1. Write because you love it. If you do it for that reason, no one can touch you because the reward is intrinsic to the act itself.
2. Write for yourself – not yourself the writer, but yourself the reader. Write to blow yourself away. Write like that because you are not special and therefore there will be plenty of other schmucks like you. To that end write what you love, not what you think other people want you to write.
3. Writing is a skill. Work to be better than your previous self. This current work is not an end in itself but part of the excellences of what you will produce tomorrow. To that end, mistakes are victories and moments of true learning that improve your work.
4. Be truthful in all things and to all people, including yourself.
5. When you publish, you are a business and your books are products: act accordingly.
6. Build a platform which you own – i.e. a mailing list first, everything else second. Funnel people from other platforms to your platform.
7. Never sign away 80-90% of your intellectual property because you are not prepared to learn how to sell books, or because you crave the recognition of gate keepers. The first is laziness; the second contradicts points 1 and 4 in the manifesto. There are conditions under which a traditional contract could be signed: access to print distribution networks at scale, but separate from digital and audio rights; or when financial compensation exceeds the demonstrable earning potential you could achieve by yourself; access to multimedia deals – games, tv and movies – likely to exceed self marketing potential. If these conditions are met, then such a contract can be considered.
8. Pay to play – social media is a blight whose only benefit is access to unfettered data which enables targeted paid for advertising. Don’t try to sell books for free on social media – there is little to no evidence that it scales. Cases that appear to are examples of content marketing whose financial costs are hidden in the time used to create the content. Full economic costing demonstrates pay to play is the only thing that scales reliably. To this point: no risk, no reward.
9. Invest in your skills and your business either in time or money.
10. Money is not the only measure of success, but it is a really good one that is empirically verifiable and correlates with selling books to more readers. To that end and to points 6 and 7 when you publish seek to make money. Hope is not a strategy for selling.
11. Do the work. No one cares about your work in progress. Why should they? It doesn’t yet exist. They will care once you’ve written it – if it’s any good – so shut up and write. It’s not hard manual work. It is a privilege. If done well, it matters. So do the work.
12. Do not procrastinate. Beware of procrastination that looks like work.
13. Create a bookshelf of work to be proud of and remember point 1.
14. Remember to replenish the well. Take a break … sometimes. When you do, do it properly.
15. Writing is a long game, play it as such. Play today and every day you can with that in mind. You my lose today, but you can’t win if you don’t play tomorrow. And remember, while it can be a serious game, it is still a game, so have fun and get playing.
Daniel Soule
Once Dan is a horror author who was an academic, but the sentences proved too long and the words too obscure. Northern Ireland is where he now lives. But he was born in England and raised in Byron’s hometown, which the bard hated but Dan does not. They named every other road after Byron. As yet no roads are named after Dan but several children are. Dan’s literary fiction has featured in Number Eleven, Storgy, and the Dime Show Review. His science fiction is available in Shoreline of Infinity and Phantaxis. And his horror can be found in Devolution Z, Sanitarium Magazine, Disturbed Digest and Into the Ruins.
Dan’s website is at dansoule.com where there is an exclusive ebook of short stories available, plus a classic horror novel.
We can’t hope to get better without constant learning. Just like I pointed out in my article about the self-taught writer, our teacher isn’t qualified.
I’ve heard this title going around for some time now, as if it’s begging for me to read it. I am not disappointed. The War of Art is just that, a war, and the war is against ourselves. I highly recommend it—not only for writers, but for anyone who is thinking about chasing a dream.
Will you be reading a book on improving your writing this month?
One mistake I see writers making—and probably the biggest—is playing too small. As much as they love writing, they “dabble” in their free time. It’s “a hobby” or “a dream” or “a mirage.” Who would want to hear what they have to say?
I was like that. I used to blush and shrink when people in the real world asked me how “the writing thing” was going.
But our words matter. And we have worlds within us that can only be accessed through writing fiction, ideas that can only be understood through story.
We have to care enough about these words to invest in ourselves and make ourselves into better artists and communicators.
Richard Thomas spent twenty years in advertising before coming back to writing. Since then he’s been an author, editor, teacher, and publisher. He’s the award-winning author of three novels, three short story collections, two novellas, and over 150 short stories.
In addition to teaching at the Storyville, he’s also taught at the University of Iowa, LitReactor.com, and Story Studio Chicago.
He’s been a panelist, teacher and/or guest speaker at Stokercon (Los Angeles), Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, Inc. (Oklahoma City), The Horror Writers’ Workshop (Transylvania), Columbia College (Chicago), University of Wisconsin (Baraboo), Mystery Writers of America (Chicago), Off Campus Writers’ Workshop (Winnetka), University of California-Riverside (Palm Desert), Writers Retreat Workshop (San Antonio), Lakefly Writer’s Conference (Oshkosh), Novel-in-Progress Bookcamp (West Bend), and FOCUS on the Arts (Highland Park High School).
He was the Editor-in-Chief and Gamut magazine and Dark House Press, and has been a member of the Horror Writers Association since 2012.
His story “Golden Sun” co-authored with Kristi DeMeester, Damien Angelica Walters, and Michael Wehunt will be included in The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Eleven. He’s been nominated for the Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, and Thriller awards, won contests at ChiZine and One Buck Horror, and has received five Pushcart nominations to date.
About Storyville
“We believe in the power of story. We believe in the capacity of dark storytelling to bring light to the world. Narratives grip us, thrill us, and lift us to new heights. A good story can transform us, giving us a roadmap to navigate the world, and the courage to face the challenges that greet us.
The road to publication can be a hard one. Storyville grew out of a desire to share and give back to authors making their journey. We want to encourage strong voices, to lift them up so they can lift others. We focus on a balance of real world, contemporary examples and authors, as well as classic methods of writing and expression, a mix of genre and literary fiction, craft books and academia, personal struggles and successes.
Our goal is to help you grow, evolve, and find your voice—the one that is unique to only you. We want to help you write the stories you want to tell, in the ways that you find exciting and fulfilling.
We have a wide variety of classes and programs to choose from, so whether you’re just beginning, or you’ve been writing for a while, we have a place for you. Come, find a community of writers to support you through your journey, and learn the skills to take you where you want to go.
This is a great time to be a writer.”
Online Writing Classes by Richard Thomas
Short Story Mechanics (LitReactor) Beginner (or At Your Own Pace, offered here)
Contemporary Dark Fiction Intermediate
Advanced Creative Writing Workshop Advanced
Novel Workshop 365 Advanced
Flash Fiction (LitReactor) Intermediate/Niche
Day of Reckoning–Day of Reckoning is a one-day Skype session that takes place on the second Saturday of each month. Composed of seven classes that run from 9-12 AM and then 1-5 PM CST, each month brings a different mix of instructors and classes. Richard Thomas will be moderating.
Testimonial
Richard Thomas’s Contemporary Dark Fiction class was the best investment I’ve made in my writing. The reading assignments opened me up to a whole new world of dark literature. His taste is impeccable and eclectic, giving students a huge pool of examples of what can be done in dark fiction across genres. The assignments were challenging, forcing me to stretch my talent and create work I didn’t know I was capable of. The weekly class meetings and live Q&As with featured authors made the class a fun and engaging, and workshopping each other’s stories was extremely enlightening and helpful, providing a wide array of insights on how to improve my work. Richard Thomas is the kindest and most generous of teachers. He is passionate, knowledgeable, honest, and unbiased. He critiques every piece turned in for the class and is always available to help. His feedback and advice were what I needed to level up as a writer. I’ve produced more short fiction during the four months of this class than I have since I began writing, and with my new knowledge, I feel confident and excited about the quality of work I will be submitting and publishing. I call Richard Thomas the Mr. Miyagi of writing. I will be taking every class he offers! Christa Wojciechowski
