A Slightly Deeper Dive on Cycling

In today’s Journal

* A Slightly Deeper Dive on Cycling
* A Little More on Facebook
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

A Slightly Deeper Dive on Cycling

I got two great questions from a writer:

• Can you cycle over one section too many times?
• How do you know when you’ve cycled enough?

The short answer to the first question is a resounding No.

But be sure you aren’t editing.

Cycling is the process during which you rest your fingers on the keyboard and Just Read for Pleasure something you’ve already written.

Usually it’s the chapter or section you’ve just written (then took a short break).

As you read, if your fingers want to move seemingly of their own accord, let them. Or if something just “comes to you,” type it. That’s your character(s) pushing thoughts and urges through your brain.

But if you find you’re not just reading and enjoying the story—if you find yourself “looking for” anything or considering sentence length or anything like that (editing)—I advise you to get up and walk away for a few minutes.

While you’re gone, tell the conscious, critical mind to leave you alone, or laugh at it, or whatever works for you to shut it down. Then go back to your cycling session and just enjoy the story.

When it comes to writing, the conscious, critical mind is a bully. Don’t succumb to unreasoning fear. Don’t be bullied.

And how do you know when you’ve cycled enough?

Again, when I cycle through any part of the story, I’m not “making sure everything works” or anything like that. I’m just reading for pleasure and letting the characters move my fingers as necessary.

In my case, I stop when what I’ve just cycled over feels right. It feels like I couldn’t do anything else to convey what the character gave me any better. That’s when I know the cycling session is over. A typical cycling session for a chapter (1200 to 1700 words) takes me all of maybe five minutes.

But remember, I do have a little bit of a safety net: I know I’ll see it again tomorrow morning.

I cycle through everything at least twice: Once after each writing session (and a break), and once the following morning when I cycle back over everything I wrote the previous day.

When I finish cycling over the individual previous writing session, I feel that it’s as good as it can be.

Yet the following morning, when I cycle over the previous day’s writing as a whole, I usually add about 100 words per chapter. Go figure.

Maybe because on that cycling pass, I’m getting a broader picture and seeing the whole day’s work in context. Or maybe because as I’m reading, the character says, “Hey, I said this line of dialogue right here. Did you miss it?”

Again, the whole key is to trust yourself and your characters.

If you can bring yourself to believe they actually exist, albeit in a different world or dimension or whatever, they’ll believe the same about you. Isn’t that nice?

And you’ll have a wonderful working relationship.

A Little More on Facebook

By the way, Facebook isn’t currently allowing me to send friend requests even to family members. Shrug. I dunno. I keep getting a message that says “It appears you don’t know this person.”

Also, I’m still “not allowed” to create a username.

So if you want to connect with me there, while on FB search for Harvey Stanbrough, then send me a friend request. Sorry for any inconvenience.

After May 31, I’ll only visit there anyway to post the occasional edition of the Journal.

I’ll talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

Say Hello to Fable! This is great news! Another sales venue from D2D.

What do the abbreviations AM and PM mean? Interesting. Did you know “noon” used to mean 3 p.m.?

The Numbers

The Journal……………………………… 640

Writing of Blackwell Ops 23: Buck Jackson

Day 1…… 1217 words. To date…… 1217
Day 2…… 2154 words. To date…… 3371
Day 3…… 5757 words. To date…… 9128
Day 4…… 5433 words. To date…… 14561
Day 5…… 2248 words. To date…… 16809
Day 6…… 3446 words. To date…… 20255
Day 7…… 2960 words. To date…… 23215
Day 8…… 3987 words. To date…… 27202

Fiction for April…………………….….… 27202
Fiction for 2024…………………………. 252994
Fiction since October 1………………… 556050
Nonfiction for April……………………… 8140
Nonfiction for 2024……………………… 136860
2024 consumable words……………… 389854

2024 Novels to Date……………………… 6
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 1
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)……………… 88
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 239
Short story collections…………………… 29

Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.

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