Focus on Quantity
Thoughts on writing fiction that will probably get me in trouble.
Ray Bradbury to me is the Sage of Fiction Writing. His brilliant advice for young writers looking to get into the business was often to write 52 short stories, or one short story a week for an entire year, also known as the Bradbury Challenge.
Some famous writers of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror took this advice to heart when first starting out. Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont, and William F. Nolan, to name a few, all practiced writing fiction by turning in a short story every week. The challenge was to give the writer enough practice (there’s that word again, hmm) in writing fiction and to focus on production. Bradbury believed it was impossible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.
Many take issue with this advice, however. If you express to others who live in the myths of writing that you are focusing on production or quantity, you must be prepared to meet resistance. The naysayers fall into that trap, look down on their noses and recite, “Well, it’s about quality, NOT quantity!”
“You MUST polish a story until it’s perfect!”
“It’s not about speed!”
To borrow a phrase from Harlan Ellison, one of the finest and most prolific short story writers who is no longer with us,
“That’s horse puckey!”
Ellison at a party misheard a conversation between two people, got an idea for a story, left the party that minute to rush home, sat at his Olympia typewriter, and in one night wrote a short story titled Jeffty is Five.
One night. One sitting.
That same story won the 1977 Nebula Award and the 1978 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. It is also my favorite Ellison story of all time.
An artist always wishes to produce the best work they can. I don't believe speed muddles quality in fiction. I think it's the opposite. When I write short stories, the longer I take, the more of a bore it turns out to be. The more I tend to slow down and consider the words, the duller the story becomes.
The best fiction is the one that pours out of me. My subconscious is playing in the sandbox and knows exactly what to do. I don't question it. I simply let the characters guide my fingers and allow the words to fly. This is difficult to do at first. But like any habit, all it takes is a bit of…practice.
Want to write short stories? Then I'd urge you to focus on pumping out as many short stories quickly. Just focus on writing the best story you can at your current skill level, let it go, then focus on writing the next one.
Detach yourself from the result of your story (more on that another time) and send it out to a professional magazine for payment or publish it yourself on your blog or publish it for sale. Writing and publishing fiction is all about attitude, your relationship with the craft, and keeping your inner critical voice at bay.
It wasn’t until I stopped caring about the reader's perception of my stories that the writing became FUN. That’s what it’s all about anyway. Entertain yourself first, explore different genres, test out different storytelling techniques, whatever you need to do to get your bottom planted in the writing chair!
This week I’m doing a personal challenge with my fiction writing. I'll share the results next week along with my thoughts. So far, my subconscious continues to surprise me and I’ve learned more about my voice, style, strengths, and weaknesses while having a great deal of fun.
This little essay will no doubt annoy some readers, but I couldn't care less. My intention isn’t to cause division or incite debate. This was written to help writers who may feel stuck, who may have issues of fear in their writing process, and who freeze up at the keyboard.
This piece is written for a younger version of me who lost so much time getting caught up in the bullshit, and caring too much for the validation of his peers instead of writing what he wanted.
I'm presenting an alternative point of view, based on the same writing philosophy of Dean Wesley Smith and Harvey Stanbrough. These writers established the groundwork for my new career. I would not have penned as many stories if not for their instructions.
To end, I leave you with my favorite quote from the Sage of Fiction Writing himself.
“An athlete may run ten thousand miles in order to prepare for one hundred yards. Quantity gives experience. From experience alone can quality come.”
- Ray Bradbury
Completely agree. The fiction of mine I thought was poor has typically been the stuff that was a pain to write, that I fretted over, or thought too much about. Fortunately I found Heinlein's Rules - write, minor edit, publish (put to market and keep it there till it sells), repeat. Combined with SubStack that's what I've done. Two short stories or chapters of a novella a week for close to a year now.
Improvement comes from repetition. Sure, editing and critical feedback help but fiction writing isn't engineering. It's art. The feel of a thing is far more important than the technical aspects. Yes get your grammar and spelling right, yes use the correct words, but those things are quite malleable and to gain a unique 'voice' you're going to need to bend them a little.
I work on getting a story to 80% in terms of potential quality. The last 20% will take weeks of agonising but by then the idea will have grown mould and became difficult to work with. (This is different to novels and some short stories will feel timeless even to the writer where they could re-work them forever. This can be a dangerous path akin to cooking a meal for the instagram photo.)
Write lots, write different stories, write different genres, use different styles and you will improve without noticing.
Couldn't agree more Frank!