Fred Fanning's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"

I decided to participate in the National Novel Writing Month contest also known as NaNoWriMo. The contest asked you to write a 50,000 page novel in 30 days. I first tried this in 2012 and was able to write 16,000 words. In 2014 I decided to try again. This time I did a little research and read a couple of books on how to write a novel. I developed a beginning, middle, and end. From that I developed a sketch of each character in the book. Lastly I developed an outline. Each chapter got a paragraph of the story. I think there were 42 chapters in all. I think the preparation is key to the success of writing a novel.

I am still participating in the National Novel Writing Month contest. I hit a wall at about 28,000 and now at 36,000 it is getting harder to come up with things to say in the novel. The best advice I have heard over the years for times like this is just keep writing. That is what I am doing.

As I sit down to write a novella, my mind goes over the conversations, memories, and stories from my life. I usually mix and match pieces and parts of my life experience to develop ideas, characters, and storylines. This is where I take an uncles quirk, an aunts funny story, and a cousin's actions to create the hero. A story I may have heard as a kid is changed to a new location and in a new decade to become the main storyline. Another experience I had as a child now occurs in a new decade to a minor character.

I have been asked to include people in my stories. I respond by explaining that I may use their name, something they did, or what they may have said. However, I don't use them in a way that someone could recognize them or something they did. More importantly just because I use your first name doesn't mean I won't use my cousin's last name. Or if I use your name I will put it in a neighbors story. I don't use entire stories, and I don't create a story around a single event. What I do is build a story out of the information I have stored in my head. Some of this information I have wrong, and some of it may not have even occurred. No matter the quality this material is used to build the story.

Once I write the first draft the events, I edit the content. During this process names are events changed even further. So what may have been a short trip down the Wabash River now becomes life threatening white water rafting trip in Europe chased by international criminals. Not all my stories turn out well. Some are finished and left buried on my hard drive. My first novel among them. I do not waste the creation because the effort used to build those stories feeds into newer articles, stories, and books.

People and experiences fill our lives with what we call color. Using them to create stories that readers will enjoy seems like a proper use of information that otherwise would remain among the cobwebs of my brain. The best part of this is that we all have this same ability to recall things from our lives and create stories. You probably have a few stories in you just waiting to get out.

I have been writing a series of books called Safety Shorts. The goal was to create a dozen of them with each one focusing on a specific topic in safety and health. Each book is published in Kindle format only and is a quick read. The last book in the series is complete and ready to be published on April 28. I am glad to have the series finished and look forward to the publication of the last book.