Here’s an email we got about our NaNoWriMo Special. We’re reposting here (with permission) in case anyone else has the same question.

“I am asking Santa for your NaNoWriMo special for Christmas (yay!), but I did have a question.
 
Since I would not be submitting this until the end of December, this gives me some time to work on it a bit before sending it to you. However, right now, my brain is already going into overload, and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to just forget about it for a month, and hand it over to you as is. Only . . . it’s bad.
 
I’m assuming that you are expecting this from any NaNoWriMo project, or anything of that volume that gets cranked out in 30 days. But it wasn’t written chronologically. I’m pretty sure plot lines, characters, everything, have been altered and changed without my realizing it from one chapter to the next. And everything is passive.
 
Don’t get me wrong, I love my story. But I was only trying to get it out in a semi-coherent form and never dreamed that I might try to show it to someone in this state until I saw your blog. Therefore, I was hoping to get some feedback from you guys as to whether you would want me to touch it up a bit, or whether you don’t really care because what I’ve just described is exactly what you are expecting to see.
 
Thanks!”

We’re delighted that Santa knows our name!

What you’re describing is exactly what we expect. We’ve given people until January 15 to send manuscripts in case you want to do some polishing, but even if you do, there’s no way that a NaNoWriMo draft is anything but messy.

So bring it on. We’ll take your draft in whatever state you want to send it. We’ll evaluate it, list the issues we see (plot threads unraveling, character inconsistencies, prose style issues like passive voice or infodump/exposition, structural holes, etc.), and make suggestions for how you can tackle the revision process strategically rather than just having to wade in and start swinging.

We don’t judge anyone as a writer by the quality of a first draft. They are always a mess on some level, and that’s why we’re here — to help you get started on cleaning it up.

If anyone has more questions about the Second Draft Special, please leave a comment here or email us.

Posted by: Kelley