In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Topic: Some Things Can’t Be Taught…
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me. The feeling I have every day is very much the same as it was when I was 12.” Ray Bradbury
Topic: Some Things Can’t Be Taught…
Ironically, I’ve come to realize the most important writing-related technique I’ve ever learned—Writing Into the Dark—can’t be taught.
I really wish I could teach the technique outright. It’s such a wonderful, freeing technique, one that opens the writer up to a whole new world. I wish I could share it by natural transfer, my mind to yours. I wish everyone could experience it.
But there are no measurable mechanics to it. Writing Into the Dark requires belief in yourself and an initial leap of faith. And that’s something I can’t give you. It’s something you can only give yourself.
To write into the dark, especially at first, you have to throw caution to the winds, take a deep breath and dive in. But you have to dive in wholeheartedly. There’s no other way.
I know a person, a writer, who learned to hang-glide by jumping off a perfectly solid cliff under a bit of fabric. Yet that same person refused to try writing into the dark because of fear. The writer could face down the fear of falling hundreds of feet to his or her death on rocks below, but s/he couldn’t set aside the fear of writing a story without knowing in advance where it’s going. That, my friends, is an unreasoning fear.
Those who do experience the freedom of WITD once are amazed at how ridiculously easy it is and how excellent the results are. Most often they try it again, maybe even a few times, to be sure it isn’t a fluke. But soon they’re hooked and they never look back. And at long last they understand what the fuss is all about.
But again, I can only give you some guidelines. Whether you actually follow them is up to you. If you want to try writing into the dark,
* first, read, understand, and adhere stubbornly to Heinlein’s Rules
* just as stubbornly Trust Yourself and your creative subconscious. Sit down at your keyboard and write whatever comes. When you get stuck, write the next sentence. That really is all there is to it.
* understand that the story you’re writing is not important. It’s only a few minutes’ or hours’ entertainment for whoever reads it.
* understand that you really are the worst judge of your own work, both when you think your work is good AND when you think it’s bad. Your job is to write. The reader’s job is to judge.
* write to entertain yourself, to see what happens next in your characters’ story. Trust them to tell their story. They will surprise you, and they will surprise your readers.
As an aside, trusting yourself and your creative subconscious means letting your characters tell the story that they, not you, are living. Doesn’t that make sense?
If not, consider this: YOUR story is the one YOU’RE living. The story you’re filtering through your fingers and the keyboard is your CHARACTERS’ story.
The thing is, you can write into the dark if you want to. All you have to do is set aside the excuses and just do it.
I recommend Dean Wesley Smith’s Writing Into the Dark and my own Quiet the Critical Voice (And Write Fiction).
One other thing—it’s much easier to learn WITD if learning to write and writing is your priority. If writing doesn’t really matter to you, don’t try WITD. You’ll be wasting your time.
Talk with you again when I can.
Of Interest
See “Establishing Priorities” at https://killzoneblog.com/2020/06/establishing-priorities.html. Exactly.
See “Cold Poker Gang Kickstarter Launched” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/cold-poker-gang-kickstarter-launched/.
See “An Acceptance, in rough times” at http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2020/05/an-acceptance-in-rough-times.html.
See “30 Themed Calls for Submissions” at https://www.authorspublish.com/30-themed-submission-calls-for-june-2020/.
See “Letter to Borges…” at https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/10/28/letter-to-borges-susan-sontag-on-books/.
See “…While Thinking about CHARACTER” at https://prowriterswriting.com/s-c-a-t-t-e-r-s-h-o-o-t-i-n-g-while-thinking-about-character.
The Numbers
Fiction words yesterday…………………… XXXX
Nonfiction words today…………… 690 (Journal)
Writing of (novel)
Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the year………… 309655
Total nonfiction words for the month… 1820
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 117940
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 427595
Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 5
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 12
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 50
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 208
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31