[Suzerain of Sheol]

Originally Posted by johnny

I think you're sort of under the impression that people write these books and think they're perfect and try to send them off to publication, but they don't. The point of NaNoWriMo is to finish something; "ready for publication" isn't really a factor and everyone who participates in NaNoWriMo is well aware that what they've written isn't ready for outsiders to see. No matter what an author does, he or she is going to need editing - full, every page with a fine-toothed-comb editing. There's little difference, really, between changing one or two misplaced commas on a page and changing an entire sentence. You (or your editor) will be looking at that page anyway, so why not?

I wasn't really assuming that, but, just speaking for myself, I would rather make the first draft be as "complete" as possible to cut down on further editing, but I think I do have a slightly unusual writing habit in that I edit as I go along, which again, slows things down for me. Also, there's a difference between editing and needing to rewrite entire sections. Just from my own experience, if I just sit down and write something, I always have to go back and rewrite it more or less from scratch afterward, so I figure, might as well put the effort in with the first draft.

This month isn't actually any different from any other time during which a writer attempts to write a novel. The only real difference is that the success rate of completing something is up significantly, even if that something is only the first step in a long, long process.

I suppose I define "complete" different than you do. :p

In my experience, the first draft will always be crap, regardless of whether it's taken thirty days or thirty years. That's what first drafts are for. Even if someone edits as he or she goes, it's still probably going to need more editing in the end.

As long as the editing doesn't involve tearing out multiple chapters and re-working entire character arcs, I don't think that's a problem. (And, yes, I've had that happen before. Kind of kills the impulse to work on a project when you get to that point...) Again, just for myself, I'm never satisfied with what I write, so I always tinker with things even after they're probably good enough to leave alone.

More than anything, I think that NaNoWriMo helps considerably for those who have never written a book in their lives. It lets them figure out how they should start things, how they should pace things, and how to tie everything up in the end. Yes, they could probably, eventually, some time in the future, complete a novel and figure it all out then, or they could spend a NaNo month writing what will ultimately be a "test novel" and figure it out a whole lot sooner.

That's probably true, I was thinking along the same lines after I read up a little more on it this morning. I already wrote a horrible novel when I was younger, so I'm not of a mind to repeat that experience. :p

Of course, I'm not exactly meeting success with my outlining, either... but I think that's more from my inability to get motivated than anything else.

Though... if I was going to attempt something like this, November seems like an ill-timed month to do it on. It's typically the busiest month for college classes, I find, which translates into added stress and less free time, which makes me want to cry in a corner when I consider trying to write a novel at the same time. :p