Chris Baty's Blog, page 172

Wrimos Around the World: Of Tomorrow's Stories, the Letter 'U', and Dialogue

One of the best parts of NaNoWriMo? The incredible community of writers that gathers every November. Today, we spotlight Joyce, a Young Writers Program participant who’s changing the world :

So, you were very involved in our Stories of Tomorrow campaign earlier this year. What made you decide to volunteer?

I could ramble on about how much NaNo has inspired and changed me, but I’ll stay on topic. (For once.) As some of you may know, the Young Writers Program has been fundraising for a new website, because the current one wasn’t built for the number of students and educators it now hosts. This project is called the Stories of Tomorrow campaign. (Yay! More writers! More young writers!) When I heard the aforementioned news, I wanted to help out, and do something in return for NaNo…

There are so many ways to fundraise, but I decided to stick to the topic of writing. Hence, I decided to organise a writing competition for children and young adults, with NaNo’s permission. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it all on my own though, and so I approached the library’s young adult leadership group, and they helped me put the plan into action.

In the end, we raised exactly $196 New Zealand dollars (which translates to about $160 US dollars), just from the gold-coin donation entries we received from all those budding young authors. Yay! 

Tell us about where you’ve been writing from! 

I hail from Middle Earth, surrounded by enchanting mountains and valleys, where dragons are your teachers of Mythology and Magic, and kiwi birds flying on broomsticks are not a rare occurrence—although they have to share the name with us people, as well.

We wear jandals (or flip-flops as you Americans call them) every day, in any weather—or skip the shoes and go barefoot. The best meal you could possibly think of is eating fish and chips on the beach. We ride our sheep with our heads held high. We are mighty, we are strong, and we’ll scare you all off with our haka and poi! 

…Alright, I’ll stop. Stereotypes and fantastical nonsense aside, salutations from New Zealand! 

A word of warning: the letter u is our best buddy, (our favourite letter probably) and we like inviting him to join the parade of words that don’t like him. After all, he’s quite social when you get to know him, despite being a trailer in the alphabet list. He likes being your neighbour, and therefore deserves an honourable mention.  Therefore I believe we should all include him a little more in our writing.

If you could be the undisputed champion of any genre, what would you want it to be? 

Fantasy, most definitely. While I admire authors of so many genres; fantasy is the genre I absolutely love to read and write, and it would be an absolute honour (see what I did there?) to become well known for it. 

What is one of your favorite lines of dialogue from any novel?

“‘Do you know why a vandal is worse than a thief?’ asked the man on the right, in a soft growl. ‘A thief steals a treasure from its owner. A vandal steals it from the world.’” 

― Frances Hardinge, A Face Like Glass

Frances Hardinge is one of my favourite authors, and I can’t even describe how brilliant she is. This line of dialogue illustrates one of her brilliances. 

Any parting advice for all of the writers out there, young and old? 

I’m simply going to say the important message you should be receiving from any writing and NaNo advice:

You should be writing.

And let me just add this: you can let yourself down, but don’t you dare let your characters down. 

Joyce, (or Kiwi, as she’s known throughout the YWP Forums, and blogosphere) is an aspiring author with a love of words. (And food.) She’s found that she’s a discovery writer throughout her writing journey so far; and is a befriender of dragons and a conqueror of plot bunnies. She’s a proud literary geek.

NaNo Coaches: The Specifics of Editing a NaNo-novel

This season, we’ve brought on published authors to serve as NaNo Coaches to help guide you to reaching 50,000 words. Last week’s NaNo Coach, Jessica Taylor, author of the forthcoming novel Wandering Wild, shares how to start thinking about revision:

We’re in the final week of NaNoWriMo and whatever you have to show for your efforts—whether that’s 50,000 words, 100,000 words, or one badass chapter—you’ve accomplished something amazing. You’ve written, and that takes a tremendous amount of courage and dedication. Many people only dream of writing, but you stayed the course and actually dared to write a novel.

Now that NaNo is coming to an end, many of you are thinking about the next step: publication. Editing a draft for publication requires a different kind of daring…

My best writing is always the result of turning off my inner editor and simply letting the story flow. In fact, I’ve written every novel I’ve completed under NaNo-like circumstances, meaning I’ve drafted each book in a month or less. Wandering Wild, my debut YA novel, was my 2012 NaNo project and it’s now slated for publication in fall of 2015 from Egmont USA. But—and this is the important part—from the last day of NaNoWriMo 2012 to the first time I sent Wandering Wild to my agent, the manuscript underwent a significant transformation.

I strongly believe in the importance of letting a draft sit for at least a month before tackling revisions. While my novel is marinating, my mind is still in writing mode, and I’m thinking of all the ways I could have written more compelling characters, or ways to strengthen the plot. This not-writing period is sometimes the most important part of the process for me because when I open the document again—a month or two later—I’m revising with a clear head, and most importantly, with direction.

Editing a NaNo novel can require a different skill set because what we value in good writing—tightness and brevity—aren’t considered when we’re cranking out 50,000 words within a month. In the days and weeks after NaNo, my words still feel precious because I vividly remember how hard I worked to create them. This is not a good mindset for revision, and this is another reason why I let my drafts sit.

What I’m often looking for when revising are the places where I overwrote and the places where I underwrote. Writing fast usually means I overwrite backstory and description (it’s just so dense and I love to see the word count climbing). The parts I underwrite are transitions between scenes, action attribution, and the lulls (the ones the story should have). Basically… the necessary but boring parts.

Revision, just like drafting, can sometimes feel soul crushing. One piece of advice I’ve doled out over and over again as a NaNo Coach is this: In your darkest hours, when you’re facing writer’s block or rejection or self doubt, think back on the day you said to yourself, “Yes, I will write this book.” Whether you’re revising or fighting to see your novel in print, it’s remembering that over-the-moon-in-love-with-this-story feeling that will keep you and your story going,

Jessica Taylor is a young adult novelist who adores sleepy southern settings, unrequited love, and characters who sneak out late at night. She lives in Northern California with a sweet-yet-spoiled dog and many teetering towers of books. Her young adult magical realism debut, Wandering Wild, is slated for fall 2015 release from Egmont USA. Find her on Twitter @JessicaTaylorYA.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2014: Day 30 with Designer Debbie Millman

30 Covers, 30 Days is back! What is 30C30D? We match up 30 professional designers with 30 NaNoWriMo participants, and challenge the designers to create a book cover in 48 hours or less, based solely on that participants’ 2014 NaNo-novel synopsis.

The NaNo-novel: Double Clutch

In 1943, Louise Lomax is offered a chance to play baseball professionally. She’ll do anything to make the team. She plays hard, bites her tongue, and follows all the rules. As she becomes one of the league’s brightest stars, she needs help shining off the field as much as she does at shortstop. The team’s owner asks his glamorous but wild daughter Victoria to help Louise become more comfortable in the spotlight; but as the two women spend more time together, their friendship blossoms.

Being the face of the league while carrying on a secret—and expressly forbidden—romance with the team owner’s daughter is a dangerous game for Louise to play. It’s only a matter of time before she loses something she loves.

The Genre: Romance

The Author: Lucy Hallowell in USA :: Massachusetts :: Boston

The Designer: Debbie Millman is a designer, author, educator and strategist. She is host of the award-winning podcast “Design Matters,” President of the design division at Sterling Brands, Chair of the world’s first Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts, President Emeritus of AIGA, and a contributing editor at Print Magazine. She is the author of six books on design and branding. This is her third year curating 30D30C for NaNoWriMo, which gives her great joy.

High-Resolution Book Art:

The NaNoWriMo Guilt Monkey

The NaNoWriMo Guilt Monkey

30 Covers, 30 Days 2014: Day 29 with Designer Tanner Woodford

30 Covers, 30 Days is back! What is 30C30D? We match up 30 professional designers with 30 NaNoWriMo participants, and challenge the designers to create a book cover in 48 hours or less, based solely on that participants’ 2014 NaNo-novel synopsis.

The NaNo-novel: On the Other Side

On the other side of the cool, smooth surface of a mirror is another world inhabited by shapeshifters. They work night and day to keep people from our world out of their own, imitating the humans’ every move, and pushing them away from the surface with their cold hands. 

They have control of the time of our world, and like it that way. But some of them are getting restless and are displeased with the never ending job.

Chanim is a shapeshifter boy of the mirror world, who is about to graduate from his last year of training. Then a human girl manages to break through the portal while he is on duty, and the little of the peaceful atmosphere that exists in his world is shattered.

The Genre: Fantasy

The Author: truemi, Young Writers Program participant in the United States.

The Designer: Tanner Woodford is co-founder and executive director of the Chicago Design Museum, and teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Design from Arizona State University, and a patent for product design at Intel. He believes in taking calculated risks, and was taught to leave everything—objects, relationships and ideas—better than when they were found.

High-Resolution Book Art:

Close-up of Foil Text Treatment:

Young Writer Chronicles: Finding Success In Unlikely Places

Every November, our Young Writers Program works with 100,000 students and educators, and 2,000 classrooms around the world. Today, Selena Gallagher shares how the YWP turned the students at the International School Bangkok into writers:

This is my fourth year running NaNoWriMo with elementary students, and every year I never fail to be amazed by the excitement that is generated by this project. Teachers and parents alike have been completely taken by surprise by the writing fever that grips the participating students during October and November, even amongst those previously labeled as ‘reluctant writers’.

We have a number of very talented young writers who thrive within the ‘structured freedom’ of NaNoWriMo, but the biggest transformations have come from students who struggle with learning but have been able to succeed at a task that many thought was beyond them…

In my role as Challenge and Enrichment Specialist I have the ability to bring NaNoWriMo to a very wide audience. I start with classroom visits in October, visiting each class in grades 3-5 to introduce the project. This year, a couple of our classroom teachers are taking on the challenge as a whole class, but for the most part, students have the option to sign up individually. This year we have around 180 elementary students taking part!

My biggest challenge is in trying to support so many young writers. This year I ran a parent workshop at the end of October, so parents are better informed and more able to support their children at home. The overwhelming attendance at the workshop shows that parents are just as excited by this opportunity as their children are.

For the month of November we take over the tech zone in our elementary library, and that’s where we have our progress charts so they are as visible as possible to the whole school community. We try to provide as many opportunities as possible for students to work on their novels, but for the students who come to the lunchtime writing sessions it’s as much about being part of a supportive writing community as it is about adding another hundred words to their word count.

The Young Writers Program turns students into writers. It’s as simple as that. No matter where they start, by the end of the month they are authors.

Selena Gallagher is an English/Australian educator working in Thailand, and is the PK-12 Challenge and Enrichment Specialist at International School Bangkok. The longest thing she’s ever written was her PhD thesis on gifted education: 130,000 words, but it took longer than a month and is not a best-seller!

30 Covers, 30 Days 2014: Day 27 with Designer Emily Weiland

30 Covers, 30 Days is back! What is 30C30D? We match up 30 professional designers with 30 NaNoWriMo participants, and challenge the designers to create a book cover in 48 hours or less, based solely on that participants’ 2014 NaNo-novel synopsis.

The NaNo-novel: Forgotten Parts of Galaxies

On a list of things that Lyra is not, “human” is the crowning item. She’s spent her life trying to ignore one half of herself, but she can’t escape the fact that she’s a remix, a hybrid. She can’t ignore that her best friend Cole Meridian hates remixes like nothing else. She’s sick of hiding, but what choice does she have?

The Genre: Science Fiction

The Author: almostviki, Young Writers Program participant in the United States.

The Designer: 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.

High-Resolution Book Art:

30 Covers, 30 Days 2014: Day 26 with Designer Mark Dudlik

30 Covers, 30 Days is back! What is 30C30D? We match up 30 professional designers with 30 NaNoWriMo participants, and challenge the designers to create a book cover in 48 hours or less, based solely on that participants’ 2014 NaNo-novel synopsis.

The NaNo-novel: False History

Gwen Hartley works as a Verifier—she reads objects, usually antiques, for private collectors, universities, and the police. She can tell how old something is, if it was used for violence, and other useful things that people want to know.

Problem is, she’s not entirely sure which of those clients is the reason she was attacked and left for dead by the side of the road. So she takes her vampire girlfriend, Bronwyn, who is almost offensively girly and absolute magic with coffee and lies, and decides to figure out what is going on.

And kick their asses, of course. A girl has a reputation to uphold, after all.

The Genre: Horror & Supernatural

The Author: AC Carver in USA :: Pennsylvania :: Philadelphia

The Designer: Mark Dudlik was once asked to provide a brief bio.

High-Resolution Book Art:

In Case of Inspiration Emergency: Focus on the Truth

Whether you’re a planner or not, there’s one thing every writer will need as they prepare for NaNoWriMo: inspiration. We’ve challenged some of our favorite authors and the NaNo staff to inspire you by sharing what’s inspired them… and challenging you to prepare a specific jumpstart for your writing:

The Inspirer: Sabaa Tahir, author of An Ember In the Ashes

The Inspiration Sources:

Battlestar Galactica (2004)
"The Drafting of One Art", by Brett Candlish Millier

The Sparrow  by Mary Doria Russell

The Jumpstart: Have your characters tell their most human truths. Perfect later.

Why This Will Inspire You: These creations made me see storytelling in a brand new way: focusing in on human stories, truth-telling, and working painstakingly on your writing.

Battlestar Galactica (2004)

Battlestar Galactica is a military/sci-fi television show that lasted for four seasons that I binge-watched in a couple of months. It was the first time I’d seen a show that so sleekly packaged adventure, science fiction, spirituality, character development, violence, war, and romance.

As a high-concept series with tight plotting, Battlestar Galactica helped me learn that genre-based creations can draw in broad audiences by focusing on and emphasizing the human story.

“The Drafting of One Art”, by Brett Candlish Millier (from The Writer’s Home Companion) 

This book of essays is wonderful and I recommend it to any writer, no matter where you are in the journey. Specifically, though, Millier’s essay on my now-favorite poem, Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art”, was my first true understanding of what it meant to revise something.

I read the essay in my teens and found myself coming back to it over and over, particularly while writing and revising An Ember in the Ashes (a multi-year process). Though the essay is a bit academic, it’s worth a slow, careful read in December for all the little nuggets about what it means to work on something until it’s as perfect as you can get it. 

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

When I see something in a book that I want to remember, I upturn the bottom corner of the page so I can find it easily. About half the pages in this novel are turned up. 

Though often classified as a science-fiction book, The Sparrow is a genre mash-up—my favorite kind of novel. It touches on questions of morality, faith, philosophy, family and humanity. The novel switches between two time periods, telling the tale of man’s first (and ill-fated) mission to a distant planet, as well as the story of one of the mission’s survivors, a Jesuit priest dealing with a crisis of faith, to say the least.

The characterization is incredible, the world-building top notch; I think any reader will learn a ton about both from this novel. But the main thing I learned from The Sparrow is that a writer’s power lies in truth. That truth can be beautiful, but it’s often harsh and ugly. Telling it means not pulling your punches when it comes to your characters. And as difficult as that can be to write, the effort is worth it.

Sabaa Tahir was born in London but grew up in California’s Mojave Desert at her family’s 18-room motel. After graduating from UCLA, Sabaa became an editor on the foreign desk at The Post. Three summers later, she came up with the concept for her debut novel, An Ember in the Ashes. Sabaa currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family. You can follow her on Twitter. Her debut novel, An Ember in the Ashes, is out from Razorbill/Penguin on April 28, 2015.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2014: Day 25 with Designer Sarah Thomas

30 Covers, 30 Days is back! What is 30C30D? We match up 30 professional designers with 30 NaNoWriMo participants, and challenge the designers to create a book cover in 48 hours or less, based solely on that participants’ 2014 NaNo-novel synopsis.

The NaNo-novel: Companions

Lara Skye has been postponing her Pairing test for years. Not because she didn’t want her own animal pal, but because she didn’t think she was ready. However, after the discovery of her poison-making skills, Lara decided she was mature enough to get her own Companion.

When she’s paired with a cheetah, Ember, who seemingly contradicts Lara in most every way, she has no idea why they were put together. Hoping she’ll learn why, she joins the International Animal-Assisted Corps with Ember at her side.

The Corps are a force usually used just for show because the world is mostly at peace. However, trouble is brewing. A man wrongly accused of abusing his Companion strikes out at the Corps—and aims to kill.

The Genre: Fantasy

The Author: Storm_Skywing, Young Writers Program participant in the United States.

The Designer: Sarah Thomas is a visual designer working in Austin, Texas. She is passionate about design and is always learning new ways to better her craft. When she’s not working, she’s drinking whiskey with friends, concerting, or adventuring with her pet rock, Cliff.

High-Resolution Book Art: