NaNoWriMo - a goal accomplished
At the beginning of November
The goal of rewriting a completed, polished manuscript seemed a daunting task, after all this was a 75,000 word novel I was attempting to master.
The original first draft of One Hour to Midnight, originally titled Your Son, My Child, was completed, so I thought, in three months and I entered it in The Clendon Award where it became a finalist.
The Clendon Award aka “Finish the Damn Book” was a competition run in conjunction with the Romance Writers of New Zealand.
The competition was judged by Mary-Therese Hussey, executive editor of Harlequin. And armed with her critique I set about the rewrite. It was a difficult exercise as I had to discard so much of the original and integrate characters, motives, and plot throughout the whole book.
Matrice in her critique made these points.
- The hero needed to interact with his son more as he was the child’s principle caregiver.
- Two of the secondary characters were not properly integrated in the plot.
- There was a major plot flaw surrounding the heroine’s past with the child’s biological father.
After re-reading her critique I also realised I’d made some critical mistakes in portraying the hero’s late wife and the hero’s interaction with the heroine.
Now at the end of the month I can say, I finished the task I set myself and the finished manuscript is now out with my beta readers.
NaNoWriMo is a great motivational tool.
In my next post, when I take part in a bloghop with other authors and their books written during this time, I will give you more insight into the events that led me to write One Hour To Midnight.
Published on Sunday, November 25th, 2012, under Latest News