Ok - so I'm posting this really early (heh - day 3 and all that), but having never done one of these things officially before I am kind of curious about this. Is there anywhere in particular that people upload the finished pieces to, or do most of you just hide them away on your hard drives, never to see the light of day?
Since mine is turning out reasonably well so far (if very cliched in places!) I'm quite happy to upload it when done to see what other people think, and I am curious about what other people are writing....
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50,027 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 05 42
My two previous efforts have been left in the (virtual) drawers to gather pixel dust. It's a hard task having to go back through them and re-write, and my writing knowledge has advanced so much now, that I am able to see the dumb mistakes. Besides, the one thing I love about nano time of year is the creativity - at any time in my future life can I return and improve things - however creativity comes and goes, and I'm taking the opportunity to write as many rough drafts as possible whilst I have the mojo :)
----------"Learn as much as I can, at whatever cost, then give it away for free and ask for nothing in return"
48,150 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 07 19
Ditto, last year's ramblings have been revised once and saved away never to be read again... Going back to something this big after a while is strange, you're not in the same place as you were when you wrote it, you don't know the characters as well, and you can see your blaring errors far more clearly... also, can you imagine how long it would take to read everyone's 50k-or-more-word novel? My eyes could not take it.
----------But there are some people who revise and edit and trim and get their books published or self-publish or whatever, i've heard a coupla success stories
2008 - Running On Faith - 62k
2009 - Dead Letters - ??
76,368 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 10 13
It's early days yet, but after Nanowrimo I plan to finish this project, revise it until the pips squeak and shop it to agents, which is what I'm about to do with my last Nanowrimo project. :)
----------50,113 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 10 34
I really had fun writing 2008's Nano, and upon trawling through it out of curiosity, I realised that actually it was sort of okay! I have talked myself into a corner this year by facebooking copiously about the novel, which means a lot of people know what I'm doing, whereas for the past three years I've mentioned it maybe once in the whole month verbally to most people. This year I have a lot of people expecting something, so I'm going to revise this one after I'm done!
----------59,141 / 50,000
Nov 20, 2009 - 01 24
This is my first nano, but I've submitted a handful of short stories to various magazines, so know a teansy bit about submission torture.
BEWARE THE FAME BUG: A while ago I had been bitten by the fame bug, where I was convinced that my stories were genius -- like nothing that was out there, and that agents would be knocking down my door at a glance of chapter 1 -- and that I had to be really really CAREFUL, because my stories were SO good that people would definitely want to steal them.
Uh, no. Truth is publishing is tough, and editors buy stories that they think will sell, not necessarily ones that you feel spiritually bound to.
So what' s my answer? Self publish. Get it up to a servicible quality, and publish using Lulu or Cafepress. Publish a few copies and number them and pass them to friends. There are loads of people who did that before shopping it. Anton Levey, Ayn Rand, Jim Morrison, just to name a few. Selfpublish and don't promote it. Number it, and gift it to select friends and colleagues you think would appreciate it. If they don't, take it back.
That's what my friends do, because a manuscript can get caught in a quagmire of publishing schedules and be cut up by editors. Take my advice and publish the story as you see it, so that there will always be a your story in the world.
--Matthew
51,682 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2009 - 08 17
I try to post the story on my web site as I complete each days work. That hasn't worked this year, since I'm, working on the middle and end of the story simultaneously (not a great way to work, but it keeps me writing!)
----------But once the work is done, in theory I set it aside and come back in a few months to edit and re-write it. I say in theory, because I've never actually got around to doing this...with any of my stories, let alone a full length nano story!
Next year that is going to change, probably because this years story is so badly in need of an edit, previous years I've felt very happy with the story as I write it and so haven't really wanted to go back to them. I know I have to, since whatever I think about the story as I write it, I know it's only a first draft!
When I finally do get to re-write one of my nano stories and I happy with it, it will of course appear on my web site and I hope all of that will help me get some of my other ideas in to stories and published in the 'real' world (that is making a bit of money for me!)
That's the plan anyway.
I plan to live forever, or die trying
--Vila
50,001 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2009 - 13 33
Finish nano, edit and revise a million times, proof read a million times, get it printed at lulu, put it on my shelf, feel smug forever, ship copies to everyone I know when its their birthday.
48,150 / 50,000
Nov 25, 2009 - 06 21
agreee, finish, revise, get my free createspace copy, take it to university & whenever anyone asks about it, say -oh that? that's just the book i wrote on my gap year...
----------this, of course, is assuming i get it FINISHED
2008 - Running On Faith - 62k
2009 - Dead Letters - ??
76,368 / 50,000
Nov 25, 2009 - 10 48
Self-publishing and vanity publishing is of course an option, but for those pursuing traditional publication, my friend just sold last year's Nanowrimo novel and two sequels to HarperCollins.
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