Monday 18 January 2016

Now what?

January and February are officially the 'Now What?' months in NaNoWriMo; months in which you realise that you've written a 50,000 (more or less) word novel, and realise that you actually have to do something with it. Or not, but in NaNo-land, that's not really an option.
So they offer various things you can do in these Now What?-months. Most of these involve connecting you to published authors and other NaNo writers, so you can find support in their stories and suggestions. As mentioned before, I'm not a big partaker of the NaNo group process, so this isn't really for me. But there is one thing I did like, and that is their 'Revision Promise'. It reads as follows:

I, talented author, hereby pledge to edit and revise my manuscript in these, the months following the word storm that was National Novel Writing Month. 
By agreeing to this legally binding document, I swear to undertake the unluxurious process of editing the first draft of my novel. I understand that this process can be messy and disheartening, but ultimately just as rewarding as writing it all the first time. 
I have replaced all creative implements (pens, pencils, keyboards, touchscreens, quills, and hunks of charcoal) at my workspace with destructive ones (erasers, backspace keys, white-out, and comically large mallets). I will refine and chop sentences, paragraphs, and chapters with impartial ferocity. Above all, I promise to regard my novel with a critical but not cruel eye, for it is a work of my one-and-only imagination and deserves to be made even better.

Sounds good, doesn't it?
So that is what I'm going to do; I will revise what I have written. I could also pledge myself to finish the story (always a difficult thing for me), but there are too many inconsistencies and gaps and badly-written things in the first few chapters for that to work. So first; revision. Let's see what this thing can look like when I spend my time thinking about it, instead of hammering out as many words as possible, as quickly as possible. And if I still like it at the end of the revision, I may even feel inspired to finish it.
But let's take this one step at a time.

1 comment:

  1. Good luck!

    Jemima x
    anotherrantingreader.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete