Wrimos Around the World: “Swallow Your Fears and Keep Moving.”

One of the best parts of NaNoWriMo is the incredible community of writers behind it. Today, Lise Quintana,

creator of the Lithomobilus platform and head of Zoetic Press, shares how the lessons she’s learned from NaNoWriMo have applied to her many entrepreneurial projects:

When did you first participate in NaNo, and what drew you to it?

I found NaNoWriMo in 2002, when a colleague emailed me an article in early October saying “These people are crazy.” I signed up before I responded to his email. For my first NaNoWriMo, I have to admit: I cheated. I started writing in mid-October, and by Halloween, I had something like 15,000 words because I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to finish on time, and I’m a very competitive person…

Then in the wee hours of the morning of November 1, my grandmother died. I abandoned my original story and began writing something different for her. I took a few days off to drive to Phoenix for her memorial, and I dictated my story to my husband, who typed it on my laptop while I drove. Then just before Thanksgiving, I was laid off from my job, and I threw myself into the story even more. In fact, my next job came as a result of a person I met at a NaNoWriMo write-in. I ended the month with 130,000 words, but still spent until January finishing that novel.  

What are the most important creative lessons you’ve learned from NaNo? Have those lessons influenced your life at large? 

The most important lesson I’ve learned is that you can’t move to the second stage of a project until you’ve finished the first. You can’t edit your novel if you haven’t finished a first draft. You can’t start marketing a product that’s still in development. 

The second biggest lesson has been that I need to swallow my fears and keep moving. There have been so many times when I’ve thought “I don’t know what I’m doing,” but I’ve learned that progress is only made when you’ve ventured out of your comfort zone. No one has ever written the story I’m writing before, and it scares me. No one has ever created the projects I’m creating. I’m the only one who can do these things. 

If you could describe the novel you’re currently working on in the manner of a Don LaFontaine voice-over, what would that sound like?

First, this is absolutely the best exercise I’ve ever done in terms of creating a summary. Okay, here goes: 

In a world where being yourself risks not just your life, but your immortal soul, one man will take on the town, the Church, and God for the one he loves.  

Your life as a writer has led you to become an entrepreneur. Can you tell us what Lithomobilus is?

My 2010 NaNo-novel was a fantasy novel that had six point-of-view characters in three places in my fictional world. The dilemma I faced was that no matter what I was writing, there was always action going on somewhere else I felt the reader would miss out on. 

I got to thinking about creating a huge novel with many points of view and allowing the reader to follow the action however they wanted, but realized that there was no way to display that. I come from a strong DIY background, and when I discovered that the thing I needed didn’t exist, I set out to make it.

You also founded Zoetic Press. Does selecting stories to publish and working with authors influence your own writing? 

It’s less that it influences my own writing, and more that my writing gives me confidence in my abilities as an editor, and my editing gives me confidence in my writing. 

One of the most important parts of being an editor is being able to understand specifically where a piece doesn’t work for me. Maybe I don’t connect with the main character, or maybe the sentences are too repetitively structured, or maybe the imagery is flat. As an editor, you can’t be a lazy reader and just say “I didn’t like it.” You have to do better than that.

As a writer, I can think back to everything I’ve edited and put that into practice. Vary the length and structure of my sentences. Make sure that every image I use furthers my novel’s themes and motifs. Construct my narrative to keep the reader following along, eager for the next sentence.  

You’re going to be a volunteer Municipal Liaison for NaNoWriMo this year! How does writing with others help one’s creativity?

I’ve never had a problem with creativity, but I do know that having a room full of people around allows you to shout out “What should I name my 12-year-old Inuit ninja?" 

And someone will yell out a name, and then someone else will say "That’s not Inuit, that’s Tlingit,” because writers know some pretty obscure stuff. 

And that inspires everyone in the room to add something to their story. The plot bunnies and word sprints and writing prompts are amazing for those who maybe come into it more to have a fun community of writers. 

For me, the most important part isn’t the creativity—it’s being given permission to focus on nothing else than writing. That’s the hardest thing in the world as the head of two companies and a person with a family—carving out that time and not feeling guilty about it. When you’re heads-down with twenty other people, everyone is supporting you in doing nothing but writing. That’s so valuable.

What should people expect when they start writing with others?

If you’re a writer, the thing you should expect is silliness. I’ve never been in a large group of writers where there wasn’t a huge amount of merriment and laughter. I think it’s partly just the relief of no longer being the weirdo in the group—we’re all the weirdo in the group, and we’re running with it.

Next, you should expect that when you’ve got your headphones on and you’re really going, we know enough to leave you alone. And then when you look up and shout “I just finished another thousand words,” we’ll cheer for you. 

If you’re not a writer, expect to see an entire room full of people not speaking to each other. Everyone will have their laptop/pad of paper/patch of bare skin, and will be furiously writing away. Most will have headphones on listening to music as they write. And for long stretches of time, they won’t be talking to one another. And they’re all having the time of their lives.  

What’s the most important piece of advice that you have for any reader and/or writer?

There will be times that you want to cry for your characters. Cry. There will be times that you are angry at them. Hit something. There will be times that you want to laugh at, with, or for them. Laugh. Let the emotions of your story really, truly affect you, because those tears, that anger, that laughter will absolutely show on the page. If it didn’t move you, it’s never going to move anyone else. The first person who should be emotionally overwhelmed by your book is you.

Lise Quintana is the creator of the Lithomobilus platform and head of Zoetic Press. She’s an author whose short stories appear regularly in places like Drunk Monkeys, Extract(s), and Red Fez. Her forthcoming novel will be even more forthcoming if she can whack up the ginger to submit it somewhere.