The Quiet Government Men

Posted by bdeye on Sat, 10 May 2014

Started writing this 6 years ago. Anyone familiar with, or starting the process of, putting words down on paper or screen will know (or find) the story may not even have a title. The heroes and villains have different names; perhaps culled from a phone directory. They may even be real people who've annoyed you in the past. Or now. Give that one up now. The effort of diguising just to avoid the litigation dilutes the venom you feel .

Blank piece of paper / screen. Er...

The aim? Tell a story. About who? where? when? And of course why?

How big are stories? Mainstream novel 75,000-100,000 words. At least.

What? That's an outrageous insurmountable task! Even battering randomly at the keys would take weeks to achieve. Monkeys writing Shakespeare?

When did you last write an essay? A report? How is your English, your spelling? Your grammar? Well...OK...I think.

John Smith walked into a bar. Random people sat and stood about...

Well that's a start.

Send it off - well more than that but, for this instance, bear with me...

Review: Smith? John? wow! such imagination! what an awe inspiring venue? Go back, do it again...

Wounded and cowed we try again.

Thaddeus Postlethwaite burst through the saloon doors, the force of his vortex sucking in water droplets and street debris. The piano stopped playing. All turned...

Review: Just go away. Read successful books by established authors. Read several books about writing for months. Join online forums. Learn to write

What does she mean? I hate her, the smug pompous...who the hell does she...has she ever written a powerful moving story about Thaddeus The Mind Stretcher or his ilk? Bah!

Well, it goes on. You actually reach 50,000 words, you can see ahead - not sure how it ends but there's a lot more to do...

100,000

Dear Reviewer. Me again. (Not, not! "It is I, once more") What do you think now?

Review: Rubbish. Go away, get rid of all those passive sentences, look closely at your point of view. Cut down on back story - or write the backstory first. Action verbs crunch, stagger, weave. Remove all adverbs; use 'said' Cut down the text by at least 10%...

If you haven't been there already you will. Apply now for the Writer's Rhinoceros hide suit; develop a bland indifference to all negative criticism. Delivery times for Rhino suits range from months to years. They have to be grown to fit. Bland indifference is like learning a musical instrument - can't be rushed - a fine line between filtering out mean spirited trolls and genuine well meant suggestions.

PS Thaddeus Postlethwaite is not a crew member of 'The Quiet Government Men' Oh, and, 'why not use John Smith? Hasn't been done for years; nobody dares...'

Chris

www.quietgovernmentmen.com

qgmtubesATgmail.com

@qgmtubes

 

Comments

Submitted by Ray Schaufeld on

Interesting, bd. Where you are is where I could be in a year. 75,000 words? It's gone up, I thought it was 60,000. 19 years ago I started a story, played with it  for 10 years, and sent the first 3 chapters and synopsis to publishers. A small online outfit was keen. What length ?15,000. That was a no-no and I did not know. I offered my entire works; short stories, poems, opinion pieces; giving a collection double that length, but no. I now know how to acheive the length and keep its structure and spirit, however other projects press harder.

Only use 'said'. This counters my primary school English where teacher said 'vary it, use replied,told etc' and adverbs were cheered merrily,not booed. I use 'said' unless extra happens eg 'screamed, tittered.'

Separating good helpful feedbackers from competitive a-holes who want you to stop so they have the playpark to themselves is real; I encountered this once in a neighbouring town.

One thing only works and you know this. Do it, and keep on doing it smiley      Elsie

Submitted by bdeye on

Thanks for your comments. I waited a few days - Firefox crashed and I forgot I'd posted.  Another thing I've learnt is that hindsight is one thing, perspective another. My publisher says you must sell 'you' not the book - if the readers are interested in you they will read what you have to say. ref celeb autobiogs! This the hard work. Like being pregnant you think it will all be over by the time the baby is born. I suspect if you relax and stop fretting about your Magnum Opus - do something else and try that - if that works you have credibility and confidence to get no.1 going again. This is ass aching advice one rejects then remembers down the road.

Publishing, or getting published is awash with negativity. I reached the Stephen King 'throw "Carrie" in the trash' stage. Thanks to computers I didn't empty the trash but you get it out again with a wry look and try again. Then they say 'you must be more positive'

Adverbs? JK Rowling is littered with them (said Harry, curiously). I think it is not a singular rule; that adverbs can be a lazy 'Tell not Show' device. Harry peered closer. Rubbing his eyes he looked away, cleaned his glasses on his shirt tail. He looked again 'What on earth is it?'   -- gives the curiosity and removes the need to describe the verb. Also, being in his POV, said is redundant as well.

Miraculously you achieve both Show not Tell and an increased word count. I think! (And then they say cut your ms down by 10% ) My Twitter is @qgmtubes