Alumni Authors, NaNoWriMo and Self-care
For many people, 1st November is just another day. But for many, today marks the start of their novel-writing month. Started in America, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) soon gained an international following with many professional and first-time writers using NaNoWriMo’s supportive framework to write a full length novel in 30 days.
Over the past few months, we shared stories from the 2021 York Literary Review. Including blogs from people who submitted work and from those who edited the anthology, we loved reading about some of our alumni in the early stages of their writing and publishing careers.
This November, we’re taking it a step further and (re)sharing blogs about some of our alumni who have published full-length novels. We’ll also be posting a blog from alumna Amy Stewart who recently won a Northern Writer’s Award.
Anyone can write
It’s a skill we’re all taught at school. A fairy tale starts with the classic Once Upon a Time and ends with good overcoming evil (or does it?). We can probably all identify the tropes (the things that are common/expected) of a fairy tale, for example:
- Nasty step-mothers with an absent or oblivious father figure
- True Love’s Kiss solves a lot of problems
- Marrying the Prince they’ve just met is the only option
- Magic is often bad and wielded by the villain
But, writing a novel is about more than knowing what goes into a story. Sometimes it’s taking those expectations and turning them on their head. At the surface, popular film Shrek has three out of four of the above tropes. Princess Fiona was cursed by an unknown villain (magic is bad), True Love’s Kiss is her only available solution and she marries the first ‘man’ that rescues her successfully. But delve deeper, and Shrek subverts all three tropes.
The joy of writing is that you can take an idea and run with it. Getting it published is an entirely different battle, but just getting it written down is an achievement in itself.
Our Alumni Authors
Since launching this blog, we’ve already spoken to a few alumni authors to find out about their work.
In 2015 we spoke to:
- Alumna Beth Daley who told us how she’d developed her final MA creative writing piece into a fully-fledged novel. From short-story to PhD worthy material, and finally a published novel, her writing process must have involved a lot of re-drafting!
In 2016 we caught up with:
- Alumna Helen Cox who discussed her excitement at having her first novel published: Milkshakes and Heartbreaks at the Starlight Diner. Since then, she has published two poetry collections and begun writing a seven-strong cosy mystery series set in Yorkshire.
In 2017 we heard from:
- Alumna Auriel Roe about her writing journey. Inspired by her summer boredom, Auriel struggled to find a publisher for her first novel despite its positive feedback from publishing professionals. After crowdfunding her work, A Blindfellows Chronicle was number 1 on Amazon for humour in the UK, Canada and in the United States. Since then, Auriel has continued her work as an artist, as well as releasing a memoir.
In 2018 we chatted to:
- Alumnus James Nicholson about his upcoming children’s book. Having already started a career as a veterinary nurse, before swapping to teaching with an undergraduate and PGCE in between, James had a lot of different experiences to draw upon when he started writing.
- Alumna and retired teacher Lesley Rawlinson about her writing career. Having spent her working life as a teacher, it wasn’t until Lesley retired that she decided to pursue her lifelong passion for writing, showing that it’s never too late to start! Since publishing her first children’s book in 2017, she has since released several more and is currently working on her next novel which she hopes to release in 2022.
Creativity and self care
In a recent blog post, our Counselling and Mental Health Centre talked about how acts of creative expression, like creative writing, can be a good way to reduce stress. Creative writing helps you express your thoughts and feelings in a positive way. It also gives you a medium to reduce stress by helping you focus on something outside of your everyday worries.
Find out more in their blog post.
NaNoWriMo
Fancy writing your own novel? NaNoWriMo is free to join and use. All you need to take part is a way of keeping track of your wordcount. The idea of NaNoWriMo is that you don’t edit your work during the month. Instead, you focus on getting the words down and going back later to tidy up any inconsistencies.
You might not end up completing the challenge. We know life can really get in the way, but NaNoWriMo is a great way to get started on a project with a supportive community. In our upcoming blog post from alumna Amy Stewart, she explains why she’s never completed the challenge (yet!), but that it still helps her get work completed!
Creative Writing at York St John
But writing in isolation can be dauting. It’s hard to know if what you’ve written is good, or original enough or even to find the motivation to figure out how Red Riding Hood gets away with murdering The Wolf (aka Granny). Joining a creative writing group is one way to help move your writing on. Another way is to undertake an MA to develop your writing even further.
York St John, home to the York Centre for Writing, supports its writers in lots of different ways. From it’s fantastic Creative Writing BA, to its Creative Writing MA, Publishing MA or Historical Fiction MA, our academics support their students at all stages of their degrees. In 2017 we spoke to best-selling author Nuala Ellwood about her writing, and she cited her Creative Writing MA as a catalyst that helped hone her craft.
With writing, I love it enough to really give everything to it. The MA at York St John University was the beginning of my transition to working as a published writer and really helped with my confidence.
Nuala Ellwood, quoted in our 2017 blog post
York St John now has a Publishing MA, enabling you to learn about the other side of writing and its processes. Students also have a wealth of opportunities to get involved with either submitting or editing work thanks to our two in-house anthologies.
