Writers in the Storm

Jamie Raintree

I participated in my first National Novel Writing Month event in 2008. I had never written a novel before and had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I'd always loved a challenge. Up until then, I'd only ever written short stories, and any previous novel attempts had stopped at the very pathetic amount of about 5,000 words. I think mostly it was naivety that made me do it. I had no idea what it took to write 50,000 words, let alone 50,000 words in a single month. My ignorance was indeed bliss, and I signed up for that challenge and I wrote those 50,000 words and I kept writing until I finished the book.

I'll always be thankful to NaNoWriMo for one very big reason: it taught me that anyone really can write a book. No anointment required.

It's been 8 years since I could first call myself a novelist, and I've come a long way since then. I've finished two more books and am working on the next. I got an agent with one of those books. And this year, I signed my first book contract. (Yes--my debut novel started as a NaNo project!)

One might say I no longer need the challenge of National Novel Writing Month.

And one might be right.

But that hasn't stopped me from signing up for my 8th time.

A WRIMO FOR LIFE

It never fails--every year, when the temperature starts to drop, my subconscious knows that NaNoWriMo is right around the corner. I start setting my affairs in order for the month that I will be more or less dead to everyone who isn't doing word sprints with me.

It's not as easy as it once was to commit to NaNoWriMo, now that my schedule is not my own. I did have to skip 2014 because I was in the middle of edits on Perfectly Undone for my agent, and seeing everyone else letting loose with their novels while I sat woefully on the sidelines just about killed me. It convinced me that as much as it was in my power, I wouldn't skip it again.

My passion for NaNoWriMo may seem a little disproportionate for an online challenge where you win basically nothing for hitting your goal (except, of course, 50,000 words on your work-in-progress and some nice writerly coupons), but here are just a few reasons why I'm a committed Wrimo...

1. COMMUNITY.

I cannot stress this aspect enough. People who have never participated in NaNoWriMo think that the challenge is about hitting a certain word count. It's not.

What NaNoWriMo is really about is the energy of hundreds of thousands of people all over the world chasing the same goal together. The NaNo forums are abuzz with excitement and caffeine 24/7. And I can't tell you how many times I've chatted with other Wrimos well past midnight, cheering each other on to hit our word count goal for the day. I've even met some of my best friends at Write-In events.

There's simply no way to describe the electricity you feel of being so deeply tapped into the writing community. You have to experience it for yourself.

2. SERIOUS PROGRESS.

While community is the best part of NaNo, those high word counts are still priceless. It never ceases to amaze me when I look at my stats and see numbers like 15,467, or 25,008, or 42,124. In a matter of weeks! I know I'm capable of producing these kinds of word counts any other month of the year, but without the energy of NaNo, it's much harder for me. I love stepping back at the end of the month and realizing that I have an almost complete draft. It may need a lot of work, but I know so much more about my characters and my story once I've completed the challenge that all the future revising is worth it.

Whether you hit 50,000 words or 10,000 words, the motivation produced by NaNoWriMo will have you impressing even yourself. You'll accomplish writing feats you never thought possible.

3. TOTAL STORY IMMERSION.

Now that I have two kids in school, articles to write, workshops to plan, and deadlines to hit, it has never been harder to tap into my story. I get a solid 1-2 hours of writing in every weekday, but as soon as I close my computer, my mind is back on my to-do list and I'm off racing to the next thing. Yes, the book gets written, but I don't as often get to experience that thrill of the days when I would be unable to fall asleep because my characters had something to say, or I'd wake up with a plot issue resolved and I'd jump out of bed to write it down. My mind is simply spread too thin. During November, though, I set aside as many of my other responsibilities as possible (unfortunately, the kids still have to eat), and I eat, sleep, and breathe my characters.

That kind of connection to story is what we writers live for. But how often do you feel that immersed on a day to day basis?

4. THE HIGH OF CHASING (AND HITTING) A SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE GOAL.

Sitting down on November 1st and staring a 50,000 word goal in the face feels impossible. No matter how many times I do it, it overwhelms me every year. It's like running a marathon--who actually does crazy things like that? Well, we do. Just writing a book is a crazy, impossible thing and yet, we do it over and over again. Because there's nothing quite like the high of an amazing writing day, and NaNoWriMo is a month full of days like that. Crossing the finish line, tired and delirious with effort, is a feeling like no other. Because you know you did something most people aren't brave enough to even attempt.

And celebrating with your NaNo community afterward makes the win that much sweeter.

Are you participating in National Novel Writing Month this year? If you're a seasoned Wrimo, what are your favorite aspects of participating?

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About Jamie

Jamie Raintree is an author and a writing business teacher. She is also a mother of two girls, a wife, a businesswoman, a nature-lover, and a wannabe yogi. Her debut novel, PERFECTLY UNDONE, will be released on October 3, 2017 by Graydon House. Subscribe to her newsletter for more writing tips, workshops, and book news. To find out more, visit her website.

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NaNoWriMo, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, is National Novel Writing Month, where hundreds of thousands of writers gather to bang out many many words in a month. Many writers skip it and many writers treat it as a yearly pilgrimage to Writing Mecca.

NaNoWriMo is my birthday present to myself each year. Every year, I love it. And every year, I hate it...there's simply too much to do in the tiny little month of November.

Even without my birthday falling at the beginning of the month and Thanksgiving at the end, there always seems to be unexpected craziness. One year it was shingles, another year a family vacation.

I tend to arrive at December 1st a little bit out of breath.

And still, I love NaNoWriMo.

I love the community, the late-night writing sprints, the before and after parties my local team throws. I love the write-ins, the pep talks, the excitement and uploading my word count. I adore getting the chance to encourage my peeps and watch everyone chase their goals.

Whether you're gearing up for NaNoWriMo or not, I wish you luck in your writing goals this month.

I'd like to address the dreaded phenomenon of the Week Two Wall in the NaNo challenge where the initial endorphins have faded and the grind of the 1,667 words-a-day writing schedule sets in. The shiny has worn right off our shimmery fabulous idea.

Words like "can't," "shouldn't," and "haven't" begin to rear their ugly heads. 

We all hate those words, whether we're doing a writing challenge or not. So before NaNo starts, I'd like to chat about what I consider to be a NaNo "win":

• Your very best = a NaNo win
• Achieving your goal numbers = a NaNo win (ex: my goal this month is 30K, not 50K)
• Finishing a project = a NaNo win
• Forming amazing writing habits = a NaNo win

I think people get twitchy about some things that don't matter during the month of November. You've seen this cartoon, right?

NaNo should be fun.

The only word count that matters is YOURS.

However, if you're still feeling the push to "Go 50K or Bust"... Behold the NaNo Team's 2012 Tips for Successful WriMos...things we wish we had known for our first NaNoWriMo:

1. It’s okay to not know what you’re doing. Really. You’ve read a lot of novels, so you’re completely up to the challenge of writing one.

2. If you feel more comfortable outlining your story ahead of time, do it! But it’s also fine to just wing it.

3. Write every day, and a book-worthy story will appear, even if you’re not sure what that story might be right now.

4. Do not edit as you go. Editing is for December and beyond. Think of November as an experiment in pure output.

5. Even if it’s hard at first, leave ugly prose and poorly written passages on the page to be cleaned up later. Your inner editor will be very grumpy about this, but your inner editor is a nitpicky jerk who foolishly believes that it is possible to write a brilliant first draft if you write it slowly enough. It isn’t.

6. Every book you’ve ever loved started out as a beautifully flawed first draft. In November, embrace imperfection and see where it takes you.

7. Tell everyone you know that you’re writing a novel in November. This will pay big dividends in Week Two, when the only thing keeping you from quitting is the fear of looking pathetic in front of all the people who’ve had to hear about your novel for the past month.

8. Seriously. The looming specter of personal humiliation is a very reliable muse.

9. There will be times you’ll want to quit during November. This is okay. Everyone who wins NaNoWriMo wanted to quit at some point in November. Stick it out. See it through.

Above are the NaNo team's words. They have them squinched together into just a few tips, but I spread it out. All this wisdom needs to be heard. (There's years of writing pep talks here.)

Now, for my #10. (cadged from an earlier post here at Writers In The Storm.)

10. Wherever you are on your writing journey, DON’T STOP.

The best is always yet to come because we keep improving the more we do it. I heard Linda Howard speak at a writer’s conference in San Diego some years back and I’ve never forgotten her words, which made me cry at the time.

“Everybody dreams,” she said. “But writers are special because they write down their dreams."

As writers, we can do anything and be anyone. You can be astronauts or spies or time travelers. Writers can go to amazing places and build imaginary worlds for others to visit."

The sad fact is that no matter how hard you try, the music and the magic of your dreams will never be equaled by the words you put on a page."

Do it anyway.”

My hope is that this November (and every month), even on those days when you feel that all is lost, when you wonder why you ever believed that YOUR words were important, you keep at it.

Do it because you have to. Do it because you need to. Do it because the act of sharing those words is more than most people will ever attempt.

DON'T STOP, my friends.
Your story is calling you.

Do you participate in writing challenges? Do you do NaNoWriMo? For my WriMo pals, what do you do in advance of November to get ready?

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About Jenny Hansen

By day, Jenny provides training and social media marketing for an accounting firm. By night she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction and short stories. After 18 years as a corporate software trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

When she’s not at her personal blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Twitter at JennyHansenCA or at Writers In The Storm.

Susan Spann

“Advances” – technically, advances against royalties, are lump-sum payments some publishers pay to authors “in advance” of publishing the author’s work.

More simply, an “advance” is the money an author receives up front on a publishing deal.

Not all authors receive advances, and not all publishers offer them. Small and micro-publishers often pay smaller advances than larger houses—though this isn’t always true. Let’s take a closer look at what an advance represents and how it should—and shouldn’t—impact an author’s willingness to sign a publishing contract.

Generally, an advance represents an advance payment against the author’s future royalty earnings. This means that after publication of the author’s work, the author will not receive any royalty payments from the publisher until the author’s total share of sales proceeds (“royalties earned on sales”) exceeds the amount of the advance.

To illustrate this, we’re doing math. Stick with me.

If Abby Author receives a $1,000.00 advance on her new novel: MATTHEW THE MANATEE, and the royalty clause in Abby’s contract entitles her to 10% of the publisher’s gross receipts on sales of the work, and the publisher receives $10.00 per copy of MATTHEW THE MANATEE sold (which probably means this book is a hardback selling at $25.00 retail), how many copies of MATTHEW THE MANATEE have to sell before Abby starts receiving additional royalty distributions from the publisher?

With apologies for sneaking a word problem in on you…let’s work this through.

At a 10% royalty rate (and, for the record, that’s high—but I didn’t want to make you do the math with uneven numbers) if the publisher receives $10.00 on every copy of MATTHEW THE MANATEE sold, Abby’s royalty share is $1.00 per copy. (Less returns…but I’m assuming, for the sake of the math, that nobody ever returns this book.)

Given that Abby received a $1,000.00 advance, she won’t receive any additional royalty payments until the 1,001st copy of MATTHEW THE MANATEE is sold.

When that 1,001st copy sells, and Abby starts receiving additional royalties, MATTHEW THE MANATEE has “earned out” its advance.

A book that “earns out” is considered financially successful, at least by one important measure in the publishing industry. (There are other factors that also play a role in determining whether a book is successful, but earning out the advance is a good way to start.)

Publishers don’t offer advances to be nice, and publishers generally don’t offer large advances to first-time authors unless they really believe a book will sell. At least with many publishers, an advance represents a publisher’s guess at the novel’s profitability point. However, a small advance (or no advance) doesn’t necessarily mean the publisher lacks faith in an author’s work. Some publishers don’t pay advances at all. Others have smaller budgets, or simply prefer to offer lower advances.

During negotiations, authors should be aware that sometimes publishers will agree to a higher total royalty rate if the contract contains no advance (or a very small one).

Many authors consider a contract with a small advance, or no advance, a dismal failure. This is misguided thinking. Earning out a small advance is often considered a bigger success than failing to earn out a massive sum.

Instead of focusing on the advance, authors should look at the contract as a whole.

No amount of money makes up for inappropriate contract terms or a publishing house that lacks the professionalism and experience to treat the author and his or her work with industry-standard care and respect. It’s always better to take a lower advance from a better publishing house that offers industry-standard terms (including out-of-print status based on royalty bearing sales, clear author termination rights in the case of publisher breach, and other important legal protections) than to follow the money into a contract you later regret.

Remember: the advance is only one small component (and usually rather small, indeed) of the deal the publisher offers. Protecting your rights requires evaluation of all the relevant terms, and making decisions based on the publisher and the contract as a whole.

Do you have questions about advances? What would mean more to you in a contract than an advance? Do you have other contract questions you'd like Susan to write about?

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About Susan

Susan Spann writes the Hiro Hattori Novels, featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori and his Portuguese Jesuit sidekick, Father Mateo. The fourth book in the series, THE NINJA’S DAUGHTER, will release from Seventh Street Books in August 2016. Susan is the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ 2015 Writer of the Year, and a transactional attorney whose practice focuses on publishing and business law.

When not writing or practicing law, she raises seahorses and rare corals in her marine aquarium. Find her online at http://www.SusanSpann.com, on Twitter (@SusanSpann), and on Facebook (SusanSpannAuthor).