In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Today
* A Rose by Any Other Name
* Arm Yourself
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“Terror’s not ghosts flying through the walls, going woo-woo-woo. Terror is when the party is over and everyone has gone home and at last you can take a deep breath and you lock the doors and your place is finally empty and quiet, and you turn out the lights and then you hear the toilet flush upstairs. That’s terror.” Warren Murphy
Today the Journal has only three entries in “Of Interest” but I predict some of you will find them invaluable. That’s why this edition went out at all. Enjoy.
A Rose by Any Other Name
I’ve talked here before about the writer who refused even to read Heinlein’s Rules. Understand, that writer assumed Robert A. Heinlein’s “Business Habits for Writers” couldn’t possibly be of value to her because she was “not a science fiction author.” Wow.
I could practically hear her mind snapping shut. But as it often is, justice was swift and definitive. Wrapped in her own smug certainty, that writer will never know what she missed.
Unfortunately, that writer is not unique in her intentional ignorance. There’s no way to know how many writers refuse to read Stephen King’s On Writing because they aren’t horror authors. (Never mind that King writes a lot that is not horror.)
Or how many refuse to read Lee Child’s The Hero because they don’t write in the thriller genre. Or any of Lawrence Block’s excellent nonfiction books on writing because they don’t write provocative mysteries or whatever.
Again, you can almost hear the sound of should-be-fertile minds snapping shut. And that has always amazed me. I’ve always believed that writers, of all people, should lead the way when it comes to having open, inquisitive minds.
But that’s probably the difference between being an amateur writer and being a professional. To a professional who wants to learn something new, genre (like gender, skin color, etc.) simply doesn’t matter. All that matters is mastery.
Mastery in the writing craft translates to useful knowledge, up to and including mastery, in any genre.
Everyone is ignorant of something. Everyone has something they don’t know. The trick is to not be intentionally ignorant. Intentional ignorance is stupidity.
Arm Yourself
Even if you never plan to write erotica, read at least the first several paragraphs of “An Erotica Pioneer Goes From Hero to Villain for Dozens of Authors” to get the gist. You can find the link in “Of Interest.”
Then be sure to read PG’s comments afterward. Because forewarned is forearmed.
And maybe the most important part of today’s edition of the Journal—take a look at Warren Murphy’s writing class. (Whoever runs his site botched the text. I suggest you forgive them that technicality and read it anyway, then skip down to the knowledge he’s sharing.)
Talk with you again later.
Of Interest
See “The Wet Blanket Reality… Chapter Two” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/the-wet-blanket-reality-chapter-two/.
See “An Erotica Pioneer Goes From Hero to Villain for Dozens of Authors” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/an-erotica-pioneer-goes-from-hero-to-villain-for-dozens-of-authors/.
See “Writing Class” at http://warrenmurphy.com/index.php?page=writing-class.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 520 words
Writing of WCGN 5: Tentative Title (novel)
Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for October……… XXXX
Total fiction words for the year………… 623282
Total nonfiction words for October… 2100
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 168060
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 791342
Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 13
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 66
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.