We’re deep into October, or as I like to call it, one of only two months out of the year Iowa has near perfect weather. How about we talk writing and other stuff?

What I’ve Been Writing

I’m very deep into putting together The Yank Striker 2 (working title), and that’s been pretty much all I’ve been writing this week other than this site. I feel like I’ve been making good progress on the big section I’ve been on and I’m in the process of finalizing what the bare bones structure of the book should be.

I’ve probably mentioned it before in this space, but my way of planning out the plot of my books is to string together what I call essential scenes. These are the scenes I absolutely have to have in the book to tell the story I want. Usually, I take a look at these scenes or notes on these scenes throughout the writing process and ask myself “are all of these scenes absolutely necessary?” As I am often writing these scenes not in chronological order, but in order of importance, this doesn’t result necessarily in me cutting scenes after I write them1.

It also helps streamline the revision process, for sure. I still remember having to cut down my first 150,000-word rough draft of The Holy Fool down to under 100,000, and it was a tough lift. When I used this process for The Yank Striker, it really cut down on the extraneous scenes and material in my work.

One of the paradoxes I’m running into, however, is this: the more I concentrate on the project, the slower the writing is coming for me. I continue to write on a daily basis, but my word count is not as high as it has been in previous days when I was writing more than just a couple projects.

In discussing the situation with my Des Moines writing group (the Iowa Writers’ Corner), they brought up the idea I have to spend time putting greater thought into how the story is going to go and proceed. Just because the words are not filling the paper or electronic page doesn’t mean I’m not participating in the writing process.

I would have to agree with this, now I’ve had a chance to consider this idea. It’s like I know all of the battles that are to come in a military campaign, but I haven’t exactly worked out how those battles are going to be fought. I’ve always worked on improving my word count to ensure I remain a productive writer and not just sitting around and claiming to be a writer. However, I need to keep in mind word count is not the only measure of productivity.

What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing

I’m in the middle of reading projects for at least three people currently. Two of these I’m planning on doing book reviews for, and the other will be beta reader feedback.

Even being a fast reader like myself, this can be a long process even not taking the time of writing the reviews into account. However, I don’t want to let these projects sit on the back burners for too long.

As for the book reviews, I’m planning on posting those on Goodreads. My profile page is here for those curious, but I will also post those reviews here for you to read as well. I’m looking forward to you hearing about those projects, so stay tuned in a week or so.

Writing Advice for the Week

This week, it’s time to talk about the fifth of George Orwell’s six rules of writing. Orwell, the author of 1984 and Animal Farm, is a longtime idol for me. During the past several weeks, I’ve been reviewing this well-known set of rules he laid down in an essay called “Politics and the English Language.” The entire essay is worth a read.

So, number five on the list is:

Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Orwell did title his essay “Politics and the English Language,” but this can obviously be applied to whatever language you happen to be writing in2. Since you have to assume in most circumstances you are writing for a general audience, why use words you have to take time to explain to them? Especially if using such a term isn’t necessary for the task at hand, whether fiction or nonfiction.

As always, there are exceptions to this rule. One example I recently faced in a short story I posted to the site was when I used the term “kayfabe.” Unless you happen to be a professional wrestling fan, you are likely not familiar with this term. However, I used it in the story because I wanted to take time to explain the concept to the audience through a conversation my main character had. I wanted to do this so the audience understood the term and had an appreciation for how important the concept was in pro wrestling. As with Orwell’s and all writing rules, there are always exceptions.

Writing Quote(s) of the Week

Unlike George R.R. Martin, I’d have to say I’m more of an architect. In my opinion, the best writing techniques are whatever ones get results.

I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house. They know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they’re going to have, where the wires are going to run, what kind of plumbing there’s going to be. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up. The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it. They kind of know what seed it is, they know if planted a fantasy seed or mystery seed or whatever. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don’t know how many branches it’s going to have, they find out as it grows. And I’m much more a gardener than an architect.

George R.R. Martin

Where I’ll Be and Where You Can Find my Books

Currently, I have one book event on my calendar. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, I will be at the Elwell Building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds as part of the 8th Annual Indie Author Book Expo. If something else comes up, I’ll let you know.

I’ve got links to my books in paperback and ebook format in the sidebar here, but you can get them in person at these fine Iowa bookstores:

• Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave # S1, Des Moines
• Pella Books, 824 Franklin St, Pella
• The Book Vault, 105 S Market St, Oskaloosa.

All three are great independent bookstores who deserve your support.

Final Thoughts

Well, I’m spending the rest of the day with my wife watching the Iowa Hawkeyes play football. Hope the week to come goes well for you all.

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