Pro Tips from a NaNo Coach: How to Finish Your First Draft

NaNoWriMo can seem like a daunting task sometimes, for NaNo newbies and veterans alike. Fortunately, our NaNo Coaches are here to help guide you through November! Today, author Aiden Thomas is here to share some advice on pushing through to the end of November:

Hello Friends! My name is Aiden Thomas, I am the New York Times bestselling author of Cemetery Boys and I’m your Nano Coach for the dreaded week 3 of National Novel Writing Month!

I think most authors would agree that they hit a wall around the 30K mark of their manuscript. You’ve ridden out the high and novelty of Week 1; Week 2 things started to get tricky as you got deeper into your plot; and now you’re on Week 3. Right about now, your stakes are high, your character is facing some challenges, and very likely so are you. At this point it’s easy to get stuck, so I wanted to give you some advice on how to keep pushing forward.

The first and most important thing to realize is that your rough draft will never live up to your vision—and it’s not supposed to! First drafts are supposed to be crappy. The story you have in your head will never be exactly as you want it on the page the first time, and especially not in 30 days! Right now, you just need to get the words down. Stories become beautiful books with revisions, not during a fast draft!

So, how do you keep pushing forward and get that crappy rough draft done so you can hit your NaNoWriMo goal and start revising? I’ve got some tips!

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