All Words Are Not Created Equal

We have only a couple of days until National Novel Writing Month begins. I trust everyone planning to participate in this illustrious event has an idea for what they’re going to write, or they’re existing in a state of near-panic. The NaNoWriMo emails and blog posts are scheduled to get writers excited and energized for November 1^st. Then they’ll strive to keep the participants motivated, offer ideas for writers hung up on their storyline, suggestions for how to torment your characters, writing tips, cheer on the ones who fall behind in word count, and some tricks to increase your word count – actually, I’d like to talk about that.

NaNoWriMo isn’t all about word count. Yes, I know the challenge is to write 50,000 words in the 30 days of November, but that’s just the technical bit. To me, NaNo is about the experience. Not the experience of obsessing over word count, that’s a bad habit. I see it as the experience of writing a novel as a whole. You prepare: get your general story lined up – plot it if you can, then you have to get those first exhilarating and terrifying words ‘on paper’ to get you started. Once you have your beginning, then the experience is about continuing. Some writers have problems with this bit and NaNo forces them to face their bad habit and break it.

A common problem with new or inexperienced writers is that they edit as they go. By ‘inexperienced, I’m including those who’ve been writing for years. I’m talking about experience in terms of habits, not length of time or amount of effort. I feel like a bit of a hypocrite lecturing on this as I edit as I go. However, I have completed over a dozen novels. I know how to finish a book. For some, editing as you go keeps you from finishing your masterpiece. You hear this repeatedly, so I won’t dwell on it further other than to say the reason you hear it repeatedly is because so many writers have trouble listening to this advice: knock it off.

There are writers out there who have dozens of first pages/chapters. They get it down, then decide they’re not going to write that story right now after all. Maybe they think it wasn’t good enough, maybe they thought of something else that’s more exciting, or maybe they just don’t know where to go next. Knock that shit off too. Focus. Finish one.

I’ve written before about how when I write it’s non-linear. That’s largely to avoid writer’s block. If I’m midway through Chapter 3 and don’t know where to go next, I’ll think about it for a short time, and if I don’t come up with an answer, I’ll just skip ahead to Chapter 3 or 4 or 8. I know what happens eventually, so I’ll write that while mulling over how to get my hero from the edge of the precipice I left him on. Eventually I’ll either think of the answer, or write my way backwards until I get to that point and realize I made a mistake and he was never supposed to be on the cliff in the first place. It was cool to have him hanging around up there, but it wasn’t right for the story. A plot dead end. Writer’s block because of plot issues isn’t an excuse to stop writing. And yes, writing this way makes continuity a bitch. (Tip: Keep a really good story bible/style sheet, timeline, outline, etc.)

In NaNo, a lot of writers focus more on word count that they should. They don’t use contractions. They use wordy descriptions instead of something concise and the writing ends up loose and slippery instead of tight. It loses impact. I understand it, but I don’t agree with it.

NaNo is about pushing ahead and losing bad habits that keep writers from finishing books. It’s inadvertently causing some writers to create bad habits by encouraging this loose, ineffective writing and we all know how hard it is to break those habits. Yes, you fix a lot of that nonsense in revisions so I don’t usually fuss about it. In time, you start catching yourself as you write those unnecessarily wordy descriptions and correct yourself, then you stop using as many adjectives and adverbs in the first place. Better word choices is better writing. Still, I hate to see writers fall into that trap in the first place.

My challenge to all you NaNoWriMo participants this year is to use better word choices. Sacrifice word count for better writing. I don’t condone editing as you go, I still believe NaNoWriMo and first or second novels is not the time and place for that. But use the best verb in the first place. “He whispered” instead of “He said softly,” “She raced” instead of “She ran quickly,” and so forth. Ditch as many adverbs as you can. Then, when you hit your 50k, you’ll have a better manuscript – something you might be able to show a spouse or friend and know they’re reading your story, not struggling to follow the plot drowning in a sea of words.

Get more from your November, and good luck.

Something New for NaNo

It’s NaNo Time! (Nearly)

Yup, coming up on that time of year where a lot of people around the world go mildly insane trying to write 50,000 words during November. Other people sit back and watch, cheer, and jeer.

Where will I be? Historically, I write the 50,000 words by Thanksgiving and cheer everyone on. I’ve been debating the value of my continued participating in this annual event for years. In my mind, NaNoWriMo has value, but it’s to those who struggle with it. I don’t struggle with it, so why do it? I know I can write 50k in 30 days. If I push it, I can write 80k, although my family hates me for it. Does that mean I should modify my goal? Should I step aside and cheer on everyone else?

For me it comes down to the reason for doing it. I see NaNoWriMo as being for those who struggle. Namely, for the new writers. I want to encourage those who have an idea for a book, but haven’t set aside the time to get that first draft down on paper. (Figuratively speaking.) NaNo is for those writers still fighting with that first draft. Maybe it’s their first book, maybe it’s their third. It doesn’t matter. The point is, they’re struggling with it.

Critics argue Nano puts quantity of words over quality of words. Yes, it does. Sort of. Maybe. Here’s the thing on that: the goal is the word count, not the quality of the words themselves, so that criticism is true. However, experienced writers know a couple of things that those critics clearly aren’t considering:

1.   Increasing your words/hour doesn’t mean you’re writing crap. Authoress RJ Blain looked at three of her mindsets while writing, the words/hour that corresponded with each, and the quality of writing at each. Just because she writes faster sometimes doesn’t mean she writes worse. The blog post is worth a peek. I concur fully.
2.  When you’re inspired, your words/hour increases as does the quality of your writing. The experienced writers know the trick is to stay excited and/or inspired about your work. If the author is excited/inspired it shows in the writing and the reader picks up on it. A byproduct is that it gets that book written faster. At least the first draft, which is what NaNo is all about.

Don’t be concerned about quality anyway. First drafts are rough, they’re meant to be, and that’s what revisions are for. You’re supposed to put that quality concern aside for NaNoWriMo. Too many aspiring authors get caught in the editing trap: they write a first chapter, then edit it. Write a second chapter, then edit it. Then they decide the first chapter doesn’t work anymore and go back and fix it. Now the second chapter isn’t working anymore and they fix that. At this rate, they’ll never finish the book.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: when writing, the first chapter doesn’t matter. It’s a jumping off point, but it’s expendable. You may know after chapter two that chapter one needs to be fixed. Fine, but don’t fix it yet. Don’t you dare touch it until after you’ve finished the book. It’ll need to be fixed again after chapter three. And again after chapter four. And you’ll need to delete chapter one and fix chapter two after chapter seven, and so on. The point is: until you write “The End” you won’t know what really needs to be fixed in those first chapters, so there’s no point wasting your time doing it as you go.

That’s what NaNo is about: putting pressure on you in the form of a wordcount and deadline that you don’t’ have time to go back and fix things. You have to forge on. It’s brilliant, and it’s exactly what many new writers need to get that first manuscript finished.

Now, back to my dilemma: I’m not a new writer. I don’t need the wordcount/deadline pressure. I know not to edit as  go. I know how to forge on. Do I need NaNo?

Yes and No. Not really. I still do it every year, and I easily make my word count. Right now, I have a novel I’m working on to finish a series. I should finish that. I have another in extreme revisions (so extreme you really need to hear an echo when you read that). I should work on that. I have other books outlined, things I may not get to for years – except for NaNoWriMo.

This is the one month of the year I get to pretend to be a new writer again. Sort of. I still have to do my normal author-y things, but writing – for NaNo it’s always something new. A new book, a new concept, a new genre. Romance is too easy now, I can’t write that for NaNo, it’s not a challenge. I’ve done YA a couple of times (didn’t actually finish them, I may go back and do that.) I’m somewhat scary as a YA writer. I finished a zombie book (there’s a reason you haven’t seen it). Last year I wrote Rerun, my first suspense novel, and finished it up at 65k - the shortest novel I’ve ever written. This year…I’m not sure yet. Will I participate in NaNo? Probably. I’ll write something new.

Did I Write Garbage? - Part Two

All right, let’s revisit my ongoing examination on the birth of a novel. When we last left my NaNoWriMo project, Rerun, I’d ended NaNo at nearly 59,000 words, then trimmed 15,000 when I found myself trying to regain focus. And I wasn’t upset about it, I’m still not, although I’m sort of missing those 15,000 words now.

So I started off again with a renewed sense of direction and almost 44,000 words completed. Experience told me I was halfway done. That was by word count. Reality and experience are not pals, however, something I learned last week.

I finished my first draft of Rerun, finishing at 67,404 words. I was not really happy about this. My experience (again! You’d think I’d learn) told me that I was going to lose some of that in editing and I prayed that rough edit I did in December took care of that problem.

Maybe, I’m not sure yet. I did a quick clean up: fixed some dates, checked for consistency, took care of all but one of those “Look at this@@” research notes, and handed it to the alpha readers. All 67,128 words of it. I was so relieved I didn’t lose more I can’t begin to tell you. Of course there will be more editing.

Alpha readers sort of have a fun job. They read it and just give an opinion. Well, kind of. I put mine through the third degree. Let them read the first chapter then I quiz them: who do you think will do xxx? I want to know if the end is going to be a surprise and, if not, at what point they guess or how close they get. Beta readers get the same treatment, but worse. I don’t expect alpha readers to pick apart plot consistency; check my physics, history, or math; or catch plot holes small enough for them to step over. They’re kind of your average reader and I just want feedback.

Beta readers – I require work. I’ll actually edit it and have it short of sending to my editor before handing it to beta readers. I send it to them, all formatted and pretty, with the implied request “Please pick apart this novel and leave me lying in the gutter, twitching. Thank you.”

Handing Rerun to alpha readers is fine, they’ll let me know if I’m on the right track and then I’ll fix what I need to. But I’m still having some nervous twitches about a couple of things. First: I expressed concern before I was venturing into unknown territory and I cut 15,000 words in part to get me back on track. I’m not sure it worked. This isn’t a romance. It’s closer to chic-lit than romance. Okay, not what I was shooting for, but I’ll live with that.

My second concern is: I’ve never written anything this short. I think the shortest novel I’ve completed to date was somewhere around 78,000 words. It is a novel, I haven’t ventured into the novella range yet. I actually had to go double check, but Writer’s Digest (among some other resources) still counts everything above 50,000 words as a novel. I’m on the fence at that 50k line, but I’ll go with it. And it shouldn’t matter, there’s nothing wrong with novellas. They’re the trend, they’re popular, some people prefer them to full-length novels. I’m just a little skiddish because this is so much shorter than I’m used to. I’m not going to pad it just to inflate my word count into my comfort zone. The story is complete as it stands, and I’ll wait and see what feedback I get before decided whether to permanently shelve my apprehension.

For the record, I don’t write short stories either. I can’t. I used to, back in junior high and high school, but I seemed to have lost the ability. Everything I have now that is a short story is actually a cut chapter, although that seems to work.

We’ll see what happens to Rerun as it progresses past the alpha and beta readers, revisions, and an editor. I’ve never timed a book from beginning to end, or tracked the steps, so this should be interesting.