SoCNoC Dreams Can Come True

I know it's a cliché to say this, but that doesn't mean it's not true. Three years ago - on June 1, 2008 - I wrote the first pages of my first draft of "Excelsior" and it feels as though it were only yesterday. Two years and several drafts later, my sci-fi young adult novel was finished and it’s now available for purchase as both a paperback and an eBook.

Despite me knowing and developing my main character since 1992, his story would never have gotten where it is now, if it weren’t for the Southern Cross Novel Challenge. And I wouldn’t have even heard of this - or www.kiwiwriters.org - if I didn’t hear about National Novel Writing Month.

Like a lot of you, I heard about NaNoWriMo through Chris Baty's book "No Plot? No Problem!" I read the first half of the book and really enjoyed the history behind the challenge, but once the book started to go into Day 1, I put it down and waited until the right time to actually write my 50,000-word draft in just thirty days.

There was one big problem with National Novel Writing Month: it takes place in November. It's not only the month of Thanksgiving, but it's also the month of my wife's birthday and our wedding anniversary. So that month was out, but fortunately I came across something that fit right into my schedule: www.kiwiwriters.org.

As I checked out this site, I discovered the Southern Cross Novel Challenge.. Now, what is the Southern Cross Novel Challenge, you ask? Well, it's the same setup as NaNoWriMo, but it takes place in June instead of November!

The decision was made at that very moment; I was going to take this challenge and I was going to tell the definitive story of my character Excelsior. So I cleared my schedule and spent the month of May preparing myself for this task. On June 1, 2008, my journey began.

The whole first week was an absolute joy. I was bouncing in my seat with excitement as I brought my main character to life and started painting the picture of my universe. I introduced both of my villains and brought in the mentor who would help my main character fulfill his destiny. And I spread out my exposition so the reader was getting into the action as quickly as possible. That way, I wouldn’t bog the reader down right away and possibly alienate them.

All of this was done in little more than a week, and I was incredibly excited about the rest of the writing process. But then, Chapter 4 ended and Chapter 5 began. This was the crucial moment that Chris Baty warned about, when you have to take these characters that you enjoyed developing and make them DO SOMETHING. I felt my progress literally hitting a wall and I started to slightly panic. What was I going to do? I had my beginning and I knew my end, but now I had to figure out the next step in getting to that end.

Then, in a flash, the idea came to me. I had been focusing on only a handful of characters, so I thought this would be the best opportunity to introduce new characters on Excelsior's home planet. While bringing those younger characters into the story, I brought back two guys that I had introduced in Chapter 1 but hadn't gone back to until then. This idea led to me spending about two days working on a scene that had me feeling revitalized. By the time I was finished, a new realm of possibilities was open to me. I was inspired enough to push through the hardest stretch of writing that I had to overcome that month.

The rest of the month went by smoothly, and even when I had to be out of town during a weekend, I made sure to bring our laptop so I could stay on schedule. One after another, my blocks disappeared and I became completely unafraid to write crap. I knew that writing is re-writing and you can't re-write from nothing.

So I’m gonna tell you guys, you can do this! If you’re blocked, take some time away and let the ideas come to you. They will if you don’t force them. Just keep pushing until you’ve reached the end of your first draft. Don’t be afraid to write crap. Keep your exposition very light and sprinkle it in throughout the draft, instead of rolling it all up into a ball and dropping it at the very beginning.

And above all else, have fun with this. You’re embarking on a challenge that only a fraction of people around the world finish. Be proud of it!

If I could do it, then you can do it!

-- George H. Sirois
http://excelsior2010.blogspot.com/