Writing ‘North to Norway’
Behind the Scenes
It's a surreal feeling holding my own book, 'North to Norway', in my hands. It's a story born from a motorcycle adventure, a journey to the furthest reaches of Europe, and it's published today in paperback by Tregarth Press (and as an e-book on Amazon!).
The seed of the book was planted during these weekly Substack blog posts. I started chronicling my May 2023 motorcycle trip to Nordkapp, the northernmost point of Europe, with my friend Ralph. Your feedback and encouragement spurred me on. This trip came a year after another spur-of-the-moment adventure, where I rode my Honda NT1100 all the way south to Tarifa, almost by accident, after an initial plan to visit my summer home in Mallorca.
I've not written about that Tarifa trip in the blog, so if you've bought the book, you'll be hearing about those adventures – and the mishaps that came with it – for the first time. I hope you enjoy it!
It occurred to me that joining these two seemingly separate journeys – to the northernmost and southernmost points of Europe – into a single narrative, a 7,000-mile epic quest, could make a compelling travel book. I'd always wanted to write a book, to capture the feeling of freedom and discovery that only comes with long-distance motorcycle travel. A few years earlier, an inspirational Creative Travel Writing course at Cambridge University ICE had given me some tools, and this felt like the perfect opportunity to put theory into practice.
One crucial lesson I learned was the importance of a good editor. I reached out to Alan Whelan, whose motorcycle adventure books (like African Brew Ha-Ha and The Black Stars of Ghana) I'd admired. I sent him a sample, and thankfully, he agreed to work with me, offering invaluable advice and support that has helped shape my book into the finished product.With the initial idea in place, I took a break from the regular blog posts to focus entirely on writing the first draft of the manuscript. The demands of long-form writing are very different from blogging, and for the next six months, I created the new section about the 2022 road trip in Spain and turned the journey to Norway into a completely reworked and expanded version of my blog, adding depth, detail, and a more structured narrative. It was far more than just a rehash of the original posts.
Alan and I met virtually several times (he's based in Cape Town) to review progress, and I took away early ideas about scene-setting, characterization, and description. In July last year, I was happy with my initial draft manuscript and sent it off for the first of several rewriting stages: the structural edit. Alan's structural edit assessed and improved the overall organization, content, and flow of my manuscript. He came back with over two hundred comments. Some were simple writing 'tics,' like repetitions of words and clichés, which I could fix easily. Others, though, were harder to swallow, requiring extensive revisions. At first, it was daunting to see so much red ink, but I quickly realized the value of his insights. One of the toughest but most important lessons was to cut out parts of the narrative, no matter how much time and sweat I'd spent on them, if they didn't add real value to the book. I chopped out over 3,000 words describing the return journey on the Hurtigruten ferry, a coastal vessel that travels along the Norwegian coast. Painful, but necessary.
People often ask me about my source material, and over the years of motorcycle touring, I've adopted a number of ways to journal my trips. For over ten years, I've kept a daily electronic diary using Day One.
It's easy to use, has great features, and is my core resource, allowing me to include photos and voice notes. Additionally, I made GoPro videos, some of which I edited into video shorts for my YouTube channel Honda Wanderlust. These became invaluable for reminding me of roads and places, helping with descriptions and adding colour to the text. My bike has a tracker fitted, which allowed me to revisit, in precise detail, every inch of the route whenever I needed to pinpoint a specific location during the thousands of miles traveled. I also had a number of maps, and I used to highlight the route every day, once I'd tucked the bike away. It was a little ritual – an opportunity to reflect on the day's travels.
I had a large number of photos taken on my iPhone; some appeared in the blog and now in the book, and the geolocation feature was helpful in working out exactly where I'd taken each snap. Another crucial piece of technology was the Otter AI app, which I used to record voice notes, usually at the end of each day. Sometimes, in a bar or restaurant, Ralph and I would do a mini 'podcast,' which was good fun and gave me some great quotations I could use. The Otter software transcribes the notes, and I would import them into my journal to add to what I'd written. Finally, there was the old-fashioned notebook and pen. I'd scribble down thoughts and the odd sketch. In Spain, when I was traveling alone, it was a comforting focus in bars and restaurants, and often people were intrigued, which helped spark some great conversations. I found that using this variety of methods ensured I captured every aspect of the journey, from immediate impressions to detailed geographical information.
By December 2023, I had finished the second manuscript following the structural edit. Over 60% of the 69,177 words in the book had changed in one form or another, and it was time for the copy edit stage, which ensures correctness, consistency, clarity, and style at the sentence and paragraph level. Alan's close attention to detail again helped pick up errors and omissions. One of the most challenging things for me was to constantly place myself in the reader's seat. I knew the journey intimately, so if I'd written something that missed a key piece of information, I wouldn't necessarily spot it. This is where a beta reader comes in handy, and I enlisted my sister, Julie, whose laser-eyed focus as a non-motorcyclist and avid reader spotted yet more errors, providing a crucial 'outsider' perspective. I was determined to make my first book the best I could possibly make it, with the help of others. Finally, in early January of this year, came the last edit stage: proofreading, the final quality check, catching any lingering surface errors in a text before publication.
I started to contact a number of established writers of motorcycle adventure books to ask for a quotation or review that I could use to help promote 'North to Norway.' I was bowled over by the generosity of people such as Geoff Hill (author of Way to Go and other adventures), Sam Manicom (known for his series on riding through Africa and Asia), and Melissa Holbrook Pierson (The Perfect Vehicle). Their words were gratifying and encouraging. I felt I'd achieved what I set out to write – a book I could be proud of, even if nobody bought it.
But of course, Alan and I weren't finished yet. We needed a book cover. My eldest daughter, Nicola, is a lawyer and a talented artist. She and I researched the shelves of bookstores, looking at paperbacks that 'popped.' One I particularly liked was Chris Broad's Abroad in Japan, with its stylized graphics and slightly retro or vintage travel poster feel. Nicola created the strong book cover you see now, which has instant appeal and is quite different from other motorcycle touring books.
The last jobs were technical: finalizing the pagination, ordering all the chapters and maps correctly, and arranging the ISBN number (without which the book can't be sold by Amazon, bookstores, or stocked by libraries). Finally, the entire book and its cover pages had to be uploaded to Ingram Spark (for the paperback) and KDP (for the Kindle/e-book) before being proofed. It was one of the most exciting days of my life when I opened the parcel from the printers and held my first book in my hands!
It had taken just over a year to write and publish 'North to Norway.' I hope that you buy and enjoy it.
If you do, please leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. It's incredibly difficult for an independent author, not backed by one of the big publishing houses, to rise up the algorithms that bring me to the attention of more readers. You can really help me by leaving some words (hopefully in praise!). I hope 'North to Norway' inspires you to embark on your own adventures, whatever form they may take. Thank you for your support!
Mighty impressive Stephen-It is so interesting to understand how the book was formulated and the assistance from friends and family.I clearly did not realise the expertise you had realised in the build up process.
Much hard work and so pleased to say I know you.
I can’t wait to read it.