Some Basics About Writing That I Believe…
Okay, This Might Be Blunt…
But here are some hard-held beliefs of mine that have helped me get through 50 years of writing and selling fiction.
1… I do not believe that anyone, for any reason, should tell another person what to write in their fiction.
No one tries to tell me on fear of death, so this is not a problem that I face, but poor early stage writers are constantly bombarded by how they should write to market and so on and so on… I have told a lot of writers over the years to grow a backbone and write what they want.
2… I do not believe that anyone should write sloppy.
You know the stupidity, “Get it down and fix it later.” Just lazy, sloppy writing that kills creative voice.
3… I do not believe that anyone should rewrite.
One draft, doing the best you can, and then release and move on to the next story. It really is that simple.
4… I do not believe that anyone should ever touch one of my stories.
Period. Always fighting this one personally. Seems after 50 years people still do not think I know what I am doing.
5… No one should ever allow anyone to read a work in progress for any reason.
Group think is never as good as your own creative voice and this kills creative voice. Believe in your own writing and voice and learn to trust it.
6… I think the idea of Beta Readers might be the stupidest, funniest, and most damaging thing that has come along in Indie publishing.
Just based in fear.
7… And on that note, I have yet to figure out what any person is afraid of in fiction writing.
I have heard all the fear excuses a thousand times, still can’t figure out that fear. Standing in front of someone with a gun can cause fear. Sitting alone in a room making up stories is just not a fearful thing.
Anyone who has taken any classes from me have heard these beliefs expressed in many different ways. I have watched so many thousands of writers come into publishing, then vanish. I find it sad, to be honest. Mostly they vanish because of fear and rewriting that killed their creative voice.
I follow Heinlein’s Business Rules. If you can follow them more than not, you will make it to professional fiction writing. Those rules are so simple, like climbing on a horse. Anyone can stay on until you discover you do not have a saddle and the horse is covered with the slickest stuff you have ever felt. And the horse doesn’t like you on its back.
One last thing I believe and that I feel is the secret to being a successful fiction writer.
Have fun… If sitting alone in a room and making up a story you want to tell is not fun and challenging, you are doing it wrong.
19 Comments
George
Hi from Canada Dean. I wanted to ask you what is the secret to staying. what is the saddle that you use? Is it just you fall off and get on the horse again and/or is there something that can keep you on it longer. I don’t mean to sound like Im asking for a “trick” or something. I mean Bradbury said he wrote everyday and I know you do to. Is it the habit of a routine built up over time? ie I wake up, eat my cereal bars, and write.
dwsmith
Yes, forming a habit to write or a streak or a challenge. Lots of tricks to help, but mostly it is just the love of telling a story that drives fiction writers.
Kristi N.
I think one of the most damaging things I ever came across was in a writing group where someone (who had some success as a historical fiction/Regency romance writer) proclaimed that you could NOT use any word that was more modern than the period you were writing in. EVERY WORD had to be authentic to the period. Which is silly. Because if I write Anglo Saxon fiction, I’m not going to write in Old English. Turned me off of writing historically for a long time.
dwsmith
And sadly, people listened to that stupidity. Just flat silly and could be disproven with a look at any major bestseller.
Emilia
A lot of myths can be disproven by looking at bestselling books.
One such stupidity was “don’t start three or more sentences in a row with the same pronoun, it’s too repetitive”. Easy to disprove by opening a book by a long term author and flipping through the pages for a while. I don’t think people caught up in odd rules read or study many long term author’s books.
dwsmith
Too much work for them to do that, Emilia. People caught in the myths are mostly folks that want to be spoon fed the secret. Working to find how anything actually works is just too much…
Tracy Hughes
I think for some the fear is “if I write something bad, I will lose possible future readers because those readers will never read me again.” That certainly was the basis of my own fear.
I thought about that recently.
I can’t remember the names of non famous authors I DNF’d, so I think that fear is itrelevent. Plus, if a story gets bad reviews, very few people will end up reading it.
For the rest of it, if a writer is not yet that experienced, how valuable is (professional) editorial feedback?
dwsmith
Professional feedback is deadly, plain and simple. Keep learning, keep writing. Repeat. Readers over time will tell you how much you are learning by your sales.
Harvey Stanbrough
To add one more name everybody knows, Stephen King. And one more that few know, Harvey Stanbrough (grin).
Steve Perry
One draft, hey, Harlan?
Pshaw! Some of us need at least a draft-and-a-half, sometimes two.
dwsmith
Don’t fix things while you write? And not just Harlan. Koontz, Lee Child, Bradbury, Block and hundreds more.
C.E. Petit
For Harlan, not just one draft. One draft done on an Olympia manual typewriter. Preferably in the window of a bookstore.
The hard part for many/most writers — commercial fiction or darned near anything else — is having a big/perceptive-enough writer brain to keep the necessary mileposts in sight while writing. Even “pure pantsers” have some, unless they’re one of those just-explore-a-character’s-feelings-while-nothing-really-happens MFA graduates (if so, I don’t want to know about it and won’t read the result without throwing it against a wall). And then understanding the difference between a “milepost” and a “scenic tangent marker” — or “Burma Shave sign.”
Mangala McNamara
Word.
George
Hi Dean is there a way to stay on the saddle, so to speak, when you are on the horse, or do you just have to get used to falling and just forcing yourself to get back on it? How do long terms writers keep doing it without falling off all the time. I will write, have fun, and then when done and then have to remind myself to do it all over again as if its the first time. Once I get going it’s fine but their is an inertia everytime I have to begin a new story or project. I know there is a myth in there that Im stumbling over but I dont know which one!
dwsmith
You just keep going. Full time writers are just always writing or thinking about writing. So there is no need to be reminded. Just never stop moving forward and you will be fine. Most pros fall off on Rule 4, the publishing part.
Emilia
“Full time writers are just always writing or thinking about writing. ”
Thanks, I’ve got some comments of “is there is anything else in your life other than writing?” which hurt, but it’s just a sign I love writing.
dwsmith
I eat and sleep, but I often talk about writing over food with another full-time writer, and I dream stories. Don’t write them down, just dream them because my creative voice loves to work 24/7.
Sheila
LOL I firmly believe in your rules for myself (and actually for others), but I find that I tell people who claim to want to be writers, in various groups, the opposite. I figure if they really are writers, they’ll figure this out for themselves. I do tell them to learn and to write, learn and write. But all they want is the “secret” to not having to do any of that. LIke, hire a ghostwriter, get rich, no work. Ha ha.
Heinlein Rules for the win!
dwsmith
After fifty years since I sold my first short story, I finally figured out the “secret” to fiction writing. It is having fun. If you sit down and have fun writing a story, it will be the best you can do and that is the secret.