Novel Dog

Here’s a excerpt from early in the draft of New World 4: Way of the Giant. Future editing may wipe this scene from existence… so enjoy it here, because you never know!

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For shelter that night, they dug a burrow in the snow. Simon could see the darkening sky through the opening, and he watched the moon climb and the stars come out as he crunched on black, curled pieces of smoked meat. Bush bacon, Bogg called it.

The mountain man lay beside Simon, not snoring yet. “It were a fine trek. The pleasantest days to pass over my head.”

“You’re sorry to be home?” Simon asked.

“Indeedy. We crossed that ridge, that… I disremember what you called it.”

“The continental divide.” Simon had learned some geology while working his father’s press, too.

“Right. I recall your tale of it. You spit on one side and it runs into the Hestern Sea. You spit on t’other, and it runs to the Keelkicker Shallows.”

Simon grinned.

“Anyway, I suspicioned our journey might be drawing to a close. City life lies in wait for us. No escaping it.”

“You’ll change your mind about city life when you have a mug of ale in hand at the Mermaid.”

Bogg chuckled. “You do know me, don’t you, pup?”

The night was quiet. Simon craned his neck to see the moonglade cast on the snow. The stars shone brighter and the turn of the night approached. He saw a new light in the sky, near the moon. Pale and hazy, like a white star with a milky stream pouring from it. “Oh… a comet. Bogg, look.”

Bogg turned over and raised his head. “Good land. It’s the Little Sister.”

“The what?”

“I haven’t see that since I was a wee lad. They say it’s the little sister of the Moon Rabbit. He takes care of her, and she looks out for him. Moon Rabbit plays it safe and stays on his path, but Little Sister, she trampooses off hither and thither. Gone most of the time. He hardly ever sees her.”

“A comet.” Stories came to Simon. “They say a comet is a bad omen. A sign of war, or famine.”

“Who says?”

“Astrologers in Algolus. They say a comet appeared in the sky before the goblin hordes began their seige of Isengrim. And the night that Wizard Malbardwin raised the undead from the killing fields of Saale, they say a comet could be seen in the aust.” Simon frowned. “I like your version better. Moon Rabbit and Little Sister are a family. Sort of like us.”

Bogg grunted. “Is that what we are? I hadn’t thought of it that way. ‘Family’ makes me think of my old brother Ackerley. How long has it been?”

The blue unicorn privateers had killed Ackerley, Simon’s father, and sixteen more in Fort Sanctuary. “I was twelve.”

“That I know. How old are you now?”

“I’m…” Simon had watched the weather and the passing of the seasons on their journey, but hadn’t been counting the days. “Sixteen? Surely by now.” His fingertips rubbed the itchy stubble on his jaw.

“Family,” Bogg said. “Well, I reckon it can’t be avoided.”

According to Bowker’s ISBN registrations, about a million books are published every year. We can quibble about the handful that are new editions of older books, but it doesnt change the truth:

Readers are drinking from a fire hose.

Even voracious book-a-day romance readers can’t keep up. Titles are going live far faster than readers can read them. And I don’t know about you, but I’m just as happy with a classic from the twentieth century (or the nineteenth) as with this year’s bestseller.

It’s a great time to be a reader. Three thousand new books available today! And three thousand more tomorrow!

Suppose your book is one of those three thousand. What’s a writer to do?

(Tedious repetition about perfect cover, perfect blurb, perfect launch, sticky email magnet to feed your massive email list, and all #20Booksto50K strategies to beat the competition gets a parenthetical nod. I can’t disagree; it’s all “good” advice.)

Here’s a thought: Take your time.

Average books stand no chance. Good books stand no chance. Invest the effort to make your book extraordinary. Someone with a hooked audience waiting for the next sequel benefits from speed, but if you don’t have that audience, you win by grinding.

Polish that draft from 99% perfect to 100%.

“Be so good they can’t ignore you.” — Steve Martin

And there’s this: good is relative. Who is your book for? If readers have a million new books to choose from this year, some will choose yours… if you wrote it just for them. Maybe you’ve heard of the idea of “1000 true fans,” but whatever it takes, know your audience, the people you are speaking to.

Or are you speaking for them? Are you giving them a voice?

Fifty-million-copy blockbusters will still happen now and then. But the real future of literature consists of you and your tribe.

I’ve always been slow at it. But I’m here to post a breakthrough. I just wrote a novel (New World 3: Here Be Dragons) at four times my normal speed. Here are three points about how I did it.

(1) I set a goal that was easy.

I’ve learned that failing to meet a writing goal is quietly devastating to my writing psyche, but achieving a writing goal consistently will unleash a poweful fuel — an explosive mixture of confidence and habit. The best goal is one that you can achieve on your worst day.

My goal was 500 words per day, no matter what. The number doesn’t matter. Yours might be much more or much less. What matters is…

(2) I achieved that goal with machinelike consistency.

I wrote when I was tired, when I was busy, when I didn’t have time. As the words piled up, I learned that I could do it. Some days, I didn’t get my 500, but I always made up the difference the next day.

It began to feel normal. And that’s an important feeling.

(3) I changed nothing.

I felt ready to raise 500/day to something more ambitious. But I didn’t. I got smug, then I got bored… but I wrote on, stopping somewhere after 500 and never holding myself to more. I noticed which days were easy and which were hard, which scenes were easy and which were hard.

I call this phase “Sustain and Observe.”

I want do do 1000/day or 2000/day, but I need to take the time to get strong (writing is a muscle) and notice my strengths and weaknesses, so I can amplify my strengths and sidestep my weaknesses.

The novel’s finished. Now it’s editing time. I’ll start the next one August 1, 2018, and I probably won’t change the wordcount goal. I might go another year at 500/day — and when I finally raise it, I’ll raise it to something I can achieve on my worst day. It’s a long game.

Keep the goal easy, always hit it, and sustain.

(I need to give credit to fast writers Rachel Aaron and Chris Fox, who inspired me to look closely at my process.)

Sam the Novel Dog