and the ridiculous mouse comes into view.
I am finally getting ready to start posting Wiz 6 -- The Wizardry Capitalized.
When I say getting ready, I mean I've got a web site (wiz6.com) with HostMonster, I've got the (very crude) page designs worked out and the front matter written.
Now all I've got to do is link the pages and upload them. (I think that's all I've got to do.) If so, I'll probably do it tonight or tomorrow.
Ah, the valor of ignorance. But I'll keep you posted.
--RC
Monday, July 14, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
DOES THE STORY GRAB YOU
Commercial fiction writing today is a hybrid because it is both a money-making endeavor (I refuse to call it a "business") and a means of creative expression. When professional fiction writers get together they tend to talk a lot about things like marketing.
I've been talking with fellow writers a lot recently about changes in the market and how to respond to them.
Quite simply, if you're going to write for money you can't ignore the marketing and commercial aspects of your work. However no matter how commercial you are you've got to complete what you write in order to get paid for it.
If you're not really, truly interested in what you're writing you're unlikely to complete it. If you don't finish it you can't sell it.
This, incidentally, is one of the problems with writing pornography for money. Back in the days when there was still a booming market for "stroke books" nearly every writer considered writing them and not a few tried. After all, the money was almost decent and how hard could it be?
For most writers it was very hard indeed. The problem is that very few of us are than interested in pornography (at least to write) and it quickly tends to become a death market. Writers who tried it found that porn was excruciating boring to write. Some managed to get through one book. Very, very few managed two or more.
The market, fortunately or unfortunately, is no more; killed by the amateur porn on the internet. (Which, be it noted, is often of higher quality than the average stroke book.) However the principle applies. You can see it today in the occasional writer from other genres to decides to try his or her hand at writing romances. The ones who aren't really, truly interested in romances can't stick it out. And because they don't have the interest they produce lousy romances.
Which leads to a critical question for any writer contemplating a book-length project: Will this hold my interest? If the answer is no, don't try it. No matter how commercial the project is and no matter how mercenary you are.
This isn't just a matter of a burst of enthusiasm in the beginning. That's easy and will get you through maybe 10,000 words. It's keeping your interest in what you're doing over the long haul.
Nearly every writer goes through a stage in a book -- usually about 60 percent through -- where the enthusiasm has evaporated and the thing becomes a slog. It can be a real death march, worse than any programming marathon. You've got to have the internal resources to get through that period and if the story and the characters don't grab you you're not going to make it..
I've been talking with fellow writers a lot recently about changes in the market and how to respond to them.
Quite simply, if you're going to write for money you can't ignore the marketing and commercial aspects of your work. However no matter how commercial you are you've got to complete what you write in order to get paid for it.
If you're not really, truly interested in what you're writing you're unlikely to complete it. If you don't finish it you can't sell it.
This, incidentally, is one of the problems with writing pornography for money. Back in the days when there was still a booming market for "stroke books" nearly every writer considered writing them and not a few tried. After all, the money was almost decent and how hard could it be?
For most writers it was very hard indeed. The problem is that very few of us are than interested in pornography (at least to write) and it quickly tends to become a death market. Writers who tried it found that porn was excruciating boring to write. Some managed to get through one book. Very, very few managed two or more.
The market, fortunately or unfortunately, is no more; killed by the amateur porn on the internet. (Which, be it noted, is often of higher quality than the average stroke book.) However the principle applies. You can see it today in the occasional writer from other genres to decides to try his or her hand at writing romances. The ones who aren't really, truly interested in romances can't stick it out. And because they don't have the interest they produce lousy romances.
Which leads to a critical question for any writer contemplating a book-length project: Will this hold my interest? If the answer is no, don't try it. No matter how commercial the project is and no matter how mercenary you are.
This isn't just a matter of a burst of enthusiasm in the beginning. That's easy and will get you through maybe 10,000 words. It's keeping your interest in what you're doing over the long haul.
Nearly every writer goes through a stage in a book -- usually about 60 percent through -- where the enthusiasm has evaporated and the thing becomes a slog. It can be a real death march, worse than any programming marathon. You've got to have the internal resources to get through that period and if the story and the characters don't grab you you're not going to make it..
Wiz 6 Update
Well, the project is definitely still on. But it's taking a little longer than I thought it would.
For one thing the manuscript is a bigger mess than I remembered. The first 20,000 words or so are pretty much in rough draft form, basically clean and narratively connected, but the rest is pretty bad. I'm not really writing any more but I am trying to clean things up.
This is taking time. More than I imagined. (You know how it is: The First 90 percent of a project takes 90 percent of the time and the last 10 percent takes the other 90 percent of the time.) However I'm pushing forward with it as I can and I will have it up -- as they say in fandom -- Real Soon Now.
I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to comment on this idea. Your enthusiasm has kept me going through a couple of rough patches. And I want to assure you that it will be rewarded.
For one thing the manuscript is a bigger mess than I remembered. The first 20,000 words or so are pretty much in rough draft form, basically clean and narratively connected, but the rest is pretty bad. I'm not really writing any more but I am trying to clean things up.
This is taking time. More than I imagined. (You know how it is: The First 90 percent of a project takes 90 percent of the time and the last 10 percent takes the other 90 percent of the time.) However I'm pushing forward with it as I can and I will have it up -- as they say in fandom -- Real Soon Now.
I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to comment on this idea. Your enthusiasm has kept me going through a couple of rough patches. And I want to assure you that it will be rewarded.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
UPDATE ON WIZ 6
Well, it's going to happen.
The stillborn version of Wiz 6, "The Wizardry Capitalized" will be going up on my web site (still being established) sometime in the next 30 days.
It's taking me longer than expected in part because I've got a little work to do before this thing is ready to post even in an incomplete form. There were also some considerations in getting the web site hosted, but that's another story.
I'll keep everyone posted
--Rick Cook
The stillborn version of Wiz 6, "The Wizardry Capitalized" will be going up on my web site (still being established) sometime in the next 30 days.
It's taking me longer than expected in part because I've got a little work to do before this thing is ready to post even in an incomplete form. There were also some considerations in getting the web site hosted, but that's another story.
I'll keep everyone posted
--Rick Cook
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
THE WIZARDY UNCOMPLETED -- PT II
Since a number of people are interested in seeing the last Wiz book -- Wiz 6, "The Wizardry Capitalized", I am going to post it. It will start going up in the next 30 days.
There are still some details to be worked out, notably where I'm going to post it. My original thought was to put it up as a blog, but several people pointed out that's not ideal. Currently I'm leaning to setting up its own web site or putting up on my still-to-be-completed personal/fiction web site. I'll let you know as I work out the details.
A couple of folks asked about how you have a medical condition that lets you write non-fiction and keeps you from writing fiction. The answer is depressingly simple.
For me fiction has always been a lot harder than non-fiction. It takes much more mental effort and I find I can't do it unless I'm at the peak of my game. And of course I'm no longer at the peak of my game because of the health problems.
This isn't universally true, please note. A lot of writers can write fiction, even very good fiction, when quite impaired. How in the world some of them write good stuff when drunk, drugged, etc. is utterly beyond me and I have a perverse admiration for anyone who can do it. But I can't. I keep trying but so far no luck.
It's worth noting that I had a long and successful career in nonfiction before I wrote my first piece of salable fiction and I've always been able to turn out roughly ten times as much nonfiction as fiction.
Does this mean my fiction career is forever and totally at an end? Well, I've learned never to say never, and I do keep trying. But so far no luck.
There are still some details to be worked out, notably where I'm going to post it. My original thought was to put it up as a blog, but several people pointed out that's not ideal. Currently I'm leaning to setting up its own web site or putting up on my still-to-be-completed personal/fiction web site. I'll let you know as I work out the details.
A couple of folks asked about how you have a medical condition that lets you write non-fiction and keeps you from writing fiction. The answer is depressingly simple.
For me fiction has always been a lot harder than non-fiction. It takes much more mental effort and I find I can't do it unless I'm at the peak of my game. And of course I'm no longer at the peak of my game because of the health problems.
This isn't universally true, please note. A lot of writers can write fiction, even very good fiction, when quite impaired. How in the world some of them write good stuff when drunk, drugged, etc. is utterly beyond me and I have a perverse admiration for anyone who can do it. But I can't. I keep trying but so far no luck.
It's worth noting that I had a long and successful career in nonfiction before I wrote my first piece of salable fiction and I've always been able to turn out roughly ten times as much nonfiction as fiction.
Does this mean my fiction career is forever and totally at an end? Well, I've learned never to say never, and I do keep trying. But so far no luck.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
PASSING THE SMELL TEST
Smell is one of the most powerful of all our senses. The pity is that most writers spend almost no time on the smells of their worlds.
While sight is far more important to humans than smell, smell has the ability to evoke emotions and memories like no other sense. If you can convey the smell of a thing to your readers you can make it come alive in their minds.
This isn't easy, which may be why it is so effective. Our vocabulary of smell words is limited and most of us have more trouble "visualizing" a smell than a sight or a sound.
And of course as with any sense impression the more concrete and specific the language the more vividly the impression is conveyed. In the case of smells this usually means a lot of hard work.
But then hard work is what makes good writing in general.
While sight is far more important to humans than smell, smell has the ability to evoke emotions and memories like no other sense. If you can convey the smell of a thing to your readers you can make it come alive in their minds.
This isn't easy, which may be why it is so effective. Our vocabulary of smell words is limited and most of us have more trouble "visualizing" a smell than a sight or a sound.
And of course as with any sense impression the more concrete and specific the language the more vividly the impression is conveyed. In the case of smells this usually means a lot of hard work.
But then hard work is what makes good writing in general.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
YOU HAVE TO SEE BEFORE YOU CAN WRITE
In "The Jewel Hinged Jaw" Samuel R. Delany points out that the essence of being a visual artist is not in drawing or painting, but in seeing. If you can't see really see, he says, it doesn't matter how skilled you are with the brush or pen.
Delany makes the point because the same thing is true of writers. In order to write successfully you have to observe. You must look at what's around you and really, truly, see it.
Most of us, like Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes' famous phrase, see but we do not observe. If you want to be a successful writer you have to train yourself to go beyond seeing and into observing.
It's not easy, but it can be kind of fun.
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