I didn't pad anything. I edited as I went. And nothing bad happened!
I have no doubt that some people are going to start beating me about the head with this supposed gospel truth that every first draft HAS to have 20,000 extra words of dream sequences and purple prose. Please read the post before the beating commences. ^____^
So. This past nano, I decided to get a story out of the way that I had never managed to finish before. I had started over about three times, and completed two first drafts, both of which were accidentally deleted before they ever reached a full revision.
I had already proven to myself that revision is a very hard task for me at the best of times, and I loved this particular story and wanted to give it one last chance to get written and revised before I gave up. and I wanted to FINISH revising it, not get burnt out and run away crying sixteen pages in. So I made the decision to let the story's actual content carry it along - that is, I was not going to pad.
As y'can see, I have a purple bar, and no, I didn't pad. If I had padded, I might have hit 70k. But I also would have left myself unable to revise it, and thus sacrificed a story I dearly loved, for what would have amounted to a new "high score".
You know what else I did? I also attemped to make a coherent first draft. I thought about a sentence before it came out. and if it came out glaringly bad, I fixed it.
I can see why this is probably making your brains explode. After all, it is the absolute, unchallenged truth that if you edit as you go, you never get done, right? Everyone knows, you have exactly two choices - either you do no editing at all and end up with a draft that is utter hell to revise, or you can't get past the first sentence because, gasp, you silly writer, you're trying to edit it as you go!
I now think that, given the proper precautions, this doesn't need to be the case. And I think I know what I did that made it work.
First and foremost, I recognized and acknowledged the danger of getting stuck revising one sentence over and over. Turns out that once you're aware of it, it's a paper tiger. I decided that if I felt like a sentence was very, very bad, I would try to fix it. But if I spent too much time reworking it without finding the right words, I would leave it alone for the time being. Simple as that.
Second, I kept in mind the 30-day deadline. Turns out that a deadline and careful writing are not mutually exclusive. Granted, I also had a lot of time on my hands this year.
So. As y'can see, I have violated the most sacred principle of Nano - the one that tells you not to give a flying fudge - and still came out with a purple bar, and finished my story within November. What's more, I have something that I will actually be able to do something with. The revision, while boring as always, is not going to burn me out to the point of sobbing incoherently and wanting to blow up the solar system. It worked.
Okay, you may now approach my door with the torches and pitchforks. Please form a neat single-file line and try not to trample the tulips, thank you!
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50,764 / 50,000
Feb 27, 2008 - 22 26
Okay, I admit. I have a simalar sentiment. I wrote a novel, revising awful sentances (but not just normally bad ones) as I went, and ended up with 91 pages that were not all crap.
As for editting, I sent the novel to a bunch of my friends after basic editting for typographical errors, before I could change my mind. None of them have returned it to me yet. Hm.
75,605 / 50,000
Feb 28, 2008 - 14 21
Everyone's different. I don't pad, either, and look at my wordcount. As with every first draft, there's stuff that doesn't work, or doesn't make sense, but there are no dream sequences, etc. I'd rather have a coherant story rather than one that I have to cut half of it out before it begins to make sense. Frankly, I don't edit while I write, except to correct grammar and spelling mistakes. There have been times when I've deleated stuff (generally not more than a paragraph or two) because it isn't coming out right. But I always keep moving forward.
Speed does not mean a lack of quality, but it does help many people get beyond writer's block if they think it. The other thing to keep in mind is that many people who do Nano have never written a novel before and may very well never do so again. Knowing that they can do ridiculous things with their manuscript may very well be the difference between them finishing and them quitting. Those people want to prove to themselves that they do/complete something, and publishing probably isn't even a goal for them. In other words, padding doesn't have to be a part of the Nano experiance, but many people enjoy doing it.
31,063 / 50,000
Feb 28, 2008 - 15 17
I think NaNo gets a bit facetious with the no-editing rule. They say "never edit anything", but really, it's mostly to keep you from getting stuck on editing one sentence for half an hour, or from saying, "character X is supposed to be a nurse, but I want him to be a firefighter instead", and now going back and editing the 30 pages you already wrote, instead of writing new pages.
I handled it just like you. I also don't pad, and don't want complete crap out the back end. I might edit the current sentence or paragraph, and if I really needed to change the person from a nurse to a firefighter, I'd just put in some searchable tags [[change Nurse Ratched to Firefighter Ratched instead]] and keep going. But I'd try not to spend too much time in any one spot.
Later, during editing, I can search for "[[" and find spots that stuff needs to be done. I'd also use [[ in spots where I have new scene suggestions that I want to backfill with, and can search for those on "slow idea days" to work on as filler.
52,108 / 50,000
Feb 28, 2008 - 17 23
Yay, I'm not a freak!... and no pitchforks are forthcoming! =D
Independence1776: *nods* Yep, I totally understand that. I did that my first year - I didn't want to publish, or even make it better on principle, so I just let loose and padded like a maniac. (I haven't even opened it since. XD) This time I was all business, though.
51,949 / 50,000
Feb 29, 2008 - 10 23
Really, what it gets down to is that everyone has a different writing style. For some people, trying to edit as they write will make it impossible for them to finish. I've seen people in the forums who are like that. For other people, editing as they write is perfectly fine.
I took the middle road. I gave myself a word count goal for every day. As I started each day, I just wrote. I might fix a typo or re-word a sentence if it was terrible. However, I didn't do any major revising. Then, at the end of the day, after I'd reached my goal for the day, I went back over what I'd written and revise. The result, normally, was that I end the day with more words than I would have if I hadn't gone back to revise. I won and I won easily, without unneccessary padding. I answered some challenges - if they already fit into the plot, but I didn't throw in pirates or ninja or dream sequences that didn't belong in the story.
(For some reason, it amuses me to no end that last year's NaNo had pirates, ninjas and a dream sequence that actually were important to the plot.)
16,000 / 50,000
Feb 29, 2008 - 22 13
Over January I wrote a LOT...well compared witht eh amount that I wrote over November. Now I've printed it out and have started editing it... This is pretty much only due to the fact I have hit a wall in my story and am hoping to find something in my 38K that will lead me to a breakthrough!
Editing is ok, though it is difficult when you some to something you don't really like. Like a whole chapter...you need the chapter but you hate how it was written.
50,576 / 50,000
Mar 3, 2008 - 05 37
I also edit as I go. And although I didn't even get halfway through my story, I got to 50'000 words. Yay!! I always edit as I go because I hate seeing sentences and paragraphs that are utter rubbish, so I just HAVE to fix them. And my story did not turn into 50'000 words of something so terrible I can't even think of a word.
I will definitely not be beating you down with pitchforks, and I guess people who do will also be beating me down for agreeing with everything you said. :)
0 / 50,000
Mar 3, 2008 - 21 33
I also edited a certain amount. I moved some things around to different chapters, when it seemed that they worked better that way. I made notes for later editing, unless it felt to me that if I didn't edit it then it would impede the further flow of ideas, i.e., sorting out some piece of the plot so it would make sense.
If there was a word or so that I didn't like I just erased it. If I started writing a sentence and afterwards, or part way through it, decided I didn't like it, I didn't erase it but put it in a different color, skipped a line, and rewrote it or left it out. That was the only padding I did, if you can call it that. No extra scenes or dreams or tangents --at least, not on purpose. Going back later, who knows what will seem like it needs to come out.
So far no Nano vigilantes with torches have come calling. I only finished a few days ago--I did my Nano in February--but at 88,441 words I can definitely say that this minor amount of editing didn't blow my word count. BTW, how do you actually get your word count to appear in that purple bar?
0 / 50,000
Mar 3, 2008 - 21 34
I also edited a certain amount. I moved some things around to different chapters, when it seemed that they worked better that way. I made notes for later editing, unless it felt to me that if I didn't edit it then it would impede the further flow of ideas, i.e., sorting out some piece of the plot so it would make sense.
If there was a word or so that I didn't like I just erased it. If I started writing a sentence and afterwards, or part way through it, decided I didn't like it, I didn't erase it but put it in a different color, skipped a line, and rewrote it or left it out. That was the only padding I did, if you can call it that. No extra scenes or dreams or tangents --at least, not on purpose. Going back later, who knows what will seem like it needs to come out.
So far no Nano vigilantes with torches have come calling. I only finished a few days ago--I did my Nano in February--but at 88,441 words I can definitely say that this minor amount of editing didn't blow my word count. BTW, how do you actually get your word count to appear in that purple bar?
53,190 / 50,000
Mar 4, 2008 - 07 42
The first time I tried Nano, in 2006, I followed the 'No Editing for any Reason' rule, and ended up with a little over 20,000 words of complete crap. I hated it, and vowed never to try anything so stupid again. It was so bad that I pretty much vowed never to do Nano again. However I decided to give it a second chance for 2007. I wrote as I normally do, editing and reworking, and I managed not only to get to 50k, but to write a story that actually flowed and had some potential. To me editing is a natural thing to do as I write. Not editing just to get to 50k seems dumb, like running red lights to get to work 5 minutes sooner.
77,000 / 50,000
Mar 4, 2008 - 09 15
I think people get their knickers in a twist about certain NaNo "rules" that aren't really rules at all.
Padding of course isn't essential. I didn't need to do any padding in 2007 as I had way more than enough story (ended up at 114k by the time I finished!) It has got a short mention of a dream or two, since after all people do dream, you can't ignore that. But no long, involved sequences. Well, there's this one bit where a character describes her dream, but it's way too fun to take out! I'm editing that bit tonight in fact. Hey, it's not padding, it's a "character moment." And it's funny. Leave me alone.
Er... right. On the other hand, the 2006 novel, my first NaNo, I was worried I wouldn't have enough story to hit 50k and I did give the lead character this recurring dream. Yes, recurring - uber-padding! But... that started out as padding, and ended up the key to his entire character! :D When I wrote the chapter with the whole dream in it (it only had snippets up till then) I actually cried. So don't totally eschew something that's interesting, but initially seems like padding. If it ends up being pointless, take it out later and no harm done, but it actually just might work! Oh and that ended up at 62k, so any genuine padding that never became meaningful came out later.
Editing, well I think the "don't edit" advice isn't NaNo specific anyway, lots of writers advise it. It's valuable for many people for NaNo simply because of the short time you have to reach the 50k. People who've never written any fiction before are the ones who might find editing before they finish the thing to be dangerous, as they'll start to get worried over the lack of instant perfection. Getting over the perfectionism is an important aim of NaNo, I think.
My "editing" was limited to a bit of backspacing when I wrote something that I saw at once made no sense, or didn't come out right. And sometimes I spell checked that day's output as I was putting it on my Live Journal, for some gluttons for punishment... I mean friends to read. But also, I'm a planner, so while the prose might not always have been wonderful, I at least knew what I was writing that day and didnt wander off down blind alleys. I'm a believer that more outlining means less editing, since hopefully you solve most of the plot problems in the planning stage.
But we just have to remember that most advice is generalised. It won't fit everyone. Also, people have different goals for NaNo. Not everyone wants to produce that coherent a manuscript in the end. Maybe it's just a way to pour out pent up creativity. Or they write "sensibly" the rest of the time and want to go a bit crazy and try out lots of silly ideas for NaNo. Nothing wrong with that.
So if the advice fits, take it, if not ignore it. The end result is what matters. When you read a good story you don't care HOW the writer got those words whipped into shape, you're just glad they did.
77,000 / 50,000
Mar 4, 2008 - 09 22
So far no Nano vigilantes with torches have come calling. I only finished a few days ago--I did my Nano in February--but at 88,441 words I can definitely say that this minor amount of editing didn't blow my word count. BTW, how do you actually get your word count to appear in that purple bar?
You can only get your word count on the bar in November, during "official" NaNoWriMo. But it's the words that count, not the bar, so well done on your 88,441 words in February! You chose the shortest month and still got way more than the 50k. You the man. ;-)
50,008 / 50,000
Mar 7, 2008 - 20 19
You write for you, whatever way it works!
103,148 / 50,000
Mar 10, 2008 - 01 19
(Cheerfully)
No padding.
Minute editing. Rewrote a couple scenes, spell checked, grammar checked--admittedly not during word wars where I didn't care--and I'll share pieces of the novel with people without cringing too.
Why, yes, I have a fairly large word count.
The no editing rule keeps people from getting hung up. I'd like you to meet one of my friends who can't write two thousand words in a day, who can barely write a page in a day because she edits every sentence five times and goes for a dictionary for every third word.
The no editing rule's for those people.
I still went crazy with it this year. I enjoyed Nano. I let the words come. It's a first draft. But it's not a bad, padded to death draft. You don't need to pad to make it.
You don't need to pad to double it.
You just need to be a very fast writer on your feet. I've been clocked at, I do believe, 111 words per minute in a 15 minute word war. 1300 words. Believe me, I didn't edit there. It was full of mistakes. But that was fast. I can write fast on my feet, I can produce really, really fast. For me, 50k was never a challenge. 100k was for me what 50k is for other people. What it is for you others in this thread. I was capable of writing it, and even making it readable. So yeah. Not really sacriledge. Just a guideline for the perfectionists at heart who won't give up finding that one perfect word to produce more words.
0 / 50,000
Apr 25, 2008 - 02 32
Editing as well, cant' help myself
I already have may outline and all my chapters , and I'm not writing it following the time line. Sometimes i had somethnig to a chapter, then i gi right to the end (wich almost written)
but i do find difficult writing a lot of words per day, my maximun is 1000 thousand (huge frome)
0 / 50,000
Apr 25, 2008 - 02 32
Editing as well, cant' help myself
I already have may outline and all my chapters , and I'm not writing it following the time line. Sometimes i had somethnig to a chapter, then i gi right to the end (wich almost written)
but i do find difficult writing a lot of words per day, my maximun is 1000 thousand (huge frome)
500,343 / 50,000
Apr 26, 2008 - 22 12
Well, look at my wordcount.
I didn't pad excessively. I don't particularly recall going back to do massive amounts of editing at any point, but I never got hung-up on the no using the backspace. I think that those rules are there to take as literally as you want, and if that's not at all, then that's fine. I think it's probably geared mostly (this is just my opinion) to NEW writers, who've never tried to write 50k before, and so need some way to push themselves to do it. If you've never written anything at all, it might help. Dunno.