Come One, Come All, To DecNoEdMo!

Caitlin Black

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Yes, that's right, it's December where I am. (Just after 8pm, actually.)

A lot of people edit their NaNovels in December, so please, hang out in here and share your progress.

For me, I need to write first, and then edit 2 novels. Or maybe edit novel 1 while finishing novel 2, then editing both... I'm not sure yet.

What are your goals for December? (Aside from surviving Christmas, that is. ;))
 

Ellaroni

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Against heavy odds I completed the 50K, but not the novel, so I'm going to work on completing it in December - which means adding another 20k or so. The scenes are outlined already, so it's just a matter of writing them out.

Then I'll let it rest for a month (and work on my other story, which is at 40k after three years in the works - I think NaNo success will help me move it forward and not stop to edit all those little details) and see if I still like it enough (I think so) to edit and revise. Which I haven't done before, so I already look forward to it (is that crazy? guess I'll find out!).
 

AshleyEpidemic

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Consider me a fresh faced newbie, how does DecNoEdMo work? I am about half way through my second novel so I will likely begin revisions for the first some time this month.
 
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amschilling

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Oooh, I love it when someone extends things into December! It keeps me motivated to finish what I started in November.

BUT...I'm not quite ready for editing on it yet. I still have to finish up the first draft. I'm about 30-35k short right now (I made 50k barely, but most of my stuff ends up in the mid 80's). Given the holidays and family visits, if I can get to 70k by the end of the month I'll be thrilled.

I've got a local writers critique group starting up this month, too, so I have to edit another WIP for public consumption for that. That's only half written, since I put it on hold for November, but the first 40k are in decent shape and have already gone through a few rewrites. I only need 15 pages every couple weeks for that, so I don't embarrass myself sending it to them.
 

Wilde_at_heart

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For now I'm editing the draft of the WIP I set aside to do NaNo, so I can get some distance with that new project for now before attempting to revise it.

I like the story, can see there are probably some flaws that shouldn't be too difficult to fix and hopefully I get to those before trying to work on style or individual sentences. Fortunately I'm already a decent speller ;)

I do plan on sticking with the forums there and participating in what I can ...
 

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Nice idea. Actually this year I did not reach 50K, but still it was a good month.
Now I need to edit not this year's, but an older NaNo-project - it needs some additions, corrections and maybe a new POV and some action.
 

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I will edit in December, but it probably won't be my NaNo novel. I have an R&R that's been out with betas, but now I have to finish it off so I can send it out before the agent forgets
 

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I'm planning on editing my Nano novel and finishing a novella I started back in June. I want to be finished by April. Apparently the first session of Camp Nano will be in April next year.
 

VP_Benni

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Consider me a fresh faced newbie, how does DecNoEdMo work? I am about half way through my second novel so I will likely begin revisions for the first some time this month.

DecNoEdMo is that unofficial time of year when people edit their awful (or not so awful) prose from their NaNo novels the previous month. That's pretty much all their is to it. :) You're not required to spend the whole month editing--you can do pretty much anything you want. :tongue

As for me, I'm going to write two essays this weekend, do my math homework, study for my math final on Monday (I'm not going to pass the class anyway, but I'm still going to attempt to get a grade), and write like mad the rest of the week to finish my J-Pop class's final project. Then I'll take two or three days off to read and try to write something I ACTUALLY WANT TO WRITE during my nice long month of winter break. :D

~Amber~
 

Caitlin Black

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DecNoEdMo is that unofficial time of year when people edit their awful (or not so awful) prose from their NaNo novels the previous month. That's pretty much all their is to it. :) You're not required to spend the whole month editing--you can do pretty much anything you want. :tongue

Yup, what Vamp said. :)

Unfortunately, there's no winner's certificate for editing, or a set workload... I *think* the NaNo forums will still be open, for people who want to keep chatting there while editing their novels. I'm not 100% sure on that, though, but if anyone finds out, maybe mention it here?

But yeah, the basic premise is to just edit. Not everyone will be at that stage - myself included, for WIP#2 at least - so a second function of December has generally been to finish your NaNovel draft, if you haven't done so already.

I hope everyone has a blast during December! :D
 

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Last month I wrote 55k, of which only 27k was the nano novel. A bit of a pity.

My word count goal will be no surprise: 50 k. More or less my normal goal.

Edit: the nano forums remain open all year, but get quiet by jan.
 

benbradley

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Yup, what Vamp said. :)

Unfortunately, there's no winner's certificate for editing, or a set workload... I *think* the NaNo forums will still be open, for people who want to keep chatting there while editing their novels. I'm not 100% sure on that, though, but if anyone finds out, maybe mention it here?
Yeah, check this out...

http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forum_categories/155
But yeah, the basic premise is to just edit. Not everyone will be at that stage - myself included, for WIP#2 at least - so a second function of December has generally been to finish your NaNovel draft, if you haven't done so already.

I hope everyone has a blast during December! :D
I failed miserably for NaNoWriMo 2012, but I still have my 2011 thing that I feel has the potential to be a Real Novel. I just have to whip it enough to get it in shape.

I at least need to clean it up enough (clean up typos, make characters have consistent names through the whole thing) for others to read and give some thoughts on it.
 

folkchick

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I love the idea of using December to edit. I already wrote out what needs work/expansion, etc.

Also, and I know this is an evil, evil thing to mention, but maybe we should help each other out with query letters (when it comes to that) over in SYW. And, yes, the dreaded synopsis as well.
 

Caitlin Black

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Could be an idea. :)

I won't be joining in for QLH though. These 2 novels I'm working on are going to be self-e-pubbed. I got sick of being rejected by publishers and agents and just want them out making me some money. Even if it's not much money... It'll still help.

So no query letters for me. :D

Is there somewhere on AW to workshop blurbs?
 

amschilling

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Yup, you can get blurbs crit'd in QLH, too. We see one every few weeks over there.

Just put in the subject that it's a blurb for a book, not a query, so the squirrels don't get confused. What makes it work for each are a little different. I've also seen synopsis over there, but they're a lot rarer. There must be a better place for them... maybe the general SYW for the appropriate genre?
 

Caitlin Black

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Ah, okay, good to know. :)

I think I'll leave the blurbs till after Christmas. First get both books nice and polished... No point writing a blurb that might contain information that eventually gets edited out, right?
 

TNK

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I like this idea. I've never queried anything, so I'll need all the help I can get. :D

I love the idea of using December to edit. I already wrote out what needs work/expansion, etc.

Also, and I know this is an evil, evil thing to mention, but maybe we should help each other out with query letters (when it comes to that) over in SYW. And, yes, the dreaded synopsis as well.
 

Ellielle

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I haven't yet finished the book I started during nano, so I'll be doing that in December. I'm also picking back up the project I set aside during nano and doing (yet another) round of edits. I don't usually try to work on multiple projects at once, so we'll see how this goes.
 

Sam Argent

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My goal is to keep up the momentum I picked up in the tail end of November. It's nice having another story out of my head.
 

Caitlin Black

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Okay, so I've formalised my goals for the month. Here goes:

Write 3k a day for 7 or 8 days to finish WIP#2.
Edit 6k a day to pull WIP#1 into publishing condition. If that goes quicker than expected, transfer some editing over to WIP#2 when I've finished writing it.
Figure out 6 or 7 plot points per day for an epic fantasy I want to write. It's going to be MASSIVE, which would make me happy in a geeky sort of way, but it's still very much in the R&D stage.

That last one might spill over into January, when I intend to start writing WIP#3 in that series, but this is a December thread, so never mind that right now.

I'm going to be super busy! Eek!
 

Caitlin Black

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Okay, so I've been brainstorming for the epic fantasy. So far I've got 2 questions written down, with 5 and 7 dot points of possible answers respectively. I think that's enough for now... I'm in no hurry to get this epic figured out. (Plus, it's hurting my brain. :tongue)

I know writing/editing my current WIPs should take precedence, but I was indecisive about what to do. So instead of wasting the day because I couldn't make up my mind, I turned to my tabletop gaming background to solve my problems.

Yes, I rolled a D4. :tongue

1 = writing, 2 = editing, 3 = plotting, 4 = reading. I rolled a 3. So yeah, there you have it - the secret to actually getting me to do something. :tongue

Going to take a brief break now. Then I turn back to the D4 god for inspiration. ;)
 

VP_Benni

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Well, I guess that's one way to handle it, Cliff. :tongue Maybe I should steal some dice from one of my nerds (they usually have D&D on Saturdays and sometimes I'll nap in the corner of the room and listen to their nerdness because it's fun :D)

I have 12 pages of prewrite, outline, rough draft and final draft for one of my essays. I hate having to draft essays, but I have to turn all of that stuff in too. I'm just glad it's done. It's actually not a bad essay. :)

~Amber~