Ask the Author: Nicholas Galante
Answered Questions (7)
Nicholas Galante
I did! It was a real pleasure to offer my perspective and experiences to aspiring writers. I hope I was able to provide a few words of wisdom to you and your classmates.
Nicholas Galante
That would be up to my publisher, Black Rose Writing. Contact them and let them know you want one!
Nicholas Galante
I am! I'll be happy to discuss this with you in more detail then, if you'd like, because this is a complicated question with a lot of caveats and exceptions to it. I'll do my best to keep this succinct, however.
Tone can be tricky, and rereading is definitely a huge part of it. There were a number of times during my revisions that I found myself thinking "this isn't quite right." The first chapter of Morningstar, for example, was always the same scene, and the same events happened in the same order, but it took several attempts before I got the tone just right. Part of that was the fact that it was the first chapter; I knew how I wanted to introduce the character of Mrs. Delaney, but until I looked back on the first chapter as a component of the whole, I wasn't aware that my original tone wasn't right for her character. It can be hard to know exactly what you're going for before the work as a whole has taken shape.
The best advice I can give is not to get too hung up in worrying about it. You'll find that a good portion of tone comes naturally, because you have a deliberate intent when writing any given scene. You know if you want it to be gloomy, or joyful, or suspenseful, and you'll purposefully choose your words to reach that end. You're not always going to get the tone right on the first try, but that's what revising is for.
Tone can be tricky, and rereading is definitely a huge part of it. There were a number of times during my revisions that I found myself thinking "this isn't quite right." The first chapter of Morningstar, for example, was always the same scene, and the same events happened in the same order, but it took several attempts before I got the tone just right. Part of that was the fact that it was the first chapter; I knew how I wanted to introduce the character of Mrs. Delaney, but until I looked back on the first chapter as a component of the whole, I wasn't aware that my original tone wasn't right for her character. It can be hard to know exactly what you're going for before the work as a whole has taken shape.
The best advice I can give is not to get too hung up in worrying about it. You'll find that a good portion of tone comes naturally, because you have a deliberate intent when writing any given scene. You know if you want it to be gloomy, or joyful, or suspenseful, and you'll purposefully choose your words to reach that end. You're not always going to get the tone right on the first try, but that's what revising is for.
Nicholas Galante
There's a sensation that I get when I read something that's well-written. I quote often (books, poems, movies, etc.) simply because I like the way that certain words sound when they're put together. While it's hard for me to be objective about my own writing (I generally can't see anything remarkable in my own sentence construction), every so often, when I reread something I've written, I get that same sensation, plus the added knowledge that I was the one who put those words together. It's not pride, exactly, but it's more than simple satisfaction.
Nicholas Galante
Sometimes talking aloud or writing down my obstacle helps me analyze and break through it, but sometimes the best solution is just to step away for a while and let your mind focus on other things. Don't underestimate the shower principle.
Nicholas Galante
I've got something cooking that I'm really excited about. It's a pet project I've been tinkering on and off with for years now. I don't want to give away too much, but I'll say that it's very different from Morningstar Ascendant.
Nicholas Galante
I studied a lot of religion in college, and I also got hooked on Paradise Lost around the same time. I really liked how Milton used a poem about Satan and the Fall to express/sort out his ideas on religion, politics, and society in general, and thought I might enjoy doing something in the same vein, if to a less grand extent.
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