7th Story and Kickstarter Success…
NEW WRITERS HAVE NO HISTORY…
And I honestly would not expect a new fiction writer coming into publishing for the first time to have any perspective on what happened, often before they were born.
So I am trying to imagine what a new writer faces today in 2025.
A dumping ground on social media of really bad opinions and information that just makes it all seem impossible.
And with their craft, they carry a ton of destructive baggage from teachers. Rewriting, polishing, beta readers, workshops, you name it. A hundred ways to destroy anything original in a new writer.
Then the publishing world itself looks totally overwhelming. Publish your own books, do your own covers, layout your own interiors, find art that is safe from AI, and then where do they put it, why won’t it sell??? Kickstarters, promotion, Shopify stores. A swirl of impossible. After all, the myth is that you write a novel and get rich. Right?
Right???
And the cesspool of New York publishing looks inviting, like candy coaxing a kid into a car with a stranger. And if the new writer decides to go that way, years and years and all their dreams are lost. And that is if they are lucky enough to find a publisher and an agent that doesn’t scam them much. Most new writers going that way spend years with their one book getting rejected by agents.
And sadly there are still some writer gatherings that invite the cesspool in to trap writers who flat don’t know any better. Shame on those conferences. Put it this way, if the conference brings in an agent, they do not care about their writers.
So at times here I will stop and try to imagine myself in the shoes of a new writer. There is a lot of good information out there, but wow, like anything in this modern world, it is often buried by so much bad information, it is hard to dig out.
Here and in the workshops we teach, Kris and I will remain truthful and often just blunt.
And we always will answer questions.
But for you new writers out there, or if you have a new writer friend, when they are struggling to learn and find information, there is a great filter that help.
Look at the source.
Really is that simple. If it is an unpublished person with an opinion, or someone not even in publishing trying to sell you something, RUN!!
Look for your information from long-term successful fiction writers. There are thousands of us and if you listen to us or Bradbury or Ellison or Block or Heinlein from previous years, you will be able to start sorting out the crap from the information that will help you.
KICKSTARTER DOING GREAT!!
Funded in just under two hours and hit the first stretch goal in under 12 hours. Yay!!
And Kris and I love these Collide books. Wow, is that a lot of short fiction, but after 50 years of writing, trust me, five years of the Collide books at 100 per year does not even cover it.
And a couple of really great special workshops about aspects of writing series.
SERIES COLLIDE MAKE 100 KICKSTARTER PROJECT…
WRITING CHALLENGE
Seven days into my short story per day and I have hit seven stories.
I am very proud of that for a number of reasons. First off, I started up from a dead stop on January 1st. I was a little worried about that, but turned out fine.
Then I knew that Sunday, Monday, and today were going to be brutal with business and workshops and Kickstarter stuff. All the kinds of things that would normally distract me from writing.
But I wrote a story per day through all that, making some adjustments to write less complex series like Bryant Street for a few days. And tonight a Marble Grant that has so much voice, they sort of write themselves no matter how tired I am.
So today got up after three hours sleep and was putting up all the Add-Ons on Kickstarter. I don’t like to do them until they are proofed. We launched at noon and I kept working until lunch that Kris went and got around 2 pm,
Then back up here to work until 3 pm when Kris said, “Go Nap!”
I got another three hours sleep and yes, I am tired but doing better.
Worked through the evening on workshops, watched an hour of television with Kris, then back finishing up workshops until 1:30 am when totally tired I realized I had not started a story. Yikes.
Back to my writing computer I scampered (and if you believe that…), found a title I liked on my half-title sheets and typed in “Die at Midnight” and put Marble Grant under it and off I went in Marble’s wonderful voice.
So about 1,500 word story again, but finished.
7 stories in 7 days…
Now lets see how life gives me a little more time in the next few days. Or not!
But the hard 7 days are done. Now to do 7 more to help set the habit.
I will do a total word count for the 7 days tomorrow. Not a clue and brain too tired to try tonight.
12 Comments
Mark Kuhn
Love that Kickstarter video. It’s got a 1960s spy movie vibe.
Michael W Lucas
Choosing your information sources correctly is SO important.
My rule of thumb is “learn from the people who are doing the thing you want to do, in the way you want to do it.”
You can pick up tidbits from tangential folks, yes. Tim Powers taught me some great stuff, but I can’t use his core working techniques. They strike me as a horrible way to live–but he enjoys that life. Good for him, I’ll just devour his books and say thank you.
Meanwhile, I’ll go reread my bios of Phil Dick and Rex Stout.
dwsmith
Exactly, Michael, and Kris and I were talking about you tonight (all in a good way (grin)) and how innovative your blog is for certain things.
And yup, Tim is a friend of mine that I have spent some time with over the last five years. I love him and his few books dearly, but how he writes would kill me.
Kristi N.
I truly don’t know how professional writers handle the new ones coming up. I’m a small fry still, but I see someone proud of having 800 ARC readers, or someone flogging a book online whose publisher has a basic package starting at $3K, and I get so sad. I want to tell them there is a better way, and yet I know they won’t listen. (What is it with writers and not listening?) I’ve learned to smile when they talk excitedly about the publisher who has made them a ‘real author’ and back away slowly. (And don’t ask about the community ed program that uses an ‘agent’ to teach ‘indie’ publishing classes.) Thank you, Dean, for continuing to show writers there is a different and completely feasible alternative.
dwsmith
Kristi, you are doing it right. Smile and back away. Sadly, 99.9% of them will be gone in a very short time. And another batch will take their place. Watched that now for decades and decades. Still makes me sad.
Harvey Stanbrough
Hey Dean,
Another great post, and good job on the 7 stories in 7 days.
If I may—re you recommending writers check out the source before listening to advice (I fully agree)—I strongly encourage any beginning and intermediate fiction writers to swing by my blog (The New Daily Journal) and check it out. To find it, all they have to do is click my name on this post.
I teach from the same Heinlein’s Rules and WITD pulpit you’ve been teaching from all this time. The blog is on Substack and is free for new subscribers. I regulary even offer challenges for writers with no cost and with prizes.
Just sayin’ they could do a lot worse.
dwsmith
Agree, Harvey. You are doing some amazing stuff and have been for some time now. So cool.
Peyton Bowman
Thank you – Yes, I’ve enjoyed your blog, too.
Kris Rusch
Great job. I figured as tired as you were, that you might miss yesterday. I’m glad I was wrong. (And glad the “Go Nap!” sunk in.
dwsmith
Yeah, me too. I am way, way too old for those three hours of sleep nights anymore.
Peyton Bowman
From my perspective it seems to go along something like the following path –
– neophyte tries to learn as much as they can about a discipline before starting,
– unable to find success (due in part to the bad information they’ve found), they turn to teaching as a secondary goal, and
– continue to spread the knowledge that was harmful in the first place.
I wonder how many disciplines are affected in this way.
Appreciate how you work to cut through what you see as false narratives.
dwsmith
Yeah, sometimes it works that way. Sadly. Sure is a dream killer for so many young writers.