In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Dean’s current and previous posts
* Meanwhile
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“[T]he advantage of writing 40,000 word novels. Readers can read them faster.” Dean Wesley Smith
“[Fiction] implies the action of making, or rather, giving form. It is not inventing something that is not true, but giving shape to something that was already there.” Valeria Luiselli, Mexican author
Well, I’m gonna add Dean’s current and previous post to my writers resources pages on my main website. Great, great stuff.
The first post in today’s “Of Interest” below (plus the comments) sets up the second post. The second one is exactly what I personally needed to hear. Still learning from Dean after all these years.
Meanwhile, the recast (now) of Book 3 of the Wes Crowley series is racing right along. It should be finished and out to my first readers in no more than a few days.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See the comments on “Deadly Problems For Writers” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/deadly-problems-for-writers/#comments.
See “Following Up on Yesterday’s Post” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/following-up-on-yesterdays-post/.
See “Deepen Characterization by Mining Your Own Reactions” at https://www.janefriedman.com/deepen-characterization-by-mining-your-own-reactions/.
See “How to Get Your First Freelance Byline (and Why Even Fiction Writers Should Freelance)” at https://www.janefriedman.com/how-to-get-your-very-first-freelance-byline/.
See “Don’t Tease Your Reader. Get to the Tension and Keep It Rising” at https://www.janefriedman.com/dont-tease-your-reader-get-to-the-tension-and-keep-it-rising/.
See “Find Your Readers with SparkToro with Rand Fishkin, June 4 (Free!)” at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_QhEORYFeSvO03FR8MBifdA. (If my info is filled in, just replace it with your own.)
See “Twin Peaks and Embracing Artistic Accidents” at https://countercraft.substack.com/p/twin-peaks-and-embracing-artistic. Or you can just write into the dark where essentially everything is an accident. (grin)
See “How and Why Reading Improves Writing” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/05/how-and-why-reading-improves-writing.html. I would add only, Read for Pleasure. Enjoy the story. Then, if something blows you away, go back and reread (as Sue says) “with a writer’s eye”).
See “Without books, we would not have made it” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/without-books-we-would-not-have-made-it/.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 320 words
Writing of Wes Crowley, Texas Ranger (novel)
Words brought forward………………………………………… 31,122
Day 1…… 0773 words. Total words to date…… 31895
Day 2…… 2162 words. Total words to date…… 34057
Day 3…… 2642 words. Total words to date…… 36699
Day 4…… 3021 words. Total words to date…… 39720
Total fiction words for May……… 80494
Total fiction words for the year………… 451773
Total nonfiction words for May… 21370
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 106230
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 558003
Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 9
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 62
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.