A Journey Into The Stars — Writing A Novel & Narrating It
For the longest time I had the desire to write a novel, to explore the inner workings of characters and create a world around them that could be believable, but I struggled to write more than a standalone chapter and explore vague plot ideas. I had written a small handful of short one or two page scenes when I was younger, some related to my core ideas, some independent, but that was the extent of my writing.
In January of 2016 I took a spark of inspiration and tried something rather simple. I threw a character with a name into a forest and had her running away from some people who were chasing her. From there I let the circumstances dictate what should happen next according to what felt natural for the setting and the character, and out of that grew the focus of the narrative.
I began to work backwards to a scene that seemed like a good place to start, introducing an antagonist to the main character and estabishling the circumstances of the character’s current life. From there, everything started to take shape, my characters were beginning to grow in their complexity and new characters were being introduced into the story and the plot was unfolding as I wrote.
Casting my writer’s eye back, I can see how far my skill in writing has come since the first few months of that daily effort seven or so years ago. I reached two chapters, then a third, then a fourth and a fifth and a sixth and finally the current seventh and work-in-progress chapter, around 46,500 words, just shy of “novel” status, but far from over.
The setting has become detailed, the relationships and histories of the characters has become rich and interwoven and I’ve spent a lot of time revising the details and the writing style to fine tune how it all feels. The novel isn’t finished and sits somewhere within the middle of the story. To be honest, I’m at somewhat of a block and need to sit down at some point and think on the future of the story and where I can take it. I want to give it legs it can run with.
I’ve told myself a few times that if I finish this one novel in my life, I’ll be satisfied, and at the end of the day, it scratches that writer’s itch I have to explore different aspects of adventure and interpersonal relationships and tell a story that resonates with me.
I know that despite being set in an extraordinary science fiction setting in dire circumstances, a lot of the personal me, past and present is in the story and its characters. I call it The Stellar Wind.
Possibly not-final novel artwork…
Narrating The Audiobook
And so here I find myself, seven years later, attempting something new. For most of my life I’ve loved to sing and played with accents and voices. Some years ago I dabbled in some acting classes to dip my toes into that arena, but acting itself wasn’t what I was seeking.
After I stopped playing live music years ago, I realised that it’s the mere act of the expression in day-to-day life that is so satisfying to me, and a very personal thing.
I had been listening to Andy Serkis’ narration of The Lord of the Rings audiobook and I had the thought, I wonder if I should try that and see how it feels? The worst thing that could happen is that I learn something along the way and have some fun.
I bought a high quality microphone again (Rode NT-USB) and setup a makeshift studio in my study and began, learning a lot, fumbling and improving both my narration and the production of the audio itself.
I don’t claim any sort of skill in audiobook narration. I just started weeks ago, but I’m satisfied with my experiment of recording the first chapter titled “Skye”, and so I present it here, the first time any part of the novel has been published anywhere real, which in turn I will consider this chapter officially complete.
Feel free to listen below. It’s just the tip of the iceberg, at 55 minutes, and gets the story rolling by the end. It’s best listened to on earphones or headphones.