I Published My NaNo-Novel: Learn How to Tell Your Story

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, Sonja Yoerg, author of The Middle of Somewhere , shares why each individual book requires you to learn how to write all over again:

To me, the prospect of writing 50,000 words in a month was as daunting as a dog-paddler standing on the Dover shore contemplating a Channel crossing; I was certain to drown before I reached the shipping lanes. I’m a painstaking writer, at the mercy of my in-line editor, more comfortable splashing around in the shallows of what I’d already written than in the dark waters ahead.

NaNoWriMo would be good for me, I reasoned, forcing my speed to increase in a sink-or-swim fashion. I had another motivation, too. During the fall of 2012, I was querying agents with my first novel and the NaNo challenge seemed the perfect distraction from that arduous, soul-destroying process.

My story was set on the John Muir Trail, a 220-mile hike my husband and I had recently completed. Writing during November was a lot like that trek—strenuous, repetitive, rewarding—but without the views and blisters. I’m stubborn as hell, and competitive, so there was no way I was not going to “win NaNo.” (Note: I was also lucky enough not to have another job, or kids at home at the time.  Hats off to those who manage to write at all with those constraints.)

What happened after NaNo? Life. We put our California house on the market, and moved across the country. I spent a couple months in England caring for an ill relative. During one of those trips, I got The Call and, just like that, I had representation for my first novel. I had a lot of jumping up and down to do, and revisions. 

While life swirled around me, I worked on my NaNo book, mostly going forward, but sometimes going back to the beginning, because my agent wanted to read it, or because so much time had passed I’d forgotten my own story. Lurching forward, reaching back, again and again and again. A year passed before I finished—a total of 80,000 words. The same week, Penguin offered on my debut. I had a book deal, a two-book deal! My NaNo book, which my editor hadn’t read a word of, had been invited to the party. 

Cinderella story? I sure felt lucky. But when my editor finally got around to reading the NaNo book, there was a small problem. The last third, she said, pretty much everything I’d written since NaNo, had to go. 

Let’s have a laugh here, because it’s funny now. Then? Not so much.

Don’t think for a minute the take-home message is that what you wrote in November is gold, and the rest horse-pucky. I revised those 50,000 words several times, and again as part of writing a new ending. Does this mean that I should write fast all the time? Maybe, but probably not, because each book takes along on a different road, and what worked before may not work again. I like it that way, because as soon as I figure out how to write, once and for all, I’ll stop. 

My NaNo book is called The Middle of Somewhere. When you pull your 50,000 words out of the marinade this month, that’s probably an apt description of where you are with your story, whether you think you know how it ends or not. And that, my fellow writers, is a wonderful place to be.

Sonja Yoerg, author of House Broken and Middle of Somewhere, earned her Ph.D. in Biopsychology from the University of California at Berkeley. She also published a non-fiction book about animal intelligence, Clever as a Fox (Bloomsbury USA). Sonja lives in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.