In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Topic: Picking Up Again and Censorship
* Today
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“Writing into the Dark isn’t just putting down random happenings and letting your characters wander about blindly.” Terry Odell
She’s right, it isn’t. WITD is trusting your subconscious to use the knowledge it’s absorbed over the years. It’s the writer allowing the characters to tell the story that they, not the writer, are living.
Topic: Picking Up Again and Censorship
Usually when I return to a story, even after a few days away (as in this case), I read back over the last few paragraphs I wrote to get back into the flow of the story. Then I write the next sentence that occurs to me and just continue on.
But every story writes differently.
My WIP is a very twisted story with multiple and alternating POV characters, all centered and interacting around a series of events that are compressed into a few days. So there’s a loose timeline involved. (“Loose” as in Tuesday morning, Tuesday noon, Tuesday early afternoon, etc.)
So this morning, to get back into the flow of the story, I had to read over my entire reverse outline (partly to see which character POV to write next), which led me to notice a couple of things were out of order re the timeline.
So I moved a couple of chapters in the novel to fix that concern first. Then, I took a break to catch up with Pro Writers Writing.
I shouldn’t have done that. Or at least I shouldn’t have read the comments. One of them made me realize censorship has its place. (Now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d write.)
One comment was so derisive it sidetracked me. So I decided on the spot, from now on all comments will be moderated, meaning I will decide, on a comment-by-comment basis, whether a comment gets through intact or is disallowed in whole or in part. After all, I have a responsibility to those who look to me for writing instruction.
I’m not talking about people who disagree with me or what I teach. Everyone knows I am a staunch advocate of writing into the dark. However, there are literally millions of writers out there who advocate oulining, revising, rewriting, workshopping (sending stories through critique groups), polishing, etc.
I disagree with them. But I’m not going to belittle them. If that’s how they write, that’s how they write. No skin off my teeth. I learned long ago that what doesn’t affect my paycheck or my vacation time simply doesn’t matter.
But I will not allow comments that make use of innuendo, half-truths and outright lies to spread misinformation.
So a little more on my already heaping plate, but that’s the world we live in. Sigh.
Today, after spending a few hours on all of the above, I came here to write this (and a lot more, which I deleted). So I’ll take today for what it is, a non-writing day, and get back to the WIP tomorrow.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Great Challenges” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/great-challenges-2/.
See “What Path Should a Writer Take in 2020?” at https://killzoneblog.com/2019/12/what-path-should-a-writer-take-in-2020.html. Some good links inside this post. I’ve included some of those separately below.
See “Smashwords vs. Draft2Digital” at https://www.indiesunlimited.com/2019/01/29/smashwords-vs-draft2digital/. Like the author of the article, I use both.
See “Sometimes We Need a Little Help” at https://prowriterswriting.com/sometimes-we-need-a-little-help/.
See the comments on “All Focus On The New Year” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/all-focus-on-the-new-year/#comments.