In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Vin Zandri!
* A Note on Pen Names
* About Using Prompts
* Further Clarification on Vella
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” Stephen King
“Good cover design is not only about beauty… it’s a visual sales pitch. It’s your first contact with a potential reader. Your cover only has around 3 seconds to catch a browsing reader’s attention. You want to stand out and make them pause and consider, and read the synopsis.” Eeva Lancaster
Vin Zandri!
Vin Zandri has published well over 100 novels and tons of shorter stuff as well as his nonfiction writing as a freelancer. He and I (and DWS and most major long-term fiction writing professionals) have very similar outlooks on writing.
Vin is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling writer, as well as an ITW Thriller Award and PWA Shamus Award winner.
Please do yourself a favor and see Vin’s announcement at https://vincentzandri.substack[dot]com/p/the-writers-life-mindset-lecture.
This is byond-exciting news for fiction writers, whether you’re just starting out, have written a few novels, or are farther along than that. At only $147 for this entire master’s course on writing, I just bought it. That’s how strongly I endorse it.
Check it out, you won’t be sorry. The course is currently available at Amazon, but it’s only $127 if you buy it through Vin’s website. Just sayin’. (grin)
A Note on Pen Names
I received a nice email from writer Lakshmi N. and wanted to share it and my response with you.
Lakshmi wrote
“From your post here, I take it that it is ok to publish all my work across genres under the same name, correct?
“I’m working on my first novel and I’m also simultaneously writing my first non-fiction technical book (which is very likely to be distributed through the same channels as my novel).
“Should I still be using my original name, or should I have a pen name exclusively for all the fiction I write?”
Excellent question, and one I probably didn’t cover in the post.
First, the notion that a fiction writer should use a different pen name for every genre s/he writes is another of those myths, though one that I hope is dying out.
If you write erotica, and if others knowing that might harm your personal or professional reputation, by all means use a pen name for that, but otherwise, no.
As to the particular question Lakshmi asked, here’s my response:
“If it were me, I would still recommend using your own name for everything. I’m known widely for my fiction but just as widely (among fiction writers and those who want to write fiction) as a non-fiction writer and poet.
“However, it depends on your job too. Would being known as a fiction writer harm your reputation in whatever field you’re in? If so, go with ONE pen name for all your fiction. If writing fiction would only enhance your reputation among your boss and co-workers, go with your real name.
“I also recommend putting up a website under whichever name you use for fiction, and adding that URL and your email address as a fiction writer to your emails in a ‘signature’ (see mine below).”
About Using Prompts
Yesterday, writer Balázs Jambor (Hungary) left this comment on the Journal website:
“About the prompts… I rarely use them, but there are some occasion I do. When I use them, I … open the prompt’s book at a random place, and randomly choose one of them. Then I play with the idea until I get a starting point.
“Most of the time I don’t actually write the prompt, just the story [it] led me to.
“Most of the time I don’t need them because I have more ideas than I can write during my time, but when I want something new — something fresh — I just play the game. Like how DWS uses titles to start his own writing, or Harvey uses pictures.”
Exactly right. The main thing is to keep writing and keep having fun.
Further Clarification on Vella
I received another email.
When you send an “episode” to Vella, no, you aren’t sending them a “rough draft” replete with spelling errors, wrong words, etc.
You don’t write rough drafts, right? Of course not. You write to the best of your ability the first time through. Cycle back through the chapter (episode) to give your characters (not yourself) a chance to revise, then run a spell checker, then upload the episode.
But you’ll probably cycle back as necessary later too. Say to slip a revolver into the pocket of Aunt Marge’s robe back in Chapter 3. You might do that as you’re writing Chapter 5 or 6, when Marge hears something in the middle of the night, gets up and slips on her robe to investigate, and pulls a revolver on the would-be robber.
Your Episode 3 in Vella will stand as-is. But when you publish the finished novel, the scene in Chapter 3 will be altered slightly.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Paperback Writer” at https://deanwesleysmith.com/paperback-writer/. Interesting history.
See “How to Design a Book Cover…” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/how-to-design-a-book-cover-that-grabs-readers-attention-in-7-steps/. See PG’s note.
See “Writing Techniques: Use and Abuse of ‘Lampshading'” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/writing-techniques-use-and-abuse-of-lampshading/. I had never hear of this, at least by that name.
See “My Magazine. My Voice. My Rules.” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/my-magazine-my-voice-my-rules/. Oh, but see PG’s take!
See “How to Finish Writing Someone Else’s Novel” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/how-to-finish-writing-someone-elses-novel/. Hint: you can also use this as practice if you love and want to practice a particular voice. In that case though you can’t publish what you’ve written. Any questions, ask me.
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 930
Writing of Blackwell Ops 10: Jeremy Stiles
The Way Things Go
Day 1…… 1635 words. To date…… 1635
Day 2…… 2464 words. To date…… 4099
Day 3…… 1615 words. To date…… 5714
Day 4…… 3808 words. To date…… 9522
Day 5…… 2057 words. To date…… 11579
Day 6…… 3563 words. To date…… 15142
Day 7…… 1881 words. To date…… 17023
Fiction for September…………………… 29005
Fiction since August 1………………… *91327
Fiction for 2023………………………… 181314
Nonfiction for September……………… 9800
Nonfiction for the year……………… 184270
Annual consumable words………… 362773
*I had been calculating the number since Aug 1 wrong. It is correct now.
2023 Novels to Date……………………… 3
2023 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2023 Short Stories to Date……………… 4
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………… 74
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)… 232
Short story collections…………………… 31
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
The other issue about pen names is privacy.
Yes, in this wondrous Internet age, privacy is something of an illusion. But sometimes, the slight extra layer a pen name affords is a good thing.
I’m considering using a pen name for just that reason.
That would be fine, Peggy. But other than the reasons I mentioned in the post, use only one and put everything under that name. Whenever possible, you want to focus the reader’s attention on one name.