November 1 is National Author's Day
November 1 is National Author’s Day, a celebration of the masters of the written word and weavers of new worlds. And it may be no surprise that the idea of the nationally recognized day came from a teacher, Nellie Verne Burt McPherson, in 1928. It’s also no surprise that two Herkimer College professors — who foster imagination and inspire new ideas in the classroom — are also self-published fiction writers.
To celebrate National Author’s Day, we sat down with Assistant Professor of English Christian Avis and Associate Professor of Digital Graphics Blake Pitcher to find out why they chose writing and what words of wisdom they can impart to budding authors.
Professor Christian Avis - C.T. Avis
Published works
(Inquisitor Damulis Series)
- Ironedge
- Upshot
- Wizard’s Shield
- Blood Falls
You have four books in the Inquisitor Damulis series, do you have a new book in the works?
The fifth is in the pipeline, although I am taking a bit of a hiatus from writing. When I do start again it may be over the winter break or more likely over summer break. That’s usually when I do my writing…this will either be a sneak prequel or a direct sequel to the last one.
I’ve read that you wrote your first book while house hunting. Becoming a published writer, is that something you always knew you wanted to do?
Oh, absolutely. When I first got into teaching, my plan was ‘I’m going to teach for awhile and support myself and then write my novel’…well that didn’t happen. In 2006, I had a novel ready to go, and the publisher I wanted to send it to stopped accepting submissions. But that was fine. I wound up rewriting that and the development is helping the current series of books.
There’s a quote, ‘Writing is easy. All you have to do is sit down at the typewriter, cut open a vein, and bleed.’ What is your process as a writer? Is it something that comes easy to you?
I don’t have a problem writing, it’s fun for me because I’m in my own little world where I can control everything. It’s fun and it’s an escape. The part I don’t like is the editing part, where you actually make something… good.
For me, the process is (as long as I have the time) that I sit down, and I write five pages per day. And I don’t write five good pages. I tell my writing students this too. You are not going to create something good; you are just going to create something and the good comes during the editing process.
During the summer, I write five days a week, five pages per day and I’m usually done within two months of the first draft.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers or someone who is intimidated about starting that first page?
Don’t let the blank page intimidate you. Just start filling it with something. As I said before, you can’t expect to write something good right away. You just have to write something to start, even if it’s the title and putting your name at the top of the page, then just type whatever you want.
You also don’t have to write in sequence. If you have an idea, let’s say for a scene and you have no idea where it will fit in your book, just write the scene and see you if can use it later. If you can’t, well you’ve learned something. You don’t have to delete the scene. Maybe it will work out in some other place, or maybe it never will. You don’t know but create the scene and then sit back and take a look at in the editing process.
C.T. Avis @ ctaviswrites.com
Professor Blake Pitcher
Published works
- Autonomy
- The Young Hyenas
- Return from the Apocalypse
- Letters from the Apocalypse
- Cigarette Angel & Other Stories
- Deep Six at the Sink
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
It goes back to the thing I was most interested in as a kid. I loved to read beyond all other things, and it was always in the back of my mind that I’d like to be a writer, but I didn’t have a real path to it - not for a job or professionally. But when self-publishing grew bigger, I thought yeah, I can do that myself.
There’s a quote, ‘Writing is easy. All you have to do is sit down at the typewriter, cut open a vein, and bleed.’ What is your process as a writer? Is it something that comes easy to you? How would you describe it?
You know, it’s kind of both. When it’s flowing it’s flowing and when it’s not, it’s not. Generally speaking, I do an outline - so that provides something to follow. When I get stuck, I have the outline to go back to. But I listen to music, I'll do something else creative, or do something totally different just to unlock what I'm trying to do.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers or someone who is self-conscious about sharing his work?
At some point you just have to put it out there for people to read, and nothing's going to be perfect, especially when you're self-publishing. The only way to grow as a writer is to keep writing.
Blake Pitcher @ writing.blakepitcher.com
Other Campus Creatives
The Herkimer College story includes many writers, from the creators of The Masked Librarian comic book series, student contributors to Phaethon — the College’s annual literary and arts publication, as well as one faculty member, a New York Times best-selling author, who wished to remain anonymous.
There are also several Herkimer alumni authors to discover, including:
Mike Brown '75
Kevin Hall '81
Ilion, My Childhood My Memories- Growing Up in a By-Gone Era
My Rosemount, Mn. Memories- Teenage Years in My Shoes
November is also National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). NaNoWriMo is a non-profit organization that promotes creative writing, especially during its annual international event in which participants attempt to write a 50,000-word manuscript throughout November. More at www.nanowrimo.org
