NaNoWriMo – over but not done.

Yes, I made the final word count submission and I am a NaNoWriMo winner.

This is the second year I have taken part and the second year I have completed the 50,000 word count. The half-finished novel from 2010 lies, neglected, in the depths of my PC. I always meant to finish it, but never quite plucked up the enthusiasm to do so. And, since the novel just kind of grew from a character description, I suspect it would take a great deal of work and many months of complete re-writing to get a decent novel out of its rambling paragraphs.

This year, I started with a definite plan and a complete story in my head. It is a science fiction story that I have been mulling over for a couple of years and the main characters and plot line were fully in my mind before I started typing this November.

I just finished reading Amanda Boulter’s book; Writing Fiction: Creative and Critical Approaches. In this, she describes the three phases of writing – pre-writing, followed by writing, followed by re-writing.

My current NaNoWriMo book, provisionally entitled The Bounty Hunter, had an extensive pre-writing phase. Having written over 50,000 words, I am only half way through the story, as outlined in my head. I guess that at least gives me plenty of scope for removing great tracts of gibberish in the re-writing phase.

The worst thing I could do at this stage is quietly forget about it. Having invested two years of pre-writing and nearly a month of writing, I must take it further and finish the writing phase. The good news is that I have indeed worked on the document since NaNoWriMo ended – and, so far, I have resisted the terrible urge to start at the beginning and edit the whole thing. I need to finish the damn story first, then I can work on making it better and see if I have come out with a worthwhile novel at the end.

Author: Ruth Livingstone

Walker, writer, photographer, blogger, doctor, woman, etc. View all posts by Ruth Livingstone