What to Do With Your Manuscript in December

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Now that we’re closing in on the final stretch of November, you may be wondering what to do with your novel after the month is over. Today, Reedsy, a NaNoWriMo sponsor, has some tips for post-NaNo noveling:

As November draws to a close and your word count finally reaches that elusive 50,000 mark, you might be thinking about what comes next. Perhaps you’ve heard of the great publishing success stories that have come out of NaNoWriMo, and you hope to be one of them.

The cold hard truth is that to become one of those success stories, you need to do a lot more than finish November with a manuscript. And while you should rightfully be proud of your hard-earned words, there’s still a long road ahead to getting them published.

Luckily, you don’t have to go through it all on your own! Here are a few tips to help you figure out what yo do with your manuscript after November has come to an end.

Step 1: Wait.

Yes, you heard correctly—this is the time to wait.

You just spent a whole month immersed in your novel’s world, so the best thing to do is to step back until you stop obsessing over it all day, every day. This might take a few weeks or even a few months, but it’s important not to go back to your story too soon after you’re done writing it. Taking time away will give you the chance to approach your manuscript with fresh eyes, which will help with the next few steps.

But just because you’re not working on your NaNoWriMo project doesn’t mean you should let your writing momentum fall apart! Just like a sprinter wouldn’t stop dead cold after crossing the finish line, you shouldn’t throw away your pen come December 1st. If you are not sure what to write about and are in need of inspiration (you just wrote a full story, after all), try turning to writing prompts and grind out some shorts—you don’t know where your next idea might come from.  

Step 2: Re-read your manuscript.

Once you are ready to approach your text again, don’t go in expecting to do heavy revisions and edits from the get-go. Instead, start off by re-reading your manuscript (out loud, if you can) and reacquaint yourself from a different perspective.

Sure, you wrote it, but after being away from it for several weeks—or at least a few days—you’ll see it in a brand new light, and seeing it after some time away can be a revelatory experience.

Step 3: Do a story review and rewrite.

After re-reading your manuscript, it’s time to dive in with a critical eye and start the story review process. As you read through your manuscript, ask yourself the following questions:

Is there a central idea or theme?Are there unresolved situations?Are the characters sufficiently developed?Is there a concrete plot?Do you have enough worldbuilding?Is there any character or plot point that doesn’t add anything to the story?Is there a satisfying resolution? And if not, is that what you want?

At this point, you might cut away entire subplots or characters, introduce new ones, and switch the order of scenes until you have a cohesive narrative that works on a macro level. Your draft can (and most likely will) change a lot during this process, but that’s the point. Many bestsellers have actually been completely re-written during the revision stages—and you shouldn’t skimp on that either.

Step 4: Self-edit the copy.

Once you’re done reviewing your story, go in and treat yourself to a round of copy-editing (you shouldn’t get too caught up with line-editing before this stage). This will help you improve the technical parts of your manuscript and iron out your writing tics (think: excessive adverbs and overused turns of phrase).

Don’t try to fix everything at once: address one issue at a time. Do a pass where you focus only on looking for long, winding sentences and another where you look for ways to control your pace.

Editing tools such as Grammarly and ProWritingAid can be a great help in highlighting these problem areas.

Step 5: Proofread.

After you’re done with all the necessary self-edits, go back through your manuscript and proofread it. Try reading through it using a highlighter and looking out for any typos, awkward phrasing, or glaring inconsistencies that you might have missed during revisions and rewrites.

Reading out loud is another great way to go through your manuscript. This way you can often find mistakes and weird wording that you could have missed otherwise.

Step 6: Share it.

No, it’s not time to share it with professional proofreaders and editors just yet—but it is time to share it with someone whose opinion you trust. Try showing your manuscript to a close friend or family member who you know will provide an honest opinion on your writing, plot, and characters.

If you don’t want to show it to anyone you know (it can be pretty intimidating), try looking for a writing community that fits your needs, or a beta reader who will be able to provide a truly unbiased opinion that friends and family typically cannot.

Step 7: Rinse and repeat.

After getting an honest opinion on your manuscript, take note of their comments, especially their criticism, and repeat the whole process—chiseling away at the marble slab that is your novel. It may take many more months or even years before you’re truly ready to submit it to an industry professional for review, or query an agent. But don’t be discouraged—it’s completely normal to revise and rewrite.

Step 8: Look for an editor.

Now that you’ve done a story review, self-edited your manuscript, proofread it, got an honest third-party opinion, and repeated the process, it’s time to work with a professional. An experienced editor will help you grow as a writer and learn about the craft—very often, more so than if you were to take a writing class. But there are a few things to keep in mind when deciding who to contact.

What does your manuscript need right now? Are you struggling with big picture problems? Try a developmental editor? Need help improving the language? Hire a copy editorDoes the editor have experience in your genre?What style of criticism do you prefer: gentle and encouraging, or brutally honest?

Waiting to work with a professional until you’ve gone through your manuscript a few times will guarantee you a much better editing experience and will also maximize your bang-for-buck.

Step 9: Keep Writing.

Many now-successful authors didn’t write anything useful on their first, second, or even third run—but they kept on going and eventually found the perfect idea that took them to publication. If you find yourself at this point, use the skills you learned from writing a manuscript in a month and keep on trying.

Preparing a manuscript for publishing might seem overwhelming, but going through this process carefully and thoroughly can help you take your novel to the next level and greatly improve your chances of eventually getting published. Just remember: don’t despair, and keep on writing.

Ricardo Fayet is a co-founder of Reedsy, an online marketplace connecting authors with industry’s best editors, designers and book marketers.

Top photo by Trent Erwin on Unsplash.