We’re almost halfway through NaNoWritMo — National Novel Writing Month — a November tradition where aspiring authors challenge themselves to produce a complete novel in one month. For many, this will be their first novel.

Science fiction and fantasy authors James Morrow, Patricia C. Wrede, Ian R. MacLeod, Paul Di Filippo, and Simon R. Green share the fun, challenging, and sometimes frustrating experience of writing their first novels in this video from Open Road Media.

“I just looked at the piece of scrap paper I had in front of me,” author Ian R. MacLeod says of the epiphany he had while at work for the civil service, “and I thought, ‘Well, let’s have a go at doing something more interesting that this.’” Take heart, says Simon R. Green – for him it took “fifteen years to be an overnight success.”

[Thanks to Paul Di Filippo for the link.]