[Craft] Stages of a Fiction Writer - Dean Wesley Smith

I loved this series. It was very eye-opening. Sad to see it end, honestly.

Not sure there's much more to say beyond stage 4 writing. I think the content is solid and provided me with a lot of insight to how much more there is to learn.

I have to say, I'm gaining a new appreciation for DWS lately. I've been looking at some of his posts on his site and thinking a lot of what he talks about is doable. Not everything, obviously, but a lot of it.
I actually have studied authors in the past whose work I enjoyed, and when I did that, I know my writing was better for it.

Thanks man. I just finished his "Writing into the dark"

I think my question is what sort of pacing does he mean? Like in his story example, some of the scenes feel a little bit faster. While others feel a little bit slower. While length of sentence may have a lot to do with it, I can't help but wonder if this is a little simplistic?

I know some books I've read, you might have very long scenes that go on for pages, that do to how it is structured it feels faster because of the length of paragraphs and sentences.

While another scene may be shorter in reality, but feel like a drag if the sentences are long and paragraphs huge. Plus even with shorter sentences, the choice between summarizing and showing effects speed.

I think there is a lot more to pacing than if it's fast or slow, but maybe it's just me.:/

As far as reading any forth level writer, not sure I agree. There could be forth level thrillers, but that doesn't necessarily mean I like thrillers. But I may very well love a forth level contemporary.

Yes, he has this writing-craft junkie hungry for more.

johnlmonk said:

Thanks man. I just finished his "Writing into the dark"

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I got it in a bundle of other books the other day and am studying it again. I tried writing into the dark over about 50k words worth of stories in April and I enjoyed the practice but I'm not 100 percent sure it's for me. More practice and study required.

Thanks for sharing. Excellent post. I need to start visiting his website again. Funny about the Writing into the Dark part. I've recently become a big time convert to outlines.  Edited to add: That was an amazing chapter.

This was a great series!