Short Story Library

So after slaving all month long to complete your novel you find yourself with a mess of words that may or may not really make a whole lot of sense but sort of resemble a plot. Now comes the challenging part and the hard road that most NaNo folks decide not to take. Editing and submitting your manuscript.

Let’s face it. If you wrote more than 50,000 words in one month, chances are it needs a LOT of work, rework and even perhaps completely being rewritten before you can even consider the first draft done. Do not be overwhelmed, stick it out and get working. Here is my suggestions for your completed manuscript for NaNo. Give it a try, the time consuming and stressful part is done, now comes the hard work of getting it crisp and complete.

NaNo: Seven Month Plan To Publishing

December: The only thing you need to do in December is finish your novel if you did not really get it done and go thru it once to fix obvious things like spelling mistakes, incomplete thoughts, notes you left to come back to at some point or areas you highlighted and planned to delete/rewrite. Do that stuff in December but stretch it out. November was a long month and most people get burned out. Just finish it and get it ready to be called a finished rough draft

January – February: After spending at least two weeks away from your manuscript, pick it up and read it. As you read it highlight areas, sentences and even chapters that need to be revisited. Go through first and fix all of your plot flaws and make sure your story is complete in its idea before every fixing and tenses or grammar issues. No point in fixing a sentence you may ultimately delete.
By the end of February you should have your first true first draft. Read it the last week of the month and be sure you make any changes as you find them.

March: Leave your manuscript alone all month long. I know, you want to pick it up and work on it. You are anxious to submit it and get it out there, but it is not ready for that. You need to let it simmer. Get your mind off of it; write a second novel, short stories, something else. Do not look at it in March!

April: Read it. If you like it, have three people whose opinions you trust read it. Incorporate their changes if they make sense. Post random chapters on writing forums and get feedback from others. Use this month to make sure you did not miss something in your writing or plot that other people might pick up on.

May: Write a query letter. I know, the moment you have been waiting for, getting close to sending it out, but again, not so fast. The query letter is just as important as your novel. Spend the month learning HOW to write one. Write it and post it on writing forums to get critiques and feedback. Work out the kinks in it.

June: Find agents (publishers for poetry or nonfiction). Use the following resources and search for a publisher for your finished manuscript.

http://www.invirtuo.cc/prededitors/peba.htm
http://www.agentquery.com/

Send out 50 query letters. Do not give up until all 50 come back. By this time you should be well into your second novel and you can decide to keep sending out letters or shelf the book and focus on your next work but either way, you did it. You are a novelist. Congrats!