Dear Not-Yet Complete Novel

Dear NYCN,

Wow, what a month we have had together. I can't we say didn't have a harsh word to say to each. Boy, did we fight a lot over this month and, even though the making up was always sweeter afterwards, I think we should take a short break. Its not you, its definitely me. I'm tired and I am cranky and I don't think I will be able to give you what you deserve for a while.

Still, I do love you even despite all your run on sentences, plot contradictions and overuse of the weasel word "slightly". You are mine and I will always cherish and be proud of you. Let's just take a few weeks apart and then we can see each other again over Christmas, shall we?

Yours,
Allycloud xx

You look like a complete and utter disaster. But within you are some real gems. Hidden in the crevaces of many conversations are a plot hidden somewhere, a stroke of genius, a magic whizz that only needs practice to bring out. You have already generated a brilliant idea, smaller scale perhaps but genius which is so sensitive to the needs of other people.
Your sentences are horrible to look at, yet there is coherence, not for you writing a da da da ;da ad infinitum unless you were incorporating a baby into your plot. There are ideas there.
Maybe you need to learn to write short stories and novella before you get your First proper formal length draft out and begin to belong to those of whom it is said'Stories are within'.

Dear CCS-TRK:

Well, you're out now. Out of my system, that is.

And you're filthy. FILTHY!! You look as bad as a lot that's been bulldozed for construction! But, like an engineer can look at that contracted lot and see the building that will eventually rise from the organized chaos, I too can see what you could be.

But geez, could we stop with the nightmares?? And the stomach problems?! It's not fair that all of you fictional characters should affect me so dramatically here in the real world. x_x;;;;

Take it easy on your creator already, and maybe we'll work this thing into something more than a bad horror story.

See you in a bit!

~C. L.~

Dear NYCN:

November may be over, but our time together is not. You have consumed nearly every last one of my waking thoughts for a month now, and I fear if I tried to leave you unfinished, you might torment to the point that I would be an insomniac just like Raine.

I will happily spend however much time it takes to finish you, however, because I have grown very fond of you over the past month. Yes, we had a few moments where you surprised me by the path that you chose, but even then you were so willing to stay on a path that would lead you to the end I always wanted you to have.

But please be aware, as soon as you are finished, I will leave you alone for a good month almost. This does not mean I don't love you anymore or that I don't want to help you flourish into a beautiful, edited, story. It is simply for my own health and yours as well I do believe, that I take a break before I edit you.

Sincerely,
Marie

Dear Crossings Part 1,

I wish I knew how to quit you.

See you tomorrow,
Nikki

Dear Cause & Effect,
My gods, what the hell is going on with you? Only one definitive plotline out of the three that should be happening? Come on.
But hey, at least I can write the courtroom stuff and then write around it. I hope, anyway.

Love,
Kat

Dear NYCN,

I promise, if you give me three days, I will come back and write your last two chapters.

I know! I know! Three days is a horribly long time after having just written 75% of you in less time than that, but as much as I love you, I have a heap of assignments that you forced me to put off. Seriously, drowning in them. It's easy to forget with you begging me for more and more words.

Don't worry, I forgive you.

Don't let go of me yet,
Kitty

Two more scenes, okay? Just two more scenes and I can write "The End" and we can both breathe a sigh of relief.

Then you and I know what comes after that: the rewrite. I was already seeing ways you could be tightened up, made funnier, made shorter and more to the point while I was writing you, and once I finish (two more scenes! We'll do it today!), we can consider what happens next.

But you've been great and great fun, and this is not the end for us. Two more scenes and then a pause, and then we dive into the rewrite together.

With love,
Nora

Dear Evolution of Dragons

Considering your plot has been in my head for well over three years you were awfully fickle about keeping to the plot lines.

I love the direction you've gone in, but I have to attend to real life, for a little while at least.

And then go back to my old love, last year's completed but not edited novel. I don't love her more than you, it's just the way it has to be.

But we will meet again, on the moonlit shores of the christmas, easter, and summer holidays.

Until then my love,

Subtlemagic

Dear Split World,

Wow, I can't believe we made it to the end, and with only about 11,000 more than the required 50,000 words, too. You know that your beautiful 61,681 words makes you the longest thing I've ever written, don't you? And you're actually quite a bit cleaner than your two older siblings. I'm so proud of you, Split World. It might be a while before I can give you much more attention, though, dear, since No Child of Noah still needs a lot more plot, not to mention an ending, and Quest for the Red Sock has already been started on the editing process and has a lot of my relatives waiting to read it. But I'll send you for a visit with your godmother next week--you know, the girl who gave me the first little spark of idea that eventually grew into you. That should be fun, and you don't need to feel totally neglected. And I promise that I will come back for you some day, dear.

Your loving author,
WholeHeart

Dear Not-Yet-Complete Novel,

I promise I will not abandon you like I did my other Not-Yet-Complete Novels on December 1. I just need this one day off to decompress, and then I will be back to not only finish the two scenes I didn't get to during Nanowrimo, but REVISE YOU! And make you SUPER AWESOME! Who knows where we'll go from there? And I promise, we will go together.

Your loving creator,
Me

Dear NYCN,

Thanks for finally let me write you, after being in my head for like 6 years. You've changed a lot in that time, the plot thought out for you changed, new characters came into view, and I surely loved to work with you.
Now November is over, you aren't finished yet: the best is yet to come! I will complete you, as soon as possible but first things first. I need to create charactersheets, I need to draw your world from the notes I made during the last month and then, my love, I will finish writing you... and start editting you. No, our time together is long from over, and I am happy, really happy that I met you :D

Your beloved writer,
Me

Dear not-yet-complete novel:

I appreciate that you've finally told me what's going on, especially the part where you informed me how the title connects to the story. I know I did a lot of wandering aimlessly around in the middle, trying to figure out what was going on, but now that I know what's supposed to happen with the plot, I'll finish writing. I'll keep up through December until you're finally complete. I'm not done with you yet, so stick around with me for a little while longer. It'll be worth it, I promise.

Sincerely yours,

douleur

Dear Space Captain Duncan Flight R.S.N. in Perils Of The Death Moon!,

It's been hard, I know I've not put much time in, I'm not about to start making excuses, I'm not here for that. There's been a lot of stuff going on, but I've made a few goes of it here and there. I promise you though, you shall not remain unfinished for long. Space Captain Duncan Flight shall have his day!

Yours sincerely,

Tyburn.

Dear NYCN,

This last month has been a whole world of up and downs for you. Problems after problems, with facts and other such nonsense. Thank you for coming out in a flurry of words that I did not think possible, even though I've had you in my head for the past ten months. Your annoying habits of being too wordy, and using -ly words too much, do not matter right now.

I will finish you, but I will put you down for now. I think I'll go crazy if I don't. It's not you, it's me. Give me a breather, and then we'll come back and spend another month figuring out the rest of your pages, then we'll go back and fix all your little flaws and make you perfect. I will be back in January, promise.

Love, StarLit

Dear NYCN,

You may be feeling a little bit let down right now because, after all the work I put into you during the last 5 days of NaNo, I haven't worked on you at all today but be it in a week or a month, rest assured that I will come back to you and write your next half. We've come through a lot together this last month and I couldn't bear to leave you unfinished. So please, have a little rest and relax whilst I regain all the energy that I lost throughout November, because when I come back to you things are going to get serious!

Yours sincerely,

Sophie

Dear NYCN,

If it hadn't been for all the time I spent on you with planning, writing, and making up characters, cities and history for you, I would've printed you out only to throw you in a trash can and never think of you again. As it is now, I feel I have to complete you. Consider yourself lucky.

We still have a long way to go, at least 20K more, so I guess we should stop fighting and start respecting each other, right?

Thank you for staying with me all November, and hopefully December, too.
Awy

Dear NYCN,

As I struggle with completing and polishing you through December, there will still be moments (as seen throughout November) when I think bringing you to life is too much for me. But I know you will always offer me a shining reminder of your worthiness...just enough to keep me plodding along, committed to your well deserved completion.

I'll make you a deal: If you are good to me, I'll be good to you. :-)

Me

Dear NYCN,

You're lovely, and I like you a great deal more than I thought I would. You just need a bit more flesh on those bones. I plan to serve you sumptuous meals of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and all the connecting words in between so that you'll be pleasingly plump and ready to query out in a few weeks.


Love,
The Author

p.s. Right now you're thinner than me, and we can't have that, can we? ;D

Dear NYCN;
You make a great deal more sense than I thought you would. I like your pacing, and your elements of fantasy and horror. You have avoided being too angsty. However your characters haven't developed like I thought they would and neither has the conflict. So I am revising significant parts of you, and organizing you into chapters with the goal of one chapter a day.

I've had a blast this month writing you, so I plan on finishing you. And maybe just maybe I'll decide to allow you out into the light of day, thinking because I had fun revising, and writing you others could have fun reading you too. I'll see you soon (I'm working on chapter #2 right now).

Love, The Author.