Chris Baty's Blog, page 130

Critique Circle Basics: How to Set Up and Run an Effective Support Group

You wrote a novel! Now what? NaNoWriMo’s “Now What?” Months are here—this January and February, we’ll be helping you guide your novel through the revision and publishing process. Today, NaNoWriMo participant Kathy Kitts  shares her tips for finding or forming the best group to help you through your editing process:

Experienced writers understand and appreciate the benefits of participating in a critique circle, but if you are a new writer, you might need some convincing. As you begin to slog through the edits on your novel, here are some ways that joining a critique circle might make the process a little less arduous, as well as a few tips for creating or joining a new critique group: 

1. External Motiviation

First off, having external motivation is important when there are no agents or editors beating down your door. The fear of disappointing your group will encourage you to turn off the TV before you get sucked into another rerun of Law & Order: Parking Division.

2. Gaining Perspective

Critique circles do more than find typos. They provide examples of what to do and what not to do. It’s difficult to see our own weaknesses, but it’s easy to see these “opportunities for improvement” in others. Critiquing other’s work teaches us how to better revise our own.

3. Supportive Community

Like NaNoWriMo, the greatest advantage of a critique circle is camaraderie. Writing is a lonely business. Only another writer understands the emotional toll of submitting our work only to see it rejected. Sometimes, you need a shoulder to cry on, an ear to whine to, or a poke in the butt to get you back to the computer.

If you’re already convinced of the benefits of the critique group, here are a couple of FAQ’s that can help you find or create the best community for you:

Q: For a smooth-running critique circle, how many members should you recruit?

A: On one hand, you need enough people to keep the momentum going through vacations, sick kids, and work deadlines. On the other, if there are too many members the workload will interfere with your own writing. Limiting the page count or alternating members can mitigate this somewhat, but do you really want to wait six months get feedback on your work?

I suggest six to eight members. This number of participants balances the desire to make progress with the need to protect personal writing time.

Q: Do you want your group to be genre-specific or general? 

A: Personally, I like mixed critique groups. Writers outside my area prevent me from resorting to genre-specific cheats. This improves my writing. Do not fear critiquing a genre you do not generally read. Good writing is good writing. You do not need to be a thriller writer to identify poor pacing or flat dialog.

Q: How should you choose which manuscripts to critique, and when?

A: Once you establish the make-up of your circle, you must decide on manuscript length. Does the group prefer longer but fewer manuscripts? Or fewer pages with each member giving and receiving critiques? A three hundred page novel will take over a year at ten pages every two-weeks. However, if a group of six agrees to cover one novel per month, everyone gets a review within those six months. (This assumes your critique circle does not include Follet, King, Tolstoy, or Dostoyevsky–where one novel per month would be suicide.)

Discuss your expectations and do the math. It might not be prudent to wait five months for your turn and watch the group dissolve as you send out your opus.

Q: How often should the group meet? 

A: This depends on the will of the members and how far along they are. If everyone has finished their NaNoWriMo novel, they’ll have something to pass out weekly. However, between the job and the relatives, a group of beginners might only be able to handle monthly.

Q: How should members of the group give feedback?

A: Specifying the type of critique upfront is not only polite but saves you from disappointment–or worse yet–insult. Some people are looking for fans and not critique. Others are too negative and are incapable of helping you find your work’s Platonic ideal. Avoid these folk. Neither group has your best interests at heart. Instead, find writers who can identify what works so you can do more of it.

I suggest the “sandwich” method. Start with what is great about the piece, follow with what the author could do differently, and finish by summarizing the positive. Nature has wired us to react to “danger.” Thus critiques boom in our heads and praise only whispers. We need to hear the good stuff twice to incorporate it.

Q: Should your critique circle be in-person or online? 

A: Absolutely in person, if you can swing it. You can blow off someone you’ve never met, but try doing that to someone with puppy eyes, staring you in the face, dying to find out what happened to your main character. Accountability is important.

As for where to meet, poll your group. Meeting in a coffee shop will require you to buy something, but then you won’t have to clean your house. Although libraries are free, many have eliminated their evening and weekend hours. Allow the group to choose and revisit the decision from time to time.

If you don’t know enough local writers to form a circle (all your Wrimo buddies live on the wrong side of the planet), join a local writer’s association and recruit there. Google writing groups in your area. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the number and variety.

Critique circles will help you improve your craft, provide accountability, and support you emotionally. As Ray Bradbury said in his collection of essays, Zen in the Art of Writing, “You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” Let your critique circle help you do that.

Dr. Kathy Kitts, a fourteen time NaNoWriMo winner, hails from the desert southwest. She is a retired geology professor who served as a team member on the NASA Discovery Mission Genesis. Despite having written dozens of scientific papers, school curricula and textbooks, she no longer writes about what is, but rather what if. Her recent fiction adventures include short literary fiction and speculative fiction in the Storyteller’s Anthology, James Gunn’s Ad Astra and Mad Scientist Journal. Visit her website at http://www.girlcooties.org/.

Top photo by Flickr user ClaraDon.

"If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then..."

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

- Martin Luther King Jr.

I Published My NaNo-Novel: Using Traditional AND Self Publishing to Share Your Work With the World

During January of our “Now What?” Months, we’re talking to Wrimos who’ve published their NaNoWriMo projects and asking them how they got there. Today, Angela Highland, author of Faerie Blood and the

Rebels of Adalonia trilogy , shares how you can use both traditional and self publishing to your advantage–at the same time:

When I had my NaNoWriMo win in 2003, I wasn’t intending to be a self-published author. Indie publishing wasn’t really a thing yet, and neither was the concept of being a hybrid—someone who works both with a publisher, and as an independent. 

Like many writers of my generation–and certainly like many writers today–my goal was simple: I wanted to see my book in print. However, I came to learn that the realities of modern publishing mean that getting your book in print and into the hands of readers is easier said than done.

To this day I credit NaNoWriMo with teaching me two valuable things that helped me along the road to getting published:

1. You have to write every day if you want to actually write a book. 

I can’t maintain the NaNoWriMo pace of 1,667 words, not when I have a technically demanding day job, but I can maintain a smaller daily word count if I apply myself. The trick is applying myself. Whether within the context of NaNoWriMo or outside of it, the long and short of it is, fingers on keyboard. Period.

I’ve managed to write and release five novels, including that 2003 NaNoWriMo winner—my first novel, Faerie Blood. So that fingers on keyboard thing? Works.

2. It’s okay if the words you’re getting into the draft are crap. 

In fact, chances are that they will be. Fixing them is what later drafts are for.

Which is, of course, part of the aforementioned “easier said than done” thing. Now that I’ve worked both with a publisher and on my own, I can tell you that no matter how you want to get that book into the world—whether with a publisher or on your own—yes, you will need to polish it.

If you want to go the traditional route, don’t query your book on December 1st after you cross the finish line on November 30th. No matter how experienced a writer you are, you won’t be ready.

If you want to go the indie route, you can’t just slap it up on Amazon either. Well okay, yes, you could—the technology makes that easy—but you shouldn’t. Not if you want readers to believe you know what you’re doing.

Why’d I wind up doing both? Pure happenstance. Faerie Blood was published in 2009 by a micropress that unfortunately went under in 2011, and so when I got the rights back, I decided to put the book out myself via Kickstarter in 2012. But I had another project in the works at the same time, a project which I was querying around—and which I got the offer for pretty much right as I was launching the Kickstarter.

So, surprise, I got to work on two series at once! Which has kept me super-busy the last few years, particularly with the aforementioned day job. It was only in 2016 that I was finally able to return to NaNoWriMo—because even though I now know I can commit to finishing a novel and getting it out the door, I did miss the madcap creative atmosphere spilling all over the Internet in November.

I hope to do it again in 2017. But to all my fellow writers out there, remember—fingers on keyboard means all year, not just in November. Good luck to all of you with your works!

Angela writes epic fantasy as Angela Highland, and is the author of the Rebels of Adalonia trilogy with Carina Press. As Angela Korra’ti, she writes urban fantasy, and her Free Court of Seattle series is ongoing; Books 1 and 2 are available in print and via all major ebook vendors. She is a 2003 NaNoWriMo winner and multi-year NaNoWriMo participant. Check out her website, blog, Facebook, or follow her on Twitter @annathepiper.

NaNoWriMo + The Book Doctors + YouTube = Pitchapalooza 2017

You wrote your 50,000 words (or got pretty close!). You’re a winner. You felt the high. Now what are you going to do with your precious manuscript? That’s where we, The BookDoctors, come in.

For those of you not familiar with Pitchapalooza, here’s the skinny: You get 250 words to pitch your book. Twenty-five pitches will be randomly selected from all submissions. We will then critique the pitches during a live webinar on February 28, 2017 at 4PM PST, so you get to see what makes a great pitch. At the end of the webinar, we will choose one winner from the group.

The winner will receive an introduction to an agent or publisher appropriate for his/her manuscript.

Beginning today (January 11, 2017), you can email your pitch to nanowrimo@thebookdoctors.com. PLEASE DO NOT ATTACH YOUR PITCH, JUST EMBED IT IN THE EMAIL. All pitches must be received by 11:59PM PST on February 14, 2017.

We will also crown a fan favorite who will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250). On March 1, 2017, 25 random pitches will be posted on our website, http://www.thebookdoctors.com/. Anyone can vote for a fan favorite, so get your social media engine running as soon as the pitches go up! Voting closes at 11:59PM PST on March 15, 2017. The fan favorite will be announced on March 16, 2017.

If you purchase a copy of our book, The Essential Guide To Getting Your Book Published, by March 15, 2017, we’re offering an exclusive one-hour webinar where you’ll get the chance to pitch your book. Just attach a copy of your sales receipt to your email and we’ll send the link to the webinar dates.

It’s been a great year for past NaNoWriMo Pitchapalooza winners. Gloria Chao sold her novel, American Panda (think My Big Fat Greek Wedding meets Amy Tan) to Jennifer Ung at Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster! Publication is planned for Spring 2018. Stacy McAnulty got a three-book deal from Random House for The Dino Files series. Her third book, The Dino Files: It’s Not a Dinosaur, was released this year.  

Are you feeling a little unsure about exactly how to craft your pitch? Here are 10 Tips for pitching your novel:A great pitch is like a poem.  Every word counts.
Make us fall in love with your hero.  Whether you’re writing a novel or memoir, you have to make us root for your flawed but lovable hero.
Make us hate your villain.  Show us someone unique and dastardly whom we can’t wait to hiss at.
Just because your kids love to hear your story at bedtime doesn’t mean you’re automatically qualified to get a publishing deal. So make sure not to include this information in your pitch.
If you have any particular expertise that relates to your novel, tell us. Establishing your credentials will help us trust you.
Your pitch is your audition to show us what a brilliant writer you are, so it has to be the very best of your writing.
Don’t make your pitch a book report.  Make it sing and soar and amaze.
A pitch is like a movie trailer.  You start with an incredibly exciting/funny/sexy/romantic/etc. close-up with intense specificity, then you pull back to show the big picture and tell us the themes and broad strokes that build to a climax.
Leave us with a cliffhanger.  The ideal reaction to a pitch is, “Oh my God, what happens next?”
Show us what’s unique, exciting, valuable, awesome, unexpected, about your project, and why it’s comfortable, familiar and proven.

Join our newsletter to receive more tips on how to get published.

Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry have appeared everywhere from NPR’s Morning Edition to The New York Times to The Wall Street Journal to USA Today. They have taught everywhere from Stanford University to the Miami Book Festival to the granddaddy of American bookstores, Strand Books in New York City.

Their book, The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published , is the go-to book on the subject, and contains all the information you’ll ever need, taking you through the entire process of conceiving, writing, selling, marketing and promoting your book.

NaNoWriMo+The Book Doctors+YouTube= Pitchapalooza 2017

You wrote your 50,000 words (or got pretty close!). You’re a winner. You felt the high. Now what are you going to do with your precious manuscript? That’s where we, The BookDoctors, come in.

For those of you not familiar with Pitchapalooza, here’s the skinny: You get 250 words to pitch your book. Twenty-five pitches will be randomly selected from all submissions. We will then critique the pitches during a live webinar on February 28, 2017 at 4PM PST, so you get to see what makes a great pitch. At the end of the webinar, we will choose one winner from the group.

The winner will receive an introduction to an agent or publisher appropriate for his/her manuscript.

Beginning today (January 11, 2017), you can email your pitch to nanowrimo@thebookdoctors.com. PLEASE DO NOT ATTACH YOUR PITCH, JUST EMBED IT IN THE EMAIL. All pitches must be received by 11:59PM PST on February 14, 2017.

We will also crown a fan favorite who will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250). On March 1, 2017, 25 random pitches will be posted on our website, http://www.thebookdoctors.com/. Anyone can vote for a fan favorite, so get your social media engine running as soon as the pitches go up! Voting closes at 11:59PM PST on March 15, 2017. The fan favorite will be announced on March 16, 2017.

If you purchase a copy of our book, The Essential Guide To Getting Your Book Published, by March 15, 2017, we’re offering an exclusive one-hour webinar where you’ll get the chance to pitch your book. Just attach a copy of your sales receipt to your email and we’ll send the link to the webinar dates.

It’s been a great year for past NaNoWriMo Pitchapalooza winners. Gloria Chao sold her novel, American Panda (think My Big Fat Greek Wedding meets Amy Tan) to Jennifer Ung at Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster! Publication is planned for Spring 2018. Stacy McAnulty got a three-book deal from Random House for The Dino Files series. Her third book, The Dino Files: It’s Not a Dinosaur, was released this year.  

Are you feeling a little unsure about exactly how to craft your pitch? Here are 10 Tips for pitching your novel:A great pitch is like a poem.  Every word counts.
Make us fall in love with your hero.  Whether you’re writing a novel or memoir, you have to make us root for your flawed but lovable hero.
Make us hate your villain.  Show us someone unique and dastardly whom we can’t wait to hiss at.
Just because your kids love to hear your story at bedtime doesn’t mean you’re automatically qualified to get a publishing deal. So make sure not to include this information in your pitch.
If you have any particular expertise that relates to your novel, tell us. Establishing your credentials will help us trust you.
Your pitch is your audition to show us what a brilliant writer you are, so it has to be the very best of your writing.
Don’t make your pitch a book report.  Make it sing and soar and amaze.
A pitch is like a movie trailer.  You start with an incredibly exciting/funny/sexy/romantic/etc. close-up with intense specificity, then you pull back to show the big picture and tell us the themes and broad strokes that build to a climax.
Leave us with a cliffhanger.  The ideal reaction to a pitch is, “Oh my God, what happens next?”
Show us what’s unique, exciting, valuable, awesome, unexpected, about your project, and why it’s comfortable, familiar and proven.

Join our newsletter to receive more tips on how to get published.

Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry have appeared everywhere from NPR’s Morning Edition to The New York Times to The Wall Street Journal to USA Today. They have taught everywhere from Stanford University to the Miami Book Festival to the granddaddy of American bookstores, Strand Books in New York City.

Their book, The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published , is the go-to book on the subject, and contains all the information you’ll ever need, taking you through the entire process of conceiving, writing, selling, marketing and promoting your book.

6 Ways to Approach Your Edits With Objectivity

You wrote a novel! Now what? NaNoWriMo’s “Now What?” Months are here—this January and February, we’ll be helping you guide your novel through the revision and publishing process. Today, literary agent and editor Elizabeth Kracht  shares her wisdom about tackling the edits on your novel:

Objectivity is one of the most
difficult things for writers to apply when it comes to editing their own work.
As an agent and freelance editor—having helped develop hundreds of manuscripts,
and having read many more—I’ve seen the subtlest of problems become the
difference between a manuscript ready for traditional publishing and one that
is not. Here are 6 tips from the agent/editor perspective to help you think
about your work with objectivity as you approach your revision:

1. Structure

Think of the structure of your novel as a road map for the reader. A
disorganized structure can add confusion for the reader. I rarely see “parts” work in a manuscript. If you have alternating
POV chapters, make sure they’re evenly alternating or repeating systematically
(one to one, three to one). Make sure your chapter lengths are fairly
even—twelve to fifteen pages, longer if literary. Pay attention to how you use
breaks within chapters, and be consistent.

2. Themes

Agents and editors are looking for rich and layered projects. One way to add
layering to your manuscript is to think about what three or four themes your project
addresses—what are your characters struggling with? Take the time to write the
themes down. When you’ve finished your revision take a look at each chapter and
note what one or two themes you’re addressing in each chapter. If you can’t
identify a theme being addressed, find the opportunities in each chapter to bring
them in or build them.  Themes can also
help bring the internal nature of your characters to life.

3. Chapter Arc

Approach your chapters like standalone short stories. Too often the
chapters I see don’t have enough happening in them to warrant a full chapter. I
often suggest authors compound and edit down chapters so they have rich and
layered chapters. Strive for chapters that have the feel of a beginning,
middle, and end. What three things in each chapter are driving the story and
characters forward (themes, plot points, important clues…)?

4. Timekeeping 

Think about time in your novel and remember the reader can make logical jumps
in time without you (the author—or narrator) having to account for or mention
time as having passed. Don’t indulge the feeling that you need to account for
every movement of your characters’ time. You can end your chapter in one place
and jump ahead further into the story as you start the next chapter. Remove all unnecessary time-related language such as then, suddenly, after awhile, a few minutes later, a month passed…

5. Overwriting

Live by the rule “less is more” when it comes to description—whether about
setting, your characters’ appearance, your main characters’ internal thoughts… When
you load your sentences down with a lot of description it not only slows the
reader down, but also the pacing. It shouldn’t take three pages for your
character to cross the room. Be economic with your words, but also make them count.
And strike an even balance between your characters’ internal and external
worlds.

6. Characters

Avoid introducing too many characters at once, but do be sure to introduce
your main players in the first couple chapters. Don’t spend too much time on
characters we’ll never see again (unless you’re George R. R. Martin). Make sure
developed characters string through to the end, and that most of your primary
and secondary characters have character arcs, goals, and plans of their own. Most
important, be sure to develop the internal/emotional world of your characters.
And last, avoid clichéd, stereotypical, and caricature-like characters; think
outside the cultural norm.

Elizabeth K. Kracht is a literary
agent with Kimberley Cameron & Associates and a freelance editor. Visit her
website at www.elizabethkracht.com or www.kimberleycameron.com.

Top photo by Flickr user Cliff.

6 Tips for Finding Your Perfect Beta Readers

You wrote a novel! Now what? NaNoWriMo’s “Now What?” Months are here—this January and February, we’ll be helping you guide your novel through the revision and publishing process. Today, editorial consultant and professional beta reader  Jody T. Morse  shares her guidelines for finding the perfect betas:

Regardless of how you plan to publish your novel—indie, small press, or big-six publisher—there’s one step that all writers should incorporate into their writing routine: beta readers. These fresh-eyed feedback folks can be priceless at sniffing out the plot holes, speed bumps, and detouring tangents in a manuscript. Here are my top six tips for finding beta readers and utilizing them to the nth degree:

1. Know where to find your betas.

While betas can be found anywhere there are literate citizens, your genre and subject matter will dictate where you’ll find your ideal catch. If you’re writing a story centered around a prison break, consider staff at a local jail or former (hopefully reformed) inmates. Your YA romance might best be read by one of your old high-school teachers or those teens you pass every day on your jog, texting on a park bench. You want betas who want to read stories like yours. If you go for a pro, checking with reputable editors, published authors, or writers’ guilds can be helpful to your search.

2. Know your reader avatar.

Once you’ve decided on the target demographic for your book, you have the key to selecting your optimal beta readers. Asking your neighbor’s third grader to give you feedback on a psychological thriller rampant with innuendo and gory murders makes no sense at all. Turning to a Dan Brown fan or Stephen King-o-phile would be a better beta fit. An additional strategy is to seek out readers for insight into controversial character details or themes, ones you’ve researched but not lived through. A nun may not be your ideal avatar, but she may be able to tell you where you’ll lose Christian readers in your retelling of Jonah and the Whale: Jaws v. Jesus.

3. Ask for what you need.

Don’t be afraid to give your betas a checklist, template, or list of questions to help guide them on the feedback you’re most in need of. As a professional beta reader, I have a feedback form I use that includes basics like plot, structure, flow, word choice, voice, setting, etc. Then I customize this sheet, as needed. Make your own or look online for samples.

4. Give a deadline.

Professionals should set a deadline in the initial contract, but even if you’ve decided to go with betas that are reading for pizza and beer, giving them a due date is imperative. In fact, I suggest asking them up front if they can realistically achieve a full read-through–which means written suggestions and/or chatting with you about the story–within the time frame your publishing schedule requires.

5. Figure out how many you’ll need.

There’s no right or wrong answer on this one. If paying professionals, you can plan on one or two. When using non-pros, you might want to wrangle a few more. But be wary of too many initial readers; you could get bogged down with a tsunami of feedback, discover you’ve become overwhelmed, wave the white flag, and jump ship.

6. Know when to use them.

You’ll want to employ these fishy feedback fiends after you’ve done the major rewrites and light line edits but before you get to work on serious copy edits. No sense editing passages that may end up on the cutting room floor. However, you’d also hate to lose the attention of a good beta reader due to rampant misspellings, chapters out of sequence, or grammar gremlins.

Remember, you’re the alpha writer. Now get out there and find your betas!

Jody T. Morse is a freelance writer, editorial consultant and professional beta reader. She loves playing the field with writing, from coffee table mag articles to spec fiction blogs to haiku poetry. She’s currently editing the first book of her fantasy novel series, Feathers of the Phoenix (written during NaNo 2016), and is putting the finishing touches on an interview article featuring the Mayor of Houston. For more information about Jody, visit www.bountifulbalconybooks.com, her NaNoWriMo profile, or her Amazon author page.

Top photo by Flickr user duluoz cats.

Now What? Putting Your Work Out There

You wrote a novel! Now what? NaNoWriMo’s “Now What?” Months are here—this January and February, we’ll be helping you guide your novel through the revision process and eventually help you dip your toe into the world of publishing. To kick things off, here’s a little encouragement from behind the scenes at the NaNoWriMo office:

Pay no attention to the writer behind the curtain.

Or, if you wish, you can pull the curtain aside to say hi,
brew up a cup of tea, and have a chat.

Some of you may know me from my past roles at NaNoWriMo: I
started off as a humble, starry-eyed Camp NaNo intern in 2014, then hopped
aboard as the Customer Service Captain in 2015. Last fall, I worked more behind
the scenes for the blog and Virtual Write-Ins, a role I’m pumped to be
continuing through 2017. So, I thought it was high time to formally introduce
myself to you all.

I’m no less starry-eyed than I was three years ago—and, the
more I get to hear participants’ stories (both IRL and on the page), the more
humble I become. I’m constantly blown away by the ideas you have and the things
you manage to accomplish. Writers who get down 100,000 words or more in a
month? You amaze me! Writers who juggle full time jobs AND children AND still
manage to write a novel? You knock my socks off! Kids and teens who write your
stories down and share them with the world? You’re my heroes!

“For me—and I’m sure for others—the Now What? Months represent a challenge beyond cleaning up the messy draft of my novel: putting myself out into the world.”

The NaNoWriMo community is one of the best I’ve ever
stumbled across, and I’m so glad to be a part of it. However, like many
(although certainly not all) writers, I can be a bit of a wallflower. Sometimes
it feels like I’m doing the online equivalent of sitting in a corner,
scribbling my stories in my notebook, while thoroughly enjoying the creativity,
conversation, and exuberance going on around me. For me—and I’m sure for others—the
Now What? Months represent a challenge beyond cleaning up the messy draft of my
novel: putting myself out into the world.

Although the act of writing itself can be quite solitary, the
process of editing and publishing a novel definitely takes a village, to quote
the old adage. I sometimes still find myself blushing and stammering whenever
someone asks what my novel is about, because even to tell them about my wild
ideas feels extremely vulnerable. I had to learn how to push myself out of my
comfort zone and ask the people around me for help.

I’ve had a couple of short stories published, and thinking
of those accomplishments still fills me with pride. The first was published in
Young Authors of America when I was in elementary school, and sparked the flame
of my desire to become an author. The second was published in 2015 in SciPhi
Journal, and was (hopefully) a little better thought-out than my 11-year-old
self could have managed (or, at least not quite so blatantly Redwall fanfic).
In both cases, the stories never would have come into being in the way that
they did if I hadn’t reached out to those closest to me and asked them to help
me revise and edit. They also wouldn’t have been published if I hadn’t taken
the scary leap and submitted my work to the contest or open call.

Over the next couple of months, this blog will be full of
advice from authors, editors, and agents sharing their knowledge and experience
with those of us trying to publish our novels or polish them up. The Now What?
page will also be full of resources for you to use during your editing process.

I wanted to take the first post of this new year to pull the
curtain aside and give a friendly wave before we dive back in to all the hard
work. If you have things you want to see on the blog, wish to contribute to it,
or just want to say hi, send me a NaNo mail! I’m so excited to be a part of
this community, and to see what you all are going to create next.

–Katharine Gripp, Communications Manager

Top photo by Flickr user Bert Heymans

Keep Doing You: A Farewell from NaNo Intern Lena

Every year, there comes a point when we have to wish our amazing, talented interns good-bye as they move on to share their awesomeness with the rest of the world. As this blog will be going on hiatus for a couple of weeks over the holidays, it seemed only right to end the year on some excellent life advice from the wonderful Lena Heller, Intern Extraordinaire: 

Well, this is it.

I’m sitting in NaNo HQ on my very last day of this internship, in the very same spot I was on my very first day. But a lot has gone on in between that. And even that is a bit of an understatement.

When I tell people about the concept of NaNoWriMo, what they’re most intimidated by is the goal of 50,000 words. And I understand that. It’s a pretty big number, especially if you’ve never written a novel before. But I always assure them that’s not what NaNo is really about. It’s about writing for the sake of writing, rather than expecting a finished, polished work at the end. But I’m notoriously bad at taking my own advice.

At the beginning of this internship, I was very optimistic about everything, especially about winning NaNo. That didn’t exactly happen. And as the month went on and my wordcount fell more and more behind, I expected to feel worse and worse. But that isn’t what happened at all. Instead, I found myself part of a new club. This is a club of participants who aren’t hung up on that ominous 50,000. We’re happy with writing anything at all. I wrote 17,026 words during the month of November. And I’ve slowly realized that’s perfectly okay.

I’m really in awe of everyone who made that 50k mark, and especially those who surpassed it, but I’m out here representing the losers. We may have only written 100 words, or we may have written 49,999, but we still wrote. We participated in sprints and we added in dream sequences, but ultimately, we fell short. And that is more than just acceptable for us. We don’t care about a certificate or a t-shirt or a purple bar. We still have dynamic characters and witty dialogue and beautiful descriptions, and that’s enough for us. We don’t get easily discouraged, and we’ll definitely be back next year.

I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo for many years, and I’ve never won, but it wasn’t until this internship that I really realized the depth of this community. Although my internship title doesn’t have anything to do with that, interacting with the community has been what I’ve enjoyed most from being here. I loved being inspired by all of you and it’s truly a privilege to hopefully be able to inspire you, too.

I may only have 17,026 words, but out of that I’ve gained some great stories with a lot of potential. And more importantly, I’ve gained a lot of friends, wonderful advice, and hilarious anecdotes that will be worth even more to me in the years to come.

So this one is for the losers. Maybe we’ll win someday, and maybe we won’t, but ultimately, that won’t matter. Above all, keep doing you, and ignore the haters. And that’s just general life advice.

Lena Heller
Former Editorial Intern

Keep Writing, Harum-Scarum Style

Even though November ended half a month ago (!!!), NaNoWriMo has programs running year-round to help participants continue telling their stories. Check out our Now What? page in January and February, and Camp NaNoWriMo in the spring and summer, for more. In the meantime, we decided to bring you one last Pep Talk before the holidays: 

Dear NaNoWriMo winners, almost winners, strivers, and starters,

We’re not going to make meaning here.

This is a pep talk of the absurd, the ludicrous, the incongruous, and the preposterous—because after a month-long writing marathon, even-handed logic will do little to help you keep writing, and diligence is too often full of diligence (hence exhausting).

Sometimes you just have to bang on the trashcans with spoons, wear plaid knickers with a polka dot turban, and toss a gewgaw on a thingamajigger and create a doohickey. You have to tap the wah wah pedal of your brain, drive the interstate of your novel without a windshield, and relish in the zigzag joy and jubilant excess of it all. You have to trust in the usefulness of supposedly useless curiosity.

Don’t think of words as having any correspondence with reality.

Words are objects, equivalent to a mousetrap or an elastic band or a juice harp.

The semiotics of bafflement shall be your guide, just as light bends into a black hole, just as a compass twitches on a carousel.

Turn yourself into a laboratory for the irrational. Alchemy started with the “rational” belief that lead could be made into gold. And why not?

It’s time to be silly and contradictory and irascible. It’s time to embrace rascality and treat it like a religion. Just because you don’t have a purpose doesn’t mean you won’t find meaning (which, honestly, can be delayed until the revision stage).

Fill your hat with orange juice, put a frog in it, and sip it with a straw by the pool.

Let lightning bugs shine on the crop rotation of your mind and plant rows of confetti.

Spelunk your way to the top of Mt. Everest.

It’s time to search out bananas to slip on, shake up the snow globe of your dreams, and make a cat’s meow the ringtone for your phone. Throw out the designer cheese and free the lab rats because all of the toilets in your neighborhood just flushed at once and your rubber doggie squeak toy is a demonic force.

Purposelessness is not meaninglessness because purposelessness is an adventure, and an adventure requires the proper camping gear (so, yes, balloons and kazoos).

So much of life is a training ground of knowing what you’re doing. We need to get better at not knowing what we’re doing. Monkey around. Monkey upside down. Monkey to and fro.

Listen to the beatings of your lopsided heart and look into your nocturnal eyes. Last night’s dream is attached to your forehead with a piece of duct tape. When you press a doorbell, it rings you. When you open your mouth to speak, you tweet like a bird.

Do the fish swim in the river, or does the river swim in the fish?

The court stenographer is distilling everything into haiku.

The court jester is now in charge of trash collection.

Your accountant won’t do your taxes until you paint your face, per recent federal regulations.

This is your challenge. To write with a mercurial, erratic sensibility. To have a squirt gun fight in a desert. To row your boat with a banjo. The tectonics of your mind have been transformed into a bouncy house. The police department has abandoned their duties to jump on a trapeze.

Has there ever been a novel scene that takes place in a forest of shag carpeting? If not, it deserves to be written.

Your brain is a hand grenade going off in a honeycomb as you wait for the rain of sweetness to drop down on a humdrum day.

Can you surprise yourself with a single sentence?

Chase the fleeting. Cry into the silence. Dive into the pitch and thrall of it all. Doo-wop the wingding of the clamor of your imbroglio.

A ghost is making macaroni and cheese in the kitchen. Rasputin is mowing the lawn. Please whisper because you don’t want to ruin the squirrels’ tea party.

But keep writing, no matter what words you write. If you haven’t finished your novel, finish it with the kind of grand flourish that will surprise not only yourself, but also the elf hiding in the corner behind you.

And if you have finished your novel, then just keep writing for the wild craziness of it all. Because you never know what you’ll discover when the words start flowing (or exploding).

–Grant Faulkner, NaNoWriMo Executive Director

Top photo by artist and author Jenny Williams. Check out her work at www.jennydwilliams.com, or follow her on Instagram @stateofwander.