The idea: August

I had the idea for August quite a long time ago. (My first notes are from 2012.) It was originally going to be a road trip, the protagonist meeting a new someone chapter by chapter, with each person who helps him having their life changed in some way. Some of that road trip is still in the book, but it morphed into a love story along the way. The root of that idea was there from the very start, as the protagonist was to escape his retirement home and go off in search of his old love. I simply shrank the road trip part and expanded the story of what happens when he finds her.

I also needed an inciting incident to start my protagonist on his journey. I focused from the start on a health crisis. I was thinking about cancer, but wasn’t sure what kind. So on a trip to Nashville in May 2022 for my younger daughter’s PhD graduation from Vanderbilt, I conferred with my two daughters. The older one is a physician (MD) and the younger one, the PhD, studied immunology and worked on how breast cancer hides out in bones. I asked them what disease I should give my hero. I wanted something that would leave him seemingly all right for his trip. They suggested amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, so I put some study into the disease. It’s relatively unusual for someone in their eighties, but not so much that it would be unrealistic. What a horrible disease. As the motor neurons slowly die, the disease paralyzes you. Death commonly comes with weakness or paralysis of the diaphragm. It was heart-wrenching to learn about, and even more so to write about. I have not yet talked with patients with ALS or the doctors who treat them. I simply haven’t had the heart to do it. But I should. I am in the process of editing August now. It’s time to finish that research.

Website: 6th anniversary

Hello from America! Speaking on behalf of my blog, I must admit to another year of inactivity. Speaking for myself as a writer, though, it has been a marvelous year. I completed second drafts of two new novels, tentatively titled Writers on the Storm and August. The first is an attempt at a humorous take on writing, and the second is a somewhat more serious exploration of love in the twilight of life.

I also continue to work on book six in my science fiction series, The Time Well, which began as as a National Novel Writing Month project in November 2022. This is the first time I have had a novel grow out of control on me. It is currently north of 311,000 words. My tentative plan is to break it into three books, although they will not be self-contained units.

I have found that the writing community in Utah, where I now live, is quite active. I have not settled into a writing group yet, but I have so many more potential groups than I had in Japan. My wife and I are even volunteering for a local writer’s conference.

Perhaps the best news is that I am still writing full bore. Unfortunately, I am also writing just as obsessively as always, which still concerns me. Maybe this year I can find better balance in my life. While I have not lacked for writing projects, I did skip National Novel Writing Month last November. With as many novels as I have unpublished, it didn’t seem wise to use that month to produce yet another first draft.

UCLA course with Steven Wolfson

I continue to prepare for my rapidly approaching move from Japan to America. (Thus, the picture for this post is my empty apartment instead of a picture of Steven.) But I have also just completed a totally energizing six-week writing course offered through UCLA Extension called “Conquering Your Story and its Superstructure.” The teacher was Steven Wolfson, a playwright and screen writer. Two years in close succession (2020 and 2022) at the Japan Writer’s Conference, I found his presentations far and away the most interesting and useful of all those I attended. So I contacted him and found out he regularly teaches courses at UCLA.

Here is Steven’s description of the course I took:

“The first fundamental challenge facing all writers, whether novice or professional, is the process of transforming your premise into a compelling, sustainable story. This intensive workshop focuses solely on the art of the story, with an emphasis on such fundamentals as character development, super-objective, rising conflict, scene work, and the all-important quest to find your story’s superstructure. Through a series of lectures, published examples, and in-class writing exercises, writers learn how to spot critical mistakes often made in the initial development of any narrative. This workshop is designed for writers with a specific story they feel passionate about telling. After the course, you have a greater understanding of what makes a story work, along with your own detailed superstructure outline to use in the development, completion, and revision of your story.” This is a great course for anyone who is looking for more structure in their writing—which, I expect, is most writers.

I presented ideas for three novels in the class, and my classmates voted overwhelmingly for a novel titled August. For class, I worked on fleshing out some key scenes. I am excited to complete the novel. It the story of an eighty-two-year-old man named August Norman who finds out he has ALS. He takes a last desperate shot at making something out of the little bit of life he has left. He breaks out of his nursing home, steals his daughter’s car, and embarks on a cross-country quest to find and win back his college sweetheart, May White. But love in their eighties is no simple affair, as they fight concerted family opposition.

I am now working on August pretty much full time. I love this part of writing, where the details of the story reveal themselves. It’s exciting every day.