In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Happy Father’s Day
* I added two chapters
* Recently some overzealous writer
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“Those are great days, when you’re writing, when something happens that you know works and you don’t have any self-doubt about, and you never saw it coming.” Dean Koontz
“One of the biggest keys to success at anything hard is believing that you can figure it out as you go along. A lot of people won’t start until they figure it out. And because most hard things can’t be figured out in advance, they never start.” Farnam Street
Happy Father’s Day
To be honest, I didn’t realize today was Father’s Day until I got an email from one of my sons. If this is an important day for you, I hope it’s an enjoyable one.
I added two chapters to Assignment: Brownsville (around 2500 words) and it feels whole and complete to me now. It came in at just under 39,000 words at about 8:30 in the morning yesterday. Feels good. And I was no sooner finished with it than all the voices yelling at me from my creative mind fell silent. I suspect they were smiling smugly.
Now I’m gonna try to take a couple of days off to do some things around the house, etc. (grin)
Recently some overzealous writer (that or a robot, which really is the same thing) got hold of my Windows right-click drop-down menu. How do I know it was a writer (or the aformentioned robot)? Because he, she, or it acted mindlessly.
In the past, when I right clicked the title, say, of a post I wanted to share in “Of Interest,” one choice on the menu read “Copy Link Location.” I clicked that, then posted the URL in “Of Interest” without having to go up to the address bar and cherry-pick the URL.
Cherry-picking isn’t difficult, but it requires a few more mouse clicks, and my time is measured in mouse clicks.
As an aside, usually the URL is everything in the address bar, ending either with “html” or a forward slash ( / ). But sometimes it’s everything to the left of the question mark. When a question mark appears in a URL, it and the gibberish that follows it are not part of the active URL.
For example, if you want to read about how Stephen King was outed as Richard Bachman, you can click either https://getpocket.com/explore/item/known-alias-how-stephen-king-was-outed-as-richard-bachman?utm_source=pocket-newtab or you can click https://getpocket.com/explore/item/known-alias-how-stephen-king-was-outed-as-richard-bachman. Or you can skip the middle man, do a search, and click https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/502166/how-stephen-king-was-outed-richard-bachman.
But back to the source of my current angst. A writer or a robot got hold of the drop-down menu. If it’s a writer, it’s one who believes in revision, rewriting, and polishing “just because.” (Hence, the distinct possibility that it’s a robot.) Either way, now the target link on the menu reads “Copy Link.”
Admittedly this is a very small change. The writer only removed the word “Location.” But why? Seriously, what harm was the label doing by being one-word more specific?
I’m getting used to the change—one has no choice when dealing with a mega-corporation—but I have to hunt a little longer to find it now. I really wish that writer (or that algorythm-driven robot) would’ve just left well-enough alone.
All of which leads me to say this: Stephen King once wrote that there are two kinds of writers on revision: taker-outers and putter-inners.
If you’re a “taker outer” please give some thought to your readers. Compare the story as it appears in your head with how it will appear in the reader’s after you’ve lowered the dreaded red pen or blue pencil or delete key on your next target.
Remember, you have the advantage of hearing and viewing the story directly in your creative subconscious. The reader doesn’t have that luxury. The reader can only see, hear, smell, taste and touch what you allow through (or allow to remain) on the page.
Also bear in mind that when you see an element that is “too” anything—too long, too complex, too complicated—that’s your conscious, critical mind speaking. And if you remove whatever it is, you’re second guessing your creative subconscious, which can cause it to cross its little arms and stop talking to you. Not to mention you’re second-guessing the reader’s taste, which (I’m sorry) is Not Your Job. (grin)
And never, NEVER remove a word or phrase (or sentence or paragraph or chapter) “just because.” Don’t be a robot.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Using Occam’s Razor Without Cutting Your Own Throat” at http://dyingwords.net/using-occams-razor-without-cutting-your-own-throat/.
See “Reserve Your Spot at the THRILLING 2022 Writers’ Police Academy” at https://leelofland.com/reserve-your-spot-at-the-thrilling-2022-writers-police-academy/.
See “This Illusion Broke My Brain” at https://twitter.com/DrewCoffman/status/1404475707917361156.
See “Father’s Day Reading and Viewing Pleasure” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/06/fathers-day-reading-and-viewing-pleasure.html.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 800 words
Writing of WCGN: Assignment: Brownsville (novel)
Day 1…… 2890 words. Total words to date…… 2890
Day 2…… 3178 words. Total words to date…… 6068
Day 3…… 3124 words. Total words to date…… 9192
Day 4…… 2977 words. Total words to date…… 12169
Day 5…… 1001 words. Total words to date…… 13170
Day 6…… 3791 words. Total words to date…… 16961
Day 7…… 3569 words. Total words to date…… 20530
Day 8…… 1607 words. Total words to date…… 22137
Day 9…… 1744 words. Total words to date…… 23881
Day 10… 3491 words. Total words to date…… 27372
Day 11… 4318 words. Total words to date…… 31690
Day 12… 2224 words. Total words to date…… 33914
Day 13… 2491 words. Total words to date…… 36405
Day 14… 2506 words. Total words to date…… 38911 (done)
Total fiction words for June……… 48494
Total fiction words for the year………… 502983
Total nonfiction words for June… 12840
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 119070
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 622053
Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 10
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 63
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.
Harvey are you some kind of mind reader? I am a “taker outer” and its been bothering me the last couple of days when it comes to WITD. I often overwrite to get to the words my characters want to tell me and then I want to cut a lot of what I have written out or search for the purpose of a character in a scene. This “want” and “search” screams of Mr Critical Voice sneaking in to my process (grins)
No sir, I’m not. But I’ve been where you are. (grin)
“This ‘want’ and ‘search’ screams of Mr Critical Voice sneaking in to my process.”
Yup. I’ll play devil’s advocate, because I also noticed your opinion as a reader sneaking into your comment:
* “I often overwrite.” Who says?
* “to get to the words my characters want to tell me.” Only the characters know what those words are.
* “search for the purpose of a character in a scene.” Again, if you trust the characters, trust the scene, the “purpose” will reveal itself (or the characters will reveal it) later. And chances are, it will be a surprise to you.
I have a feeling you’re going to love parts of tomorrow’s and the next day’s topics in the Journal. (grin)