainly have a starting place for a good second draft. Now, at the beginning of a long summer break, might be the best time for me to get going and to start working on the second draft of one of my novels.
So it's time for me to put away my NaNoWriMo writing and let it sit and stew for a while. And it's time for me to choose a novel from another NaNoWriMo session. It's time to break out the notebook and the coloured pens, and it's time to get planning, pulling out the hidden gems in the last draft, and creating a plan for the next one. And then it'll be time to get writing.
One of these days I'll have a draft that I'm proud to show everyone. It's just going to need a bit of work, that's all. And with a whole summer ahead of me, and a year of writing behind me, I think I might finally be able to have a go at doing this.
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At the very least, it's always good practice! Hope we get to see some of your work one day.
ReplyDeleteI hope that people will be able to see some of my work too. I want to get published one day, but I know I'm going to have to work hard to even have a chance of that. But, as you said, writing lots of drafts is good practice, and it certainly gives me a lot of material to work with
DeleteIt's very true that buried within all those words (that you threw down with impressive speed) nuggets of gold and those sparkly things women go nuts over (diamonds, they call them?) are waiting to be extracted, polished, and yes, published.
ReplyDeleteWell, we'll have to see about the extracting and polishing for a long time bfire even thinking about publishing, but one day....
DeleteI read "summer" and had to remember you're in Australia. :P
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your editing. I know there's good stuff in there. From what I've read (Which was only one story, but still) you have great ideas and have a great future of writing ahead of you.
I just can't wait for the day I can pull a book of yours off the YA shelf (or any shelf for that matter) and run around the book store telling people "I know her! She's awesome! Read this!"
I always get confused about summer and winter when I'm on the internet.
DeleteGood luck with your writing too. I may not have read any of your writing but you have very creative ideas too. One day I'll be running around a bookshop with your book too. Won't we look like two crazies? But it'll be awesome.
You have done NaNoWriMo?! Wow I am planning to do it when I am thirteen, but I can hardly wait till then. I have always wanted to write!
ReplyDeleteI hope your editing goes well! I never get far with it!!!
Have you ever heard of the Young Writer's Program for NaNoWriMo? It's run by the same people, but it's for people all the way from kindergarten to 18 basically. Two of my sisters, one who is eleven and the other who is eight, do that. You can set your own word goal, and it runs at the same time as regular NaNoWriMo. The site is here if you're interested: http://www.ywp.nanowrimo.org.
DeleteThanks. I never get very far with my editing either normally, so I'm hoping I can get somewhere with it now.
I had never heard of the Young Writer's Program. I will have to check it out!
DeleteThanks for telling me about it!
I have just checked it out and made an account! Would you mind if I buddied your sister's?
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