Chris Baty's Blog, page 155

30 Covers, 30 Days 2015: Day FourEvery November, during National...

INVISIBLE FOUNDERS || A historical work being written by Lynn Rainville || Cover design by Christine Clayton


MORE THAN THIS || A historical novel being written by YWP participant Annie || Cover design by Emily Weiland


Christine Clayton is currently a Senior Designer at Maesa.


Emily Weiland is the Studio Manager at the first ever Masters in Branding Program at The School of Visual Arts in New York.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2015: Day Four

Every November, during National Novel Writing Month, thirty professional designers volunteer to create book cover art inspired by novels being written by aspiring authors from around the globe. Why? To encourage new, diverse voices, and help build a more creative world.  

30 Covers, 30 Days is presented in partnership with designer and author Debbie Millman.  Wrimos: submit your synopses for 30C30D 2015 here.

Read more about these NaNoWriMo 2015 novels-in-progress, and the cover designers, below.

Invisible Founders: African Americans at Sweet Briar, 1814-2014 

A historical work being written this November by Lynn Rainville.

Sweet Briar College is one of the only institutions of higher education located in and originating from an antebellum plantation. As with most large farms, the names and contributions of the white owners are recorded in the historic record. In contrast, over one thousand African Americans who lived and worked at Sweet Briar between 1814 and the College’s centennial in 2001 appear as footnotes in local histories or are lumped together en masse as “slaves” and “servants." 

In my manuscript, I will compile biographies of these hitherto forgotten slaves, servants, and college employees and use their stories to illustrate the struggles and contributions of African Americans to the success of an antebellum plantation and, later, an all female college.

The resultant book will use historic sources and oral interviews to reveal black and white perspectives on slavery, post bellum race relations, everyday life in the Jim Crow South, the founding of a college for white women, and its eventual integration more than decade after Brown v. Board of Education.

Cover Designed by Christine Clayton

Raised in Austin, Christine Clayton found her way to New York after design school six years ago where she is currently a Senior Designer at Maesa. She does Pro Bono design work for cultural and social charities and is likely day dreaming about her next travel destination.

 More Than This

A historical novel being written this November by YWP participant Annie.

There’s a tin of letters tucked in his chest pocket, right next to his heart, and sometimes Edward brushes his hand across them when he thinks no one’s looking. His heart aches for home; he’s getting through this long, cold war by remembering the family he’s left behind in Sussex. His daughter must be—three, four?—and his wife, he knows, is waiting for him to honour his promise to come home before the New Year. It’s a hard road home, but he can’t wait to march upon it, and get this stinking mess called the Second Great War over with.

During a siege in Ypres, Edward watches his friends get cut down—until he can’t watch them anymore. Blinded by the Germans’ bombs, Edward is released from service and numbly makes his way back home. But home isn’t what he left it as.

His wife flinches when she touches him, his daughter doesn’t know who he is, his old friends are dead and gone. Edward struggles to begin a new life after the War, but it’s tough when he can’t see his way through his own room. Is this all there is to life? Or maybe, just maybe, Edward can see that there’s more than this…

Cover Designed by Emily Weiland

Emily Weiland is a recent New York native who journeyed from Sumter, South Carolina after graduating from Anderson University to take the role as Studio Manager at the first ever Masters in Branding Program at The School of Visual Arts.

Need a word-count boost? Follow @NaNoWordSprints for more...

Need a word-count boost? Follow @NaNoWordSprints for more writing prompts from @writingfreak88 and the rest of the @NaNoWordSprints crew!

30 Covers, 30 Days 2015: Day ThreeEvery November, during...

DOORS || A horror novel being written by David Farrow || Cover design by Maribeth Kradel-Weitzel


FINAL SUMMONS || A fantasy novel being written by YWP participant Ariel Grubb || Cover design by Samantha Barnes


Maribeth Kradel-Weitzel is an Associate Professor at Philadelphia University, and principal of Kradel Design.


Samantha Barnes is a graphic designer, front-end web developer, and strategist living and working in New Orleans.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2015: Day Three

Every November, during National Novel Writing Month, thirty professional designers volunteer to create book cover art inspired by novels being written by aspiring authors from around the globe. Why? To encourage new, diverse voices, and help build a more creative world.  

30 Covers, 30 Days is presented in partnership with designer and author Debbie Millman.  Wrimos: submit your synopses for 30C30D 2015 here.

Read more about these NaNoWriMo 2015 novels-in-progress, and the cover designers, below.

DOORS

A horror novel being written this November by David Farrow.

September 14th, 1994. Centralia, Massachusetts. This small suburban town makes national headlines when a man in a black suit brutally murders an entire squadron of police officers. No one can trace the man’s whereabouts, and no one can remember his face.

In smaller headlines, but just as relevant, is the disappearance of Centralia high school senior Roy dePaulo. Roy’s parents claim he experienced strange psychoses before he went missing, in which he saw doors floating in midair: doors that opened onto a gray, unearthly world. But what if these delusions… weren’t delusions? And what if his disappearance has everything to do with the massacre that occurred just days before?

Told in a “"found footage”“ style through journals, photographs, police reports, and psychiatric transcripts, DOORS follows two paranormal bloggers as they try to determine what really happened in Centralia all those years ago.

Cover Designed by Maribeth Kradel-Weitzel

Maribeth Kradel-Weitzel has an MFA from Tyler and a BA from Penn State. She is an Associate Professor at Philadelphia University, principal of Kradel Design, a former president of AIGA Philadelphia and a Sappi Ideas that Matter grant recipient.

  Final Summons

A fantasy novel being written this November by YWP participant Ariel.

Paige may or may not have accidentally caused her girlfriend’s death. Of course, for a necromancer, this isn’t much of a problem. Or is it?

Cover Designed by Samantha Barnes

Samantha Barnes is a graphic designer, front-end web developer, and strategist living and working in New Orleans. She is communications director for the New Orleans chapter of AIGA, ex-officio president, and helped cohost the recent design conference. Sam fills the rest of her time with local festivals, Saints football, nerdy TV shows, Tumblr, cooking, raising her three children to be good humans, keeping her two dogs out of the neighbors’ yard, and geeking out about science and politics. Also, she really likes cheese.

"Anyone educated in the art of composition in the Western Hemisphere at any time in the last hundred..."

“Anyone educated in the art of composition in the Western Hemisphere at any time in the last hundred years was firmly taught that there is One Correct Way to write, and it involves strictly linear planning, thought, and execution. You Must Have a Topic Sentence. You Must Have a Topic Paragraph. YOU MUST HAVE AN OUTLINE. And so forth and so tediously on…

 

Got news for you: You don’t have to do it that way. Anything that gets words on the page is the Right Thing to Do.”

- Diana Gabaldon, on learning how to write.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2015: Day TwoEvery November, during National...

MIDAIR || A children's fiction novel being written by Elizabeth Moore || Cover design by Holly Aguilar


BURIED SECRETS || An adventure novel being written by Young Writers Program participant Wilhelmina Solley || Cover design by David Hisaya Asari


Holly Aguilar is an award-winning designer and illustrator, so if anyone does judge your book by its cover, she’s got you…covered.


David Hisaya Asari is a designer based in Oakland, and Assistant Chair of Graphic Design at California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2015: Day Two

Every November, during National Novel Writing Month, thirty professional designers volunteer to create book cover art inspired by novels being written by aspiring authors from around the globe. Why? To encourage new, diverse voices, and help build a more creative world.  

30 Covers, 30 Days is presented in partnership with designer and author Debbie Millman.  Wrimos: submit your synopses for 30C30D 2015 here.

Read more about these NaNoWriMo 2015 novels-in-progress, and the cover designers, below.

Midair

A children’s fiction novel being written this November by Elizabeth Moore.

Two antagonistic sisters fly across the country in a four-seater airplane piloted by their grandpa—a secretive, unpredictable, cranky old man. They knew they were in for a rough trip: camping out under the wings of their aircraft, relying on fair weather for safe passage in their tiny plane. But nothing could have prepared the sisters for what would happen as they traveled further and further from the place they had called home.

Cover Designed by Holly Aguilar

Holly Aguilar is an award-winning designer and illustrator, so if anyone does judge your book by its cover, she’s got you…covered. By day, Holly is a senior art director at Balcom Agency, the largest marketing firm in Fort Worth, Texas.

  Buried Secrets

An adventure novel being written this November by NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program participant Wilhelmina Solley.

Kiki, a 13-year-old girl, finds a strange chest in her grandmothers’ attic. In the chest is a letter from her grandfather who died two years ago under strange circumstances. The letter tells her that there is a secret organization called the Omega planning to control the world. The one thing they need to succeed is a necklace that Kiki finds in the chest with the letter.

As the adventure heats up, Kiki starts to find more evidence that her grandfather didn’t die in a freak boating accident after all. And that maybe there is more to those crazy conspiracy theories then she ever thought was possible. The Omega will stop at nothing to get what they want and soon the dream-worthy adventure becomes something out of a nightmare.

Cover Designed by David Hisaya Asari

David Hisaya Asari is a designer based in Oakland, and Assistant Chair of Graphic Design at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. David is President Emeritus of the San Francisco chapter of AIGA, the professional association for design.

A NaNoWriMo Hack: Outpace Real Life

Need a quick NaNoWriMo hack? We’ve asked our Municipal Liaisons to offer their best tip for November success. First up? Walla Walla’s ML Kevin Dyer:

The single biggest stumbling block I see for writers on the path to a complete novel is missed days of work. Makeup work just has a way of never really happening, as much as we tell ourselves it will. 

For some writers, the easiest solution is to never miss a day. While that works for some, I’ve found a better way of ensuring completion. I don’t just meet my word count each day—I actively try to beat it.

Think of your word count not as a goal, but as a challenger, with a new rival showing up every day. Show those challengers who the boss is! Each time you sit down to write, aim to outpace your minimum goal for the day, because each time you do, not only are you getting closer to the final finish line, you’re also giving yourself a buffer for when real life comes knocking. Life happens, it’s inevitable, but by leaving your word count in the dust, real life never has to contend with the wonderful worlds you’re building.

Kevin Dyer plays way too much Magic: the Gathering, and when writing, loves to mix the genres of magical realism, fantasy, and horror. He has participated in NaNoWriMo since 2013, and is the Municipal Liaison for the Walla Walla region of Eastern Washington. You can find him posting infrequently on his website/writing blog, thousandwordsapicture.com.

Top photo by Flickr user Nick J Webb.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2015: Day OneEvery November, during National...

INCOMPATIBLE || An adventure novel being written by NaNoWriMo participant Paula Macena this November. || Cover design by Andrew Twigg.


BEHIND ATLAS || An adventure novel being written by NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program participant Wilder Eagle this November. || Cover design by Jessica Gavit.


Andrew Twigg is a professor at the CMU School of Design; Treasurer of AIGA, the professional association for design; ex officio DesignInquiry; advisor for AIGA Pittsburgh.


Jessica Gavit is a designer at RBMM, the design affiliate of The Richards Group.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2015: Day One

Every November, during National Novel Writing Month, thirty professional designers volunteer to create book cover art inspired by novels being written by aspiring authors from around the globe. Why? To encourage new, diverse voices, and help build a more creative world.  

30 Covers, 30 Days is presented in partnership with designer and author Debbie Millman. 

Wrimos: submit your synopses for 30C30D 2015 here.

Read more about these NaNoWriMo 2015 novels-in-progress, and the cover designers, below.

Incompatible

An adventure novel being written this November by Paula Macena

In the future, you age until you’re eighteen and then you stop until you find your soulmate. Your soulmate was assigned to you at birth, but you have no idea who they are.

Quinn Weylyn wants to stay young forever, so she avoids all contact with the opposite sex so she won’t fall in love. But then one day, she accidentally meets a guy, Bryson Mariano, and they fall in love. Quinn thinks that he’s her soulmate, but one day she realizes that she’s not aging and neither is he. So her soulmate is still out there… but how is that possible if there’s no one else she could ever see herself with?

Cover Designed by Andrew Twigg

Andrew Twigg is a professor at the CMU School of Design; Treasurer of AIGA, the professional association for design; ex officio DesignInquiry; advisor for AIGA Pittsburgh. He’s into design, strategy, technology, food, retail, food, volleyball, food, color, food, biking and food.

Behind Atlas

An adventure novel being written this November by NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program participant Wilder Eagle. 

Stranded by a shipwreck that leaves him with amnesia, a young man dubbed Atlas tries to recover his memory. He writes down his thoughts in the only remnant of the wreck: a small leather-bound journal. 

But soon after healing up in the only village on the island, Atlas senses a growing distrust from the village inhabitants and packs up his few personal items to head into the forest…

Cover Designed by Jessica Gavit

Jessica Gavit is a designer at RBMM, the design affiliate of The Richards Group. She is grateful to have worked with clients in every industry and makes time to work on several pro bono projects that are close to her heart.

"Writing stories is hard work. Don’t let your friends or family tell you any different. From the..."

“Writing stories is hard work. Don’t let your friends or family tell you any different. From the outside, it looks like sporadic tapping on the keyboard, distracted sips of coffee, and long stares out the window. But inside, you’re wrestling demons. You’re about to bring a new story into the world, which is both incredible and incredibly important.


Why are stories important? …A good story can mean the difference between life and death for a reader—usually the death is spiritual rather than literal, but spiritual deaths can be just as painful and just as consuming. Storytelling is a part of every human culture because every human needs survival information.”

- Gene Luen Yang, on the importance of writing your story.

4 Questions to Ask About Your Supporting Characters

All through National Novel Writing Month, published authors will take the whistle, take over our official Twitter account for a week, and act as your NaNo Coach, offering advice, encouragement, and pep. This week’s NaNo Coach, Renée Watson, author of books including This Side of Home, shares just how much your supporting characters can reveal about your protagonist :

To know me, to really understand me, you have to know my family. You have to know my mother’s make-a-way-out-of-no-way type of faith. You have to know how my sisters and I lip-synched to Jackson 5 records in the living room putting on concerts for my mom.  How each sister taught me lessons—big and small: how to put on makeup, how to ride a bike, how to forgive, how to not make their mistakes. I am only who I am—good and bad—because of the people around me.

And so it is with my main character…

My main character is the heart of the story but the people in her life play an essential role to her development. I learn a lot about my main character by understanding the people around her. Someone in her life has an expectation of her, someone is judging her, or rooting for her, or wanting to see her fail. My main character’s personality and actions become clearer to me once I put her in the room with her best friend, a sibling, a teacher.

Developing my supporting characters helps me determine plot points. Who will be her ally, who is her antagonist? How do they create challenges that move the story forward? When writing supporting characters, I ask myself 4 questions:

1. Do I have too many supporting characters? 

I think of supporting characters as the inner circle folks. Either close relatives and friends or people who have the most impact on my character’s life. I only spend time thinking deeply about those people—not the teacher who only shows up in one scene or the stranger on the bus. 

I try to make sure each supporting character brings something different to the story. If there’s too much overlap, one of them has to go.

2. What is the backstory of my supporting character(s)? 

I don’t go into great detail, after all it’s not their story. But I do want to establish where they’re coming from. 

Why do they have the dynamic they have with my main character? We bring the past with us, always. Either we’ve learned from it or we haven’t. I need to know a little bit about each character’s past so I can better write about their current circumstance.

3. Are my supporting characters competing with my main character? 

I don’t mean competition in a way enhances the storyline. I mean am I spending too much time developing a side character, when really I should be writing about my main character.  I try to be careful not to let my side characters outshine the main star.

4. Am I creating realistic relationships between my characters? 

No one is always loving, always mean. Relationships are complicated—friends are sometimes jealous of each other, parents make mistakes, teachers don’t always have the answer. I try to make layered relationships that have both bitter and sweet moments. Even if I create someone who really is the “villain” I make sure I mention how they got that way (see question 2).

There are many more questions I ponder and other strategies I use when writing a cast of characters. But these are the ones I find myself going back to story after story. Answering these questions—especially when I’m revising—helps me fine-tune the story and better understand my character and her world.

Renée Watson is the author of This Side of Home , which was nominated for the Best Fiction for Young Adults by the American Library Association. Her picture book, Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills , received several honors including an NAACP Image Award nomination in children’s literature. She is on the Council of Writers for the National Writing Project and is a team member of We Need Diverse Books. She currently teaches courses on writing for children at University of New Haven and Pine Manor College.

Road Trip to NaNo: Put Your Game Face On

NaNoWriMo is an international event, and the stories being written every year reflect our hundreds of participating regions. We’re taking a Road Trip to NaNo to hear from our amazing writers all around the world. Today, Colleen, our Municipal Liaison in the Green Bay region pushes you to fiercely prepare to tackle your novel:

Welcome to Titletown! One of the first things you notice when visiting our lovely city are the empty streets every game day. The next is our propensity to speak as if we are all members of the same team. “If we can just get through these injuries, we’ll definitely be in the playoffs.” The Green Bay Packers are an integral part of our identity.

Just like our favorite footballers, our creatives are fierce. We play through injuries. Persevere in bad weather. Absorb the hits and keep going.

Between the almost wins and ‘touchceptions,’ I’ve learned that there is more to winning NaNo (or a football game) than just sticking to it. Pushing through the difficult times is only one aspect. Even pantsers need a strategy to deal with the obstacles that are sure to arise.

Each day requires it’s own game plan.

Know your battles. Our season is only 30 days. Tackle each day one at a time. Your schedule during November will change day to day.

Winning every day isn’t vital. You just have to win most of your days. Few teams make it to the playoffs undefeated. Recognize that you’re going to be hit hard—that you’ll lose sometimes. There will be chilly, November nights when you get caught up finishing work or celebrating Thanksgiving. You may fall behind. Keep pushing. You can still get there.

Keep a few trick plays up your sleeve.

Make a list of 5 - 10 conflict ideas to pull out in a pinch. When you get stuck battling against writer’s block, hating your main character, or wondering why you ever started, pick one of those and push through. There are always a few common ones that work with any genre. I like to make a list of the worst things that could happen to the protagonist besides death.

Depend on your team.

The people you meet at in person or online write-ins can be your greatest teammates. Everyone is pushing for the same goal. They can coach you through the tough patches and cheer all the way to the finish line.

October is our pre-season. NaNo is closing in. Prime time. Go time. Put your game face on.

Colleen Riordan is a freelance writer, marketing consultant and co-ML of NaNoWriMo’s Green Bay, Wisconsin region. This is her second year as a municipal liaison and fourth year participating. She writes MG and YA fantasy and science fiction and is co-editor of the SCBWI Wisconsin blog. Find her at on Twitter and Instagram.

Top picture by Flickr user Phil Roeder