NaNoWriMo 2022 In Review
Well, it’s over, and it’s time to review.
This past year I had set a personal goal of 100K words for NaNoWriMo. I can now say that I wrote a 100,370 word novel. Here are my thoughts.
This past year I had set a personal goal of 100K words for NaNoWriMo. I can now say that I wrote a 100,370 word novel. Here are my thoughts.
General
- I could maintain a pace of at least 3K words a day with little of a problem. I didn’t make my daily goal of 3.3K each day. On a few days a cracked the 4K mark, so it all balanced out.
- Some days were a lot easier than others. This was mostly because of my characters and story veering from my original scene outline. I let my characters drive, but that meant I didn’t always know where they were going. The story ended up differing somewhat from what I had planned.
- I’m pleased with how the story came together, but there are weak points and points where improvement is needed.
Specifics
- It surprised me where my story went and how it came together. I laid breadcrumbs and hints without knowing what to do with them. Toward the end these tied together, and I got some surprising answers to questions I’d laid.
- A minor supporting character became a major one. This was the most surprising part of writing the story. This is book one of a series, and I now know a continuing character needs to be and how.
- My protagonist grows, but not sufficiently obviously. I need to rework this by doing rewrites to make it more relatable.
- My protagonist was supposed to be a weak woman how becomes strong. A strong woman became stronger.
- Some scenes may need to be trimmed or cut. I hate cutting. I’d rather rewrite. I’d rather keep. But I know what I need to do this time.
- I have a title for this book. Going in, I had a title for the series, but not the book.
- My sense of humor is back. There are bits of it throughout the book, including some hidden references. It’s, however, not a funny/humorous book.
Lessons Learned:
- I can write at least 3K words a day. Do I want to? Yes, but I know I was burnt out at the end of November. So 3K day in and day out is doable, but not workable for me.
- Having a scene-by-scene plan helps, but I can’t rely on it to survive the first draft.
- Writing 100K in a month is hard work and mentally exhausting. That’s why I’m taking December off from any serious writing or editing.
- I’ve got a good first book of my 3-4 book series.
- I seem to have fallen into a genre with my last 3 books: action/adventure/thriller. I still want to write something more humorous.
Wrap Up:
This book will “sit on the shelf” for at least a year before I start rewrites and edits. I need a “fresh set of eyes” in order to do that.
I may not push out a book a month, the way some seem to do, but I can at least write over one a year as I’ve done.
It was a fun, tiring, interesting experience. Will I try to go to 125K next NaNoWriMo? Probably not. I’ll try for another 100K, however. Oh, I celebrated my victory with a glass of champagne, something I rarely drink even at New Year’s.
Word up!