Writing and Thinking (Etc.) About Writing
In Today's Journal
* Quote of the Day
* The Novel Wrapped
* Thinking About Opening Mentorships Again
* Writing and Thinking (Etc.) About Writing
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
"[I'm] going to like this new character. He’s got attitude and voice. Great fun." Dean Wesley Smith, in his blog, about a new character
I know exactly what he means. Few things are better than drawing back the curtain to find a new character who has a strong attitude and a unique voice.
The Novel Wrapped
As I thought it would, the novel wrapped yesterday. Twice.
I thought it wrapped at the end of the last chapter. Then I took a break, came back to cycle over what I'd written on the day, and realized the story was begging for an epilogue. Okay, fine. So I let the characters write an epilogue. Then it wrapped again.
I ran a spell check, saved it as a PDF, and sent that off to my first reader, Russ Jones. He continues to amaze me. The newly annotated PDF was waiting for me when I came to work this morning.
(Yeah, I call it 'work.' It's what I do day after day, like a mechanic repairs engines or a cop cops or a lawyer does what s/he does. Shrug. Except I go to 'work' seven days a week.)
So today, I'll make any of Russ' recommended changes that I agree with, then construct (not 'create') a promo doc and a cover and publish it to Amazon and D2D for a "live" release on February 1.
Of course the novel will also be available "live" later today for a discount at my StoneThread Publishing online store under the Blackwell Ops tab.
Thinking About Opening Mentorships Again
Owing in part to the second post in Of Interest today, I'm thinking about opening up my fiction-writing mentorship program again. All mentorships are conducted via email and (if you want) phone.
If I do open them again, each one-on-one mentorship will run month by month with a reasonable monthly fee. (You and I will determine the fee.) If you're interested, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. All responses will be confidential.
Writing and Thinking (Etc.) About Writing
In the wake of adding the first link in Of Interest to today's issue of TNDJ, a thought occurred:
If you're waiting for inspiration to strike, you aren't writing. You're thinking about writing or maybe even anticipating writing, but you aren't writing.
Probably 30 years ago, long before I had personally even heard of Heinlein's Rules (a free PDF document will download), I had an old beat-up scrap of paper on the wall of my home office above my Smith-Corona word processor with its little 4-line screen.
On the scrap of paper were the typewritten “Seven Laws of Writing” by Roberta Jean Bryant from her book, Anybody Can Write:
“To write” is an active verb. Thinking is not writing. Writing is putting words on paper.
Write passionately. Everybody has loves and hates; even quiet people lead passionate lives. Creativity follows passion.
Write honestly. Risk nakedness. Originality equals vulnerability.
Write for fun, for personal value. If you don’t enjoy the process, why should anyone enjoy the product? Pleasure precedes profit.
Write anyway. Ignore discouraging words, internal and external. Persistence always pays off.
Write a lot. Use everything. Learning comes from your own struggles with words on paper.
Write out of commitment to your ideas, commitment to yourself as a writer. Trust yourself.
Those 'laws' didn't turn my life around, but they stuck with me and nagged me. Especially that first one: "'To write' is an active verb. Thinking is not writing. Writing is putting words on paper."
Later, for me, that morphed into "Writing is putting new words on the page." But it still didn't really sink in.
After all, reading lists of rules doesn't matter. Coming to believe in yourself and putting the rules into action is what matters.
It would be another twenty years before I finally stumbled across Heinlein's Rules and the notion of writing into the dark. I found both of those through Dean Wesley Smith back when he was doing in his blog what I'm doing now with TNDJ.
All of that said, reading lists of rules or books on writing fiction or reading novels or short stories by favorite authors or even reading didactic blogs doesn't make anyone a writer.
Doing those things can help you learn the craft and they can certainly provide inspiration. But only
believing in yourself,
trusting your characters, and
putting new words on the page
will make you a writer.
Since you're already reading this and you've made it this far, I'll add that it isn’t a bad idea to combine Heinlein's Rules and Bryant's Laws. Or at least it wasn't for me. And Heinlein’s Rules can be reduced to only four rules, really:
Write (and finish).
Don’t allow your (or anyone else’s) conscious mind to second-guess your characters and what actually happened (and you recorded) as you raced through the story with them.
Publish.
See Rule 1.
Notice that all seven of Bryant’s Laws could be shoehorned-in as Heinlein’s Rule 1a. Or you could hold back Law 5 and 7 and insert them as Heinlein’s Rule 2a. Works well either way.
But it’s easy enough to read motivational bits and didactic posts and lists of rules and laws and guidelines. In the end, actually applying them is what matters.
To quote Aunt Meg from Twister (grin), “It’s what you do. Go. Do it."
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Dr. Mardy's Quotes of the Week: “Inspiration—Part One: Divine or Otherwise" Much about writing in this one.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 1050
Writing of Blackwell Ops 34: Solomon Payne
Day 1…… 2005 words. To date…… 2005
Day 2…… 2992 words. To date…… 4997
Day 3…… 3998 words. To date…… 8995
Day 4…… 4591 words. To date…… 13586
Day 5…… 4503 words. To date…… 18089
Day 6…… 4499 words. To date…… 22588
Day 7…… 2391 words. To date…… 24979
Day 8…… 2704 words. To date…… 27683
Day 9…… 4462 words. To date…… 32145
Day 10…. 4586 words. To date…… 36731
Day 11…. 3502 words. To date…… 40233 done
Fiction for January…………………… 48891
Fiction for 2025………………………. 48891
Nonfiction for January……………….. 12160
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 12160
2025 consumable words…………….. 61051
Average Fiction WPD (January)……. 4445
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 1
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………….... 105
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 274
Short story collections……………………. 29
Disclaimer: Whatever you believe, unreasoning fear and the myths that outlining, revising, and rewriting will make your work better are lies. They will always slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
Writing fiction should never be something that stresses you out. It should be fun. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Because of WITD and because I endeavor to follow those Rules I am a prolific professional fiction writer. You can be too.
I started cycling back on an uncompleted novel last night. I listened to the character, I fought the Critical Voice Monster that wanted to cut things down so that they "moved faster", because "everyone knows" that readers won't read things that aren't exploding in the first paragraph...I tucked CVM into it's bed and locked the door, but it kept barking loudly - or growling loudly. But, I reminded it the door was locked, so go to sleep. And then the character and I added 203 words to just the first page, because that is just how that character rolls. The CVM is still whimpering softly, but I tossed it a Substack essay to chew on for now. Many cycles to go, but the train is starting to pull out of the station.
I have writing quotes typed out and taped on the wall behind my computer. I think my first (from the old SSA convention days) is from J.A. Jance. "A writer is someone who has written today."
I also have one from someone named Harvey... "Trust and type."