Name: Shea Wong
Age: 38 (but I dress like a 70 year old, and curse like a 16 year old, so…I guess it actually evens out again to 38.)
Hometown: Sandusky, Ohio, USA
Occupation: Current part-time MBA student with the Open University, and full time everything to my four year old.
When/where do you write? Very late at night, or very early in the morning. Those short, dark moments keep me going when I write.
Writing background: I’ve loved to write since I was very little, but it was mostly poetry. I did my first poetry slam when I was 13, and fell in love with it. Positively despised college writing classes, but my initial degree in theatre meant reading and interpreting a lot of text. Spread from poems to short stories, and finally longish short stories.
Why NaNoWriMo and why now? This is my one and only November off from school during my entire grad/postgrad studies, so I went for it. Also, I tend to write really dark dystopia stuff, so I wanted to step away and write an adventure piece my kid could one day read and enjoy.
Genre (of NaNoWriMo novel): Young Adult
The novel I want to write: Lexi lives in Victorian London with her odd yet unremarkable parents. However, when her mother is kidnapped, Lexi's father is forced to share with her the awful secret of their family, a secret that could hurt everyone close to her. Set in an alternate steampunkish London where Sherlock Holmes plays cribbage with the Queen, and if the Lions drink, London will drown, Lexi Lu Saves The World should make for a fun read (and month of writing!).
Meet my main character: Alexandra Lu. She’s 11, consistently embarrassed by her odd parents, and wants nothing more than to go on adventures like her hero, Sherlock Holmes.
Have you done any planning? Ummmm….I’ve done far more planning on this work than I have with any other piece. As it takes place in London, I’ve been mapping out where I want them to go, setting up character bios and family trees, and fleshing out side characters. Oh, and storyboarding! I’m writing it in theatre style, where every day I’ll attack a ‘scene’ (chapter), and then assemble it all towards the end.
Writing fears: Missing the 50K mark. Other than that, I’m golden. I’m taking this month as an extraordinary opportunity to just write, internal editor be damned. Let’s have some fun.
Writing hopes and dreams: I’d love to write a Doctor Who novel or episode. It would be a dream come true to contribute to the Who canon. (Moffat, if you’re reading this, I’ve already got the story sketched out, plenty of scenes for Capaldi to let loose, and I’m free come December 1st…call me!)
Shea Wong will be blogging for us every week throughout the NaNoWriMo challenge. Keep checking back here for the latest updates.
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