The Journal: Sort-of WITD and Pseudonyms

In today’s Journal

* Quotes of the Day
* One Alternative to WITD
* On Pseudonyms
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quotes of the Day

“Spend the best hours of your day on the biggest opportunity, not the biggest problem.” Farnam Street blog

“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” Hanlon’s Razor by Robert J. Hanlon

One Alternative to WITD

In “Of Interest” today I linked to an article about NaNoWriMo. The article is written by a young woman who calls herself a “pure ‘pantser’.”

(Ahem. Sorry, but I flatly despise that term. It puts me in mind of a schoolyard bully whose only joy in life is derived from “pantsing” other people. No, I’ve never been pantsed, but when I was 9 I was sent home for two days as punishment for attempting to feed my lunch pail to just such a “pantser” who was about to practice his hobby on another child.)

Anyway, I understand in this context the term is not meant to be derogatory. It’s meant to denote a person who “flies (or writes) by the seat of her pants.” Meaning without an outline. By which the author means she writes into the dark. But later in the article, she illustrates plainly that she actually doesn’t.

She can’t. She’s still trapped in two myths: one, that moving forward in the story with a plan is better than doing so without a plan. And two, that revision and rewriting (allowing the conscious, critical mind to second guess the creative subconscious storyteller) is a good idea. You all know my take on these two fallacies.

In other words, she doesn’t trust her characters to tell their own story, and she doesn’t trust her own creative subconscious to get it right.

Still, I decided to pass along the article, especially for those of you who aren’t quite able to pull the trigger on writing into the dark. We aren’t all alike. Not everyone can bring themselves to trust fully in their characters and their own abilities. Not everyone can experience the unfettered freedom of actually writing into the dark.

If you fall into that camp, first, I’m sorry. I wish you could experience the sheer terror and joy of WITD. Second, the article might help you get closer. It’s relatively well written and the author does hit on a few valuable points.

I won’t summarize those points for you here. The article isn’t long, and you should get from it whatever you get from it without further interference from me. I hope it will help.

On Pseudonyms

In the second item in “Of Interest” the author is wondering whether readers are justified making a fuss when they learn a “real” writer writes under one or more pen names.

My own take? No. A reader has no more right to insist I use my “own name” than I have to insist they must be addressed, by everyone in their life, by whatever appears on their birth certificate. The whole idea is silly. Besides, if I created the pen name and the character to go with it, then that name IS another of my “own” names.

You can read my full response in the comments after the post. And tomorrow or so I’ll be back here with the bios of my own major pseudonyms. I think that would be fun, and I think you’ll enjoy them.

Talk with you again later.

Of Interest

See “NaNoWriMo: How to Fly by the Seat of Your Pants—and Win” at https://www.janefriedman.com/nanowrimo-how-to-fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-and-win/.

See “How Far is Too Far With a Pseudonym?” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/10/how-far-is-too-far-with-a-pseudonym.html.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 600 words

Writing of WCGN 5: Tentative Title (novel)

Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX

Total fiction words for October……… XXXX
Total fiction words for the year………… 623282
Total nonfiction words for October… 8700
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 174660
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 797942

Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 13
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 66
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31

Disclaimer: In this blog, I provide advice on writing fiction. I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. To be crystal clear, WITD is not “the only way” to write, nor will I ever say it is. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among myriad other topics.