HPL
Teen Territory Blog

Happy November 30th and congratulations to everyone who passed the 50,000-word mark today (or earlier)! Have any of you finished your novels this year? If so, how did they come out? And how do you feel about finally being done?

If you're searching for something to do with your manuscript and your new-found free time, Writer's Relief has an article that goes over the next steps needed to publish your work. There are four steps:

1. Take a break.
2. Use your break to do some research and prepare for revisions!
3. Roll up your sleeves and revise, revise, revise.
4. Be patient but determined when trying to get your work published.

Writer's Relief reminds us that the process of getting published "takes longer than one month, or even one year. There is no shortcut if you want to get paid up front for your writing by a traditional publisher."

For more about writing, editing, and publishing try one or more of these books:

So, You Want to Be a Writer?: How to Write, Get Published, and Maybe Even Make it Big! by Vicki Hambleton & Cathleen Greenwood.

Writing and Publishing: The Ultimate Teen Guide by Tina P. Schwartz

A Teen's Guide to Getting Published: Publishing for Profit, Recognition, and Academic Success by Jessica Dunn & Danielle Dunn

To Be A Writer: A Guide For Young People Who Want to Write and Publish by Barbara Seuling

Congratulations, writers! Now it's time to relax!

Today is the halfway point for those of you currently participating in National Novel Writing Month!

Because life is a little too crazy already this year, I have taken 2012 off from NaNoWriMo for the first time since 2005. While I am certainly a little upset about it, as a long-time participant, I'm still happy to be celebrating the novel-frenzy fun with any of you who are writing a novel this month.

For those not in the know, National Novel Writing Month is a "fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing." The goal is to write a 50,000-word (or longer) novel by 11:59:59pm on November 30.

"Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved." In November, you have permission to do a bad job and write only for the sake of finishing.

A little of my personal NaNoWriMo history:

Year #1 (2006): I was awesome at developing characters but terrible at keeping any kind of plot going for 50,000 words. The end product was mediocre (all things considered) but I wasn't about to go showing it off. Either way, I was DONE. I had just written my first novel!

Year #2 (2007): This year was a flop. My plot literally didn't exist. My characters just went to work, had lunch, and hung out with their friends. I would never let anybody even come close to reading this novel, and I think I may have actually deleted it from my computer. However, on November 30th, I'd finished, and I was now a two-time novelist!

Year #3 (2008): I didn't fully outline a plot but I knew I had to plan out some kind of direction for my story because I did not want a repeat of 2007. I had good characters (based on people I knew in real life, which was probably the best thing I could have done) and a lot of funny scenes, but I had only planned out a basic, overall idea for the plot and I had trouble stretching it all the way to 50,000 words. Because of this, I wound up with a lot of silly and sort of random scenes for length. But again, I finished and was now a THREE-BOOK AUTHOR!

Year #4 (2009): This year I did so much prep work. I typed up a 10-page outline with every scene I planned to include and I also decided to change genres! I moved from realistic fiction all the way to children's fantasy (maybe because I'd just read The Golden Compass and felt inspired). This was kind of fun and allowed a lot of creativity but was weird and kind of unnatural for me.

Year #5 (2010): This was a good year for NaNoWriMo. Even though my life seemed hectic, I had lots of writing time and, while I didn't create a masterpiece, I did an ok job in the end. Five time novelist!

Year #6 (2011): I took the same story idea from 2010's novel and completely re-wrote it, changing characters, scenes, setting, and developing ideas better and more deeply. This was probably my best novel of all, but around November 28th, I lost enthusiasm and had trouble wrapping it up and tying together loose ends. I started to feel bitter toward the novel and thus, with only two days left of NaNoWriMo, I called it quits.

If you're writing a novel for 2012, I'd love to hear about it! We're having a NaNoWriMo discussion at the library tonight at 7pm! Come down and talk about your struggles and successes! I'd love to chat!

Happy November and Happy National Novel Writing Month. Yep, that's right. It's NaNoWriMo again: time to trade in hours of watching and nights out for the joy of writing a 50,000-word novel in one month.

For those of you who not in the know, National Novel Writing Month runs from November 1st-30th, and is a self-proclaimed "fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing" and "thirty days and thirty nights of literary abandon!"

NaNoWriMo encourages quantity, not quality, so don't stop, don't think, just write. Use the opportunity to be free, write what you feel like writing, and see where the journey takes you! And take comfort in knowing that we're all producing mediocrity together.

Despite the fact that we aren't expected to create a work of quality, sometimes luck will have its way and, with enough editing, a NaNoWriMo novel can turn out to be a real masterpiece! Some even become popular, published books. Don't believe it's possible? The following books all started out as NaNoWriMo projects:

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (a 2007 Alex Award winner)

Persistence of Memory by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

The Compound by S.A. Bodeen (among YALSA’s 2009 Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers and 2009 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults)

Livvie Owen Lived Here by Sarah Dooley

Running for My Life by Ann Gonzalez

Losing Faith by Denise Jaden

So, will yours be next?

This is year is my sixth year embarking on the challenging and really kind of silly journey and I'd love for you all to join me! Knowing that you just wrote a whole novel, no matter how terrible, is an AWESOME feeling... and it's only 29 days away!

Want to sign up? Check out the Official National Novel Writing Website for more information.

And be sure to read Figment's NaNoWriMo Approacheth Survival Tips for some genuinely good advice on handling this frenzied month.

Happy writing, everybody!

Happy November 30th! For all those wondering, I have completed my novel for National Novel Writing Month and with 50, 165 words and I'm feeling a newfound sense of freedom!

The writing flowed more naturally for me this year than in previous years, and I think this was also the most fun I had with my story. I am proud to announce that I am now a five time (pretty bad) novelist! Did anybody else participate? How did you do?

It's that time of year again! Time to temporarily abandon your social life, skip sleeping late on a weekend, and trade your usual hobbies for the adventure of composing a 50,000 word novel in one month.

For those of you who don't remember last year's NaNoWriMo blog post, National Novel Writing Month runs from November 1st-30th, and is a self-proclaimed "fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing" and "thirty days and thirty nights of literary abandon!" Unlike any other writing you (or anyone) has probably ever done, NaNoWriMo encourages quantity...just quantity, and that's it. It's not about producing a work of quality (and really, how could it be with just a month to complete so much?), so you can use the opportunity to just be free, write whatever you feel like writing, and know that we're all producing ridiculously bad works of literature together - that's part of the fun!

Sound like something you'd like to try? This will be my fifth year embarking on the challenging and really kind of silly journey and I'm getting myself ready by trying to plot out different kinds of turns for my story to take. To be honest, it's looking like it might be a pretty mundane story - but hey, it doesn't matter! Knowing that you just wrote a whole novel, no matter how terrible, is an AWESOME feeling!

So do you want to sign up? Check out the Official National Novel Writing Website for more information.

Good luck writers!

Is anyone out there doing National Novel Writing Month this year? I wanted to post about my experiences with it because this is my FOURTH year participating.

In a nutshell, the goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 175-page/50,000 word novel between November 1st and November 30th. Word count is the only goal. Unlike any other writing you've probably done, NaNoWriMo encourages quantity and that's it. So, as a participant you have to kind of train yourself to keep writing and stop worrying about what you write. In fact, Chris Baty, the director of the program, encourages that it's a stress-free thing, anything goes (content-wise).

For me, that's hard, producing something you know isn't great writing, but having to just deal with it.

My experiences so far have been like this:

Year #1 (2006): I was awesome at developing characters (I had a mother character who was a police officer and was OBSESSED with her job and all things in life being aligned with the law) but terrible at keeping any kind of plot going for 50,000 words. The end product was okay, I wasn't about to go showing it off, but it was DONE. I had just written my first novel!

Year #2 (2007): This year was a flop. My plot literally didn't exist. My characters just kept doing things like going to work, having lunch, and hanging out with their friends. I would never let anybody even come close to reading this novel, but again, I finished. I wrote two novels!

Year #3 (2008): I didn't fully outline a plot but I knew I had to plan out some kind of direction for my story because I did not want a repeat of 2007. I had good characters (based on people I knew in real life, which was probably the best thing I could have done) and a lot of funny scenes, but I had only planned out a basic, overall idea for the plot and I had trouble stretching it all the way to 50,000 words. Because of this, I wound up with a lot of silly and sort of random scenes for length. But again, I finished and was now a THREE-BOOK AUTHOR!!!

Year #4 (2009): Happy Day 3! This year I did so much prep work. I typed up a 10-page outline with every scene I planned to include and I also to decided change genres! I moved from realistic fiction alllllllllllll the way to children's fantasy (maybe because I just read The Golden Compass). The only thing I'm noticing is that my characters and my writing just aren't as strong as they once were.

Anyway we'd all LOVE to hear about your challenges and progress along the way. It's a crazy month!!!!

-Ms. Laura, Librarian