In today’s Journal
* Ernest Hemingway and Stephen King
* The Conscious, Critical Mind in Video
* Doing Nothing
* IP Valuation
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Ernest Hemingway and Stephen King
I’m not much for wishing I’d written someone else’s work, but I really wish I’d written For Whom the Bell Tolls. It’s Hemingway’s best novel. When I read that one, it feels familiar, as if I did write it.
It isn’t so much that I wish I’d actually put the words on the page in that exact order as that I had lived the experiences and in the places that enabled him to write it. In fact, I’ve written several short stories similar in tone and subject matter for which I did have the experience.
The closest I came previously to wishing such a thing was with Stephen King’s The Stand, but I didn’t wish I’d written it so much as wished I could write like that. But eventually I learned so many lessons about writing fiction from that one that I no longer needed to wish I’d written it.
Back to my personal rating of Hemingway’s works, The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: the Finca Vigia Edition competes with The Old Man and the Sea for runner up to For Whom the Bell Tolls as his best work. The Complete Short Stories wins, I think, for sheer volume.
The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms come next in either order in a bid for fourth and fifth, and To Have and Have Not rounds out a short list of his better fictions.
The Conscious, Critical Mind in Video
If you want to see the conscious, critical mind keeping writers from writing, watch Season 4, Episode 7, “The Cheever Letters” of the sitcom Seinfeld. (The writer conundrum continues through the next few episodes.)
Doing Nothing
I want to say I’ve learned that I’m not good at doing nothing, but that isn’t exactly true. I’ve known for a long time I’m not good at doing nothing. In fact, I’m horrible at it. What’s worse (or better, to me) I don’t want to get good at it.
But during my hiatus I find myself having to learn patience. I’ve had to wait for various reasons (e.g., shipping time on things I’ve ordered, unbearable heat after about 9 a.m., etc.) to accomplish tasks I’ve set for myself.
The ultimate goal is to get my office and my equipment back in order so
- I have a permanent place to report every morning again, so
- I can reestablish my routine, so
- I can get back to the joyful escape of writing.
I suspect (and hope) when everything’s in order again the dam will burst. As it is, I’ve allowed a few hundred words of fiction to seep out now and again. It will feel good to sit in the right environment again and let the words flow.
IP Valuation
Dean Wesley Smith wrote a wake-up call regarding IP valuation. It’s a must-read and the main reason I’m posting an edition of the Journal today.
The article won’t spoon-feed you any answers, but it will hint at some great questions you should consider asking an IP attorney and/or estate attorney about your IP.
And you don’t have to have dozens of novels or multiple series. With IP, because of all the forms licensing can take, having even one novel or short story collection is exponentially larger than having none. So if you haven’t considered some of the questions the article will pose, I suggest you start now.
To read the article, see “Valuation of IP” at https://deanwesleysmith.com/valuation-of-ip/.
Talk with you later.
Of Interest
See “Former FBI agent shares 3 things…” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/former-fbi-agent-shares-3-things-people-with-high-emotional-intelligence-always-do-when-talking-to-others/. Reading this might help inform your characters.
See “Six Useful CHATGPT Prompts for Fiction Writers” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/six-useful-chatgpt-prompts-for-fiction-writers/. I don’t buy it, but maybe we’re different, you and I.
See “9 Common Dialogue Problems…” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/9-common-dialogue-problems-and-how-to-fix-them/. I encourage you to download the Journal archives and search for “dialogue” or “realistic dialogue.”
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 660
Writing of “Marvin McTavish Decides”
Day 1…… 326 words. Total words to date…… 326
Day 2…… 346 words. Total words to date…… 672
Writing of “A Midnight Sketch”
Day 1…… 1341 words. Total words to date…… 1341
Writing of Rose Padilla (WCG10SF5)
Day 1…… 4283 words. Total words to date…… 4283
Day 2…… 3963 words. Total words to date…… 8246
Day 3…… 1463 words. Total words to date…… 9709
Day 4…… 2445 words. Total words to date……12154
Total fiction words for July……… 2013
Total fiction words for 2023………… 112035
Total nonfiction words for July… 6840
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 138390
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 250425
Calendar Year 2023 Novels to Date…………………… 2
Calendar Year 2023 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2023 Short Stories to Date………… 4
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 73
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………… 221
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark, adherence to Heinlein’s Rules, and that following the myths of fiction writing will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.