November elicits thoughts of turkey, pumpkin pie, gratitude, and Black Friday shopping — the official start to the holiday season. But for many writers and aspiring authors, Nov. 1 marks the beginning of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
Local author Theresa Kiser plans to get Greenville in on the novel-writing frenzy, which includes writing 50,000 words by the end of November. The novel-writing class held at the Mauldin Cultural Center will begin on Oct. 7 with prewriting work and end on Dec. 2 with publishing tips.
“This class is to help encourage other writers who have a book inside of them to get it down on paper,” Kiser says. “If you don’t put something on paper, you have nothing to work with.”
Like most writers, Kiser understands the struggle to put ideas on paper. “Once you get it down, then you can mold and craft and edit from there. That’s like creating the clay to work with,” she says.
Kiser began writing at age 8 and hasn’t stopped. She’s authored two books in her middle-grade fantasy adventure series “The Manakor Chronicles” titled “The Firebrand Legacy” and “Death Dragon’s Kiss.”
NaNoWriMo is a nonprofit organization and a social network that supports writing fluency and education. Communities from all over participate in the November challenge each year with writing sessions held at libraries, cafes, and more.
“I think it’s important to share and support each other, and I wanted to teach writing,” Kiser says. “I’m linking it up to NaNoWriMo to help the students so that they have a lot of support.”
In addition to Kiser’s class — which covers everything from plotting, characterization, world-building, point of view, and publishing options — writers can find local events to meet with and write alongside fellow writers.
“I think it’s important that we create,” she says. “We have so many ways that we can consume entertainment and things around us, but nobody else has your imagination or your voice.”
Kiser says that writing a book is on many people’s bucket lists, but they never give it a shot. For all those people with stories in their hearts, she encourages them to write for themselves and to inspire others.
“I think stories are a place where we learn to be human or we learn to see something that’s very human,” she says.
Creative Writing: Novel-Writing Class (ages 18 and up)
When: 6:30-8 p.m. Mondays, Oct. 7-Dec. 2
Where: 101 E. Butler Road, Mauldin
Cost: $185; register at www.mauldinculturalcenter.org
Note: There is potential to open a daytime class and a class for teens, as well as a general creative-writing class. Email theresakiser15@gmail.com to be added to the waiting list.
