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Mike Aragona - Freelance Writer / Editor

In Conversation


Mike Aragona on NaNoWriMo — (December 2004) Shortly before the end of the National November Writing Month, I was contacted by a New York reporter (native Montrealer) who wanted to interview me regarding my experiences. I happily replied to all her questions but although the article did eventually appear, it dealt more with the folks she met at the post-event party than any of her initial interviews. However, since her questions were quite pertinent and interesting, I decided to reprint them here along with my answers.


Ladane Nasseri:

I checked out your online diary and got to know more about you and your NaNo project. Seems like it's not your first time. It's also fun that you and your wife are both part of it. By the way, congratulations for having already finished your novel!

Mike Aragona:

Thank you! I just posted my final count (55,024) and uploaded a copy of the cover :)

LN:

So here's a series of questions I have in mind, at that point: - When did you first take part in NaNo? How was the experience the first time? Did you get to the magical 50,000 words? if yes, what happened to that novel?

MA:

I had heard "about" NaNo back in 2002, but only after the fact. When 2003 came around I registered, figuring I'd get in on the game. I got quite excited about it but did not plan out what I was going to do with my Novel. I had a basic idea and when midnight struck on Oct 31, I got cracking. Within an hour and a half or so, I had about 2k written and was very happy with it. That first weekend and every night of that first week after work, I would get writing as soon as I walked through the door. I would spend my travelling time reviewing what I wrote and finding points to expand upon which gave me an extra edge of writing if I ever got stuck. As I kept going, the chapters became a little clearer and I suddenly knew where I had to go and how to wrap everything up. I passed the magical number before week 2 was up, after having taken a total of 3 days off. Basically, I did the project (Wasted Youth) in 13 writing days. That book I haven't returned to yet and has only been read by my wife.

After posting about it on the forums, I spent the next two days contemplating how I would tackle the project next year. I knew a good way to frame it and how to make it easy to accomplish. Then, one of the MLs casually stated how there was enough time to start another one. I thought about it for a few hours and then opened up my processor and spent 30 minutes of my lunch hour typing out a scene I had in my head. Almost 600 words later, I decided to go for it. A quick outline was thrown together and the characters grew, and I wrote. 11 writing days later, I was finished. "Heaven Can Wait" was probably the one book I was most proud of as everything was brand new and written strictly for NaNo. That one has been revised and read by my wife. It is now in the hands of a Literary Critic friend of mine (who is supposed to give it back next week with her comments). In December or so, I will review it, revise it, and then hand it over to a professional Author friend of mine (David Shtogryn) for his review. Based on his feelings, I will either revise it and attempt to find someplace to submit it, or serialize it in a Comics apa (Comicopia) that I've been involved with for 14 years and am currently running.

(phew, is that too much? :) )

LN:

Why did you register again? Are you doing NaNo every year?

MA:

Last year, I made the decision to not join NaNo any more. After all, I not only reached the goal, I demolished it (in my opinion). But, as I wrote elsewhere, when this year came around, I decided to use it as a proper writing project. Many years ago, I created these superhero character/ spoofs. I haven't touched their world in about 7 years as I concentrated on more traditional heros. But, I did have one big final story that I needed to wrap up which could not fit the format I used to serialize their adventures in the past. Thus, I decided to use the wider scope of NaNo to bring that story to life. And now, after all my experiences and all the friends I made (people I met last year became friends this year), I will definitely be doing NaNo every year.

LN:

How come both you and Chantale are taking part of it?

MA:

I did it because of what I wrote above. My wife just one day surprised me (3 days after NaNo had officially started!) by not only stating she was doing it, but by having put out a huge count already! I told her to contact you directly so you may be hearing from her, but she basically decided that she wanted to put her life down on paper and chose this time to do it.

LN:

You seem to have no problem with writing (you mention that you are a freelance writer) so in what ways has Nano helped you?

MA:

I found that the NaNo experience was like a Graduation Ceremony for me. Back when I first got interested in expressing myself via the written word (thanks to some encouragement from my Secondary 5 english teacher), I always had this urge to have a complete story on paper RIGHT AWAY. This started first with poetry and then I moved on to short stories. I would basically get an idea and sit down to type it out that night. Revision came the next night and then it was done. I stuck with short stories because I never was able to let a large project "GO" for long enough to expand and expand along with the revise and write. That's partially the reason why I finished NaNo twice last year in such a short period of time! I knew the story I wanted to tell, and I just had to DO IT :) This year, the more relaxed pace worked much better for me. I guess this means that I'm ready to start moving onto 100k projects now... :)

LN:

What was your most horrible experience/anecdote in the NaNo month?

MA:

This year? Nothing. It's been a great experience. I had two frustrating moments though. One when I couldn't get to a computer for the beginning of the project due to other committments and I had to keep writing everything out longhand! And two when I realized I couldn't actually be sitting next to Chantale and the both of us work on our novels simultaneously. We have very different styles and modes of working it seems :)

LN:

How about the most inspiring moment? Can you tell me about the context?

MA:

This year? When Chantale and I were discussing what I was doing and she casually asked if I was going to include the Montreal NaNo Mascot: A Psychic Ferret. I immediately answered yes and as we spoke the idea of how to use it (and bring back an old character) blended together and made up a very important part of the novel!

LN:

Where did you usually work while writing? I saw mention of the café "Depot"? Was that a regular/popular gathering point amongst writers?

MA:

My schedule fell like this: On the train in the morning, I would review what I wrote and add to it. At work, I would edit my changes before my work day began and print a fresh copy. At lunch I would head over to Café Depot, order a large, sit down, read, edit, and add. On the train home, when I didn't pass out from exhaustion, I would again review. At home, I would use the laptop in the basement to create some more (my wife had taken control of the family computer at this point :) ).

The Montreal NaNo writers would meet twice a week at Second Cup, a different coffee shop. The hours were not good for me so I only went a handful of times. (Plus, I prefer Cafe Depot Coffee to Second Cup! :) )

LN:

Have you made any friends as a result of the NaNo project?

MA:

Yes, without a doubt. One of the hardest things about last year was when December came, ALL the folks I chatted and posted with on the NaNo forums disappeared (except for one who I kept in touch with via LiveJournal and who actually became quite good friends with my wife recently). I missed that creative energy we all shared and it almost felt like I was going through withdrawal. This year, I'm not too sure why, we all just connected a bit more. I don't know how often we'll "talk" until the next year, but I've got a number of them on LiveJournal so we'll at least know what we're up to :)

LN:

What is the "Mysterious Minute-Men: Ready For The Future!" about? How did you get the idea? what do you expect to do with it at that point?

MA:

I've been writing the adventures of The Mysterious Minute-Men since about 1987. I created them for a self-published newsletter and then ported the stories over to Comicopia (http://www.comicopia.net). The series is about a fictional city protected by super heros spoofed from modern heroes and friends I worked with. I would integrate stuff that happened in my life within these stories and it was a blast. About 7 years ago, I didn't "feel" the spark from them any more and let them rest. This year, I realized it was time to get back into them by introducing my wife into the storyline and clearing up some older baggage. I've also started thinking about new characters which I'll work into future stories. I titled it "Ready for the Future" because it's a starting point for a whole new slew of stories.

As for what I'm going to do with it... Outside of serializing it in Comicopia over the next year (climaxing in our 15th Anniversary Issue October 2005), I'm not too sure :)

LN:

How old are you and what is your job? Is freelancing your main activity? if so, what do you write about?

MA:

I'm 37 years old and am the Team Leader of a group of 6 Programmer-Analysts in the Application Support department of the I&T Division of Standard Life. My writing is mainly comic book related or reviews/ slice of life pieces with limited distribution. I've worked mainly as an editor on various projects (Line Editor for Scarlet Rose Productions small press publisher, secondary Editor of Hypercube from Tesseract books (cancelled), Editor/ friend on Before They Were Beatles self-published book of a friend of mine via Xlibris) And, as I mentioned before, I'm the Distribution Manager of Comicopia, a comics apa.
I'm still on the search for that writing gig to take me places :)

LN:

Would you mind if I quote some parts of your online diary?

MA:

Not at all. Please feel free :)

LN:

That's all for now.Looking forward to hearing from you!

MA:

Thanks Ladane! Feel free to write again if you have any other questions! :) I look forward to seeing your final piece!


(In Conversation (c) Mike Aragona. All rights reserved. No reproduction or retransmission of this article is granted without written permission of Mike Aragona)

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