The Office of Letters and Light Blog

I Published My NaNo Novel! Ally Kennen on Revision, and Making Room for Writing

Critically-acclaimed author Ally Kennen is no stranger to a challenge. She used NaNoWriMo to help her publish nine books, all while raising her three children. She tells us about her revision process, and shares just how to make room for writing in a bustling life:

When did you first attempt NaNoWriMo? What did it offer to you as a writer? 

I first attempted, and failed, NaNoWriMo in 2004, before I had any books published. NaNoWriMo felt delicious. Here was a community of like-minded dreamers, all passionate about writing. I loved the lighthearted approach and humor, but there was also a real determination to get those words done.

I’ve participated many times since. Sometimes I have failed miserably. Other times I have failed quite brilliantly, and a few times I have even achieved the magic 50,000 words. I adapt NaNoWriMo to suit me. It is never a waste of time. What I love about it is how it is so positive: this massive international wave of good intention and creative endeavor.

I have since had nine books published, all for children and young adults.

Could you tell us more about your revision process?

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YWP Chronicles: How Alexis Used Her Novel to Benefit a Food Bank

Do you remember when you first began to write down your stories? Alexis Ann Davis, pictured above signing her CreateSpace-published novel in Spokane, is one of the thousands of young writers supported by the NaNoWriMo community through the Young Writers Program, and the first to be spotlighted this year:

As a participant in NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program, seven-year-old Alexis Ann Davis reached her word-count goal last November, but didn’t stop there. She leapt into her next endeavor, and published her novel! For some writers, publishing daydreams come complete with money, fame, and fandom. For Alexis, publishing her NaNoWriMo novel has meant helping the community, gaining a sense of accomplishment, and daring to dream big.

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4 Steps to Cure the “I Finished My First Draft” Blues

Hello once and future Campers! How are you feeling on this fine May day? Blissful and free, like the pollen drifting on the breeze from tree to tree? Exultant, like the alpenglow that graces the mountain peaks with the first light of day? Triumphant, like the grizzly bear, emerging from a long winter with her playful cubs?

If you are anything like me, those three similes probably just made you a little bit nauseous (I mean, pollen? Really? You know what that stuff is, right?). If you had a Camp NaNoWriMo experience similar to mine, you might be feeling a little spread thin. You might be feeling disillusioned. If you are anything like me, you might be feeling unsure as to how to fill these new blocks of free time. 

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The Great 2013 Pep Talk Author Request Poll!

It’s time to start thinking about some very important people: our 2013 NaNoWriMo pep talkers! Every spring, we call on some of our fave authors to provide encouragement and inspiration in November. Here’s who we heard from last year, and here are our writers from 2011 and earlier.

So, who would you like to hear from? All published living authors are fair game. (Though we prefer to spread the love and not repeat writers, so be sure to check the lists above.)

Don’t be shy to tell us who you’d be most excited to see in your NaNoMailbox this fall. Share your list in the comments below!

Original photo by Debarshi Ray

The Camp Rebel Files: 4 Tips I Learned From Researching

In some ways, the result of my April doesn’t feel as satisfying as a typical NaNo month’s. I don’t have a word-packed document on my desktop or a pile of ink-stained notebooks in my backpack; I just have a ton of facts, quotes, and ideas waiting to be turned into something else. 

The genre I’m most interested in—research-based creative nonfiction—requires time. When you’re trying to find out all you can about a particular topic, it’s hard to just dive in and write a complete draft in 30 days. You need to refine your focus, read background information, do interviews, and find a narrative.

Camp NaNoWriMo was the perfect opportunity to buckle down and finish these steps. And even though I only have an outline to show for it, it’s an outline with a whole lot of potential. If you’re interested in using Camp’s July session as a research and outlining month, I’ve got a few tips based on my experience:

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How to Successfully Pitch Your Novel, with Stacy McAnulty

Every year, during NaNoWriMo Pitchapalooza, Wrimos from around the world whittle their stories down to a short pitch for a chance to break into the industry with the help of pros Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, also known as the Book Doctors. (They’ll also be donating the proceeds of their upcoming Art of the Edit webinar to NaNoWriMo!)

This year, Stacy McAnulty took top honors; read on to find out how a dinosaur egg can turn into a winning idea! (Click here to read Stacy’s original pitch, as well as the critique.)

Your winning pitch was about “a boy who hatches a dinosaur egg.” What inspired that idea?

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Revising Your Novel: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, aka the Book Doctors, spend their days working with authors to hone their manuscripts. On Tuesday, May 14, they’ll be hosting a webinar to benefit NaNoWriMo, called The Art of the Edit, where they’ll guide participants through their steps for revision. They shared a taste of what they’ll discuss with us.

One of the things that separates amateurs from professionals is their ability to rewrite their novels, to transform them from beautiful but unshaped pieces of clay into glorious works of art that take the breath away. We look at multiple aspects of the novel as we edit—often doing individual edits for each aspect. Here are the big ones:

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"Walk into a bookshop and you will see books that you love and books that you hate, books that were written in three weeks and books that took thirty years, books that were written under the influence of drugs and alcohol, books that were written in splendid isolation, books that were written in Starbucks. Some of them were written with enormous enjoyment, some for money, some in fear and loathing and despair.

The only thing they all have in common is that their authors finished them, sooner or later."

— Nick Hornby, on the crucial first step towards seeing your book in shops.

A Note from Your Beta Reader: 4 Tips for Receiving Feedback

For a long time, I considered myself more an editor than a writer. And if I was being really honest, as I’m sitting in this office writing this to hundreds of creative and dedicated Wrimos, I’d still say my strong suit is helping other’s write.

That being said, I’ve been on the receiving end of some fairly harsh writing criticism: professors telling me that my argument is unsupportable, or friends pointing out the skewed ratio of fluff to substance in my essays. And it sucks. Because that’s my writing, and that’s me. All of those deer-in-red-penned-headlights experiences have come to inform my edits, and there are a few things I always tell my friends when they hand over their precious drafts:

Clone me! 

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The Writer’s Road from First Draft to Submission

Congratulations, writer! You wrote a novel! …Now what? Kelly Loy Gilbert, whose first novel, City on a Hill, will be published in 2014, takes us from first draft to publication, and offers her best advice for each stage of the journey:

I’d been working on the same novel for four years, so when I decided to tackle a new project, it was jarring to start a whole new world where I didn’t know anyone or anything. The total freedom was, actually, incredibly paralyzing: why not have zombies show up at a high school? Really, when you’re staring at your blank pages at twelve a.m., there are a lot of ideas that seem a hell of a lot better than the ones you have. 

I wrote a draft NaNoWriMo-style to get everything onto the page. Writing something at that speed is immersive: the world of the story starts to bleed into your own, and it can be disorienting. But at the same time, it works. The beauty of NaNoWriMo is that you’ve pushed yourself to create something out of nothing, and all at once—in just thirty days!—you have the raw material to mold into the story you want to tell.

Putting feedback to use

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"This is a strange thing, but I’ve noticed it many times: a bad day’s work is a lot better than no day’s work at all.

The question authors get asked more than any other is “Where do you get your ideas from?” And we all find a way of answering which we hope isn’t arrogant or discouraging. What I usually say is “I don’t know where they come from, but I know where they come to: they come to my desk, and if I’m not there, they go away again."

— Philip Pullman, on the need to write regularly.

NaNoWriMo Survival Guide: How to Write with Wit and Skill

This month, we’re taking the SURVIVAL acronym from a wilderness survival guide, and using it to lead you through the depths of the forests, lakes, and crags of your writing journey. Mary Robinette Kowal, award-winning writer and puppeteer (you heard me!), shares just how important it is to write smart:

• S – Size Up the Situation
• U – Use All Your Senses, Undue Haste Makes Waste
• R – Remember Where You Are
• V – Vanquish Fear and Panic
• I – Improvise
• V – Value Living
• A – Act Like the Natives
• L – Live by Your Wits, But for Now, Learn Basic Skills

NaNoWriMo teaches you to write fast and to write without fear. I have always loved that adventurous plunge into wild story. Even if you are an outliner, like me, you’ll still hit a point where you head off the map and into uncharted territory. That journey can become exhausting because you have to build the landscape and navigate it at the same time.

Sometimes a feature that looks pretty can become impassable, so you have to backtrack and work your way around or invent a passage through the mountains. That’s when you start questioning if you will survive the month…

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