I know you’ve been doing this forever, but finishing a first draft in just over a month is crazy. It took me a year to finish my first draft. Also, you sent me annual seeds. Any reason you like annuals over perennials?
My favorite texts to translate are the journalism pieces. Creativity meets parsimony. Not sure about the future of either career though. Let's have our fun while we can.
Not a sentence I thought I’d ever say, but congratulations on shitting out that piece of coal, Chuck!
In all seriousness though, congratulations and I hope the remaining process goes as smoothly as possible.
In regards to journalistic writing and collecting data from real life anecdotes, one story that’s stuck with me is one I read about a girl who one day when removing a nipple-piercing happened to notice a piece of clothing-string stuck to the piecing. She took a pair of scissors and cut the sting and then she woke up in the hospital. Turns out the string wasn’t clothing material but was, instead, a nerve. The moment she severed it she passed out and her mother later found her and called an ambulance. No idea how true the story is but it stuck. Maybe in a fictionalized version the person wakes up to find that their hair straightener which was knocked to the floor when they passed out has become grafted to the skin of their leg. And so on.
P.S. Did Charles Baxter’s short story ‘Media Event’ have some influence on your short story ‘Magnificent Filth’, Chuck?
Being a (wasted) bio major I only took the required English classes and one forgettable creative writing class where my work was criticized as too revolting or creepy for readers. No journalism. So any writing I wanted to learn later had to be through expensive online classes and things like this substack. I took one class where I was told after was done writing the first draft, but before I went in to edit, I was to write a two page biography of each character including their full name, dob, job, education, relationship to the main character, etc. I took this idea in a different direction by writing each character’s obituary as it not only chronicles all this things but also how and when they die and as I am their god I know their sins. It’s been one of the most entertaining and enlightening parts of the process having my own “Book of Life” so to speak for my characters.
Dad and I do breakfast on Thursdays, and this past week, I was just talking to him about this. About how I’d been too shy to be a journalist—I’d always imagined I’d have to be pushy and race to the scene and interview people, and the whole reason I liked to write in the first place was to avoid talking to people. I would have loved to have gotten stuck with Obituaries, truly.
Looking back now, I think it could have gotten me a lot farther with writing a lot quicker. Should probably take a few online journalism classes—the beauty of living in the future—and see what skills I can add to my toolbox. I think teasing out a story is hard for even non-journalists. It is for me!
I understand about being stunned by sounds. In college, I heard the victim of a car accident scream outside my window in a way that I was sure her passenger had died. It shook me so much I included it in an essay due that week for an English class. The baby you heard—I just can’t even think about it. Especially after becoming a mom, it just changes everything. Every time I see an infant or kid in the news for something like that, just, ughh. Even though it happens, you’re right, it’s just something you (or me at least) can only stand to read in fiction.
I love your bit about the Stand by Me movie. I’m sure I’ve already mentioned, but my first memories are dancing on the stage of my dad’s (grandpa’s back then) ancient movie theater to the credits of that movie (which—thankfully—my parents let me watch a hundred thousand times even though I was what, three years old?) while the velvet curtains closed behind me.
"Consider that fiction writers should begin with the smallest compelling detail and build toward the most important near the end." Like ending with the mass public electrocution event? Damn, that's gonna stay with me for a while.
I was once a Graphic Designer for Bnai Israel. As I setup the monthly newsletter, I wrote a small quip "In Memory of Diane" After the newsletter was published I found out that Diane was not dead. Diane sent in the donation. :/ Thank goodness my boss had a sense of humor and was a generous soul with me and my first design job.
I applied for a job at a small newspaper after getting my English degree in 2016. The office was desolate. The receptionist was part time, like Wed-Fri, so when I got there I didn't see or hear anyone. I got the tour through the newsroom, which was mostly just empty cubicles where papers had been stacked. Fluorescent lights - local journalism was breathing its last.
A couple weeks later I was working at a semi-truck/tanker repair business and learning how to tell stories from the truck drivers who walked in and saw me sitting at the reception desk. I wish I'd asked to learn more of the mechanics' work, but they mostly just liked showing me the trucks that came in with a hole cut through the cab so that the teams of drivers didn't have to stop to use the bathroom.
Worked in a telemarketing sales office moving truckloads of new cars between dealers that now lets me take rejection in stride. It was like if a frat house had started a shady business. Place was nuts. Filled with interesting characters doing all of the drugs. I was ashamed to be associated with those people once I realized I was trying to be someone that I wasnt. Was good at the job, but Im not greedy enough to be a proper American. I made $1400 my first day, and I grew up Grapes of Wrath wood stoves in a dilapidated trailer poor. I got hooked for a while.
Every day I wonder if my paid writing is taking away energy that could be put into fiction, or if its good to be writing no matter what flavor. Its both. Then I dream of weaseling my way into a stipend from some small publisher, or publishing something that sells enough for me to survive while making up ridiculous things to put on paper full time. May be screenplays. May be books. May take me until Im 70. May happen next year. Its gonna happen, unless I step in a puddle near a crane.
Chuck's substack is consistently informative. I never noticed the differences among different writing categories until Chuck's explanation here. Chuck makes it easy to understand the concepts he is showing us!
I had to quit a lesser substack where the author encouraged submissions but then harshly berated most of his member submissions as clueless and worthless?! Heck, I can feel discouraged for free, I'm not going to pay a substack to make me feel worse. I will gladly pay to support a good substack that I can enjoy regularly, like Chuck's. He always is encouraging, yet realistic. Chuck's substack is my first stop, every time I sit down at my laptop at home. Did Palahniuk post anything new today?
I used to think Stephen King's "On Writing" was the best book about how to write fiction, but now I think Chuck could give that book some competition just by gathering up the autobiography stories and fiction writing tips that have appeared in this young substack, only 6 months old!
This post relates to a writing question I am hoping to get thoughts on. Most writing that is appreciated and lauded almost always seems to be . . wordy and of a certain style. For example, I am often forwarded articles from two of the leading magazines famous for their writing.
I can't get through them and inevitably think: are they getting paid by the word? Whereas I get through some novels in a sitting.
I can't tell anymore when people post snippets into comments, often as a response to writing posts, is this any good? It might be good or not so to me but I have no idea what the people who make judgements as to what has merit think. Then there is the issue that much of what is "well written" and - if I suddenly found myself to be an English professor, I'd give it an A-, is again not something I want to read.
So, I then personally go for the weird angle: on the CPR beach tragedy, I looked up how they teach you to keep the best and tried to recreate the nightmare of trying to keep the beat to a song you don't really know for an hour and someone maybe dying from your failure. But it clearly didn't work.
Every post you write is readable. Are you deliberately not being wordy? Avoiding style? You've been at this for a while and don't overthink it?
The more I think about the process of writing, there more garbled my thoughts on the subject get.
I took a different route. I majored anthropology and computer science (and a few other things, but those are the ones I finished). What really helped me was reading articles and taking a couple of LitReactor classes. I got over the preciousness and used to the grind by writing fiction on commission, usually for indie game devs.
The project that really got me moving was the game book series. I needed 2k words per day, and didn't know enough to pad out a schedule yet, so I sometimes ended up needing to churn out 7-10k of passable prose in a single day (and night, in that case).
I know you’ve been doing this forever, but finishing a first draft in just over a month is crazy. It took me a year to finish my first draft. Also, you sent me annual seeds. Any reason you like annuals over perennials?
My favorite texts to translate are the journalism pieces. Creativity meets parsimony. Not sure about the future of either career though. Let's have our fun while we can.
Not a sentence I thought I’d ever say, but congratulations on shitting out that piece of coal, Chuck!
In all seriousness though, congratulations and I hope the remaining process goes as smoothly as possible.
In regards to journalistic writing and collecting data from real life anecdotes, one story that’s stuck with me is one I read about a girl who one day when removing a nipple-piercing happened to notice a piece of clothing-string stuck to the piecing. She took a pair of scissors and cut the sting and then she woke up in the hospital. Turns out the string wasn’t clothing material but was, instead, a nerve. The moment she severed it she passed out and her mother later found her and called an ambulance. No idea how true the story is but it stuck. Maybe in a fictionalized version the person wakes up to find that their hair straightener which was knocked to the floor when they passed out has become grafted to the skin of their leg. And so on.
P.S. Did Charles Baxter’s short story ‘Media Event’ have some influence on your short story ‘Magnificent Filth’, Chuck?
Can't wait for the new novel.
Being a (wasted) bio major I only took the required English classes and one forgettable creative writing class where my work was criticized as too revolting or creepy for readers. No journalism. So any writing I wanted to learn later had to be through expensive online classes and things like this substack. I took one class where I was told after was done writing the first draft, but before I went in to edit, I was to write a two page biography of each character including their full name, dob, job, education, relationship to the main character, etc. I took this idea in a different direction by writing each character’s obituary as it not only chronicles all this things but also how and when they die and as I am their god I know their sins. It’s been one of the most entertaining and enlightening parts of the process having my own “Book of Life” so to speak for my characters.
Dad and I do breakfast on Thursdays, and this past week, I was just talking to him about this. About how I’d been too shy to be a journalist—I’d always imagined I’d have to be pushy and race to the scene and interview people, and the whole reason I liked to write in the first place was to avoid talking to people. I would have loved to have gotten stuck with Obituaries, truly.
Looking back now, I think it could have gotten me a lot farther with writing a lot quicker. Should probably take a few online journalism classes—the beauty of living in the future—and see what skills I can add to my toolbox. I think teasing out a story is hard for even non-journalists. It is for me!
I understand about being stunned by sounds. In college, I heard the victim of a car accident scream outside my window in a way that I was sure her passenger had died. It shook me so much I included it in an essay due that week for an English class. The baby you heard—I just can’t even think about it. Especially after becoming a mom, it just changes everything. Every time I see an infant or kid in the news for something like that, just, ughh. Even though it happens, you’re right, it’s just something you (or me at least) can only stand to read in fiction.
I love your bit about the Stand by Me movie. I’m sure I’ve already mentioned, but my first memories are dancing on the stage of my dad’s (grandpa’s back then) ancient movie theater to the credits of that movie (which—thankfully—my parents let me watch a hundred thousand times even though I was what, three years old?) while the velvet curtains closed behind me.
Congrats, Kerri.
And congrats to you, Chuck, on your new novel.
Congrats on the new first draft, Chuck! What did you learn writing this book? What stands out the most?
"Consider that fiction writers should begin with the smallest compelling detail and build toward the most important near the end." Like ending with the mass public electrocution event? Damn, that's gonna stay with me for a while.
I was once a Graphic Designer for Bnai Israel. As I setup the monthly newsletter, I wrote a small quip "In Memory of Diane" After the newsletter was published I found out that Diane was not dead. Diane sent in the donation. :/ Thank goodness my boss had a sense of humor and was a generous soul with me and my first design job.
I applied for a job at a small newspaper after getting my English degree in 2016. The office was desolate. The receptionist was part time, like Wed-Fri, so when I got there I didn't see or hear anyone. I got the tour through the newsroom, which was mostly just empty cubicles where papers had been stacked. Fluorescent lights - local journalism was breathing its last.
A couple weeks later I was working at a semi-truck/tanker repair business and learning how to tell stories from the truck drivers who walked in and saw me sitting at the reception desk. I wish I'd asked to learn more of the mechanics' work, but they mostly just liked showing me the trucks that came in with a hole cut through the cab so that the teams of drivers didn't have to stop to use the bathroom.
Worked in a telemarketing sales office moving truckloads of new cars between dealers that now lets me take rejection in stride. It was like if a frat house had started a shady business. Place was nuts. Filled with interesting characters doing all of the drugs. I was ashamed to be associated with those people once I realized I was trying to be someone that I wasnt. Was good at the job, but Im not greedy enough to be a proper American. I made $1400 my first day, and I grew up Grapes of Wrath wood stoves in a dilapidated trailer poor. I got hooked for a while.
Every day I wonder if my paid writing is taking away energy that could be put into fiction, or if its good to be writing no matter what flavor. Its both. Then I dream of weaseling my way into a stipend from some small publisher, or publishing something that sells enough for me to survive while making up ridiculous things to put on paper full time. May be screenplays. May be books. May take me until Im 70. May happen next year. Its gonna happen, unless I step in a puddle near a crane.
The students are probably thinking Someday my Print will come.
Congrats to Kerri and Chuck.
Chuck's substack is consistently informative. I never noticed the differences among different writing categories until Chuck's explanation here. Chuck makes it easy to understand the concepts he is showing us!
I had to quit a lesser substack where the author encouraged submissions but then harshly berated most of his member submissions as clueless and worthless?! Heck, I can feel discouraged for free, I'm not going to pay a substack to make me feel worse. I will gladly pay to support a good substack that I can enjoy regularly, like Chuck's. He always is encouraging, yet realistic. Chuck's substack is my first stop, every time I sit down at my laptop at home. Did Palahniuk post anything new today?
I used to think Stephen King's "On Writing" was the best book about how to write fiction, but now I think Chuck could give that book some competition just by gathering up the autobiography stories and fiction writing tips that have appeared in this young substack, only 6 months old!
Excited to hear about the new novel! Congrats! <3
This post relates to a writing question I am hoping to get thoughts on. Most writing that is appreciated and lauded almost always seems to be . . wordy and of a certain style. For example, I am often forwarded articles from two of the leading magazines famous for their writing.
I can't get through them and inevitably think: are they getting paid by the word? Whereas I get through some novels in a sitting.
I can't tell anymore when people post snippets into comments, often as a response to writing posts, is this any good? It might be good or not so to me but I have no idea what the people who make judgements as to what has merit think. Then there is the issue that much of what is "well written" and - if I suddenly found myself to be an English professor, I'd give it an A-, is again not something I want to read.
So, I then personally go for the weird angle: on the CPR beach tragedy, I looked up how they teach you to keep the best and tried to recreate the nightmare of trying to keep the beat to a song you don't really know for an hour and someone maybe dying from your failure. But it clearly didn't work.
Every post you write is readable. Are you deliberately not being wordy? Avoiding style? You've been at this for a while and don't overthink it?
The more I think about the process of writing, there more garbled my thoughts on the subject get.
I took a different route. I majored anthropology and computer science (and a few other things, but those are the ones I finished). What really helped me was reading articles and taking a couple of LitReactor classes. I got over the preciousness and used to the grind by writing fiction on commission, usually for indie game devs.
The project that really got me moving was the game book series. I needed 2k words per day, and didn't know enough to pad out a schedule yet, so I sometimes ended up needing to churn out 7-10k of passable prose in a single day (and night, in that case).