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    Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel Without an Outline: WMG Writer's Guides, #6
    Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel Without an Outline: WMG Writer's Guides, #6
    Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel Without an Outline: WMG Writer's Guides, #6
    Ebook88 pages1 hour

    Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel Without an Outline: WMG Writer's Guides, #6

    By Dean Wesley Smith

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    With more than a hundred published novels and more than seventeen million copies of his books in print, USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith knows how to outline. And he knows how to write a novel without an outline.

    In this WMG Writer's Guide, Dean takes you step-by-step through the process of writing without an outline and explains why not having an outline boosts your creative voice and keeps you more interested in your writing.

    Want to enjoy your writing more and entertain yourself? Then toss away your outline and Write into the Dark.

     "Dean Wesley Smith's blog gives both a slightly different view of the publishing world than I'd seen before and detailed hands-on "here's how to get from A to B" instruction."

    — Erin M. Hartshorn, Vision: A Resource for Writers

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWMG Publishing
    Release dateFeb 14, 2019
    ISBN9781386513612
    Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel Without an Outline: WMG Writer's Guides, #6
    Author

    Dean Wesley Smith

    Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, USA TODAY bestselling writer, Dean Wesley Smith published far over a hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds of short stories across many genres. He currently produces novels in four major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the old west, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the urban fantasy Ghost of a Chance series, and the superhero series staring Poker Boy. During his career he also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds.

    Read more from Dean Wesley Smith

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    Reviews for Writing into the Dark

    4.5/5

    16 ratings5 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Really helped me to come over my fear and focus on my art and what I’m doing when I’m writing
    • 5/5
      First, understand that I give this book 5 out of 5 stars because Dean Wesley Smith delivers exactly what he promises: A method for writing into the dark, cycling around the story while keeping an outline as you go.

      What must be understood, I submit, is that an aspiring writer must have internalized the craft of writing fiction for this to work. Dean's right, of course. Your self-conscious, critical voice is the kiss of death for your story or, at the very least, your enthusiasm for it. So you must learn to work with the subconscious, and you must memorize story structure.

      Otherwise, writing into the dark is like me saying, "Okay. Anything goes. Your move." And then you'd either sit there and do nothing because you have no vision to go on, or maybe you'd flail randomly and throw anything onto the page in the hope that by chance it works.

      I don't work by chance, and I don't think you have to either. So basically, to write into the dark, you need to pack your own light and your own tools to carry with you. Vade cum dio, and have fun!

      (P.S. If I can recommend another book on Scribd and Smashwords to help to this end, I will recommend 2 which are both free: David Sheppard's Novelsmithing and Story Alchemy.)
    • 5/5
      A short book, but packs a hell of a punch. It's already helping me to let go of a bunch of my anxieties about writing, use less outlining, and have more fun writing. I'm building up my writing routine to get rid of both the outline and my usual second draft in the near future. Highly recommend this book!
    • 4/5
      I don't agree (and probably never will) with a few things in here, but this book still gave me a new perspective and reminded me of my early teen years when I just sat down and wrote whatever I wanted, shaped the story however I felt at the moment I got there and enjoyed every second of it.

      I'm an INTP. Outlining, finding out every little detail about my stories fires me, gives me joy like nothing else, it makes my logic thrive, but the thing is, after I'm done, the story looses the magic and I don't want to sit down and actually write it anymore, because I already know everything.

      This year I want to try different type of writings, to see what would be the perfect match for me. And although I don't think I could ever go simply off my pants the whole time, I'll try not to come up with every single detail. Writing used to be so much fun when I was a kid. Nowdays the ideas themselves are more interesting for some reason.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Excellent book, I read it in one sitting. It makes you want to go write, immediately, no excuses.

      1 person found this helpful

    Book preview

    Writing into the Dark - Dean Wesley Smith

    For all the brave writers out there writing stories into the dark.

    Have fun.

    INTRODUCTION

    In almost 150 novels now in both indie and traditional, I have written into the dark on some, done outlines on others, and even did a 135-page fully realized outline on one poor novel.

    There are as many ways to outline a novel as there are writers. Plus, there are about a million books out there giving you the secret to outlining. In some of the online workshops I help with at WMG Publishing, I even taught a few ways to outline.

    But there are very few articles and books on how to just type in the first word and head off into the dark writing a novel with no plan, no character sketch, nothing but pure exploration.

    That’s what writing into the dark is all about. Pure exploration of a story.

    In this book, I hope to help you learn how to have the courage and the ability to just tell a story from your creative side.

    SO WHAT EXACTLY IS WRITING INTO THE DARK?

    Some call it writing by the seat of your pants. There are other terms for it that are so stupid, I can’t bring myself to even type the names of them.

    Basically, writing into the dark means that you decide to write a story without an outline.

    Now most short story writers do this automatically. But faced with a novel, the same writer who just had a blast going off into the dark on a short story will freeze down like shallow lake in the Midwest in the dead of winter.

    Critical voice takes over the writer’s mind, and all the stuff the writer was taught by people who have never written a novel comes roaring in.

    In fact, most of us in our early years of writing take all our information and learning from very, very unqualified people.

    English teachers in high school may know how to put a sentence together in some grammatically correct fashion, but they have zero, or less than zero, idea how to create a story from nothing.

    We are taught how to tear stories apart under the guise of learning, but that’s like handing some kid a hammer and telling him to tear down a house. Then when the house is in rubble, you turn to the kid and say, Now, build a wonderful new home with fine craftsmanship there.

    The kid might have been fine at tearing a house apart, but tearing a house down teaches little of the creative process, the building process.

    So teachers tear apart a book, then make students outline the book. What that does is make the writer of the book look damn smart, actually. Students come away from the process thinking, Wow, how did the writer know to put all that foreshadowing in chapter six for what’s going to happen in chapter ten?

    So then, later, when the writer is facing a novel, the writer thinks all that idiocy taught in school is going to help the writer with the task of writing. Nope.

    In fact, most of that learning from school will hurt the creative writer.

    But off the writer goes, spending time and energy outlining and working on the outline and making sure the outline is perfect before ever writing word one. And all that is done from the critical voice, from the voice of a teacher who wouldn’t have been able to write a novel on the threat of death.

    It is any wonder so many early outlined novels fail, and fail big time?

    And actually, most outlined novels never get written. I’ll talk about why later in the book.

    CRITICAL VOICE VERSUS CREATIVE VOICE

    A great deal has been said about critical voice versus creative voice in writing, or in any art, for that matter. Great art is rarely, if ever, created from a critical perspective. Art is never done purposely.

    Great art comes from the creative side of our brains. I like to think of the creative part living in the back of our brains. The front part of our brains, the critical part, is what takes in all the information. The creative part has a large filter and only takes in the knowledge it wants and uses.

    The creative side of our minds has been trained since we were born, and story has been trained into that creative side since we were first read to by our parents. The creative side loves story.

    For most writers, the difficulty comes when trying to get past the critical side of our brains and write from the creative side only. Outlining comes from the critical side by the very nature of outlining.

    So the critical side of our minds outlines a book, then we wonder why the creative side often doesn’t want to follow the outline. The creative side knows story, knows what needs to be in a story.

    So all the way through this book, I’m going to be talking about how to access the creative side, how to trust that part of your mind to create stories, and how to kill the fear that the critical voice will use to try to stop you.

    Much, much more on this topic coming up.

    WHY WRITE INTO THE DARK?

    The first answer to that question is easy. Writing into the dark imitates the reading process for the writer.

    All writers are readers. And as readers, we love it when a writer takes us along for the ride in

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