In Today’s Journal
* This Novel Is Kicking My Butt
* A Free Ten-Point Guide to Writing Fiction
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
This Novel Is Kicking My Butt
But it isn’t what you probably suspect.
Everyone knows I most often cycle back over what I wrote during the previous session as soon as I return from a break. Then when I get back to the white space, I’m in the flow again and I write the next session.
The following morning, I also usually cycle back over everything I wrote the previous day (usually around 3000 words). And again, when I reach the white space, I start writing the first session of the new day.
But every novel writes differently even within a series, and even within an ongoing saga inside a series.
As I was telling my wife a couple of days ago, my current novel is unfolding so quickly and so well that—in addition to the two cycling sessions I mentioned above—I’m actually cycling on the fly. The characters are pushing me that hard. (grin)
As I’m writing, I’ll often flick my gaze up to cycle over the previous paragraph or the previous few paragraphs. Then I go right back to writing the next event that happens or the characters’ reaction to that event.
So in this case, not only is writing the story exciting, but the ongoing cycling/writing process itself is exhilarating.
Sometimes it’s so overpowering that I have to get up and walk away for a few minutes in mid-sentence. Which is to say, the whole process is wonderful. (grin) The only downside is that this one will probably wrap in the next day or two.
Those of you who can’t quite bring yourselves to trust the characters and just record what happens and how they react really are missing a sure bet.
Yes, even if your conscious critical mind has convinced you that you ‘enjoy’ laboring over every word and ‘crafting’ every sentence.
The reader doesn’t care whether you write “under” or “beneath.” The reader is focused on Story.
And remember, I used to do exactly that: I used to focus on words and sentences and paragraphs instead of focusing on Story.
I used to ‘think’ my way through every word, sentence, and paragraph. I also used to outline, revise, and rewrite. I used to believe doing those things made the story better. (They don’t.)
And my productivity was zip point nada, like yours probably is right now. Just sayin’, been there, done that.
Don’t be like the “writer” I was back then. Skip the learning curve. Be like the writer I am now.
To that end, here’s…
A Free Ten-Point Guide to Writing Fiction
Here’s a free mentorship for you if you’re serious about wanting to write fiction but don’t know where to start or why you’re all but unable to put words on the page:
1. Realize that whether a story is “important enough” to labor over isn’t up to you.
If you think the story you want to write, are writing, or have just written is “important,” be aware that most readers won’t agree with you. It’s only a few minutes or hours’ diversion for them. Nothing more.
You’re only the writer, not the character or the reader.
- The story is important to the characters because they’re actually living it.
- The story might or might not be important to the reader who buys it and reads it, but that’s the reader’s call.
Note: Some readers would really enjoy that novel you finished and stuck in a drawer somewhere because you thought it wasn’t ‘good’ enough.
2. Realize that you, in your role as a fiction writer, are not important to the story. In the slightest.
You’re only the very fortunate person whom the characters have chosen to record their story for them. You might as well have been ‘chosen’ by Ford or GM and standing along an assembly line in a factory all day slipping washers onto shock absorbers.
The point is, life wants to live. If the characters hadn’t chosen you, they would have chosen somebody else.
3. Believe in yourself and trust your characters.
Don’t think. Just don’t.
You only have to write what’s unfolding in your mind: Catch all of it, or as much of it as you can, and put it on the page.
You can catch more and put it on the page during your cycling session(s). Your characters are that patient with you. So you should be that trusting of them.
Again, believe in yourself. You know a great deal more about writing fiction than you realize. After all, you’ve been absorbing Story ever since you exited the womb. And you’ve been telling stories almost that long. Got it? Good. Now…
4. Pick a character. Don’t think, just write what’s in your head.
5. You don’t have to select or invent a problem. The character will encounter a problem. It’s what characters do. Don’t think, just write what’s in your head.
6. You don’t have to pick, select, or invent a setting. The character is already in a setting. We all are. None of us, characters included, can exist without a setting. Don’t think, just write what’s in your head.
7. Keep writing whatever’s in your head until the character leads you through to the next problem s/he encounters (novella or novel) or to the end of the short story, novella, or novel).
Don’t think. Don’t even worry about whether what you’re writing will be a short story, novella, or novel. Just write what’s in your head. Just write.
8. When you reach The End, take a break. Then run a spell check and either send the story or novel to a non-critical first reader or read it aloud yourself (non-critically). You’ll be surprised at all the little things you catch.
9. Then don’t think. Your opinion of what you’ve finished is no more important than anyone else’s. Writers really are the worst judges of their own work, whether they think it’s good or bad. Just publish or submit the stupid thing and start the next story or novel a’ready.
10. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Do this and stick to your guns in pushing down the critical voice in your head, and you will soon find yourself in what my friend Dan calls “Hebben.”
It really is that simple.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Dr. Mardy’s Quotes of the Week: Sweating—Literally and Figuratively
For my poet friends, These wicked Day of the Dead poems don’t spare anyone
Watch Taylor Swift Write a Song Hey, it’s all writing folks. Here’s one woman’s process. About 3.5 minutes, video.
The Numbers
The Journal………………….. 1100
Mentorship Words…………….. 0
Total Nonfiction…………………. 1100
Writing of Blackwell Ops 50: Sam Granger | On Rocky Ground
Day 1…… 1440 words. To date………… 1440
Day 2…… 2986 words. To date………… 4426
Day 3…… 3523 words. To date………… 7949
Day 4…… 3315 words. To date………… 11264
Day 5…… 4128 words. To date………… 15392
Day 6…… 2990 words. To date………… 18382
Day 7…… 3330 words. To date………… 21712
Day 8…… 3572 words. To date………… 25284
Fiction for November……………………… 3572
Fiction for 2025…………………………… 665613
Nonfiction for November.………………… 2230
Nonfiction for 2025………………..……… 241700
2025 consumable words………………… 899744
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 16
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 36
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 120
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 310
Short story collections……………………. 29