Bullpuckerination

[weemadharold]

I have no idea what "bull-puckey" means (well, it's obvious from the context, but I've never heard it before and don't know where it comes from) but this made me smile:"It takes me about 15 minutes, give-or-take (depending on the book and the day and how I’m feeling) to write 250 words of fiction. (Each writer is different. Time yourself

Comments

[howlin_wolf_66]

It's not that it must be hard, it's that you must THINK about what you write... and then analyse it... and then alter it... and it's THAT process that takes longer than getting down the final version of whatever it is. :-)

If it's coming to you excessively quickly, then you haven't thought about it properly... and if you haven't thought about it, then it's usually not of a very high standard.

Like anything else, improvement takes practice, and practice takes time. I could not disagree more with his casual approach, and I'd bet that most professional writers wish that what they did was that easy.

[weemadharold]

His casual approach has enabled him to make a good living from his writing for the past few decades.

Smith does say several times that every writer is different, and what works for one may not work for another, but I think the demystification of the writing process is really useful. Writer's often like to make fans and publishers think that they've sweated blood over their work, when actually it's a damn sight easier than 98% of the jobs their fans have.

JA Konrath says:I don't believe in muses

[weemadharold]

Also, his 'casual approach' is in some ways anything but. He spends several hours every day writing. He starts things, he writes a lot, then he finishes them. Then they get published, either in print or digitally self-published. I think that his central message is "If you want to be a writer then write something, finish it, publish it, and write something else. It's as easy as that." Over-complicating things is not going to lead to making a living from your writing.

[weemadharold]

Also! (This is the last thing I'll say for now! I hope it doesn't seem like I'm jumping down your throat or anything, I'm just interested in the debate!) He currently has 48 books listed under his name (he's written under a couple of pen names that I know of) on Amazon.com and the majority of them have an average rating of 4 or 5 stars. It's popular fiction, but obviously of a standard that readers are happy with.