In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Thought of the Day
* Reminder
* Hint: Enhance, Not Advance
* The Novel Wrapped
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“The greatest advance of the digital era has been the rebranding of narcissism as sharing.” Cartoonist P. Byrnes in a captio of one of his cartoons that displays humans taking ‘selfies’ with smart phones
“Every story or novel you write has value, not only in short-term sales, but in long term branding.” Dean Wesley Smith (See Of Interest)
Thought of the Day
I’ve never understood why any writer celebrates the end of a story or novel. I mourn when a novel ends, as I mourn endings in life. And I celebrate the birth of a new novel as we celebrate new beginnings in life.
Reminder
All you Bradbury Challenge writers, remember to get your story info in to me before midnight tonight.
And if you haven’t joined the challenge yet, you can. Simply email me with your story title, word count and genre in this format (notice the lack of punctuation other than quotation marks):
Author Name “Story Title” 3456 Genre
Today I have a guest post for you.
It started as an emailed response to “Setting Matters. And Detail Matters.” But it was far too good not to share, with Michaele’s kind permission, of course.
Hint: Enhance, Not Advance
a guest post by Michaele Lockhart
Back when we were writing weekly blogs for Pro Writers Writing, I wrote one piece about how a writer can accomplish what the camera does for film. Keep directing the viewer (reader) toward the significant object (a gun in this case) by close-up focus (in writing, describing the scene through the POV character in the appropriate detail).
As you know, I work with—teach, mentor, and whatever—a varying group of writers. The group varies as much as their writing varies.
All too frequently, someone comes up with that old saw: “Get rid of xxx because it doesn’t advance the story.” Predictably I will groan.
Using the Socratic Method, I tried to get those misguided individual(s) to see the light. Inevitably, the parts these souls would identify were descriptions that did not come through the POV character. It’s often as simple as that. I always hoped that their conclusion and learning about it would help, but those who are determined to say something will keep on saying it. Ah, well….
Finally, I told them, “You’re asking the wrong question and enforcing the wrong criteria: ‘Does it enhance the story?’” (hint: enhance, not advance.) There would always be a chorus of “Oh, yes. I see that.” That would help some.
And on that same subject…. About ten years ago, I had a writer who could do some things really well, while others she simply abandoned as unimportant in her writing. It made for rather inconsistent story telling.
She had described how important it was to be given an opportunity to become a paralegal. She described how she was thrilled to have the chance, and even more so to have the backing of someone she’d admired. And then she wrote: “He showed me into a conference room and we sat down.”
“What about the conference room?” I asked. She answered me, “What about it? It was just a conference room. You know.”
No, I didn’t know. And no one else would either. I gave her these examples:
She eased down at the long conference table, avoiding as best she could the sharp edges of peeling wood-grained laminate. The chair’s upholstery, like on all the others, was split open, allowing the interior to gradually escape its confines of Naugahyde. The walls were decorated—if that was the proper term—with faded motivational posters, their edges curling up around thumbtacks at each corner. Despite generous use of some floral air freshener, the avocado shag carpet reeked of years of stale cigarette smoke and hopeless enterprises.
OR:
The executive conference room oozed opulence and Old Wealth. Even the Sarouk carpet that stretched the length of the room, gently faded after years in some Oriental antique bazaar, hinted of ancient spices and exotic travel. On the walls were Impressionist paintings that he vaguely recognized, all on loan from the Getty Collection. The surface of the teak conference table glowed as if it had been polished five minutes ago. Tentatively, he reached out to touch one of ten matching chairs, his fingers sinking into buttery soft leather. What would be expected of him if he was hired by the firm? Would this room be part of his life too? (blah-blah or whatever)
OR:
The conference room might have been assembled by the same decorators who “staged” open houses for viewing by prospective buyers. It was standard office supply store furniture, some of it fresh out of a flat pack, hastily assembled for display purposes only and still off-gassing unknown noxious chemicals. In other words, the room was a predictable cliché.
The point is that these were all conference rooms and we (and the POV character) will react differently to each one. [HS Note: Those “reactions” will come in the form of the POV character’s opinion and in what the reader “sees” and otherwise senses.]
And therefore, the end of my sermon: setting is important. And Chekhov really didn’t mean what he has been blamed for.
* * *
Thanks, Michaele! Michaele Lockhart is that rare combination of excellent fictionist and excellent copyeditor and instructor. She lives in Tucson.
The Novel Wrapped
After being hit or miss on writing days, this novel wrapped with my best day. It’s also the most difficult novel I’ve ever written. The POV character wasn’t always as forthcoming as I wanted him to be, but eventually he came to trust me and let me in fully. I think.
(I heard someone ask, “What do you do when the POV character isn’t as forthcoming as you want him to be? It’s the character’s story, right?” Yes, it is. So I do one of two things, depending on the situation. I wait and-or I cycle back again and again, giving him every chance to put everything he wants into the story.)
It’s also the most emotionally twisted tale I’ve ever heard or conveyed. If you like really twisted stuff that keeps your curiosity and expectations at a peak and keeps you guessing and wondering what will happen until the last 1000 words or so, you’ll like this one.
If you like that kind’a thing, let me know and maybe I’ll put it on pre-publication sale.
Anyway, it’s off to the first reader. (UPDATE: The annotated file was in my inbox this morning. Woohoo! Thanks, Russ!)
Today, with any luck, I’ll start the next one.
Another Reminder
Also today at 1 p.m. Arizona time, I’ll be doing a YouTube event. You can catch that at
Live from the Hovel.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Fiction Branding… Part 4 READ THIS!
Episode 906: Searching for the SweetSpot in Italy
For probably the greatest quotes on the planet, subscribe to Dr. Mardy’s Quotes of the Week
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 1180
Writing of Blackwell Ops 21: Johnny Mercer
Day 1…… 4190 words. To date…… 4190
Day 2…… 2599 words. To date…… 6789
Day 3…… 3380 words. To date…… 10169
Day 4…… 2812 words. To date…… 12981
Day 5…… 1726 words. To date…… 14707
Day 6…… 1866 words. To date…… 16573
Day 7…… 4349 words. To date…… 20922
Day 8…… 2244 words. To date…… 23166
Day 9…… 4743 words. To date…… 27909
Day 10…. 2221 words. To date…… 30130
Day 11…. 4131 words. To date…… 34261
Day 12…. 5294 words. To date…… 39555 (done)
Fiction for March…………………….…. 32766
Fiction for 2024…………………………. 197358
Fiction since October 1………………… 500414
Nonfiction for March…………………… 18410
Nonfiction for 2024……………………… 117600
2024 consumable words……………… 314958
2024 Novels to Date……………………… 4
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 1
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………… 86
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)…… 239
Short story collections………………… 31
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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