(Na)No pain, (Na)No gain?
The following is a guest post from Maija Haavisto, who has just paticipated in National Novel Writing Month.
When I did my first NaNoWriMo in 2008 I had written four novel manuscripts already, but none in the previous six years, as I had been very ill. Now I was much better and felt ready for a new journey. I spent a lot of time outlining my novel, constructing character bios etc. I also froze plenty of meals in advance.
Doing NaNo in Finnish meant I had to write about 50% more to reach 50k than those writing in English, but I was aiming for publication in Finland. As if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, the story required lots of research. Bad idea!
My novel was about life extension, but it felt like if anything, it was going to shorten my life. I often needed to spend five hours a day working on my manuscript just to reach the minimum wordcount. That year I didn’t really have time to post on the NaNo forums nor attend any NaNo meetings, but I did connect with some other writers on Twitter.
I finished on the evening of the 30th, writing the last 500 words with very limited eyesight because of a migraine aura (I hadn’t had a migraine in a year or so). I swore to never participate in that madness again.
After editing for some 3-4 months I submitted my manuscript to 25 publishers, but the farthest I got was some lengthy non-form rejections and a letter telling me my book was enjoyable, but not marketable (!). In the fall I found myself again planning for NaNo.
My last year’s NaNo was also done in Finnish, but the concept did not require much research. As such the process was much less painful and on most days took me 1-2 hours of writing. I also attended some NaNo meetings in Helsinki, though found myself a bit out of place with my “cripfic” (disability-themed fiction) when everyone else seemed to be writing fantasy. I even finished one day early.
Again I edited from December to April, while also working on a medical textbook. The crazy work schedule paid off and three small publishers showed interest in my novel. I signed a contract with one of them a few weeks before this year’s NaNo. I thought I would be the first published Finnish WriMo, but apparently some YA novelists got there first.
This year it was almost obvious that I would participate in NaNoWriMo. One thing was different though: I had moved from Finland to the Netherlands. The NaNoWriMo meetups had an added dimension being the very first meetings I had with Dutch people. The folks have been great and I’ve felt I fit in better than in Finland.
The latest NaNo, my third one, was both the easiest and hardest. Every year I panic with the same problem: my novel doesn’t look like it will be 50k (my pre-NaNo novels were all just about 35k words, which in Finnish is a reasonable length – my 2009 novel was 45k after editing) and this year was no different. Luckily, with enough “padding”, visits from Captain Obvious and his cousin Captain Repetition and a super analytical and rambling main character with a tendency for flashbacks I’ve made it through.
Weirdly enough I have been able to write faster than before, even though some problems related to my disability have reared their ugly heads, and finished three days early. I have more pressure than ever to write a novel that can be published, but I feel like the quality of this manuscript is lower than in my previous first drafts. I am frightened that the amount of editing required will be massive.
The most important thing I have learned to win NaNo is not to write a book that requires a lot of research, unless you can do it all in advance. Other than that, the only thing to do is to write. Don’t think about writing, don’t think about not writing, just write.
As for how NaNo can be useful, it can help you finish your manuscript and make you realize you can write a lot more than you think. It helps you shut down the inner editor and take more risks with your writing. You may well ditch the experimental hallucination scene when editing – or you might find it is going to stay, it might inspire another scene elsewhere in the book, or turn into a short story. You never know. In the creative process taking risks and doing things in a different way never hurts!
My husband doesn’t really “get” NaNo. “Why undertake a project when you’re just waiting to finish it and not have to think about it for another 11 months?” But writing is both about the journey and the destination. Sometimes it’s fun, sometimes not, just like everything else. There must be something addictive about NaNo, because I and so many others find ourselves doing it year after year. Yep, I already have something planned for NaNo 2011!
Maija Haavisto is a 26-year old journalist and the author of two published textbooks. Her novel Marian ilmestyskirja (Maria’s Book of Revelations) will be out in early 2011. She is also a firm believer that the world can be changed with words. Her website is www.fiikus.net, but sadly her writing blog www.ilmestykset.net is in Finnish only.
Nice post. It is great to hear about others experiences.
I am not a writer but my partner is. She submitted a few manuscripts,only to have them rejected before ever participating in NaNoWriMo. Her first published novel was written during NaNo two years ago.
Congratulations on the upcoming release Maija!
Cheryl James´s last post ..Homework from RJ
Twitter: writeandchange
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Thanks for stopping by, Cheryl. I really wasn’t sure about NaNo when all my writer friends first started participating, but the success stories that seem to come out of it are inspiring, which is why I wanted to publish Maija’s guest post. Sometimes just getting those words on the page as quickly as possible – and editing later – really is the best way to get a novel (or any book-length project) written.