The NaNoWriMo Experience

The Great NaNoWriMo Experience

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Week Four and Beyond:

Week four had dawned and I felt the dizzy anticipation of almost being done. After the first week, I was very consistent in my writing, and always got about 2,000 words written a day. That means I was at about 42,000 words at the start of the fourth week, and only had 8,000 to go before reaching the 50,000 word count goal. If I continued on in that vein, I would finish on Thanksgiving day.

The fourth week was mostly wrapping it all up. Like how the first week had felt like an introduction, this last week felt like I was simply tying all the loose ends. The adventure was coming to a close, (literally and metaphorically speaking,) and the characters had been all but developed, and the plot was laid out for me to see.

The last week was a slightly bittersweet one. For it was true that all the work I had done during the first three weeks was coming together to make a cohesive manuscript, and it was a thrill to know I was the one who pieced the whole thing together. Then again, it was sad saying goodbye to my characters, knowing that soon I would leave them completely to their own demise. It was fun to create the characters and see them through the plot.

The climax was very climax-y, in the respect that all the little things throughout the book were brought together and made for an exciting and thrilling ending. I actually finished writing the book on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, ending up with 55,642 words all in all. It was a fun and exciting four weeks, (I just now noticed it took me exactly four weeks to write the novel. How even of me! Though I am not really all that surprised. I am organized even in my subconscious.) During the last week there was a little fear I did not have enough plot to see me to the 50,000 words. I was even apprehensive enough that I went back to the beginning of the book and added a 700 word scene. It is obvious now that even without that addition I had plenty enough plot, but I will not get rid of it, because I feel the all over book benefited from the addition.

So now the laborious process of editing and revision is going on. More specifically, my mum is correcting any spelling or grammatical mistakes as she reads it. As soon as she is done with editing it, (and perhaps KatySue if she wants to) I will take it and start revising it. This includes not the corrections the editor(s) put in the manuscript with a pencil, but character and plot points as well.

Supposedly, part of NaNoWriMo is to not edit at all while you are writing the novel, and to save it all for afterwards. I did not do this. True, I probably could have shaved off a half to hour forty-five minutes a day from my writing time if I had not, but now I am thankful for it. It was mostly spelling mistakes that I corrected, and and when something was written extremely awkwardly I would change it. If it was between editing some as I went or having enough time to finish, I would have chosen the latter. I could do both though, so there was really no reason not to.

Well it was a fun and exciting filled four weeks (bonus points to those of you who know how many times I have said that in this one post,) and I will definitely do it again next year if at all possible. I have been properly graduated, and have both impressed and offended people by sticking to it and writing all 50,000 words in one month. Huzzah!!!!!!!!!!!!