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arizona daily wildcat • wednesday, november 3, 2010 •
• wednesday, november 3, 2010 • arizona daily wildcat
November booked with novel writing, networking 30 days. 50,000 words. Challenge accepted. Every year, an organization called the Office of Letters and Light , whose mission is to “believe in ambitious acts of the imagination,” hosts its National Novel Writing Month contest . This web-based challenge asks writers from all across the country to write a 50,000-word novel between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30, and is commonly called NaNoWriMo . It sounds crazy, but the number of participants in the contest has been rising steadily since its first appearance in 1999. Last year, nearly 170,000 people accepted the challenge. Since it’s all online, National Novel Writing Month is easy to join. Participants create a online profile about themselves and their novel. There is an automated wordvalidator on the site that allows writers to chart their progress by inputting their word count as the month goes by. Anyone who reaches 50,000 words before the Nov. 30 deadline is a winner. Besides receiving a snazzy certificate, writers are also offered a free proof copy of their novel through a self-publishing website. Participants in National Novel Writing Month also affiliate themselves with a region. This allows them to gain access to forums where they can talk with other writers, discuss ideas and pick up some tips and tricks along the way. And the
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advice isn’t from just anywhere. National Novel Writing Month is a well-known event among the writing and publishing community. Many published authors take part in the contest alongside everybody else, and some of these authors even send out emails or create videos as pep talks for participants. In this way, National Novel Writing Month takes the solitary art of creating a novel and makes it into a social event for amateur writers and professional authors alike. And the camaraderie goes even further than that. When participants choose their region, they get connected to local events happening in their area. National Novel Writing Month has countless volunteers who work as “municipal liaisons.” These coordinators plan times for participants to meet up at places like coffee houses and book stores to work on their novels together. They also plan celebratory gettogethers for the beginning and end of the contest.
about writing a novel one day. This dream goes unrealized for most of their lives, either because they don’t think they can do it or they just never think to. NaNoWriMo is for the what we call the “One Day Writers” (meaning one day they want to write a novel), to finally set aside some time and write that idea they’ve had sitting in the back of their minds for years.
on the Tucson Region on the forums of nanowrimo.org, or they can email me at thorinlight@gmail.com. How does attending official events further the experience? I find that attending the events builds solidarity and camaraderie. Mostly, writing is a solitary event. You’re sitting in your room, no loud noises, staring intently at a blank screen, willing your paper to write itself. When you go to the events, you’re in a room or cafe with fellow writers who are doing the same thing you are. You can gain tips and experiences from veteran participants or just hang out and bask in the glow of inspiration. And you gain friends from this experience.
What kind of events are happening in Tucson this November? Every year we have a kickoff party where participants gather to meet each other and talk about their upcoming novels. On Halloween, we gather at the IHOP on Oracle (Road) and Limberlost (Road) around 11 p.m. and wait anxiously for midnight so that we can get a jumpstart on our novels. Then in December we have a “thank God it’s over” party where we celebrate our novels, complete or incomplete. We’re even thinking about having an all-night write-a-thon. More details can be found
National Novel Writing Month at the UA It may seem overwhelming to enter the contest in the middle of the semester. But
“NaNoWriMo has always been a wonderful and positive experience,” Ciarvella said. “At first, it seemed overwhelming to write so much so quickly, and during the busiest time of the semester.” “But the experience of pulling it off, the feeling that you get when you hit that 50k milestone, is absolutely worth all the hardship.”
National Novel Writing Month success stories This November marks the start of new writing projects for everybody involved. But here are the novels that Felton and Ciarvella have created during National Novel Writing Months of the past.
Xander Felton
Tucson municipal liaison and UA alumnus Username: ThorinLight Novel: “The Quest for the Shiny Thing” Genre: Fantasy Final word count: 75,000
“It was a spoof of the fantasy quest novels where a farm boy is destined to go on a quest looking for the ‘Shiny Object’ that does Insert-Shiny-PurposeHere, and keep it away from Insert-Bad-Person-Here.”
Matt Ciarvella
UA creative writing student Username: MCiarvella Novel: “The Fallen” Genre: Supernatural Final word Count: 115,000
National Novel Writing Month in Tucson
“I hit the 50,000 word count during NaNoWriMo, but the story wasn’t finished yet, so I’ve kept working on it since then. It has since evolved into this 115,000-word behemoth. It’s a modern supernatural story based on a fallen angel who escapes from hell and ends up triggering the apocalypse ahead of schedule in order to throw both heaven and hell off her trail. I’m actually hoping I’ll be able to publish that one when I’m done.”
Wildlife had the opportunity to speak with Xander Felton, the Tucson municipal liaison, about the contest and the events that he planned for this year. Here’s what he had to say: Why should people participate in National Novel Writing Month? I feel that people should participate because everyone, doesn’t matter who they are or what they do, has thought
Graph by Colin Darland/Arizona Daily Wildcat
Shipwreck remnants tell of tragic voyage
picture of the tragedy. However, this exhibit is committed to remembering those people. At the beginning of the tour, each visitor is given a boarding pass, which represents a passenger who traveled on the Titanic. These boarding passes give the name, age and social class of the traveler. They also indicate where the person was coming from, where they were going to, who accompanied them and their reason for traveling. It brings a whole new level of meaning to the story of the Titanic when we grasp how real these people were. The exhibition is split into various sections telling the Titanic’s story in chronological order. This method is particularly effective because each part of the exhibit is able to convey a specific mood. Background music, historical photographs, written information and the actual artifacts all play a part in creating the Titanic experience. For example, in the beginning of the tour visitors hear upbeat songs from the 1920s, see pictures of the Titanic in all its glory, read facts about the people who built it and see the massive propellers that moved the ship. Other
so far, the National Novel Writing Month forums have logged participants from 102 universities, including the UA. It’s a lot of work to do, but if you divide the word count evenly, you’ll be writing about 1667 words per day. Xander Felton was a student at the UA when he participated in his first National Novel Writing Month. “I started doing NaNo my junior year at the University of Arizona (2004). When I complained to a friend about the amount of papers I had to do, he mocked me and told me that he would be writing more than me because of NaNoWriMo,” Felton said. “I looked it up and I said, ‘I can do that!’ Despite the mountain of papers, I did it.” Since then, Felton has won National Novel Writing Month every year — with a grand total of six successes. Likewise, creative writing student Matt Ciarvella has participated in National Novel Writing Month twice, and has also entered the contest this year.
Actual flatware from the second- and third-class cabins of the Titanic sits on display at the Rialto Building on Sunday. In an effort to reduce theft of dining ware, second- and third-class cabins were served on flatware showing the White Star Line insignia. Gordon Bates/ Arizona Daily Wildcat
sections include a room that recreates a first class passenger cabin, a place that shows the menu and a large section dedicated to the stories of various travelers on board the ship. Information in each section is clearly displayed, and visitors to the “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition” are given automated headsets that guide the tour. In addition, employees stationed around each section of the
exhibit are very knowledgeable and tell even more personalized stories than what the audio tours have to offer. I highly recommend speaking with them because it really adds to the overall experience. After walking through the entire exhibit, visitors enter one more room. Here, they must remember their boarding pass. They can look for their person’s name on the wall that lists who survived — and who
NANOWRIMO NOVELS
was lost at sea. “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition” is an emotional, educational and meaningful exhibit. Much like the movie (which I went home and watched for the first time — and fell in love with), the exhibit makes people feel a vast array of emotions. It helps us remember the tragic events of the Titanic’s sinking, as well as the inspirational stories of people who survived.
Harpist Newsom to charm Rialto
Radin’s reinvention of ‘whisper rock’ Acoustic artist amps up percussion for a stronger sound By Graham Thompson ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT
By Kellie Mejdrich ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT Joanna Newsom isn’t your typical female vocalist. By all means, she provides listeners with something wildly unique. The harpist, pianist and vocalist crafts tunes with the harp, which she then layers with her voice. Newsom is one of those artists who can make a much different first impression. Her untrained voice can sound grating to the untrained ear — but a second listen and a look at her body of work shows how the harpist uses her music to express, more than in just a typical performer’s sense. Newsom’s work is artistic and expressionist, which often produces a less-than-studio smooth sound. Though that’s something charming about her work — it sounds so fundamentally pure. Her work has changed, too. The release of Have One On Me in February displays a voice that sounds more studiotrained but presents the same innocent lilt, just slightly smoother. And then one can’t forget the ethereal, technically masterful harp that is central to her work.
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Newsom is playing at the Rialto Theatre on Nov. 6, with ticket prices at $26 for balcony seats, and $30-$35 for floor seats. But it’s definitely worth it if you’re looking for an almost religious harp experience. Newsom’s melodies are sure to take you far, far away from the stage.
Joshua Radin’s conventional sound of hushed vocals and acoustic guitar has been reinvented for the release of his third studio album The Rock and the Tide released Oct. 12 by Mom and Pop Records. His music made its first appearance in 2004 when his friend Zach Braff selected his song “Winter” for the TV show “Scrubs”; it was the first song Radin had ever written. Since then, his music has been featured more than 75 times on television sitcoms and full-length feature films, as Radin developed what has been described as “whisper rock.” Radin’s ability to say more with a murmur than most can with a shout is what makes him so captivating. His gift for creating and evoking a variety of complex emotions through lyrical melodies is evident when he says, “The rain in New Orleans, forgot to end / But the mouths of the people are dry /
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And we watch and wait / And do nothing but sigh” on his first studio album, We Were Here. The impressive caliber and range of his voice isn’t the only effort Radin has made to re-invent the authentic and unique sound of his earlier work. His first albums were virtually without percussion, dominated by simple harmonic ideas and arpeggios. The Rock and the Tide invites in the percussion and blocked chords, which lends to the album the complex sound of soulful rock. The opening track “Road To Ride On” is a firm foundation, and we finally get to see what Radin is truly capable of. The subtlety of the steady crescendo of synths, strong vocals and startling percussion gives this song an epic feeling. You’ll also find yourself tapping your foot to “The Ones With the Light,” a strong anthem late in the CD. His most dedicated fans might be a little bit confused at Radin’s reinvention of himself, though he gives them some of
his traditional sound in “One Leap” and the title track “The Rock and the Tide” where his voice and acoustic guitar convey some emotional depth and tranquil repose. This is the kind of Sunday afternoon music that does not get lost in the shuffle of newspapers or the thought of two tests and a paper due Monday. Give it a listen; let Radin’s music take you on a satisfying journey while you drive down the Iinterstate 10 or fly home, or while you make dinner alone in your apartment. In either case, he will give you what you need.
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