Author Chat: Ashland Pym

Today's author chat is with Ashland Pym, who is using her studies in Mythology to inform her novel writing.

This will be the last Author Chat we post for this year's NaNoWriMo, but I will follow up with all our authors soon to find out how they are progressing with their novels this month.

Matt Tobin
Aeon Timeline Developer

Back to NaNoWriMo page

Profile

Ashland Pym is a second year student at Pacifica Graduate Institute, earning a MA/PhD in Mythological Studies with Emphasis in Depth Psychology, which she applies to her writing (mythopoesis).

In Ashland's words: I’ve been story telling since I was four and writing them down since I learned how. I also got involved in theatre at a young age and spent most of my energies in playwriting (including my undergraduate degree) until my late twenties when I felt the call of the novel (again).

You can visit Ashland's blog where she talks about myth, psychology, and writing by following the link below.

Blog

How many years have you participated in NaNoWriMo?

This is my fourth year participating. I won my first two years when all I had to balance was a full-time job and a social life, but last year I lost miserably. I was not prepared for the work load that my first year of grad school entailed.

What are you writing for NaNoWriMo this year?

A contemporary fantasy heavily founded in mythology, which is what most of my projects tend to be these days. This year’s novel is about power, corruption, and the sacrifice kings. More specifically it’s about what happens when the gates to the Underworld are opened.

What brings you back to NaNoWriMo each year?

Deadlines, deadline, deadlines. It’s what works for me. I write a lot the rest of the year but some months my word count is just pathetic, especially when I’m under a heavy workload. Having a community base to help keep me on track is fabulous, because there’s accountability. And write-ins are always a blast. I wish we had them all year ‘round.

How do you plan for an event like NaNoWriMo?

My first NaNo I pantsed it. I did finish the novel, but I wedged myself into a corner so badly I still don’t know how to fix it. Now I have learned my best tactic is a loose outline: just enough info so that I know what is happening, who has what motives, and the through-line on each character’s schemes. But I also know that I need enough flexibility so the plot stays alive as I write. It’s not unusual for me to rework an outline half a dozen times before I reach the end.

Describe your writing environment.

First and foremost is a cup of Earl Grey. Splash of milk and honey. Not a lot of people consider that a tool but for me it’s a necessity.

Because I have a PC and very few programmers take that into account, I don’t have a wide variety of programs—apps, whatever you want to call them—available to me. So I was using Liquid Story Binder for a long time because it was all there was, but it was too chaotic for me. For Camo NaNoWriMo this year I started using Scrivener—which I had tried three years ago when it was in Beta for Windows—and I’m liking it much better. My brain is chaotic enough, my computer screen doesn’t need to emulate it. The only problem is that Scrivener has no outline mode, and no timeline. So when it was announced that Aeon Timeline was in development I was psyched. Then I saw on the NaNo website that it was available—and even better, available for PC—and you have never seen me click ‘download’ so fast.

How are you using Aeon Timeline in your planning?

I am using it not only as a timeline but as a visual aid for seeing my novel in 3D. It’s a complex political story with lots of characters, each with his or her own plots and plans and motivations. It also helps me to see the timeframe I’m working in, what’s too densely packed in over a day or two and what timeframes need to be tightened up. Because I was able to recognize all this in the planning phase, I hope I won’t run into any problems in the writing and they won’t slow me down.

What attracted you to using Aeon Timeline?

As I mentioned, I really needed a visual tool. Not only to keep track, but also to recognize when it’s getting too complex and I’m likely to leave my audience feeling dazed and confused—much like me.

What advantage are you hoping to get out of using Aeon Timeline?

As I said, I’m a grad student now, and last year I was not prepared for the work load. This year I plan to be better organized and manage my time better, which means my writing needs to be more organized. If I’m going to get a boat load of term papers and a complete novel written in the space of one month, I can’t spend all my time scratching my head going “now what was supposed to happen here?”

Describe the structure of your timeline.

The novel takes place over a few months, but I also wanted to map out my backstory, so I used the BCE-CE format. I have four arcs, one for global events that affects all the characters, and three more for themes or different groups of characters, their schemes, and their actions. Within each of those I have a color code system, so that each event shows who it is of most benefit to, who it affects most, and what’s just FUBAR. After a quick glance I can already tell you that I need more FUBAR moments. It’s also great because I can tag each character with ‘participant’ and ‘observer’ so I have a quick visual reminder who was where and who witnessed what, and of course, what the body count is by the end.

How did you use Aeon Timeline through the various stages of writing?

I did write out my outline first. I tend to do my brainstorming in Scrivener where I can keep thinks strictly organized. Then I took that outline and plugged it into Aeon Timeline. I know things will change once the writing is fully under way, but as I’ve already found out editing my timeline is super easy. It’s wonderfully intelligent in that respect.

And finally, can you share a screenshot of your timeline?

Thank you

My thanks again to Ahsland for participating in an author chat.

This will be our last NaNo Author Chat, but I will follow up our authors soon to find out how they are progressing.

Back to NaNoWriMo page