I Wrote This Into the Dark
October 8, 2024 by Harvey
In today’s Journal
* A Note on the Bradbury Challenge
* I Wrote This Into the Dark
* The Writing
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
A Note on the Bradbury Challenge
I was just thinking, I told you recently I plan to offer challenges in November similar to those I offered in September.
If you plan to jump into one of those challenges, one great way to practice for those during October would be to write at least one short story per week for the Bradbury Challenge during the month of October.
The deadline to submit your story title, word count, and genre for Bradbury is every Sunday at midnight. Of course, I accept early results if you send them. The Bradbury Challenge is what really got me started as a fiction writer back in 2014.
I’d love to see more writers involved in the Bradbury Challenge. I love watching other writers grow in the craft.
So if you’ve thought about it (or even if you haven’t), this is an open invitation to jump in.
I Wrote This Into the Dark
I’m not entirely sure what the following has to do with fiction writing. That is up to you to decide. I only know it flowed out of me yesterday morning.
I’ve never forgotten the wisest thing I ever heard a Psychology instructor say: “Don’t should on others.”
I took that as advice not to try to take responsibility for thoughts and deeds I can’t control. Meaning thoughts and deeds that are not my own.
In other words (and this is solely my understanding) it is not my place to advise anyone on anything unless they specifically ask for my advice.
Even on those rare occasions, my response usually takes the form of “Well, I do this (or do this in this particular way) because doing so will result in this.”
In this venue and in our tiny little corner of the human experience as fiction writers, I don’t even advise others to write into the dark.
If you don’t believe me, check the archives. They’re free, fully searchable PDF files.
At most, you’ll find that I suggest every fiction writer TRY writing into the dark. Usually (if not always) I add that if they don’t like it, they can always go back to the way they did things before.
Long practice at writing into the dark has taught me several things about myself, and all of them are positive.
The main thing I’ve learned from WITD as a fiction writer is that I am fully capable only when I trust myself and my characters and all that I’ve learned or unwittingly absorbed about Story during my almost 72 very brief years on this planet.
The main thing I’ve learned from WITD as a human being is that I can’t pass a valid judgment on others’ motivations for writing or otherwise because I don’t know their motivations.
Nor am I able to, even if they explain those motivations. Because how can I possibly know what motivations went into the explanation?
I can only know what others do or don’t do—their actions—but I can never know why.
WITD has also taught me many things about other people as my characters revealed their personality or personalities to me.
Chief among those is that others will do what they’re going to do and think or believe what they’re going to think or believe—whether or not those thoughts and beliefs (usually about others and others’ motives) are true—both in fiction and in “real life.”
I’ve also noticed that I never think or believe or wonder about my own motivations. Because somewhere inside me, I KNOW why I do or say particular things, so why waste time wondering?
I also believe that is true about others. I believe they know why they do or say whatever they do or say, and all of that is up to them. It’s solely their responsibility.
If I think about what others do or say at all, I might stop for an instant, but only to assume they have their reasons. Then I move along and deal with my own life. That’s more than enough.
The Writing
I finished the short story I started yesterday (see Numbers below) then turned my mind to the business end.
That killed the writing frenzy I was in (God, I love being ‘in the zone’!) so I kind’a took the rest of the day off. My average wpd is still far above 3000 (see Numbers), so I’m okay with that.
Anyway, I did some of the prep work for the novella and novel I just finished. Probably today I’ll get the covers done and get them published.
Sigh… it would be SO easy for me to just write and not bother with publishing. But I guess it’s all part’a the game.
Today sometime also, I hope to start my 30th Blackwell Ops novel. Or maybe something else. If so, you’ll see it in the Numbers section tomorrow.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Teachable Full Sale I know some of you are interested in some of Dean’s offerings. Email me for recommendations if you want.
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 870
Writing of “Old Times”
Day 1…… 1520 words. To date…… 1520
Day 2…… 1875 words. To date…… 3395 (done)
Fiction for October……………………. 27400
Fiction for 2024………………………… 768908
Nonfiction for October………………… 8180
Nonfiction for 2024……………………. 311770
2024 consumable words……………… 904717
Average Fiction WPD (October)……… 3914
2024 Novels to Date………………………… 14
2024 Novellas to Date……………………… 1
2024 Short Stories to Date…………………. 17
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………..……. 96
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………. 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………..… 254
Short story collections…………………….….. 29
With it being close to Halloween and the days getting shorter...I hope all of us writing in the dark don't stub our toes on a corpse, fall through a ghost's ectoplasm, slip in a puddle of blood and cut ourselves on the murder weapon as we try to stand up. Maybe we need a lantern for this journey if we don't have cat eyes that see in the dark...
Oh, wait! Writing INTO the dark, not IN the dark... my bad. lol. (Written into the Dark)
"At most, you’ll find that I suggest every fiction writer TRY writing into the dark. "
I think 'TRY' is probably received better since it doesn't feel like an order from someone who isn't perceived as having the authority to give commands (the person might not know the speaker's experience and bristles at perceived orders).
I wrote that comment into the dark. I don't know where it came from since I can't remember feeling that someone giving writing advice is ordering me. But some people would and maybe I tapped into the mind of a character who would feel like that.