Why NaNoWriMo Works for Me

by benmweilertNo Comments
Just over a decade ago, I had never thought about writing a novel. As someone who had only written short stories up to that point, something like a novel felt so big and insurmountable to me. Then, talking with my cousin at Thanksgiving, I learned about National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for short). Since then, I have participated and won the challenge 12 times in a row and am now nine years into my role as a Municipal Liaison (ML) for my local region. I almost exclusively write the first drafts of my novels during this annual challenge, and I have published at least five manuscripts that started out as a flurry of late nights writing in November. Before we continue, let me set the stage by answering the first question many people have: what is NaNoWriMo? Founded in 1999, the NaNoWriMo challenge is to write 50,000 words of a first draft of a new novel in the 30 days...
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Be a Voracious Consumer of Stories

by benmweilertNo Comments
Being an author takes a lot of time and commitment. Depending on how fast an author can craft clean copy determines how much time they must dedicate to the various steps of finishing a manuscript. Perhaps an author is a fast writer, which might require them to spend more time editing. On the flip side, maybe an author agonizes over each word as they write, which might take longer to get through a draft but requires less time editing. Wherever you fall on the spectrum of writing and editing, there is one activity you should also dedicate some of your time to. What's nice about this activity is that it can often be relaxing. I refer, of course, to consuming stories. Read universal stories with wide appeal. While we encourage writers to pursue the stories they want to tell, if these stories only focus on wish fulfillment or other narcissistic tales, their audiences are likely to be limited to themselves. Reading other...
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Expand Your Writing with Different Genres

by benmweilertNo Comments
Writers are inherently drawn to write the stories they like to read. There are significant benefits to knowing a genre well and building a fanbase who come to expect a certain genre from a particular writer. If you want horror, you’ll read Stephen King. If you want hard sci-fi, you’ll read Andy Weir. If you want fantasy, you’ll read Brandon Sanderson. But what if these well-known authors branched out into a new genre? Would you still read this new genre based on their reputation? Many successful authors will branch out from their core genre. Take Stephen King, for instance. We know most of the books he writes are one-shot horror stories, but the Dark Tower series blends elements of traditional fantasy and western genres with just a dash of horror (since old habits die hard). It’s important to note that people who don’t enjoy reading horror might like to read the Dark Tower series, even if Stephen King is mainly known...
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You Should Write Short Stories

You Should Write Short Stories

by benmweilertNo Comments
It’s strange to me how people are increasingly consuming short-form content like TikTok videos or Instagram Reels, but won’t read short stories. Some flash fiction is short enough to read in a few minutes, but the desire for novels and series of books instead of short stories is probably an effect of the decline of the magazine. This doesn’t mean authors shouldn’t write short stories. Some incredibly famous authors like Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, and Kurt Vonnegut used to have their short stories published in magazines like Galaxy Science Fiction, Playboy, or Collier’s. Even modern authors like Ted Chiang have found success with their short stories despite the limited audience. I started out my journey as an author by writing short stories just to get the ideas out of my head. These stories focused on a singular concept and explored it in a few thousand words. A lot of speculative fiction revolves around a dense exploration of “what if” scenarios...
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Writing shouldn’t be solitary

by benmweilertNo Comments
When people say "writing is a solitary activity," they do not refer to the entire process. Yes, nobody but you will sit down and put the words in your head onto the page. I know I've written a lot about how a self-published author can "do it all," but it's important to know the value of community as an author. The best-written works of all time hardly existed in a vacuum. Even if the actual process of writing can be solitary, it can become isolating if we don't connect with others who have this same experience. Writing should be an experience. Not everyone has the same process or hangups, but there are enough similar highs and lows that you can empathize with when you talk about your craft with fellow authors. We understand the highs of selling our work or getting a glowing review as much as we know the pain of writer's block or critical feedback. Sometimes a close group...
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2022: More of the Same

2022: More of the Same

by benmweilertNo Comments
Accountability has always been key for me. I feel obligated to finish projects when other people know that I'm working on them. 2022 will be the fourth year that I have posted in January about my writing goals for the year. Many of them may appear similar to the ones in 2021, but that's just part of long-term planning and short-term setbacks. Buried Colony Yes, I realize this is the third year in a row I've had this book on my "to complete" list. I have planned out solutions to fix these issues with the critical beta-reader and advanced reader feedback I received last year. Fortunately, I can still keep what I want to accomplish with this book intact. After I fix it up, I'll be sending the manuscript to a sensitivity reader for a final run-through to ensure I'm not unintentionally offending anyone with my character depictions. Buried Colony will be my primary project for this year, so—if all goes as...
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2021 and Done

2021 and Done

by benmweilertNo Comments
No, I'm not quitting. It is wild to think another year has passed as I consider everything I accomplished. There were tough months, and there was the return of conventions (which was a great boost to my self-esteem). I had to pivot on Buried Colony again but have found This is Not a Drill is selling pretty well as my first children's picture book. On top of all this, I taught myself how to successfully get an audiobook into Audible, which was quite an undertaking. Overall, I met most of my goals from January, so let's look back on the... 2021 YEAR IN REVIEW First Name Basis (10th Anniversary and Audiobook versions) It's amazing to think that my first novel came out 10 years ago in May. I enjoyed making the 10th Anniversary edition of First Name Basis, which includes character sketches by Robin Childs and the portions of the Fluxion Trilogy appendix that help explain the references in First Name Basis. In...
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Why I like Self-Publishing

by benmweilertNo Comments
Ten years ago, I learned how easy it was to self-publish. Not only was it "free," but I was able to hold a physical copy of the largest thing I had ever written. I have since written larger books and expanded into eBooks and hardcovers (and maybe audiobooks in the future). I did try to get into traditional publishing to see if I could do it, but I found the systems in place too bizarre for me to continue pursuing it. This meant I was left with the first choice I went with when I published First Name Basis: self-publishing. Since I don't make a living off my writing, I consider it a fun hobby to do in my spare time. After a few weeks of therapy to get over imposter syndrome and my unhealthy focus on sales, I've come to love what self-publishing allows me to do: hold a physical copy of a story I created. Granted, I still want...
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Why you shouldn’t ignore creative burnout

Why you shouldn’t ignore creative burnout

by benmweilertNo Comments
Working on creative projects takes a lot of effort. When things are running smoothly, it’s easy to ignore how many tasks need to be done, especially if you’re trying to accomplish this project alone (as I’ve written about before). But when does it become too much? When can a creative endeavor cross over from pleasure to work? Part of the problem of accumulating creative projects is the desire to work on all of them at once. For some, it’s how they pay the bills. For me, my creative pursuits are meant to be enjoyable hobbies. I understand that some aspects of these hobbies (like editing) aren’t the most enjoyable, but they still need to happen if I want to produce a product I’m proud of. There are plenty of ideas I want to see come to life, but I don’t have the time to work on them all simultaneously. Sometimes projects overlap. I’ve recently recovered from a bout of creative burnout. I pushed...
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The Benefits of Fanfiction

by benmweilertNo Comments
Anyone who has consumed a significant amount of media can tell you that there are no original ideas. Most stories merely borrow ideas from their predecessors. The fact that most stories can be categorized into a handful of core concepts proves that everything has already been done before. And yet, people keep writing stories. Part of what makes a story original is how it mixes its influences to create something new, even if the foundation is recycled. Then, there's fanfiction. Some stories are told so well that the characters and settings are adopted wholesale into a different author's new work. While this form of creative writing could be considered intellectual property theft (especially if the stories are sold without consent from the original creator), it can be used as a stepping stone for writers who want to improve their craft. Alternatively, experienced writers can find the weak spots in famous stories and re-write them to fix plot holes and character inconsistencies....
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