Post NaNoWrimo And Polishing Your Novel

NaNoWrimo is one of the most exciting times of the year for authors all around the world. The idea that you could write an entire novel, or at least 50,000 words of one, is exciting for a lot of authors and aspiring authors. Many authors are overwhelmed with the concept, and worry they won’t be able to accomplish it. But even when you don’t meet your goal, it’s inspirational to realize how much time you can really devote to your writing when it’s something you really want.
So what happens when it’s all over? You’ve collected your winners t-shirt, and told everyone you know about your newly finished book. And as a lot of editors out there know, December brings a lot of submissions to publishing houses. After all you’ve just written a novel, why wouldn’t you want to put it out there to be published? What most aspiring authors don’t realize is that December is the time a lot of acquiring editors dread.
Here’s why, just because you wrote a novel does not mean your work is done. While its fantastic that you completed a novel, and believe me a lot of people never get that far, it is in no way ready for publication. What so many people don’t know is how much self-editing and critique partner comments a novel goes through before it even gets submitted. And then once it’s submitted it goes through even more rounds of editing before it is ready to for a publisher to publish it.
So how does an aspiring author up their chances at having their book accepted by a publisher or an agent? There are a lot of different methods to go about making your novel the best that it can be. And every author and every book is different, so while some methods work for others, they may not work for you. The key is to try them all until you find out what works best for you. Here are a couple of methods that work for a lot of authors.
Writing Groups
Nothing is more helpful then joining a writing group. Your fellow authors have all kinds of advice to offer, and often have a very welcoming community. In fact a lot of authors want to share their knowledge to help others along their journey to publication, to help others learn from their own mistakes. There are groups for specific genres, or even groups that meet locally in person. The key is finding them. Yahoo groups have many writing groups, and searching for the writers association of your genre will help you find national groups as well as their local chapters, some are even online chapters.
Take a Class
A lot of writing groups offer short and inexpensive classes on all things writing. From character development, to query help, self-editing techniques, and so much more. Romance Writers of America has local chapters that offer all kinds of classes, often around $20-$30 and open to people who aren’t members of the organization.
Find a Critique Partner
Do you have a friend who loves to read? Willing to let them read your novel? If so you should have your well-read friend read your book. Be sure to tell them that they need to be extra critical. After all you need to know where your novel lags and where it excels. If your friend notices that they don’t feel a connection to your characters, or that your beginning was so slow it was hard to get through it, then without a doubt the acquiring editor or agent you submitted your work to will notice it too. You want to fix these issues before you send them out to the professionals. The more put together your novel is, the more likely it is to be published.
Read Your Novel
Most people have issues reading their own novels and finding the flaws within them. After all you wrote the words, so they are all so familiar to you that you mostly end up scanning over them without finding the grammar mistakes or flaws in your plot. The key is to read the novel out loud. When you read it out loud you can hear what doesn’t sound natural, and it’s much easier to find the mistakes grammar wise.
Hire a Professional
It never hurts to hire someone who knows that they are doing. But know how much you have to spend and stick to it. If you can’t afford $1,500 for editing services, then don’t spend it. When you Google “freelance editor” you are bound to find the more pricey of the options. But there are reasonable prices out there if you look for them. Try social networking, or goodreads writing groups for self-publishing. A good editor is not going to pressure you into hiring them. In fact, a good editor will let you send them a sample of your novel and edit it so that you can see if your styles are compatible. If you don’t like them, don’t hire them, this is the person you have to work very closely with and if your personalities clash it’s not going to help your book at all.
Once you do one or all of those things, you have increased your chances of getting your book published and achieving your dream of being a published author. A book is like a baby, you can’t expect a baby to go out and find a job right out of the womb; a baby needs to learn skills and develop social skills. A novel isn’t ready just because it’s a complete file on a computer. It needs to be fine tuned and crafted into something more, something not so rough around the edges. So do yourself a favor and don’t submit your first draft to a publisher, it will help your chances monumentally.