In today’s Journal
* Just a reminder
* Wow. I almost screwed up
* I was thinking
* Today, and as I was reading
* The Numbers
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Wow. I almost screwed up big time. So here’s another cautionary tale direct from the experience of a prolific writer.
Yesterday, I was feeling a little stuck in the novel. So as is my standard practice at such times, I read back through my reverse outline on The Journey Home: Part 7.
But this time my conscious, critical mind slipped in and intervened. As a result, I almost “decided” (always a bad sign) to cut a major plot point from the novel and write forward from there.
Deleting that plot point and all the ensuing text that played off it would have cost me roughly 10,000 words. But more importantly, it would have cost me the original story. The story my characters had given me. Fortunately, I realized what was happening and stopped myself in time to avert a major tragedy.
As a reader, I wasn’t wild about that particular plot point. It bothered me. Fortunately, just in time, I remembered that was only one opinion of one reader. The opinion carried no more weight than that.
Of course, some other readers won’t like that plot twist either. But many other readers will take it in stride. It will seem a natural progression of the story to them, which it is, having come directly from the characters. And the thing is, especially in an ongoing series, you never now how a particular plot point might play out or the impact it might have in future works in that series.
And as a Writer, you can’t afford to let your reader critical mind in. So if you spot with your critical mind what you think might be a wrong turn and if you can manage to do so, leave it alone. (But ALWAYS pay attention to the little creative voice if it nags you about a wrong turn.)
If I could think of a way to have my second-guessing critical mind surgically removed, I would do so in half a heartbeat.
So I narrowly avoided paying attention to my stupid conscious mind. Then I took a deep breath and went back to write the next sentence, then the next and the next.
And the novel ended with only 1680 more words. This one turned out to be a short novel at a little under 40,000 words, and I personally believe it’s the best story in the series thus far. Again, that’s only one opinion, but I’ll take it.
Then I stripped away the cuts I’d made earlier, saved it as a PDF document, and sent it to my first readers. So again, just a cautionary tale about the critical mind. Even I am not bulletproof against it, even after 58 novels and over 200 short stories. You must remain on guard.
I was thinking about stopping all this writing nonsense and taking a few days off to work on covers and all that stuff like I said here a day or two ago.
Obviously, that will have to happen eventually, but right now the words are coming fast and furiously and I’m in no mood to stop that flow. So covers and publishing can wait.
Or maybe I’ll find a way to do some of that on my shorter writing days. That would be an interesting experiment, though I’m sure I’ve tried it before.
Today I’ll start either a short story or maybe The Journey Home: Part 8.
As I was reading PG’s comment on “unreliable narrators” (from Reedsy.com) on the last item in “Of Interest” below, I was reminded that What the writer writes is a function of intent; what the reader reads is a function of perception.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Chapter Thirteen: Day Thirteen of Writing a Novel in Half a Month” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/day-thirteen-of-writing-a-novel-in-half-a-month/.
See “The Challenge of Writing Humor in Dark Times” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/the-challenge-of-writing-humor-in-dark-times/.
See “We might not like the idea…” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/we-might-not-like-the-idea-that-we-lie-to-ourselves-every-day-but-our-penchant-for-self-deception-may-have-hidden-bene%ef%ac%81ts/. See PG’s take. An extended lesson on the “unreliable narrator.”
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 730 words
Writing of The Journey Home: Part 7 (novel)
Day 10… 3269 words. Total words to date…… 35589
Day 11… 2547 words. Total words to date…… 38136
Day 12… 1680 words. Total words to date…… 39816 (done)
Total fiction words for March……… 4227
Total fiction words for the year………… 203235
Total nonfiction words for March… 2280
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 48310
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 251545
Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 4
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 58
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 it both regularly and publicly, I will continue to do so.