5 Tips for Getting Your Novel Unstuck with Swoon Reads

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Swoon Reads, a 2017 NaNo sponsor, is a young adult imprint that gives new authors a great debut. Today, Ashley Woodfolk and Lauren Scobell share five expert tips for making it through the month’s muddy middle:

Here at Swoon Reads, we really believe that anyone who has a great story to tell can become a published author. In fact, Swoon Reads is a young adult imprint dedicated to discovering new bookish talent in the unlikeliest of places. Nearly all of the YA books we’ve published since our inception four years ago have been written by debut authors.

National Novel Writing Month really embodies the spirit of Swoon Reads—of starting a story no matter where or who you are, and finishing strong. That said, the middle is often when finishing seems impossible; where you feel the most stuck. You’re beyond the excited honeymoon stage of the beginning, but you’re not yet close enough to your final word count goal see that there is an end in sight.

We know there are lots of reasons the “muddy middle” is the hardest part of NaNo. So we thought some insight from authors who started their careers right where you are now might be just what the doctor ordered. Below, we’ve outlined the top 5 reasons writers get stuck, and paired those with advice from our authors for how to push through:

Reason #1: You notice a gaping plot hole that you don’t know how to fix.

“This is probably overstated, but sometimes the first draft really can be about quantity over quality—certainly during NaNoWriMo! Just take your idea and write about it! You can make it beautiful later, but for now, just get the words on the damn page. Don’t edit as you go!”

—Lydia Albano, author of Finding You

Reason #2: Writing so much is making you lonely.

“The magic of Nanowrimo is knowing that tons of people all over the world are working towards the same goal you are, all at the same time. When you feel frustrated, blocked, or tired, remember all those people, churning out words. Take heart. Keep going. We’re all in this together.”

—Sandy Hall, author of A Little Something Different, Been Here All Along, and A Prom to Remember

Reason #3: You’ve gotten so far behind that you want to give up.

“Set a new goal for yourself. Go through what’s left your November and figure out which days you can write more, which days you can write less. Set specific word count goals and celebrate as you achieve them. You can do it!”

—Nikki Katz, author of The Midnight Dance

Reason #4: No one will care if you don’t finish.

“Find your accountability buddies! This could be friends through the website, writers participating in sprints on Twitter, or IRL writing friends who you meet up with during the month. Going through NaNo with a support system will set you up for success!”

—Maggie Ann Martin, author of The Big F and The Struggle is Real

Reason #5: You hate everything you’re writing.

“I wish someone had told me during my first NaNoWriMo that my first draft was going to suck. That it wasn’t going to look the way I saw it in my head, and that that’s totally okay. November is not for masterpieces, it’s for freeing the novel in your head!”

—Vicky Skinner, author of How to Breathe Underwater

Whatever you are feeling, just know you are not alone. These are the normal feelings of being a writer. And you are a WRITER. So keep going. Finish that draft. Then come back and make it better. We have some resources for that.

Hopefully, one day we’ll see your manuscript up on swoonreads.com. You never know, it could be you giving advice to future aspiring authors next year.

As Director of Swoon Reads, Lauren Scobell gets to work on a little bit of everything—editing, managing the website and blog, and getting to partner with all of Macmillan’s internal teams (such as marketing and publicity) as they build authors and publish books.  She is always reading, loves to write, and hopes to see your book on Swoon Reads someday.

Ashley Woodfolk is a marketing manager at Macmillan Children’s Books, and describes herself as a consumer ‘in every sense of the word’. At any given moment, she could be shopping, watching indie movies, reading all kinds of books, listening to music, and eating just about anything. She writes YA novels in her abundance of “spare” time, but asserts that there aren’t enough hours in her days for all the things she loves.