In Today’s Journal
* Horrible, Terrible, Exhaustingly Sucky Quote of the Day
* A Brief Rant from Yer Uncle Harv
* Here’s What’s Possible
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Horrible, Terrible, Exhaustingly Sucky Quote of the Day
“To think about this from a writing perspective, there is only so far you can take a story without help.” Jenny Hansen
Yes, I edited the quote. I replaced an unnecessary ellipsis with a comma.
A Brief Rant from Yer Uncle Harv
Despite the alluring title, I knew this article wouldn’t go into “Of Interest” as soon as I saw the graphic at the top of the post. Look for yourself: “The Fastest, Most Reliable Way to Improve Your Writing Craft.” I include the link here only for instructional purposes and as an example of the BS being bandied about outside the Hovel.
The title of the article is a blatant lie. The article itself actually promotes the “fastest, most reliable way” to turn you into just one more dependent lemming—and freeze your writing like a freakin’ popsicle.
People like the author of this article are promoting the ridiculous myth that you—a fully competent, intelligent human being—can’t possibly do something as simple as writing a short story or novel without outside assistance.
To slip back into 1960s and 1970s parlance, “Hey, they’ got a thumb on your forehead, man. They’re keepin’ you down.”
Why? So you’ll buy more of their nonfiction books, which also promote the myths and continue to keep you down so you’ll buy more books. See a cycle here?
The article is the kind of crap that permeates writer’s boards, writing groups, and critique groups. It’s the kind of negative crap I fight so stringently against when I beg other writers to simply believe in themselves.
Besides, you have all the “help” you need: From Your Characters. It’s THEIR story. THEY, not you, are actually living it. All you have to do is trust them to live the story and write it down for them.
Boot your ego to the curb and consider yourself a Recorder (as I do) or a Stenographer (as Stephen King does) for your characters.
Or just consider yourself a competent individual who doesn’t need a bunch of condescending advice.
Here’s What’s Possible
Writer Bryan R. left a comment and a question over on the Journal website on my July 1 post, “The Big Question on Heinlein’s Rules.” If you haven’t read it, I suggest you check it out.
You can read Bryan’s full comment here.
Here’s part of Bryan’s comment and his question:
I write one clean draft now. I say I aspire to be an artisanal author and take my time, … but I had a question about release dates.
Do you just publish without advance dates, set for pre-order, or is it a mixture of things?
I’ve come to call what I’m doing this year “shadow dropping” novels and stories. I’ve got some releasing on certain deadlines, and others will just drop.
Here’s my response, slightly expanded for TNDJ:
I too see myself as a Johnny B Truant-type “Artisan Author,” but I see no reason why I can’t also be a “rapid release” writer. In my mind, neither approach is exclusive of the other.
(If you, dear readers, believe one is exclusive of the other, please explain that to me.)
Everyone writes about 1000 words per hour—that’s only 17 words per minute—so it takes about 60 hours to write a 60,000 word novel.
A writer who spreads that 60 hours over several months or a year or two (or longer) doesn’t write any better than one who spreads it over two weeks or a month.
In fact, he probably writes worse because he isn’t getting nearly as much practice at putting new words on the page.
Beginning on October 19, 2024 with The Case of the Wayward Accountant (a Stern Talbot PI mystery novel), I wrote and released a new novel every two weeks for a streak of 21 novels in 42 weeks. The streak ended with Blackwell Ops 46: Sam Granger | Hell Comes Home.
So I guess that’s rapid release. But I also take my time (in cycling) and write every novel to the best of my current ability, so I’m also an Artisan Author. Plus I seem to learn or “realize” new craft things with almost every novel.
But I also put up each novel on Amazon and D2D with a two-week delayed release date, always on a Saturday so it’s easier to keep up with.
The Amazon email reminders that I needed to upload the “final manuscript” also helped keep me going.
I even set up a “Pub Dates 2024-2025” .txt document (on Notepad if you write on a PC) to help keep me on track. I listed the dates in advance down the left side of the page, then inserted whatever title after each novel was finished. During much of that time I was also writing a short story every week.
I’m not writing fiction at the moment, but when I start again I’ll set up a similar write/delayed-release/publish schedule for myself. It works well for me.
Of course, you could also do the same thing once a month or once a quarter or whatever interval you need because maybe you have a job or other commitments that keep you from writing as much or as often as you’d like.
Writing a 60,000 word novel in a month would require two hours of writing per day (an average of 2000 words per day).
Doing the same thing every other month or once a quarter would require, respectively, one hour per day (an average of 1000 words per day) or a half-hour per day (an average of 667 words per day).
The point is, you can do it.
The secret is prioritizing your writing time, putting yourself on a schedule, and then sticking to it. But no undue, uncomfortable pressure. Just fun. (See the note at the end of this post.)
As for cycling, I cycle back over everything at least once as I’m writing it. I cycle back over critical (high-action or high-emotion) scenes at least two or three times and sometimes several times (but always in the creative subconscious mind) to be sure I (the presenter) include everything the characters gave me.
Hope this helps.
Of Interest
Other People’s Kickstarter Problems Some great advice. Please heed it. Dean’s done over 50 successful Kickstarters.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 1050
Writing of Blackwell Ops 47: Sam Granger | Special Duty
Day 1…… 3250 words. To date…… 3250
Day 2…… 1110 words. To date…… 4360
Fiction for August..………………….. 1110
Fiction for 2025………………………. 527757
Nonfiction for August………………… 13340
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 181740
2025 consumable words…………….. 701883
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 13
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 31
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 117
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 301
Short story collections……………………. 29
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.
If you are able, please support TNDJ with a paid subscription. Thank you!
If you’re new to TNDJ, you might want to check out these links:
- On Writing Fiction
- Gifts
- Writing Resources
- Oh, and here’s My Bio. It’s always a good idea to vet the expertise of people who are giving you advice.
Questions on writing and publishing are always welcome at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.