Art is an Idea, Usually a Bad One

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. First Draft Pro, a 2023 NaNoWriMo sponsor, is a beautifully designed writing app for fiction writers. Today, they've partnered with Kelly Norwood-Young, former book editor for Pan Macmillan and Penguin Random House, to bring you some pro tips on writing your first draft:

In my career as a book editor, I’ve reviewed hundreds of manuscripts. I've seen the joy of authors creating compelling tales, but also how disheartening it can be to rewrite a disjointed story. I’m here to give you some strategies to address common pitfalls so that you not only reach your NaNoWriMo goal, but also lay the groundwork for a manuscript that truly deserves to be called a gripping novel.

1. Have a plan.

Even if you’re more of a ‘pantser’ than a ‘planner’, it's really helpful to have an outline. I have two favourite approaches for this: the structure-first approach, and what I call the ‘Phoebe Waller-Bridge approach’.  

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them – in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

redrawing of famous 15th century tapestry “Unicorn in Captivity” except instead of a unicorn it’s my favorite beanie baby. 

An extraordinary collection of fine and rare miniature books, published from the mid-17th-century to the modern day. It includes books printed in France, the Netherlands, England, Italy and Germany, on a diversity of themes ranging from histories to works of scripture, devotion, literature, almanacs, and natural history. The collection boasts three 17th-century works, with the earliest being a Dutch song book from 1650 preserved in a charming contemporary vellum wallet binding, as well as a French book of hours from 1684 and an English bible in contemporary morocco from 1693. Many of the books are attractively bound in contemporary gilt morocco, others in gilt and blindstamped calf, decorative paper wrappers, silver cases, while some are contained within miniature wooden boxes as part of a child’s sewing kit. Some books are housed in cases with their own miniature magnifying glasses, and others are arranged on miniature shelves or cabinets, including a miniature revolving bookcase constructed by Julian Stanley of High Wycombe, commissioned by Lord Wardington and presented by him to Nanni Israel.

Crowley’s hairstyles/looks - down through the ages ...now including Good Omens Season Two

Did you know Studio Ghibli made a film in 2006 based on the young Howl? Many Japanese people believe this character is based on Howl as a youth as seen when Sophie travels through time. The film is called “the Day i bought a star” (Hoshi O Katta Hi) and as we know Howl has had childhood experiences with stars, also being known as ‘the boy who swallowed a star’.

The short film 16 minutes in length was written and directed by Miyazaki and is shown exclusively in Tokyo’s Ghibli Museum and the new Ghibli Park in Aichi prefecture but the story is a partial adaption of book by the same name by Naohisa Inoue (you might recognise art style visuals from the fantasy sequences of Whisper of the Heart also drawn by Inoue).

As you can see from the images above the film also features a magical woman older than Howl (could that be a certain mentor witch? 🤣) and a boy who looks very like Howl who lives on his own in the country side. The film was also Miyazaki’s first project directly after the release of Howl’s Moving Castle in 2004.