Q: Michaela, you recently participated in an art project by seeking to finish your NaNo-novel at 4 AM in Trafalgar Square. What was the project, and why did you choose to work on your November novel? Would you recommend writing on a pedestal to other NaNoWriMo participants?
A: It was a standing joke on the York and Leeds regional forum last year that we were gritty Northern writers who laughed in the face of extreme noveling. We braved the coffee in Starbucks every Sunday, and even had one write-in at a beach hut in sub-zero temperatures, where we discovered that biro ink actually freezes and having a snowman on the table gets you really weird looks from passers-by. However, none of this prepared me for where I was going to end up writing this year.
Antony Gormley decided to use the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square as a living monument to modern Britain. For 100 days, 24 hours a day, a random selection of people have occupied the plinth in all sorts of different ways for their hour-long spot.
When I was offered a 4-5 AM stint, I originally thought it would be the perfect place to finish my novel from last November as writing certainly represents what I love to do. Then there was the added bonus - after almost 100,000 words, what better way to celebrate the end of a novel? I'd be a life-sized winner's trophy on my very own plinth!
The early hour and the fact that so much was going on around me made the task impossible. Watching dawn rise around Trafalgar Square with the shifts in colours from darkness to a beautiful turquoise water in the fountains was the most incredible experience. And then there were the people who wanted to hear what I was writing, the underground workers on their way home who asked to be written into the story, the passengers in cars who tooted and waved, and the drunken bloke who flashed his chest at me. It was pretty distracting!
Did I finish my NaNo novel? I'm sad to say that I didn't even try. I ended up with a short story which puts the square in a dystopian reality, thereby spawning a whole host of plot bunnies for this November that I'm itching to begin .
Writing on the Fourth Plinth was one of those magical stories that I know I'll be telling for the rest of my life. If you ever get the opportunity to put yourself on a pedestal, I'd wholeheartedly recommend it. You may not get much noveling done, but the memories will last forever.
Michaela Child is an English teacher, tea addict, and compulsive sock thief. She procrastinates in York (UK) where she finds that living in fiction is often a preferable alternative to reality. Her husband has kidnapped one of her manuscripts hidden under the bed and is currently sending it out to agents with malice aforethought.
