Hey Folks,
Out to the Hovel a little early today, this being Sunday.
I spent some waking-up time just playing Spider, then started on the novel at around 3:15. An hour later, I had my first 1000 words of the day.
Took a very brief break, basically standing up and stretching a bit, then back at it. I’ll do one more session, then up to the house for a few minutes.
Had a couple more good sessions and got a little over 3000 words by 10. Up to the house for a break.
My wife’s working on the annual plague (taxes) today so I’ll head back to the Hovel after lunch and try to get one more session today. (grin)
The novel’s moving right along whenever I’m able to give it some time.
Nope. For a few reasons, I didn’t get back to the novel today.
Topic: An Inadvertent Lesson
One of my friends, a trusted reader, emailed me about the novel I just published. She wrote, “Interesting! Kind of a slow development piece, eh?”
I think I read “slow” and my brain locked up. I pretty much panicked. (Yes, even with as many novels as I’ve written and published.)
If she thought the story was slow, maybe there was too much description. I thought that earlier. If you remember, I mentioned in this Journal a few days ago that I was doing one more read-over to tighten it up.
Well, in my panic, I read over the first few chapters again today. I got rid of around 460 words, mostly from Chapter 1 where the guy’s describing his office. (His office is the setting of a major action scene so the description has to be there, but not to such a degree.)
But I finally realized what I was doing and calmed down. I won’t redistribute a new version of the novel with those words cut out.
I like pulling the reader into the story. I like grounding him/her so deep that he or she can’t escape. At least not without a struggle. (grin)
But my friend was right. The story DID “develop” slowly, and that was intentional. It’s very psychological, with the protagonist striving to figure things out, not only the whats and the whos but the whys and what he can do to set things right.
I stuffed it full of as much tension as I thought it could hold (most often through psychological suspense), and that does take time to develop.
But I also spent the first few chapters (1-4, I think) setting the protagonist’s office, his past, his mood, his worry over his business (a PI noir trope), etc.
Was that necessary? Well, all but 460 words of it.
But in my initial panic, I forgot a few major rule of writing, some that I’ve actually taught. I thought I’d take this opportunity to remind you of them as well:
Rule 1: Despite current writing class wisdom, you don’t have to suspend the reader’s sense of disbelief. Readers suspend their own sense of disbelief. All you have to do is not buy it back. (This is a balancing act. Give them enough to pull them into the story, but not enough to make them yawn.)
Rule 2: The opening sells the current book. The end sells the next one, but if the reader is bored and doesn’t get to the end… well, there y’go. As I said, it’s a balancing act.
Rule 3: What one reader dislikes, another will love (and vice versa).
Oh, and Rule 4: You can’t be there to explain things about your book to most readers. So do your best to have nothing to explain. And then let it go.
Trust what you write, publish it and go on to the next one. It’s called practice.
See you tomorrow.
Of Interest
Please see “RIP Kate” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/rip-kate/.
Fiction Words: 3079
Nonfiction Words: 650 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 3729
Writing of Stern Talbot, PI—The Early Years
The Case of the Sliced-Up Secretary
Day 1…… 3207 words. Total words to date…… 3207
Day 2…… 3079 words. Total words to date…… 6286
Total fiction words for the month……… 26749
Total fiction words for the year………… 78054
Total nonfiction words for the month… 4210
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 23540
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 109614
Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 2
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 29
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 4
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………………… 182