Learning Discipline

Posted the next installment of my Panthera story, On Trial For Treason. Do you know what would be cool? To some day take all of the Hero series from Legion of On-Line Super Heroes and compile them into a book. The Authors (of which there are currently eight) could spit the proceeds. We'd all get rich, I'm sure. I mean, who wouldn't want to buy it, right?

What we need is a some kind of graphic artist who would draw/paint/color more images for our Heroes. Oh, well. Another dream seed left to rot unattended in the ground.

It's hard writing a serial. If you haven't tried it, I suggest giving it a go - just for the learning experience. There is a completely different kind of pressure to produce. I suppose it's kind of like these writer support groups which demand a certain number of words each day or week. It's an excellent tool for many writers to sit down and produce something. Has the opposite effect on me. It doesn't take long before I want to refuse to write just because it's expected of me. I expect that's my undisciplined nature taking over. Rebellion. You know?

But the pressure to write a series of stories is different than the pressure to complete a long novel, or short story. I think it's good for discipline, though, if one adheres to a word count.

Used to resent word counts. As indicated in some earlier post/s. Whenever I was given writing assignments I would blow past the required number of pages/words. Don't recall ever being marked down for it. In fact, I think it was one of the reasons for my better grades. But perhaps my writing instructors were doing me a disfavor. By rewarding me for my wordy efforts they failed to teach me a fundamental need in writing: conciseness.

Maybe it wasn't so important in the past as it is now. Printing costs, although always high, were not comparable to what they are now. I am sure more than one editor has turned down a story simply because it was going to cost too much to produce it.

So writing to a word count teaches discipline. Paring things down is hard. It takes more work than writing the story in the first place. That's what I'm confronted with with Prophecies of Madatar. It's too long. Too long for even a second book. So I must remove words. Lots of words. And I have to still tell the story correctly. I was able to drop 11,000 words just by dumping "suddenlys", "thats", "ands", and a host of short pet phrases I discovered I like to use. Getting rid of those things did not hurt the story whatsoever. In fact, the story was improved.

That's what writing a serial with a word count regulation can do for a writer. When I finished the episode I just posted it was too long. Had to pare it down. I did, and now the readers are unaware of certain character reactions. Perhaps they will fill those in themselves. That's part of writing a good story, too. Knowing what/when to leave up to the Reader's imagination. Storytelling is a duely creative process. Not only does the storyteller create, but so do the Readers - when they are engaged.

That's the real challenge for a writer. Getting the Reader to believe and care about the Story.