In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Topic: Unknowingly Trying?
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“That’s the beauty of copyright. It’s divisible. … Authors will be well served to think about protecting the rights in their characters when signing publishing contracts and licensing agreements.” IP Attorney Kathryn Goldman
“The two books stalled and stalled and stalled. Each time I thought I had found a way to tell the story that I wanted to tell, I would hit another wall—or the same wall. And usually, that was because I was unknowingly trying to do something that was wrong for the story” [emphasis added]. Octavia E. Butler
Topic: Unknowingly Trying?
The second quote above screams at me that even those who buy into the rewrite-edit-polish myths also know the simple truth of the conscious, critical mind vs. the creative mind. They just don’t recognize the difference even when it taps them on the shoulder.
I especially like this sentence: “I was unknowingly trying to do something that was wrong for the story.” That is a double-edged sword, and both edges miraculously cut in the same direction.
First, let me just get this out of the way: “unknowingly trying” is an interesting concept. Is it even possible to unknowingly try? I don’t think so.
Certainly if a writer succumbs to “trying” (conscious, critical mind) to figure out what happens next in a story and where the story’s going, and if the writer eventually commits that to paper, the characters’ story is already lost. At that point, it becomes the writer’s story, not the characters’ story, and the writer herself is trying to tell a story she isn’t living.
But if “unknowingly trying” means the writer’s creative subconscious is giving the writer the story, and the writer decides (again, critical mind) that what the creative subconscious was giving her was “wrong for the story,” then again, the characters’ story is lost.
The only answer to this dilemma is to trust the creative subconscious and the characters and not “try” anything. Just Write The Next Sentence. It really isn’t that difficult. Just get out of the way and let it flow. Just Write The Next Sentence, trust that it’s right, and then write the next sentence. Lather, rinse, repeat. Or rather, trust the creative subconscious, trust the characters, repeat.
And it doesn’t matter what you call this process.
* Dean Wesley Smith calls it Writing Into the Dark.
* A long-time writer friend calls it Writing Into the Unknown.
* Others call it “Discovery Writing” or “Writing Organically.”
* I call it Recording the Story that the Characters (Not You) Are Living. I exist as a writer only because the characters don’t have actual physical fingertips and keyboards.
* I have friends who, if pressed to call the process anything at all, might call it “Doug” or “George” or “Rebecca.”
So it doesn’t matter what you call it. All that matters is that you will be thrilled with the results if you do it.
Even if the “next sentence” you are given and write doesn’t make sense to you at the time, trust it. Most often the characters know where they’re going with something, even if you don’t. (And frankly, if you’re very fortunate, you will seldom know where the story’s going).
But if you trust the characters and continue to “just write the next sentence,” they will get you through to the end.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Vintage WD: How I Built Novels Out of Writer’s Blocks” at https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/vintage-wd-how-i-built-novels-out-of-writers-blocks. Thanks to KC for the tip.
See “Forensic Terminology, Illustrated” at https://leelofland.com/forensic-terminology-illustrated/.
See “Are Fictional Characters Protected Under Copyright Law?” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/are-fictional-characters-protected-under-copyright-law/. Be sure to see PG’s take.
See “The 2021 Inkers Con Author Conference starts in 3 days!” at https://www.inkerscon.com/. If you choose to attend, use the code D2D at checkout to save $50 off the fee. Thanks to Sam for the tip. (This is not an endorsement. This is me saying something is available.)
See “How To *Easily* Publish On Apple Books” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/07/how-to-easily-publish-on-apple-books.html. Shrug. Or just publish to D2D and let them do all the heavy lifting.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 580 words
Writing of WCGN3: The New Mexico Territory (novel)
Day 1…… 1191 words. Total words to date…… 1191
Day 2…… 1206 words. Total words to date…… 2397
Day 3…… 3876 words. Total words to date…… 6273
Day 4…… 2559 words. Total words to date…… 8832
Day 5…… 1561 words. Total words to date…… 10393
Day 6…… 3007 words. Total words to date…… 13400
Day 7…… 2488 words. Total words to date…… 15888
Day 8…… 4307 words. Total words to date…… 20195
Day 9…… 3356 words. Total words to date…… 23551
Total fiction words for July……… 42293
Total fiction words for the year………… 570972
Total nonfiction words for July… 10040
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 135830
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 706802
Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 11
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 64
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.