Hello. I'm quite new and deciding whether to become a full member. I decided to try this NaNo because I read about it on this site. I didn't start till the 13th of Nov, but still managed to churn out 50k. But now I am wondering what on earth to do with it. Do most people treat it as an exercise or do they actually try to use the result? Sometimes it seems a bit like trying to turn some botched piece of DIY into something useful - easier to scrap the whole thing and start again.

Ginerva, can I suggest that first of all you congratulate yourself very loudly on such an achievement? Then ask yourself: is your gut feeling that it's all rubbish, or simply that you can't see the gold for the dross and can't face the labour of extracting it?

If you can't decide now, stick it in a drawer, leave it for a while (a month? two months?), write something else meanwhile to cleanse your palate, and then go back and try to read it briskly and without stopping or editing, as nearly as possible to how someone else would.

If it really does turn out to be all rubbish, then perhaps you should regard it as an excercise: a fantastic treadmill work-out which has no use of itself but will have got plenty of writing muscles into fine fettle for actually getting somewhere in another place.

If there's gold somewhere in it - and I bet there is - you should be able to extract it. To write that fast (I can't begin to) you must have kept your Inner Critic well out of the way, in which case you'll have written things that are very true to your mainsprings as a writer. Even if it's not a whole plot-strand, there'll be a character, a situation, a phrase, even just an atmosphere, which still makes your mouth water. If it's not a novel-in-the-making, maybe there's a fantastic, taut, little short story hiding in there and benefitting from all the background you're about to cut out. You may even find some chunks of prose worth keeping, though it's horribly tempting to try to jam those into the new piece to get the word count up, or because you don't want to murder your darlings, and it's almost always a mistake. Those paragraphs will trip the reader up like a wonky paving stone every time it's read, for ever.

Many years ago the writer Mary Flanagan said to me, 'Nothing you write is ever wasted' and it's absolutely true, if only because it sorts out what or how you don't want to write. Anything you write makes you a better writer in some way, so even if you don't use a single word of your 50,000, you've gained incredibly valuable insights into your own practice, and a terrific confidence in your own capacity to write. I don't regret a word or a minute of all the novels I've got stashed in my attic.

Emma

Emma, thanks for your words of encouragement (and wisdom). I think I honed my fast writing ability by leaving all my essays until the last day at university.
Maybe, after having such a long break, the Inner Critic returns with renewed vigour. But you're right, there must be some good in there. I guess (as they say about sculpture) it's a question of whittling away anything that doesn't look like a good story.

Glad it helped. In my experience, the longer you can leave it, the more clearly you can see what's a small but perfectly formed wood, and what's miscellaneous and misshapen trees. Then you can get the axe out.

Emma

Hi Ginerva, I printed off your piece "Queen of Clubs" yesterday to have a read of it over my morning coffee. My comment is here via the Inspiration and Ideas forum because I'm not part of your group.

I enjoyed your piece. It flowed well and your turn of phrase was humorous. My decision to "print and read" is mostly based on the first paragraph. If it grabs me then I print. It grabbed me.

There seemed to be a good reason to continue the story into who would use the romantic prize either together or separately and it had a feeling of a Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline situation, very vaguely. They were in the movie French Kiss.

I didn't know what NaNoWriMo was until I went tripping around the internet and I am now more fully informed.

It would fit into the Flash Fiction genre quite well. I've forgotten how many words it was. Flash Fiction if I remember correctly is under a 1000 words.

Welcome to WriteWords. I joined a couple of months ago. I've found it has been worth every penny. You will find some very generous people on this site. The comments I have received have been positive and constructive. I'm more of a reader than a constructive comment giver. However, even if I can't help with the writing of a piece I like to let the writer know that I've read the piece and I've enjoyed it.

I hope you get lots out of your membership.

Di2

Thanks for your comments, Di. Your's is the first comment I've had and I'm really glad you enjoyed it. I will be uploading more in the future.

I guess it is a bit like flash fiction (which I will have to try) but with 50,000 words you need to do a bit of advance planning or you end up coming up with all sorts of interesting and spontaneous plot strands which you then have to try and tie together. I've learned this the hard way!

Ginerva