Guest Post from Scott McGowan - NaNoWriMo 2015: A Winner's View

A Winner's View of NaNoWriMo

(National Novel Writing Month)

Scott McGowan

Introduction:

Before I begin, I should say that this is my second year attempting the NaNoWriMo challenge. Last year I was only available for a single week so, due to my stubbornness, I attempted to write the full 50,000 words in seven days. This was not a good idea and I would never suggest it to anybody.

By the third day, lunchtime, of NaNoWriMo 2014, I had written around 17,500 words and my brain decided that enough was enough and shut down. I was not able to concentrate on my writing at all and even found it difficult to create a decent flowing sentence.

Do not try this at home.

Learning Difficulties:

Having a learning difficulty should not dissuade anyone from attempting the NaNoWriMo challenge. I, myself, am Dyslexic and have had issues because of it for most of my life. I have come to a point in my life where I can stand above it and light-heartedly inform people that I’m just a Dalek Sec.

Always remember that the idea of the competition is to see if you are able to write 50,000 words in four weeks. These words don’t have to be perfect or even spelled correctly. The grammar is also supposed to be messed up until after you have completed it. What you write, during the month of November, is only supposed to be a first draft and nowhere near a finished work. In writing this article, I have had to correct a great many spelling mistakes and grammatical errors and, I’m quite sure, Hope has found many more that I missed.

Yet, even with my dyslexia, I was able to complete this year’s NaNoWriMo within three weeks. I have since read through it again and fixed any errors that I could find and have sent it off to the kind Eleanor Watson for proof reading.

Never let a disability stop you from achieving your dreams. Agatha Christie had Dysgraphia; John Irving, Stephan J. Cannell and F. Scott Fitzgerald is/were Dyslexic; George Bernard Shaw and Jules Verne both suffered from ADD; and even Lynda La Plante has always had trouble with the written word, getting every last word checked before it goes out, whether it be a book or simply a letter or email.

Working Space:

I am blessed to have a decent partner desk to work on. It is five feet long and holds everything I need while I write. I have my laptop in front of me with my USB mouse to my right. I find these much easier to use than the touch pad on the laptop. I get very annoyed when my thumb accidentally hits said pad and I start typing into a previously completed paragraph. It is always a pain to have to go back and edit a paragraph again when you thought that you were done with it.

On the other side of my mouse sits my iPad. This is perfect for checking information, studying up on subjects and getting translations. On my left, I have a television screen which has Spotify streaming through it. It is somewhat of a luxury but it helps me.

Below the television, I have a monitor, connected to a separate and very old desktop machine, where I can have my concentrated notes up at all times and don’t have to keep switching between open programmes. I just look to my left and the info is there. I also have on my desk, a tin of juice or a mug of tea, depending on the time of day, and a wee snack-box, holding biscuits and cakes. It is always good to keep your energy up.

Whatever setup you have, make sure it adheres to whatever makes you the most comfortable and free from any distractions.

Before You Start:

A lot of people forget this but it is perfectly alright to plan your NaNoWriMo piece before November hits. It is true that most like to dive straight in, on the 1st, and just see where it takes them. You do not have to do this, if you don’t want to, and there is nobody who would think any the worse of you for it.

In October, around midway, I decided I would write a novella, entitled “The Guild Rally”. I made a few short notes and a list of the first few chapter titles I would need, just to give me a running start. I knew where everything was going to start and end; and I even had a few ideas about what I wanted to happen throughout the story. This gave me a chance to start writing as soon as the NaNoWriMo clock started.

I would suggest that everyone does this, at least on their first try. It really does help and can take a lot of the pressure off of you when you start to write, in November. Also, you only have to maintain a word-count of 1,667 a day. Some days are more fruitful than others but if you can keep to this average, you will be fine.

The Time to Write:

Everyone has busy lives and it is sometimes difficult to find the time to write after all the events of the day. If you are to complete NaNoWriMo, you will need to try and find the time to put into it. I have found it essential to have a specific time in the day when I write. I always prefer to write at night when there are no distractions and no humans running around the place. The world is quiet and asleep and I am able to write.

That being decided, I chose to write from 8pm till 3am every night, where possible. I took the middle two weeks off of work, as a holiday, which allowed me to do this. I found that, in doing this, I was able to get my word-count for the day by midnight and, after midnight, I managed to get a head start for the next day’s count. This worked exceptionally well and I was writing between 2,500 and 5,000 words a day.

Again, the time you choose is entirely up to you. Find a time that suits you the best. Maybe it’s a couple of hours a night, after the kids have gone to their beds,; maybe it’s a couple of hours before you would normally get up in the morning; or possibly it’s an hour at lunchtime and another hour or two at night. Pick a time that allows you to put yourself fully into your story and have no foreign influences.

Day One:

On the 1st of November, at 00:00, the fun begins and you are allowed to start writing. If you have your brief notes, drink, snacks and, if you partake, tobacco, you are more than prepared to begin.

I would suggest to everyone that they take their time. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar, although the wee red squiggly lines that appear all over my text can be annoying. You can take a breather, every so often, to quickly fix these, if you so wish. The main idea is that you create your scene and get your stage set.

If you don’t manage the 1,667 words on your first day, do not be concerned. Everyone starts off at different speeds and you have plenty time to catch up. NaNoWriMo is a marathon, not a sprint and should be attempted as such. Because I took a couple of weeks off in the middle of the month, I was able to knock out a higher word-count than required and so completed it in three weeks, instead of four. It made things easier, not having to worry about having to go to work or any of the other things that I would usually have to do. Any housework or shopping could be done in the afternoons and the evenings were left for writing into the early hours of the morning.

Not everyone is able to do this. With many people trying to use their paid holidays up at the end of the year, it can be difficult to get the time off that you were looking for. Also there are some who have young families and so need their holidays for time away with them. If you can’t take time off, it’s still very rewarding if you are able to find a couple of hours each day to attempt this challenge.

The Writing:

Once you begin, you can feel like you’re pushing a boulder up a hill. Don’t worry, there are other’s out there to give you encouragement and help in any way they can. Thousands upon thousands of people, all over the world, participate in NaNoWriMo and many of them are on Twitter, tweeting their daily scores and how their doing with the overall task, so far. They are all open to random people messaging them their questions or asking for advice. Many of them enjoy helping out other writers. It is a strong community and you should not be afraid to join in with any conversations you see going on. Comment on other people’s posts, ask them questions or maybe even provide them with a piece of knowledge which they’re looking for. You may know something that others don’t.

If you wish to utilise Twitter, you can see other people’s posts by typing “#NaNoWriMo2015” into the Twitter search bar. If you are unsure how to do this then ask around to see if someone can show you. It can be a great daily boost to see how others are faring in their own progress and getting daily words of wisdom from previous winners throughout the month is superbly uplifting.

Completion:

When you get to the end of the month, it is hoped that you will have found your writing muse and have 50,000 words completed. If so, once you copy your text into the validator, you are an instant winner and can have all the bragging rights that come with it. Achieving the 50,000 mark is an extraordinary achievement and you should be very proud of your accomplishment.

However, if you have not managed to complete your work on time, please do not fret. There is nothing stopping you continuing, as you have been, and finishing the story. There is always another year of NaNoWriMo coming up, too, and the excitement as the time rolls over for the arrival of another November, is almost as exciting as the event itself. Never give up, never surrender and always make sure to get back up on that horse again.

I am so delighted that I have managed to complete my NaNoWriMo 2015 challenge. It was a lot of fun and helped me in my writing a great deal. I will be attempting it again next year and the year after that and so on and so forth, until the day my typing fingers have no more to give.

Lastly and most of all, enjoy yourself. NaNoWriMo is designed to be a fun event and I have found it to be that and so much more.

Good luck for the 2016 event, if you decide to give it a go, and may all the words come a flowing. Come find me at my Twitter handle, ‘@AuthorMcGowan’, when you do.

Semi-Live Interview with A.J. Trevors, author of The Gaia Chronicles

A.J. Trevors is an up and coming author from Melbourne, who has be gracious enough to grant an interview. We American girls are suckers for an accent, and even more for a good book! Read on to learn about this writer and his newest creation The Gaia Chronicles: Birth of Hope!

Hope: I always like to ease in, so are you a night owl or an early bird when it comes to writing?

Actually, I’m both! When I first started writing this book, I woke up at 7am and wrote until 9.30am before I left my home for uni. However, I realised that this tired me out quickly and was a detriment to my studies. So I switched to writing at night during my second and third year of writing, usually writing from 8pm to 10pm before knocking out at night.

Next up, top three favorite movies or tv shows?

Oh there are too many. Let’s see…

1. Game of Thrones (duh!)
2. Batman: The Dark Knight
3. Dead Poets Society (R.I.P Robin Williams!)

How about your top three authors and why?

1. Brent Weeks (Author of the Night Angel Trilogy) = The first author that eased me into dark fantasy. Despite the fact that his books draw on fantasy aspects, the situation surrounding his characters reflect the malaise of real life e.g. prostitution, child beggars, politics, war etc. whilst you can’t help but fall in love with his characters and the relationship they share with each other.

2. George RR. Martin (Author of the Game of Thrones Series) = What is there not to like about this gregarious old man and his awesome writing? The epitome of how a fantasy epic should be written, with lots of twists, complicated character relationships, politics, awesome battles and a storyline that kills off it’s main characters, with equally able support characters then taking the limelight. The suspense of wanting to know which character is going to die next and growth of existing characters serves the series well.

3. Daniel Silva (Author of the Gabriel Allon series) = The undisputed star of the new wave of action thriller novels, with a mysterious main protagonist backed by an able support crew consisting of some of the most shadiest organisations in the world. Daniel Silva has a direct and curt style of writing, focusing more on delivering a story than building the world that is presented in the book. What happens is that you get a fast-paced novel that keeps your heart beating wildly all the way to the end.

What was the first book you really loved reading and what did you love about it?

I can barely remember what it was! I think it was Huckleberry Fin. I can’t really recall what it was about but the book was my ‘baptism’, so to speak, into a higher category of novels that were more complex in storyline, with more depth and substance, definitely different from the Jane and Peter kid stories I read when I was younger.

Are your stories written for mature readers, young adults, both? Would it be ok to hand this book to a 12 year old?

Most of my stories so far have been written for a general audience. I have two novellas that had been published before Gaia, which are “Stab in the Back”, an action thriller, and “Phae and the Sun Chariot”, a fantasy themed novel. They both contain content that is appropriate for all ages.

I know you're at university, what are you studying? Is it a challenge finding time to write?

I’m currently doing a commerce degree, majoring in accounting and finance (I know it’s weird!) but my passion has always been writing and telling stories. It is sometimes a challenge to find the time to write but I believe that if you passionate at something, there is always time to explore your interests and try to make a career out of it. You are only happy if you do something you love. We live life only once. We might as well live it happy, you know?

What would you say The Gaia Chronicles: Birth of Hope is about?

If you can look past all the cool summoning of monsters, the battles and the strange new world built into the novel, I would say that Gaia is a novel about people. It’s about relationships and the struggle that brings between two people. It’s about hate and how that can bring down even the most righteous of people. Above all, it’s about Damien and how he copes with the responsibility of being the ‘hero’ when he knows that he is just a simple boy at heart yearning to live a simple live devoid of war.

Do you plan on this being a trilogy? If so, how long will your readers have to wait to find out what happens next?

Yes! It will be a trilogy. The next book is already in the works and I am hoping to release it by the end of 2017.

Have you written anything else, and where can we find it?

I have written two novellas. One is an action thriller entitled Stab in the Back and the other is a fantasy entitled Phae and the Sun Chariot. Both can be found in the iBookstore and on Smashwords.

Will you be participating in any promotional deals, such as Kindle Unlimited or free chapters?

Throughout the month of November, I will be providing teasers in the form of excerpts from the novel. Kindle Unlimited is an interesting deal I would love to explore in the future. Also, the novel will be cheaper if you pre-order the book in November.

Do you have a newsletter, website, Facebook, Twitter, smoke signals, psychic morse code transmitter? What is the best way for your fans to stay informed?

To stay informed, please do follow my Facebook page (facebook.com/andyjamestrevors). I also have Twitter feeds as an author (twitter.com/andyjamestrevor) and for the novel (twitter.com/gaiascifi). These feeds will provide my future readers immediate information on book promos, preorder and release dates!

When and where will The Gaia Chronicles be available?

The Gaia Chronicles will be available for pre order the 15th of January 2016.

Pre-order price is at $2.99 whilst the price after release on 1st of February 2016 is $4.99.

Do make sure to preorder early to obtain the discount! :D

Timeless Characters and First Loves

Something very interesting happens at the beginning of "The League of Frightened Men" by Rex Stout. Archie Goodwin is discussing his inability to read books.

He scans the newspaper, and most days reads it thoroughly. But with books, he finds them to be pointless, "...there's nothing alive about it, it's all dead and gone...". This of course made me wonder how he would feel now, with his character still in print, still being read and loved by millions (or possibly just me?), but still quite vibrant and full of sparks.

I think it's great how you can read any Rex Stout book featuring Nero and Archie, and without much effort, you are instantly transported to a world you feel at home in. Obviously there is an element of nostalgia. But there is more: the feel of the words, pictures they summon, the emotions they create.

The memories are not limited to what's between the pages, but also what's between the lines -  our own memories from previous readings. This got me thinking about the past and the first time I read this particular book.

I remember finding it on my grandparents' attic bookshelf. They weren't big on keeping "popular" books around the house. Often the editions were rare, valuable or collectible. But this one slightly scuffed paperback was resting on a lower shelf, alone, and fairly unimportant looking. Still, it peeked out and seemed to say, "It's alright, I'm not anything fancy, you can pick me up and you won't get in trouble. Give us a try."

I studied the cover and consulted the copyright page. It was from Great Britain, an edition from the 1970's. I made my way downstairs and politely asked my grandmother, "May I please read this? I found it upstairs. It didn't look important, so I thought it might be ok? I'll put it back when I'm done, I promise!"

Taking it from me she smiled at the cover, as if it were a lost friend, rediscovered. She expressed puzzlement that I had found it upstairs. "All of these were moved, I thought. But certainly, go ahead and read it if you like. Now, Oreo or chocolate chip?"

I would later learn the rest had been moved to my grandparents' room so my grandmother could read them while she was recovering from some ailment. This lone text had apparently been separated from its brethren during their migration from attic to bedroom. After explaining that I should deposit it with her when I finished it, she sent me off to the back room with cookies and my discovery.

Unfortunately, the reasons for my being there that day are gone from my mental files, but I know it was raining. That probably explained why I happened to be hunting for something to do or read in the first place.

I know she was babysitting me for some reason, which was unusual. I don't remember how old I was, but given that the cookie stage ran out at my grandparents' house sometime around eight or nine, I must have been a bit younger than that. I recall that I could still fit my entire body into one square cushion of the old, brown, corduroy sofa.

There I sat. I opened the soft paper cover, displayed a slightly yellowing first page, and just like that... my life had irrevocably changed.

Over the course of that plate of cookies and probably three or four hours of reading, I met Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. I had been introduced to Fritz Brenner and his magical cooking skills. I had cautiously greeted Inspector Cramer. I heard about Theodore Horstmann and the ten-thousand orchids. I had been invited into the old Brownstone on West 35th Street in New York City. I had toured the office, the dining room, the kitchen, the front room, the elevator and briefly spied the bedrooms, I had made the acquaintance of dozens of new words such as Odontoglossum and Cattleya and gullery. This was especially fascinating, as I thought I already knew all of the words I would ever need.

By the time I put the book down, dusk had come, the rain had stopped and I was breathless with excitement. I knew that there were more of these books somewhere and now I needed more. I had to know if every book was as beautiful, if every story was - as Wolfe would say - satisfactory. But it was almost dinner time and I would be leaving soon. I handed the book back to my grandmother, who immediately put it with her (unknown to me) treasured collection. My adventure suspended.

Thankfully, the suspension did not last long. The very next day, I went to the library, with my mother as my escort. I was free to choose my selection, as always. I made my way immediately to the S's and scooped up all five of the books they had available. I still didn't know how many there were, but even those five seemed like a bounty.

I was so used to characters that only had one story, or perhaps two. I had read a few serials, but most of the time the library would have one book in a series (the most recent) and little else. When I consulted my mother over my choices, she smiled and said, "I remember reading these." That alone was encouragement enough. If two generations of my family could smile at the covers; the silent recommendation spoke volumes to me.

I read all of them. I had to request books from libraries all over the state. In the days before email, I can only imagine the long distance charges and faxes that had to be exchanged. But it was worth it. In time, I came to own all of the stories; books, anthologies, omnibuses. This was almost two decades ago now, but I still read them.

I have plenty of other things I read, mostly only once or twice. I read new books all the time and I think I have over a thousand ebooks on my Kindle, roughly half of which are still waiting for attention. But never confuse quantity for quality, especially in literature.

There are very few authors that merit re-reading in my world. Neal Stephenson's novels, Night of the Avenging Blowfish by John Welter (which I highly recommend), all of the different Nancy Drew series, Dave Barry, a few others. Most of these I reread once or twice a year, when the mood strikes.

Then there is Rex Stout. Almost without fail, I cycle through over 70 Nero Wolfe short story trios and novels - which takes about a month - in order of publication. I probably do this anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen times a year. I still find words that I don't know occasionally, scenes that I find a deeper meaning in, little flourishes I somehow missed. For what they are, that alone is unexpected and magical. They are just that good.

TL;DR -
What was the first book that had an impact on you?
What was the first book you can remember being attached to?
What was the most important book you read as a child?
What was the book that led you to love reading or writing?

- Hope

Comment here, or on Twitter @nonsteader

I would love to know, and I look forward to hearing from you!!