The Journal: David Farland and a Royal Model O Typewriter

In today’s Journal

* Quote of the Day
* David Farland
* Royal Model O
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quote of the Day

“[E]ventually the character’s story demands to be told in full.” David Farland

If you get David Farland’s newsletter, you recently received one titled “Writing Your Series, Part 3.” But if you go to Farland’s Writing Tips blog, it doesn’t seem to be up yet.

Actually, it is. So are Parts 1 through 6. But they were originally written in 2014. So to see the entire series of posts on “Writing Your Series,” visit https://mystorydoctor.com/?s=Writing+your+series.

There are six posts in the series, but really you can skip over Parts 1 and 2. They’re basically fodder. But I found Part 3 interesting, and the last three posts are pretty meaty as well.

These are based on traditional publishing, but there’s no reason an indie publisher can’t take advantage of some of the tip as well.

I learned from reading Part 4 that my Wes Crowley series is both “episodic” and a “long tale” (what I call a “saga”). Each title in that series is complete in itself and stands alone, yet if you read the entire series you get another overall story. So the original Wes Crowley series is basically 13 stories overall, told in 12 volumes. Kind’a cool. (All my other series except the PI series are long tales. That one is episodic.)

Reading Part 5, I learned that the Crowley series takes place in “non-persistent worlds.” That is, although the overall timeframe (about 60 years) remains the same, Wes starts out in the Texas panhandle and ends up deep in Mexico in a fishing village. And there are many worlds in between, of course. The passage of time keeps the whole series cohesive.

I found Part 6 especially helpful, if only to set in concrete thoughts I’ve long entertained. Lots of gems in that one.

I don’t really have the characters-getting-lost problem he talks about in that post though. I tend to keep lesser characters alive by shifting to their POV in a separate section or chapter and taking up their story for a while, always while my major POV character is off doing something he or she has to do.

Anyway, despite his solid grounding in and support of traditional publishing, I do recommend you set aside an hour or so and read through Farland’s series.

Yesterday, I bought a 1935 Royal Model O portable manual typewriter, a work of art in a black case. I thought of Harlan Ellison, setting up with his Olympia SG3 in a department store window and writing short stories, page by page, as people lined the sidewalk to watch and to read the stories through the glass.

I’d seen my Royal in an antique store my wife and I visited with my son and his girl Cathy on Saturday. It felt as if it was mine and I’d finally located it. So yesterday morning we drove back over and bought it.

Remarkable, and great fun. I anticipate writing some short stories through it, and maybe even a novel or two. Then I guess we’ll test the OCR capability of our scanner. Or not. I just keep thinking of how much fun it will be to write on it.

You can see a picture of one at https://www.ebay.com/itm/184900391812. Mine didn’t cost nearly that much. (grin)

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “Sucked Down a Copyright Hole” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/sucked-down-a-copyright-hole/. I’ll say it again. Copyright is your livelihood. Get yourself a copy of The Copyright Handbook from NOLO Press.

See “Why FBI Profilers Mistake Writers for Serial Killers” at https://www.suecoletta.com/why-fbi-profilers-mistake-writers-for-serial-killers/.

See “29 Literary Fiction Publishers that Accept Direct Submissions” at https://authorspublish.com/29-literary-fiction-publishers-that-accept-direct-submissions-no-agent-required/.

See “Hook Your Readers with a Compelling Storyline, Tagline, & Back Cover Copy” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/07/hook-your-readers-with-a-compelling-storyline-tagline-back-cover-copy.html. Once I’m “into” writing a novel, I can sum it up in one sentence. As for previous works? I can talk about those all day. (grin) And for goodness’ sake, leave out any plot elements. Otherwise readers will have no reason to buy the book.

See “Amazon Gets the Go-Ahead to Track Your Sleep With Radar” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/amazon-gets-the-go-ahead-to-track-your-sleep-with-radar/. Story idea?

See “Summer Book Kit Giveaway at The New York Public Library” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/summer-book-kit-giveaway-at-the-new-york-public-library/. If you have children at home, see PG’s addendum.

See “Should Authors Review Books?” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/should-authors-review-books/.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 750 words

Writing of WCGN3: The New Mexico Territory (novel)

Day 1…… 1191 words. Total words to date…… 1191
Day 2…… 1206 words. Total words to date…… 2397
Day 3…… 3876 words. Total words to date…… 6273
Day 4…… 2559 words. Total words to date…… 8832
Day 5…… 1561 words. Total words to date…… 10393
Day 6…… 3007 words. Total words to date…… 13400
Day 7…… 2488 words. Total words to date…… 15888

Total fiction words for July……… 34630
Total fiction words for the year………… 563309
Total nonfiction words for July… 8490
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 134280
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 697589

Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 11
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 64
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.