This is the second post my series on ways to spend your 50 hours of editing during the 31 days of National Novel Editing Month. Find Part One here.
NaNoEdMo Day 16 – Surprise Yourself
(25:52 of 50 hours editing – more than halfway there!)
George Saunders from A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
If we set out to do a thing, and then we (merely) do it, everyone is bummed out. (That’s not a work of art, that’s a lecture, a data dump.) When we start reading a story, we do so with a built-in expectation that it will surprise us by how far it manages to travel from its humble beginnings; that it will outgrow its early understanding of itself. (Our friend says, “Watch this video of a river.” The minute the river starts to overflow its banks, we know why she wanted us to watch it.)
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When I started these posts, I just set out to share 31 rewriting tips (that make sense to me) to encourage the NaNoWriMo Portland writers to dive back into their first drafts.
Along the way, some Facebook magic has made it impossible for me to add photos or post to the group.
Right now, I’m at the point of no return with my original plan out the window. This is where it gets exciting, folks!
NaNoEdMo Day 17 – How Long Should a Hug Last?
(27:29 of 50 hours editing)
From Grace Heer’s newsletter:
How long should a hug last? There are two answers to that question.
1. Studies have shown that a hug which lasts about 20 seconds gets the oxytocin in our bodies to really flow, causing a relaxation to settle into our bodies. After the oxytocin hug exercise at the presentation on Wednesday, several “hug teams” said that, at about 17 seconds they felt that wave of calm flow through their bodies. (and remember to breathe during this exercise, because oxygen supports oxytocin!) Wouldn’t it be great if we could all get at least one hug like this a day (which was not a prelude or postlude to sex)? Imagine how much calmer we would all be.
2. When the first person let’s go or loosens their grip, that is when the hug is over. The letting go is the physical signal of the end of their consent, and if the hug continues for much longer, it becomes awkward for both people. (Have you ever been part of a hug which lasted longer than it “should” have? It’s just awkward, right)
https://mailchi.mp/bcc8a0d3137f/teaching-and-learning?e=1443a2f15d
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How Long Should a Scene Last?
When I was writing The Catalonian Candidate, a mash-up of That Obscure Object of Desire, North by Northwest, and the paranoid political thrillers of the 1970s, I worked on a seduction scene that takes place in the back of a limousine. It flowed very naturally for several days. But when I got to the editing, I discovered that the tension between the characters still needed more room to breathe. We read it at the 9 Bridges Critique Group over the course of several weeks. As long as they couldn’t wait to see what happened next, I knew I was okay.
NaNoEdMo Day 18 – David Mamet on Dialogue
(29:06 of 50 hours editing)
“Why do people speak in real life like we do now? They speak to get something from each other. It might seem like they speak to express themselves, but, as I understand it, that’s not true. They only express themselves to get something from one another.”
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If I’m unclear about what the characters are trying to get from a piece of dialogue, maybe I should think of a different way to give the reader the information they need to move on.
NaNoEdMo Day 19 – The Ordinary World
(30:43 of 50 hours editing)
What was daily life like for your protagonist before their life-changing adventure? In what ways were they living it based on external expectations: family, friends, society at large?
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To make the most of the final stretch of NaNoEdMo, I’ll be taking my cues from the stages of Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey.
If I’m creating a piece using this structure, what I come up with is going to be extremely obvious. But if I already have a structure in place and a firm idea of where the story’s going, knowing the answers to these questions will help me create a more visceral experience for the reader.
NaNoEdMo Day 20 – The Call to Adventure
(32:20 of 50 hours editing)
What experience, opportunity, or challenge makes your protagonist aware that their ordinary life is about to change?
NaNoEdMo Day 21 – Refusal of the Call
(33:57 of 50 hours editing)
What beliefs, fears, insecurities, or unwillingness to change initially prevent your protagonist from answering the call to adventure?
George Saunders (The One You Feed Podcast): You don’t want to send a story off before it’s done its thing. But then I also see writers who have that impostor syndrome so badly that they want that addressed before they can start. And that can’t be. A friend of mine called it backdoor ego. You have such a high opinion of yourself that you can’t start anything.
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In Last Heartthrob, my protagonist has no trouble using less-than-scrupulous means to conduct a high-tech background check to vet a prospective employee, but when his observations call his boss’s motives into question, he’s reluctant to seek the truth.
NaNoEdMo Day 22 – Meeting the Mentor
(35:34 of 50 hours editing)
Who does your protagonist encounter who offers some wisdom, insight, or guidance for their adventure?
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This doesn’t have to be a teacher or a sage. It can be anyone who poses a question or problem that the protagonist needs to resolve. Who in your story draws your protagonist into taking action?
NaNoEdMo Day 23 – Crossing the Threshold
(37:11 of 50 hours editing)
What are the first steps your protagonist takes into the unknown?
NaNoEdMo Day 24 – Tests, Allies and Enemies
(38:48 of 50 hours editing)
Name the challenges your protagonist faces. Who or what are their internal or external allies? Who or what were their internal or external enemies?
George Saunders (The One You Feed Podcast): The opposite of playful is ego. Your story is no good and you react with shame. That’s backdoor ego. I’m so great that I’m worthy of big shame. Whereas, if you were not so much centered in yourself, that would lead you to a more playful thing. “Oh, this story’s interesting. This story’s kicking my butt a little bit. Ha ha. Isn’t it a privilege to be in relationship to this difficult story?”
NaNoEdMo Day 25 – Approach to the Inner-Most Cave
(40:25 of 50 hours editing)
What internal or external conflict intensifies as your protagonist fully commits to their adventure? What “dragon” will they have to slay?
Where in the story should you foreshadow this?
NaNoEdMo Day 26 – The Ordeal, Death & Rebirth
(42:02 of 50 hours editing)
What does your protagonist ultimately have to let go of to become who they are at the end of the story?
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This often works better as backstory than as text. It’s good to ask, though, because it will help the reader hold the story beyond the end of the action.
NaNoEdMo Day 27 – The Reward, Seizing the Sword
(43:39 of 50 hours editing)
What is your protagonist’s reward for letting go of their old self and embracing the new?
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It’s fun to practice this with other people’s characters before trying with your own.
In the most recent Amazon Prime TV series that I watched, The Outlaws, Rani has rejected her parent’s dream, her boyfriend’s dream, and is embarking on a new life that will force her to employ all of her savvy making very high stakes decisions that make her feel truly alive.
NaNoEdMo Day 28 – The Road Back
(45:16 of 50 hours editing)
How does your protagonist integrate the reward (or lessons learned from their adventure) into their new life? What changes do they make?
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One hero’s journey common to NaNoWriMo participants is the attempt to write a 50,000-word first draft of a novel in 30 days. Whether I succeed or not, the attempt teaches me something about myself. On December 1, I return to ordinary life, but not as the same person I was. How do I take what I learned from my adventure and integrate it into my daily life?
Did I make any changes to my daily routine?
How about your protagonist? (Again, this doesn’t have to be included in the story. It can happen in the reader’s imagination or help set the new ordinary world for the character’s next adventure.)
NaNoEdMo Day 29 – Resurrection
(46:53 of 50 hours editing)
How does integrating the reward transform your protagonist?
Time to take a quick look back at who your protagonist is when we meet them. This is my chance to add any necessary character details that I didn’t know would be important at the time.
NaNoEdMo Day 30 – Return with the Elixir
(48:30 of 50 hours editing)
How does your protagonist’s personal transformation affect the lives of those around them?
While I’ve been pantsing my way through these NaNoEdMo tips, I’ve been unable to share with NaNoPortland on several days because of Facebook interface glitches and slid into a bout of Seasonal Affective Disorder on Day 22, which forced me to scale back my ambitions significantly. I’ve been showing up to the best of my ability while acknowledging the need for self-care and self-compassion. Hopefully, the people I’m sharing with will be okay with disclosing their limitations and do the same.
NaNoEdMo Day 31 – Your Next Adventure
(50:07 of 50 hours editing – oh, heck, just do 90 minutes today. You’ve earned it.)
First of all, congratulations. After you’ve celebrated and taken the time to bask in the glory of how much your novel has improved over the last month, note that this writing adventure is a circle. Put the novel away for a while. Reflect on what just happened.
How would you describe your protagonist’s ordinary life now?
Is there another call to adventure that they’ve been ignoring?
What are their new fears?
Who are their new allies?
What are their potential rewards?
When I was playing with the idea of becoming a novelist, I started with a standalone noir: Last Heartthrob. I didn’t have a clue how to turn it into a series, but the disillusioned screenwriter mentioned that he was interested in updating and Americanizing Luis Buñuel’s That Obscure Object of Desire. So, I read the source material for that film and adapted it to the world I’d created in the first book.
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Feel free to use any of these prompts to help inspire you to finish that novel.
Follow along as I finish mine.
