Tag: storytelling

creativity

In the pause: Shitty first drafts – NaNoWriMo pep talk for writers

Christa Avampato

I want to talk to you about shitty first drafts, in particular my shitty first drafts. Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, my book that launched this week and that I first drafted during NaNoWriMo 2014, is not the draft I started to write three years ago. It’s not even close. The book that was published has been polished and spit-shined to the hilt. My first draft wasn’t even a diamond in the rough. It was just rough. Period. End of sentence.

I’m writing Emerson’s second book during NaNoWriMo this month. In two days, I’ve got about 4,000 words. And they’re awful. Messy plot lines and self-indulgent dialogue abound despite my intense outlining. And you know what? It doesn’t matter at all. I’m just writing like no one’s watching because no one is. No one is ever going to see this draft. Actually, I take that back. If I ever win a prestigious writing award for my novels, I’ll release this shitty first draft and auction it off for charity. You have my word on that.

If you have a book inside you, a story begging to be told, I want you sit down and get it all out there on the screen or paper. Don’t pay any mind to what it looks like. Just write it down. It’s not doing anyone any good inside your mind. And if you don’t write that story, no one ever will. It dies with you. That’s just about the saddest thing I can think of. You don’t know what your words and ideas are going to do for someone else someday. They could be what literally saves someone. And wouldn’t it be nice to save someone?

I’ll make you a deal—you write your story, I’ll write mine, and then we’ll toast each other’s efforts. Okay? 50,000 words by November 30th. Go!

creativity

In the pause: Thank you for the love on my Pub Day

Christa Avampato

20171101_163312Yesterday was a marvelous Pub Day. Thank you for all the love, and I send it right back to you!

The book reached its highest sales rank ever on Amazon in the 6 weeks since it was put in pre-order status. Emerson got some wonderful reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, with more on the way. Some great plugs on social media, and a big exciting festival acceptance that I will be able to publicly share in December once the communications embargo is lifted. And I started the draft of Emerson’s second book as part of #NaNoWriMo2017.

All in, a banner day that filled my heart with gratitude, exactly 3 years after I started writing that first draft. It was made all the better by knowing that the best is yet to come. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Emerson is now on sale in paperback and e-book at amzn.to/2lgZykV.

 

creativity

In the pause: My book about Emerson Page goes to Germany thanks to Books on the Run

Christa Avampato

Germany, Emerson may be seated next to you on your commute some day soon. I just finished a fun video interview for my book, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, with the lovely sisters Davina and Samantha who run Books on the Run Germany, the German chapter of Books on the Move Global. They interview authors and run a mobile library in Germany. For the mobile library, they leave books on the public transit system in Germany for people to find, read, and then return to any German public transit system for others to find and read.

My book will be part of their transit program next month. Our video interview as well as a separate video of me reading a passage of the book will all be available soon. Stay tuned!

Thanks to Davina and Samantha for being such wonderful hosts. I have a feeling that Emerson will find herself in Germany in a future book. After all, Germany invented the movable-type printing press and printed the first book in history, the Gutenberg Bible, two copies of which are at the Morgan Library here in New York City. I sense some kismet and synchronicity coming on…

creativity

In the pause: Copies of my novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, arrived on my doorstep

Christa Avampato

unnamedThere’s no feeling quite like getting a box of your books delivered to your door. Yesterday I got to experience this feeling first-hand, and it is amazing. I looked at my box of Emerson Page books, now bound for reviewers, and thought about all of the time, effort, and love that I poured into every speck of the them. My heart flooded with gratitude for all of the encouragement and love that I’ve received from friends and mentors during this long and winding road to publication. Though we’ve come so far, this is really just beginning. We have many books ahead of us. Many stories to tell, people to meet, and places to travel together. I can’t wait to share this with all of you.

The book is now available for pre-order on Amazon at amzn.to/2wAhmvG. If you’re interested in a review copy of the book or partnering with me in some way, please let me know at christa.avampato@gmail.com.

creativity

In the pause: Looking for bookstore and community center partners for my young adult book

Christa Avampato

Do you have a great local bookstore? Do you know of a local organization in your city where I could offer writing, storytelling, and publishing workshops?

Part of my marketing plan for my young adult book, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, is to offer writing and storytelling workshops to young people and adults. Topics could include storytelling, publishing, and book branding and marketing.

If you have a great local bookstore or community center that focuses on storytelling, please let me know as I’d love to partner with them to promote and support their work. Stories change the world.

creativity

In the pause: How the eclipse influenced my writing

Christa Avampato

Yesterday, Phin and I experienced the solar eclipse at the American Museum of Natural History and in Central Park. The atmosphere was festive. It felt like the entire city had turned out to look up at the sky in wonder at exactly the same time. There was something beautiful and magical about this time, and that beauty and magic activated my writer brain.

Emerson Page, the heroine of my novel, has a special relationship with the stars and they play a large, active part in her story. The series will be 9 books in total, and I realized yesterday that the last day of her written story will be April 8, 2024, the day that the next solar eclipse will happen. Its line of totality will include Emerson’s hometown of New York City, the city where this series of books begins and ends. Emerson will be 20 years old by then. I know where she’s going, and I’m excited to discover and share with you the path she’ll take to get there.

 

creativity

In the pause: Whispers in the night—how our books speak to us as writers

Christa Avampato

A few days ago, I mentioned that I was having trouble writing Emerson‘s second book. Last night, I just decided to tag along with her to see where she was going, what she was doing, and who she was with. I didn’t expect or ask for anything. I just stayed quiet and listened. I was helped by the idea of a dæmon in The Golden Compass; Lyra’s dæmon sometimes hitches a ride on her shoulder to join the adventure. I did the same with Emerson.

It’s odd what your characters will tell you when you just listen to them. I found out Emerson’s birthday is January 1st, that there are now hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people who are looking for the same treasure that she seeks, and that her travels take her not to one place in Book 2 but many places. There’s some romance, heartbreak, and loss. She will be plunged into memories she would rather not see but are vital to her pursuits and her destiny. There are portals hidden in plain sight. The line between the physical world and the world of the mind is blurred to the point where they’re really no different at all. Time and space are much more fluid than we imagine them to be.

So today, I’m putting my ear to the ground, closing my eyes, and listening intently to the adventures Emerson has taken. I imagine her now, much older and wiser, entertaining a woman (me) who just showed up at her door and asked to hear the story of her life. She has a lot to tell me. She just needs some time.

creativity

In the pause: What would be the title of your autobiography?

Christa Avampato

It’s daunting to think about what you’d title your autobiography, right? How do you sum up a life in one line? Let’s try.

I love tough challenges and I’m happiest on a vertical learning curve. If I had to pick one phrase to describe myself it would be “endlessly curious.” As such, the title of my autobiography would be I’ll Figure It Out: The Christa Avampato Story.

What would be the title of your autobiography?

creativity

In the pause: A lesson in writing from Terry Prachett—just tell yourself a story

Christa Avampato

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” ~Terry Prachett

I’ve been having trouble writing Emerson’s second book. I have a pile of index cards I shuffle around, but the truth is I’m nervous. I’m stalling. The first book was such a heavy life, but ignorance was bliss. I had no expectations of it except to write it down as truthfully as I could. I had been thinking about it for so long (5 years) before I started writing it that its scenes and words were well-etched in my mind.

This time is different. I feel more responsibility to get it right, to stay honest to what I created in the first book. I don’t want to let down Emerson. In my procrastination and stagnation, I found this quote from Terry Prachett. It made me feel a little bit bolder and braver, less cautious and concerned. There will come a time for refinement and revision, but that day’s not today. Today, I’m just letting Emerson tell me her story.

creativity

Wonder: Narrative’s soul

Christa Avampato

“Specificity is the soul of narrative.” ~Judge John Hodgman

I’m using part of this long weekend to get back to writing. Emerson has been waiting for me for a few months while I traveled, moved, and got my life set up again in a new place. So today I dust off those cobwebs and look at her life and trials with new fresh eyes to begin the next and final round of edits.

As I take up the task of these edits, I’m reminded of what it means to literally create the soul of a character. Not a hollow shell with a name who faces challenges in a setting, but a living, breathing soul whom you root for, who conveys her emotions in a way that is visceral. You hurt when she hurts. You cry when she cries. You smile when she smiles. You win when she wins.

The only way to do that is to get specific, to place the reader right into her mind and her heart. That’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s always fun to do the impossible.