In Today’s Journal
* Questions on WITD
* Writing Fiction Sales Copy
* Of Interest
Questions on WITD
While cleaning up my email inbox, I found an email in which a writer asked “Would it be alright if I asked a question, or two?” Then the writer posed a few questions in order to receive “a straight answer” after having read Quiet the Critical Voice and Write Fiction.
Here are the questions, followed by my verbatim response just in case anyone else is confused about the non-process of writing into the dark:
A. When you write, do you simply not think [and] whatever comes to mind goes onto the page, or do you “see” the scene as it unfolds and then you use your skills to bring what you saw in your mind by thinking about how to write the scene?
Or [do you] simply shut down the conscious mind and just let your fingers put whatever you think of onto the page as soon as it comes, so no critical or conscious thinking goes into your writing (before cycling)?
B. When cycling, do you ever switch out a word because you feel or think of a better one? Or even a scene? Example: He walked down the lane… (Ooo… he strutted down the lane…) (No, he took a wide step down the lane, feeling the hot air in his nostrils as he started to skip, with gusto.)
You bet. I’m always wide open to questions about writing, and I’ll always give you a straight, honest answer.
First, allow me to establish a basis: When I’m writing fiction, that isn’t ‘my’ story. In my story, I’m sitting alone in the Hovel and my fingers are moving over my computer keyboard. What I’m writing (actually, reporting) is my characters’ story, the story that they, not I, am living. So the overall, simple answer to your questions is this: I want to let the people who are actually LIVING the story (the characters) TELL the story.
A. So yes, I shut down my conscious, critical mind when I’m writing. Always. Or yes, I simply don’t think, and whatever comes to my mind—which is whatever happens next in the story or whatever a character says or does in response to what happens or to another character—goes onto the page.
As an aside, from what I’ve heard, some writers “see” the scenes unfolding like a movie in their mind and others don’t, but if you’re writing the characters’ authentic (what really happened) story, how or whether you see the story (or don’t) doesn’t matter. All that matters is that what you write in the story is what actually happened.
If my conscious, critical mind intrudes, I usually get up and walk away until I get it under control, and then I return to the story. So as you said, “no critical or conscious thinking goes into [my] writing.”
B. But that’s true both “before cycling” and even while I’m cycling. When I’m cycling—which means simply reading over what I’ve already written but letting my fingers rest on the keyboard—I don’t consciously think about or “look for” anything then either.
If the characters want to change a word or anything else, or if they want to add more description or whatever, I simply let them. It’s their story, so it isn’t up to me to change it.
The key factor in writing into the dark is trusting yourself. You’ve been absorbing Story your entire life from practically everything you’ve ever read or heard or seen, so you know things about story structure that you don’t consciously realize you know. So trust that, believe in yourself, and just write.
To help myself trust what I know and just write, I see writing fiction as a kind of reportage. I see myself as having been invited to “cover” the story for the characters, so my only job as a writer is to write what actually happens in the story and how the characters react.
In other words, my job isn’t to make stuff up. My job is to drop into the characters’ world, then simply report what happens as I race through the story with them.
For example, if my neighbors took a trip to China or to Germany or Australia and asked me to go with them and write down what happened, I wouldn’t make anything up. I would respect their wishes. I’d simply accompany them, write whatever happened, and write their reactions to it. Makes sense, right?
So when I’m writing “fiction,” I see my characters the same way.
To use your specific example, whether the character “walked, strutted, or took a wide step” down the lane (or road, avenue, street, boulevard, path, etc.) would depend on the character, his mood, and the situation, so the right word for that character in that situation would probably already be there in the first place and wouldn’t need to be changed or replaced during cycling.
After all, do you yourself walk, stride, or take a wide step every time in every situation or on every occasion? Of course not. How you perambulate forward will depend on your mood, your immediate goal, and the situation. Neither do your neighbors or friends or characters move in the same way at all times.
I don’t know whether you were around when I offered (free) the Journal archives from 2021 through 2024. In those I cover almost everything I know about writing fiction. If you’d like them in fully searchable PDF, let me know and I’ll send them to you.
Writing Fiction Sales Copy
I offer this in response to “Synopsis vs. Back Cover” in Of Interest:
Despite Dean Wesley Smith’s hateful and heavy handed politics, I still highly recommend his nonfiction book titled How to Write Fiction Sales Copy. You can get it almost anywhere, and it isn’t expensive.
I also recommend buying a paper copy. Mine is dogeared. But once you learn the technique(s) for your genre, you’ll have it forever.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Writer Self-Doubt If you can’t boot self-doubt to the door, this might help.
Synopsis vs. Back Cover Read this, but IMHO his “Back Cover” example toward the end of the article still tells the reader far too much of the story. ZERO plot points should go on the back cover (sales copy).