In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Missed it by that much
* A new app for authors
* Because one writer asked
* Yesterday’s cycling session
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“But why write stories that don’t engage you? It’s like cooking a feast that you wouldn’t eat.” David Farland
“If you’re not learning, you’re standing still.” FS Blog
“[Stephen King] weds an imaginative plot with characters you can almost touch.” James Scott Bell
Missed it by that much
Note that in today’s Quotes and in “Of Interest” James Scott Bell, praises Stephen King as a writer and even mentions that “Mr. King is a well-known pantser,” by which he means King writes into the dark.
(I’m not sure why plotters have this burning need to use such a derogatory term for those of us who trust ourselves and our creative subconscious. Would they want to be called “plodders”?)
Anyway, it’s a good article for the most part. From the article:
“So all of that good, deep backstory comes out of King as he writes. … He thought of a character with a bat, then his imagination went into overdrive to personalize it.”
So far, so good. Bell almost gets it. Then:
“[A] voice from the memory chamber echoed in King’s mind: ‘Besbol been bery-bery good to mee.’ Wait. That was Chico Esquela, right? Yeah, and that’s something unique this character might have said.”
Ah! Dang it! Missed it by that much!
King wouldn’t have stopped and thought (conscious mind) “That’s something unique this character might have said.” Again, he writes into the dark, duh.
So what would have happened? As Bell himself wrote earlier in the same paragraph, “He thought of a character with a bat, then his imagination went into overdrive to personalize it.”
And no, I didn’t leave a comment to correct Bell or call him out on it. Wouldn’t have done any good.
There’s a new app out there for book lovers and for authors (hint, hint). To check it out, visit https://booksniffer.com/ and click the Authors: Get Registered Here logo on the right. Thanks to Karen R. for the tip.
Because one writer asked about the difference between “cycling” and “editing.”
Editing is done with the conscious mind. When I work as a copyeditor, I focus on every word, every sentence and paragraph, and every bit of punctuation as I read (slowly and usually aloud) through the work. When I edit, I’m looking for (conscious mind) obvious errors to correct like misspellings, wrong word usages, or a comma where a period should be. Otherwise I make recommendations on pacing, etc. if any recommendations occur to me.
Cycling is accomplished by the creative subconscious mind. Anything I do while cycling is automatic and comes from the subconscious.
As I’m reading through The Ark, for example, I’m just reading and enjoying the story. Just as if someone else had written it and I’d picked it up in a used book store.
As I read (on the computer) my fingers rest on the keyboard. I don’t “look for” anything. If an obvious error pops out at me, I fix it. (Again, if it pops out at me. I’m not looking for them.) If the character chimes in with a better word or adds a sentence etc. I allow him to use my fingers on the keyboard.
I hope this explains the difference.
In yesterday’s cycling session, I got through about a third of The Ark, and it was a great deal of fun. I was relieved. Frankly, I’m cycling through the whole thing (not my usual practice) because I had my doubts about this book. Most of those doubts ended when I wrote the ending a couple of days ago and realized it matched the beginning. The remainder evaporated as I read. It’s a good story.
As I was cycling, my character corrected me through a few minor flaws and one major one. When I was through for the day, we (the character and I) had added 1675 new words. If that seems like a lot, that was 22000 words into the story.
I expect to finish cycling, run a spell check, and get the book out to first readers today. But I already have ideas bouncing around in my head for book 2 in this series. If one of those ideas grabs me, I’ll skip out of cycling through The Ark, write for awhile, then return to cycling tomorrow.
I’m posting this early again today. I’ve added “Cycling” to the count below for this book.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Study with Integrity” at https://mystorydoctor.com/study-with-integrity/. This is SO good.
See “Deep Backstory” at https://killzoneblog.com/2020/11/deep-backstory.html.
See “Go ahead, call her a spoiled celeb…” at https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2020-11-11/cazzie-david-essayist-on-no-one-asked-for-this-pete-davidson-nepotism. Okay, part of the problem is she needs to get out of her own head a little. If you stick with it, there’s some about writing, some story ideas.
See “The Feynman Technique…” at https://fs.blog/2012/04/feynman-technique/.
See “Six Things Writers Need To Stop Worrying About” at http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2019/07/five-things-writers-need-to-stop.html. Haven’t mentioned this for awhile and it seemed appropriate today.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 780 words
Writing of The Ark (novel)
Day 10… 4361 words. Total words to date…… 31495
Day 11… 3312 words. Total words to date…… 34807
Day 12… 2142 words. Total words to date…… 36949
Day 13… 1344 words. Total words to date…… 38293
Day 14… 2355 words. Total words to date…… 40648
Day 15… 4311 words. Total words to date…… 44959
Day 16… 4884 words. Total words to date…… 49843
Day 17… 2335 words. Total words to date…… 52077 (Done)
Cycling… 1675 words. Total words to date…… 53752
Total fiction words for November……… 30184
Total fiction words for the year………… 393462
Total nonfiction words for November… 8050
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 173890
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 567352
Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 6
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 13
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 51
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 214
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31