William Tiernan's excellent coverage of The National Novel Writing Month has, sadly, come to a close. If you haven't gotten a chance to read his month long journey, read through his previous posts to get a feel for the narrative arc, or so to speak. Be sure to leave your closing comments as well!
There are so many bits of NaNoWriMo advice to offer before starting this crazy process. But now that you’ve reached, or are about to reach (I’ve got 876 words to write today) the finish line, here is one final NaNo “Do” and “Don’t” to consider:
Don’t, under any circumstance, use your NaNo as a pitch point in a query letter. As in …
Dear Agent,
Guess what? I did it. I really did it. I just finished my first NaNo! Yeeehaaw for me! High fives all around! 51,987 words, with 8,453 coming on the final day. What can I say, I finish strong.
What’s that? Oh yeah, my book. Well, it’s hard to describe. It’s titled, A Political Romance: A NaNo Project. It’s a political thriller with a sleazy romance twist. But enough about plot. Let’s talk marketing platform. The fact that it’s a NaNo project will make my book jump off the shelf. Who wouldn’t want to read a novel that was produced in just 30 days? A NaNo is a true testament to the writer-at-work. People will see it like the reality television of books. Plus, minimal editing for you and the publisher you sell it to; it’s supposed to be “rough,” right? Plus, the nature of the project will allow you and me to get on an annual plan. Rest assured, every December 1 you’re going to have my new NaNo in your Inbox. Nothing like a little consistency in a turbulent profession.
Sincerely,
NaNo A. NaNo – NaNo Master
Do use your NaNo as a springboard
You’ve worked hard on your NaNo, but do remember it’s not a novel. At least not yet. Your NaNo will be best treated as a glorified outline, the draft before the draft before the first draft before second draft before the third draft before the final manuscript. It will be like J.K. Rowling’s napkin notes of Harry Potter; or the blueprints of the Eiffel Tower; or the bill that becomes a law; or Peter Parker before the spider bite; or the …
Okay, you get the point. For those who finished the journey, pat yourself on the back, tuck your NaNo away, and let the thing mini-hibernate. Break it out in a week and study it carefully. Show it to a trusted colleague. Mine the nuggets. Pitch the garbage. Rewrite. Revise. Create a workable first draft. And so on and so on until your NaNo has evolved into a polished manuscript you can pitch with confidence. When you land that agent, the mania of NaNoWriMo will have been worth it.
Thanks for following along this month. How many words did you end with? What’s your title? Genre? Tagline?
See you next year!
William
- 16:28
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