Writing

Story Update

/ Shane / Leave a comment

I forgot to mention on here that I got my story back from Writers of the Future. I was hoping for an Honorable Mention, which would have been pretty good for my first time out. Alas, I did not get one.

At first I was a little discouraged, since I think it is my favorite story that I’ve written so far. However, shortly after I sent that story, I discovered an “unwritten rule” of the contest: you must establish the speculative element of the story on the first page or so. The story I sent, though clearly a speculative story, does not establish that immediately. So it is quite possible that the story was disqualified on a “technicality” if you will.

Actually, I’m glad to have that story back, so I can send it out to some more traditional markets. Writers of the Future ties a story up for quite a long time. Here’s hoping!

Heinlein’s rules

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1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
3. You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order.
4. You must put the work on the market.
5. You must keep the work on the market until it is sold.

To follow them or not to follow them, that is the question. These rules are a hot topic among writers. I think everybody agrees with most of them, maybe all of them except for #3. 1, 2, 4, and 5 I think tend to be pretty logical, but ole #3 feels like the exact wrong answer. In general, the people I’ve come across who follow the rules tend to be professional, earning writers. The people who tend to complain about #3 tend to be wannabes (no disrespect intended of course, I am as much a wannabe as anybody else!)

For me, I mostly took them as I take any advice: with a grain of salt. I figure that system works well for many people, many very good, very talented people (Heinlein not the least of them) but I’m not them, I’m me. So I learn as much as I can and I apply what I can. However, I came across something on Dean Wesley Smith’s blog that clued me in to something very important about rule #3.  (Side note: if you are a writer and you don’t read Dean Wesley Smith’s blog, you’re doing yourself a disservice. It might be the best one out there).

I think what feels wrong to people about not rewriting is that they think, “Well, I’m no Heinlein. My stories aren’t good enough to sell after the first draft. Fine and well for important authors who have a Name to fire and forget their stories.” But then I had my “ah ha!” moment. I realized that rule #3 wasn’t arrogance about not redoing the story, it’s all about moving on to the next one. It’s easier to start from scratch and write a better story than to try to fix an existing story into a better one. So Heinlein’s not saying your story is so good that you shouldn’t ever try to fix it, he’s saying don’t waste your time trying to fix it, just write a new (better) story.

It’s like that old ‘evolution of man’ picture.

When you first start out, you think this picture depicts one story, and each step along the way is one iteration on that story. In reality, each step is a new story. You, the writer, are evolving, not the story.

To put it another way, each story you write will hopefully be a little bit better in some way. If each story is your best story to date, there’s no point in rewriting a story. It’s already your best story anyway, and the next story is probably going to be better. And, let’s face it, some stories can’t be fixed.

So, in summary, keep working, keep improving, and don’t look back. You will improve, not the story. That’s the secret to Heinlein’s rules.

11 years

/ Shane / Leave a comment

Jay Lake had a post the other day that really sort of startled me. He says:

I got serious about writing, as in regular workshop attendance and story submittals, in 1990. I sold my first short story in 2001. That’s eleven years of wandering in the wilderness that all aspiring writers emerge from, working my tail off, collecting my rejections and trying, trying, trying to get better. Add to that my first small press novel sale in 2004, my first trade press novel sale in 2005, and you can see my arc is years-long.

Why is that startling? After all, that’s basically the same story that every author has. It is startling because Jay Lake is a guy who’s A) writes really, really fast, and B) is held up as a super talented up-and-comer, a new guy to the business whose career is really taking off. From the point of view that he’s only been making sales for 8 years, he is a new comer. From the point of view that he wrote for 11 years before making a sale…he’s been around as long as everybody else.

And I ain’t no Jay Lake.

It doesn’t really change anything, in fact, it just confirms what everybody in the world already told me. Right around 10 years or so seems to be a magic number. If I can hang in that long, and I think I can, then I will have earned it. If anything, this makes me more determined to get there.

But I think these posts are going to stay private for a lot longer than I was hoping they would.

Vow made, vow broken

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I’ve been working on the same story for almost exactly 2 months now. It’s coming out pretty good, but I really need to get this finished. Yada, yada, same ole, same ole. I’m hoping some day I will have more of an update to put here besides, “whine whine, I don’t write enough.”

Because I have been working on the same story for so long, I vowed that I would finish it before returning from Seattle. Well guess what? It ain’t done. I did make a looooot of progress on it though, so I’m hoping to finish it shortly, at least by next week.

Here’s hoping!

Is this too whiny?

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In 6 days I have written exactly 3 words. 3. If my word count goes any lower I will have to start counting it in characters per day rather than words.

In case you’re wondering, those 3 immortal words are, “Ari’s knife carved”