Chris Baty's Blog, page 198

30 Covers, 30 Days: Day 28

Today’s cover was designed by Kyle Hildebrant, inspired by a synopsis written by Josiah Sloan.

Catabasis by Josiah Sloan

A tormented writer is torn between the woebegone nature of reality and the intrinsic ideality of the people and worlds he creates.

An old man and a dying girl feebly survive in an apocalypse that exists in the forgotten past.

A dementedly likable and soulful murderer slaughters and then finds a sense of camaraderie with his victims.

Three separate stories that grow more and more interconnected as the character’s lives slowly fall apart and disband into a suspended state of mutual entropy. 

About the Designer

Kyle Hildebrant is a designer, brand strategist and a founding partner of OVO. OVO is an accomplished branding agency, carefully assembled to solve complex brand marketing and communication challenges. Specializing in research, strategy and identity, OVO consults, writes and designs for businesses seeking to grow. When not tending to matters of design, he can be found on Instagram discussing all things food, fermentation, and charcuterie. 

Come Write In Anywhere! Hannah Ackroyd on Balancing School and Your Novel

Our Come Write In program has partnered with bookstores and libraries around the world for four years. This November, for the first time, we’re welcoming community spaces of all kinds to become novel-writing havens.  Development Intern Steven Genise sat down with fellow student Hannah Ackroyd from the University of Hull to discuss life as the treasurer of her university’s NaNoWriMo Club:

Tell me a little bit more about the University of Hull and its history with NaNoWriMo!

As far as I am aware, this is the first time that an official group has been formed at the university to take part in NaNo, but over the last few years several students have taken part as individuals.

Hull has a thriving literary community, with many local authors selling vast quantities of their books, and we are fortunate that many of them are supporting us throughout the month by running workshops for our participants. There have been two workshops so far, and at the end of the month we’re going to hold an open mic night for people to share their creative works.

Recently, Hull was chosen to be the 2017 City of Culture for the UK, so we’re hoping for many more literary events to come!

I know that the life of a student is already highly-caffeinated and rather sleepless. What advice do you have for other students that will be noveling while dealing with college?

It is vital to reach your daily word count every day, because, once you start getting behind, it is so much work to catch up. This can seem like an impossible task for busy students, but it is surprising how many words you can snatch throughout your day.

Carry a notebook everywhere, then—between classes, riding on the bus, over every coffee break (there is always time for coffee…)—you can frantically scribble odd lines and paragraphs as they come to you.
In free classes, set up a laptop and type up what you have (you’ll be surprised how much is there!) then use it as inspiration to help you meet the rest of your word count for the day.
Also, don’t try and edit things. If you spent too much time dwelling over the exact word you want to use, you will probably lose out on the time that you could have written one hundred words.

Were you always familiar with our NaNo University program? What are you adopting for your campus?

I found out about your programme from reading about it online. We have our own mini NaNo club. We’re helping each other with word counts and keeping motivated. We’re also encouraging students to try poetry writing, or song writing, or anything creative at all this November.

What kind of things do you do to plan your novel?

I’m not much of a planner when it comes to creative writing, I have found that the most rewarding way to write is to let the character surprise you. Last year I signed up with only an opening paragraph in mind, then went from there.

I don’t write chronologically; I write random scenes as they come to mind and then I slot them together and fill in the gaps at the end. I felt that this was a successful way of tackling NaNo last year as, on the days where I was really stuck for inspiration, I just wrote anything, even if I didn’t think it would fit in with my novel. I was pleasantly surprised that, every time, my character made an appearance and took over the action.

Is it true that students in England are only allowed by law to drink tea on campus under pain of expulsion?

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Students in England drink just as much coffee and Red Bull (probably together) as much as anywhere else. Coffee is the most common beverage consumed on  campus, with a conveniently located coffee shop or machine located in every building on site.

There are also several bars and shops where you can buy soft drinks and alcohol at the University, so, fortunately, we’re not just limited to tea (which is good since I don’t like tea…)

30 Covers, 30 Days: Day 27

Today’s cover was designed by me, Hannah Rubin, and was inspired by Lyudmyla Mayorska’s synopsis.

NANNY MORTO by Lyudmyla Mayorska

Only Eva and Phillip see the elegant looking lady, their new nanny, as a skeleton—smooth skull for a face, bony fingers under the velvet gloves.

Trips to the cemetery to send strange letters with black balloons, going to the beach with pouring rain overhead, and antique stores become their new routine and pass time. The children slowly warm up to their strange caretaker and fully embrace the presence of her pet pig Faust.

However, Nanny Morto comes with a secret. She is here to earn her death angel wings, and needs a soul of a child to get them. She must choose one of the siblings to complete the task, and by the end of the book—she does.

About the Designer

Hannah Rubin is currently the Editorial Associate at National Novel Writing Month. She recently graduated from Wesleyan University, where she studied Writing, Studio Art, and American History. Her writing and design has appeared in The Jewish Daily Forward, New Voices and 48 Hour Magazine. When she isn’t struggling towards her 50K she is probably bicycling faux-leisurely down Telegraph Avenue, napping, or doodling in the margins. 

NaNo Coach: When Writing, There Are No Rules, Only Tools

This season, we’ve brought on published authors to serve as NaNo Coaches to help guide you to reaching 50,000 words. Our third NaNo Coach, best-selling author Jason Hough, shares his words of wisdom:

Being the NaNo Coach for the third week in November filled me with a bit of anxiety. What sort of advice would people need that far in? Surely steadfast habits would be formed and stories sorted by then. In many ways I feared that any advice I could give, however valid, would only derail those asking for it.

To my surprise and delight, there were plenty of great questions and concerns to help with. While many sought encouragement, which I happily-if-awkwardly gave, I was extremely pleased to find that often others in the community had chimed in as well with stellar pep-tweets. This gave me warm pangs of nostalgia for NaNoWriMo—the community it fosters is truly remarkable.

Here’s a sampling of the questions I received, and my responses, which I’ll thankfully be able to elaborate on here:

@KDSpyKidD3: Could you offer some words of encouragement? I’m currently at 11K and trying hard to catch up.

Like any marathon, by this point in the race the pack is starting to spread out, and some are beginning to see the finish line as impossible to reach. It’s tough to offer grounded support when you don’t know the specifics of why someone has fallen behind—is it because they’ve lost interest in their story, or because they have school, or family, or a demanding job? NaNoWriMo is a time-demanding project, almost three hours a day, in my case. I remember how difficult it was, that first year, to fit it in every single day because of how much time it took.

What I suggested to Chris and many others were a handful of basic tips:

Do anything you can to squash your natural desire to edit. I’ve read it takes as much as 20 minutes to truly regain concentration after being distracted. Find ways to avoid this! Turn off spell check, turn off grammar check. Go full screen. Unplug your Internet. Some things I’ll add now:  set your phone to silent (or off!) while writing. If you use an email app that “dings” when you get a message, shut it down.
If you’re stalled, try changing small things. Move to a different room, or go to a coffee shop, to write.  Play different music!  I learned early on I cannot write if I’m listening to music with vocals, so now I listen to movie soundtracks.
For writers block, immerse yourself in information and inspiration. Go to a library or bookstore, even a movie, without any real agenda, and just feed yourself on ideas.

@TheKennethHayes20: does the plot have to be finished by November or just have to reach 50k?

During my first NaNo in 2007, I also mistakenly assumed the goal was a complete novel of roughly 50k words, and I had to contrive my story to end there, much to its detriment. What I realized soon after that, which is also explained in NaNoWriMo’s FAQ, is that you’re just trying to write 50k words. This can be the start of a much longer novel, or portions of two short novels… whatever makes sense for you.

Some people noted their story would end at 35k or 40k words.  My feeling is if that’s where your story ends, so be it.  Fill out the rest of the 50k with a short story or two!

@faroop: My MC has confession to make to spouse & I’m thinking of leaving scene out, only showing consequences. Can that work?

What I’d like to discuss here is the overall theme of “Can this work?” or “What’s the rule?”-type questions, which came up often.

As Matthew Pallamary, one of my writing coaches, put it: “When it comes to writing, there are no rules, only tools.”

This phrase has stuck with me for years, and if there’s one thing I’d like people to take away from my NaNo Coach week it is exactly that. Many of you are just beginning your journey as a writer. You’ll get mountains of advice, often contradictory. Because of the concentrated energy of NaNoWriMo’s pace, November is the perfect test bed for trying things. You’re learning what sort of writer you are, so embrace that. Try advice that appeals to you, and ignore the rest.

To conclude, let’s talk about the dreaded 50k goal. It’s frustrating when I see people say they’re dropping out because they’ve fallen too far behind. First, keep in mind that NaNoWriMo’s pace of 1667 words per day is very aggressive. I’m a professional author and my daily output averages around half that. So, really, don’t feel like you’re not cutting it as a writer just because you fell behind.  You’re writing, and that’s what actually matters.

I’d love to see everyone hit 50k, but what I would love even more is if you simply keep going. Write as much as you can so that, in the end, whatever the word counter says, what you’ve really done is written as much as you can for an entire month. Formed a writing habit, in other words. As far as I’m concerned that’s the single most important thing you can take away with you when November ends.

30 Covers, 30 Days: Day 26

Today’s cover was designed by our (amazing) 30C30D project coordinator Debbie Millman. Her cover was inspired by a synopsis written by Donna Wojcik:

Seductive Geometry by Donna Wojcik

Aristotle Lieberman, a Chicago cab driver, lover of baseball, aficionado of women, and devotee of geometry, believes it is his life’s purpose to intersect the lives of those who need to find a common point in order to discover their own missions. 

He is challenged when his former lover, an artist, needs to collaborate with a scientist in order to stop the decimation of Africa’s flamingo population. Angles and lines become increasingly important when a Masai shaman seeks to prevent this art/science convergence in order to circumvent an ancient prophecy of doom.

The hesitant artist and reluctant scientist play out as chaos factors in a game of environmental algebra, leading to the poisoning of one and the transformation of the other. The equation of life must be rebalanced, for the point, after all, is everything… and Aristotle Lieberman knows just where to place it.

About the Designer

Debbie Millman is President of the design division at Sterling Brands. She has been there for 18 years and in that time she has worked on the redesign of over 200 global brands. 

Debbie is President Emeritus of AIGA, the largest professional association for design. She is a contributing editor at Print Magazine and Co-Founder and Chair of the world’s first Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

In 2005, she began hosting, “Design Matters,” the first podcast about design on the Internet. In 2011, the show was awarded a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award. She is the author of six books on design and branding. Her latest book, Self-Portrait As Your Traitor, was published in November. Last year, an exhibition of her visual essays debuted at the Chicago Design Museum.

Five Tips for NaNoWriMo: Week Four

NaNoWriMo’s Office Captain and Event Coordinator, Shelby Gibbs, wants you to learn from her mistakes as you race to finish your novel:

There are five (fairly) simple steps that can make or break your word count. As someone who’s going to “lose” NaNoWriMo this year, these are the things I have thus far failed to do, but that can undoubtedly push you into the winner’s circle. Learn from my mistakes:

I didn’t keep up with my writing pace.
I didn’t embrace the plot bunnies.
I stopped writing with my friends.
I didn’t use effective writing rewards.
I won’t be validating my novel for an official win.

NUMBER ONE: Keep up and write regularly.

As we embark on this final week, remember to keep up your daily pace! Missing just a couple days can be the difference between sweet success and hanging out with sad Office Captain Shelby.

You see, I was doing quite fine, thank you very much, until week two. Yes, the dreaded week two did me dirty. But it’s not the writer’s block that will do you in. Oh no, it’s the voice in your head that says: “It can wait until tomorrow; I’ve done so much at work today.”

It was this thinking that took me from being 2,000 words behind my goal to 20,000 behind. It’s a slippery slope out there, and a mighty deep hole out of which to dig.

NUMBER TWO: Embrace the plot bunnies.

Maybe you plotted and outlined so furiously that when a gem of an idea came into your brain late in the game you felt compelled to stifle it: please don’t! Don’t be afraid to throw in some flat tires or exploding bridges in this last run. Nothing makes the fun happen like an exploding bridge.

I realize now that my troubles actually started when my story started to lag and I refused to change it up; I was married to the nuances of my plot that I thought would carry my novel. A rookie mistake. Rather than taking my leading lady to some new, un-outlined territory, she was stuck on a bus going from Reno to Emeryville for too, too many pages.

NUMBER THREE: Write with your friends.

If your Week Three made writing feel like a chore, throw some spice in the mix and have a writing party with your closest Wrimo friends. I can attest that many of them will bring tasty treats such as homemade salsa or pizza. (Yum!)

My roommates, former interns Ari Asercion and Hilary Flood, are NaNo veterans. Ari is the major trooper; She writes every day, at every free moment, whether she wants to or not. We had many solid write-ins at our apartment where the words flowed out of my pen effortlessly. It was the most at peace I’d ever felt writing. We even have an awesome progress chart hanging in the hall!

When I started to put in more hours at the office gearing up for the Night of Writing Dangerously, I started missing these write-ins; as a result, both my novel (and my social life) suffered.

NUMBER FOUR: Stick with moderate, writer-approved indulgences.

Now, I’m certainly not above self-bribery. A chocolate for every 1,000 words? Some hot cocoa to get you through those next 5 pages? Something stronger to get the words flowing more fruitfully? Whatever your treat of choice, be sure you’re not overdoing it to make that reward moot!

I can attest that the mountain of Halloween candy Ari, Hilary, and I went through in Week One left us rather averse to chocolatey bribes by the middle of Week Two. And besides, you have to save something for the TGIO (Thank God It’s Over) party!

NUMBER FIVE: Track your novel & validate starting today!

This might be the easiest part if you’re looking for a glory-filled purple bar on your NaNoWriMo profile come November 30. You can officially win starting Monday, November 25.

First, be sure you’ve created a novel for November. Then, in the My NaNoWriMo menu, click on “Validate My Novel” and copy the entire text of your 50,000-word novel, and paste it into the validator. Click “Validate,” and bask in the glory of your finished novel!

We’ll see you at the finish line!

Shelby

30 Covers, 30 Days: Day 25

Today’s cover was designed by Jill Spaeth, inspired by a synopsis written by Michelle Kelley:

Racer by Michelle Kelley

In a world ruled by the Talented, Amy McPier’s only goal is to appear Talentless.

If she had a useful Talent, like Music or Science, Amy wouldn’t have a problem if others knew it. However, her Talent is Speed, the ability to be fast at anything she wants. Anyone who has Speed is put into the Race Circuit, the only “acceptable” job for one with such a Talent. The same job that killed her father years before. To be Talentless is a lot better than to let anyone know of her Speed. But when she gets caught using her Talent, Amy is forcibly taken from her home and brought to the Race Circuit Center.

There, she picks a new name for herself, Aims, and the officials implant a computer chip into her brain. A sarcastic program named Maxx begins to instruct Aims in using her Talent. With Maxx inside her, a word from Aims can turn Maxx into any racing machine she deems. A few months of training and Aims is in the Circuit, racing to the finish line with sponsors either cheering her on or plotting her losses. But the longer she is in the Circuit, the more she begins to unravel a dark truth about why the Circuit was created, the reason why her father was killed. Amy suddenly has a new goal:

Survive the Race Circuit and stop the slaughter of the Talented.

About the Designer

Jill Spaeth is President and Director of Design at Citizen Creative a firm she started in March 2010 where the name “Citizen” represents an allegiance to gorgeous and thoughtful design solutions. Jill is passionate about her work as an experience designer. She is often found collaborating with architects to enhance the built environment by incorporating visual elements that convey a message, share a story and direct individuals to their destination. Jill is also the Chief Creative Officer at Zansors, a DC based start-up that develops and delivers innovative technologies and applications that improve healthcare.

Jill has served on AIGA DC’s Board of Directors for five years and recently completed her second year as the nation’s youngest chapter president. During her tenure as AIGA DC President, Jill worked with the board of directors to transform AIGA DC’s biennial design show, AIGA 50, into the most “exposed” show yet. In 2007 she along with the board of directors and advisors founded the AIGA DC Design Continuum Fund with the goal of increasing diversity in our profession by helping under-represented future designers go to college. Since it’s inception, the fund has given more than $30,000 in scholarships to local students.

30 Covers, 30 Days: Day 24

Today’s cover was designed by Ari Asercion, based off of the synopsis written by Elizabeth White:

The Piper’s Song by Elizabeth White

Kyra is part of the Piper family, a descendant of the Pied Piper. She has just broken the first family rule and used music on an innocent.

Now she must learn to control her music before she hurts anyone else or herself, find a Master to apprentice to so her uncle doesn’t take her power, and become a master Piper before she can exact her revenge on the Piper chiefs that have never been brought to justice for their crimes. In the Pipers’ code a deal’s a deal that must be fulfilled, no matter the price.

About the Designer

Ari Asercion is a writer and designer who graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz after studying creative writing amidst the deer, the beaches, and the redwoods. She has since returned home to the East Bay Area where she writes, and works, and eats a lot of ramen. Her greatest loves include tea drinking, video games, blues guitar, design, and technology. This is her fifth year participating in NaNoWriMo. When not participating in NaNoWriMo, she is usually contributing to the social justice and media site, Be Young & Shut Up.

30 Covers, 30 Days: Day 23

Today’s cover was designed by Jennifer and Ken Visocky O’Grady, based off of a synopsis written by Young Writer Kamily Bennard:

-104 by Kamily Bennard

Kierstan Royal, a resident of the Last Colony on what remains of earth, has more or less resigned himself to his fate as a tour guide to the aliens that come to gloat over the wreckage of his home.

But when he and Cinnae Arche-tec, a half-human girl from a drifter colony a few galaxies over, discover that someone is actually planning to blow up the planet, he knows that he has to stop them. Even if he has to, say, stow away on a smuggler’s ship, break into a high-security prison, and get beat up a little… or a lot. Whichever. 

Point is, he’s—oh all right, and Cinnae is, too—going to save the world.

About the Designers

Jenn + Ken Visocky O’Grady are partners in work and life. Jenn is a Professor and Chair of the Art Department at Cleveland State University, and Ken an Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator in the School of Visual Communication Design at Kent State University. Their work appears in numerous books and magazines, and together they have co-authored Design Currency, The Information Design Handbook, and A Designer’s Research Manual (which is suggested reading for the research portion of the Canadian Registered Graphic Designers exam). Through their work, the couple strives to make academic concepts approachable while celebrating the power, impact, and potential of 
good design.  

The pair travel North America as consultants; present workshops and lectures at creative industry events including those by AIGA, HOW, and RGD; and promote the value of design to external groups, like NASA, and the Canadian Institute For Advanced Research (CIFAR). 

Born-and-raised Clevelanders, the Visocky O’Grady’s proudly claim Ohio as home. They’ve been waiting a long time for an opportunity to combine their love of sci-fi, pulp fiction and design (Thanks, NaNoWriMo). 

Lulu.com: Let's Go Wrimos! Inspiration and the Accelerator Program

As an official NaNoWriMo sponsor this year, Lulu.com did something special to keep Wrimos motivated through November and beyond! Hence the creation of LetsGoWrimos.com, a site dedicated to providing NaNoWriMo participants all over the world with daily inspirational resources, including author advice videos, interactive polls and daily blogs on all things writing.

In addition, Lulu launched the Wrimo Accelerator Program where all Wrimos who apply for the accelerator get a free manuscript review and First Edition Hardcover of your book. Now that we are a little over half-way through NaNoWriMo 2013, Lulu wants to provide you with the best of the best of the last two weeks. LET’S GO WRIMOS!

Inspiration that kept you going

Writers…what my mom thinks I do
Challenge Accepted
Stephen King: Keep Going
Snoopy…writing is hard!
I @*$&#) LOVE WRITING

Most viewed videos

1. Always Keep Going

2. Anne Rice’s Best Advice for Authors

3. Neil Gaiman - Make Good Art

See more LetsGoWrimos videos here.

A little bit about the Wrimo experience

Based on the great feedback we’ve received on our daily Wrimo polls, here’s a little bit of what you taught us:

Many of you are first-time Wrimos!

Forget the classic typewriter or even the innovative tablet, over 75% of Wrimos are cranking out their books on laptops.
Music is keeping you going! Majority of Wrimos rely on a solid playlist to keep the words flowing!
Top reason for becoming a Wrimo this year: I’ve been wanting to write a book forever and this is just the thing to motivate me
Over half of you are still continuing to read other books while participating in NaNoWriMo (How do you have time?!?)

Don’t worry! There are still plenty more blogs, videos, polls, and inspirations to come. And of course, all of this content t is always available at LetsGoWrimos.com. Good luck!