This IS some interesting stuff. Sounds like something that could be from "Dead Like Me." But...aren't you afraid that someone's gonna rip this idea off you and use it??

Good point.

Dear Internet: please don't rip off my idea.

Thanks.

Wil

Many, and I mean MANY writers write without an outline. An outline is only really imperative if you're writing a highly plotted story, like a mystery, that needs all of the organization planned out beforehand. For a story such as the one you've started, it's probably best to get into the characters and let them tell you how the story turns out. Too much plotting leads to stilted, forced writing.

As far as the advice to never revise, that's patently ridiculous and contrary to any writing advice I've ever heard. As you've seen yourself with your work on JAG, the revision process helps sharpen and improve your writing. Sure, too much revision kills it, but your first draft is not usually your best.

I also disagree that everything you write should be published no matter how crappy it is. If you've read the body of Heinlein's work, it should be obvious why this is bad advice. Some work deserves to stay in the drawer.

For some excellent advice about writing and the revision process as well as letting the characters take you through a story, read Stephen King's "On Writing." If you haven't already.

And as far as ripping off your ideas--that's a concern of a weak writer. It's not the idea that's important, it's the way you tell the story. I've heard it said that there are really only 7 storylines and everything is a variation on them. If you're a good writer, and you are, then your telling of this story will be as unique as it needs to be and it won't matter if some hack tries to write the same idea.

What if Wil Wheaton rented a room in your house?

Catchy? ...maybe not.

What if Wil Wheaton and his posse rent a room in your house?

Might be better... Could spin it to some kind of orgy fest.

What if a monkey with a typewriter rented a room in your house?

oh wait... that's the same as

What if Wil Wheaton rented a room in your house?

I don't know much about writing except what I hear from Neil Gaiman and Harlan Ellison, which meshes with what Heinlein says. Harlan says something like

"Everybody thinks they can be a writer? Why is that? Nobody thinks they can just be a brain surgeon. It's because the vast majority of writers don't put as much work into perfecting their craft as a brain surgeon does and that's wrong. If you're a writer, write. Write at least six hours a day, write even if it's crap."

I'm paraphrasing from memory, but that's basically what he said.

What I *do* know, however, is HTML. And if you want an "a" bullet after your 3, so it's 3a, just put a nested OL inside your #3's LI tags.

<LI>This is number 3
<OL type="a">
<LI>This is 3a</LI>
</OL>
</LI>

Woah . . . that's cool, Puck. :)

Joe just e-mailed me my ending:

". . .at the end you could have the killer die, and thats death's cue to head out."

I dunno how it will happen, but it's something to work toward.

Cool!

This idea reminds me of two things: an episode in Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine and Terry Pratchett's book, Mort. You might want or might not want to read them to make certain you aren't just subconscously remembering their ideas.

Dude, check one of your links (Something for nothing).
It opens as:
http://www.esva.net/~davidpoyer/seven.htm%22

which includes the obligatory "%22" because you included and extra space. Firebird barfed on it, until I actually looked at the address bar to see what was wrong.

By the way, I like the idea. I'm always intrigued by the concept that Death isn't evil, since everyone has to die eventually. People always talk about cheating Death, and I wonder if the Angel of Death would really feel cheated if someone escaped him, or if he would be relieved?

Hey Wil,
Sounds interesting!

I think I already saw this movie. Wasn't Brad Pitt in it? -_-

wil, have you ever considered trying "national novel writing month"? it's every november, where novice novelists try to complete a short one in a MONTH. crazy, i know, but it's pretty fun, actually. i did it last year. unfortunately, you'd have to wait 'til 2004 (and you'll prob. be busy w/ your many projects)... maybe sometime in the future: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

mother fuck.

I hate it when I have an idea, and it turns out that someone else has already done it.

I'm not familiar with any of the stories listed above. Maybe there really *are* just 7 stories after all.

hey wil..
yeah...it's a cool idea..but unfortunately someone else (actually a few) beat you too it..
long before Brad Pitt was walking around running his fingers through his hair, the story was called 'death takes a holiday'
wich may or may not have been a feature film or a twilight zone episode..
(at any rate, the twillight zone version starred a very young robert redford, and he totally freaking rocked in it...

brad pitts was of course 'meet joe black'

anyhow, don't take it bad...it's a great idea, and no one said you couldn't spin your own take on it...
matter of fact..some of your ideas sound pretty freaking cool..
just explore your own story

have the college student be discussing the poem "Death be not proud"..
http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/jdonne/bl-jdonne-death.htm

Hey, I'm intrigued. I especially liked the "spices and old leather" smell, which is very vivid but, you know, doesn't feel too overpowering. And it's an actual smell, which is a relief in a world where writers try and get away with "the smell of rain" for a person, and other such things. What's the smell of rain? Is it dead worms? Why do you want your character to smell like dead worms? Anyway. What I was trying to say is, I really like that imagery.

Incidentally, I'm not sure how much you're planning to keep of what you have, if anything, but "His footsteps were like sand blowing across dunes" was a sentence which completely lost me, until you actually said afterwards that he was gliding. Maybe I'm just dense, I dunno. I thought I'd point it out. Am I being too nitpicky?

1. There's porn on the internet???

2. I don't know if you've ever seen the BBC's Mulberry from about 15 years ago, but it has a very nice take on this kind of story. When I watched it I thought it was really well done - although I was 13 at the time so my judgment might have left something to be desired...

Sorry. My html is clearly teh suxx0r. Here's the link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/m/mulberry_1299002220.shtml

I thought 'Meet Joe Black' too, but like, don't listen to any of us who are naming other stories with Death in. Just listen to Shelby ("It's not the idea that's important, it's the way you tell the story"). You should try to write *your* story about Death.
Your story isn't the same as any of these others (as far as I know). The only similarity to JoeBlack was that he moved in to the house, so you shared the original thought, but you took it in a very different direction. That film was based around how someone coped with knowing who he was, and it didn't actually have any deaths in most of the film. Your story's clearly headed somewhere very different to that.
So I say just keep writing at it for a bit, and see if you like what you come up with :)

Yes. It does remind me of "Meet Joe Black", which was a damned fine movie as far as I am concerned. Especially the incredible car hitting incident in the beginning. Totally excellent piece of film editing right there.

But Wil's story isn't about Death taking a holiday. Death is there to do his job, and the overall idea so far sounds like quite an interesting murder mystery.

To me, I personally like the idea of Death falling in love with someone, a local girl, or even a second renter in the house. In fact, not only have Death fall in love with someone, but also have that someone be on the "List of Souls" that he must collect.

What if you were Death, and you fell in love with someone whom you discovered was next to die?

I think that would be quite a story.

I have some pretty wild dreams sometimes...dreams that I think would make excellent books. Unfortunately I have very little writing talent. It is a shame too since I so often remember some of the stranger dreams that I have with some incredible detail. If I could get that stupid digital email encryption stuff to work right, I'd even send short synopsis your way Wil, and just let you fly with them!

Besides, isn't that how many novels start? With a dream? :}

Oh, one other thing Wil. Don't ever, *ever* worry about whether or not you are writing a store that someone else already did. It happens all the time.

In fact, I'll I can give you proof of that fact: The movies "Volcano" and "Dante's Peak". Both good movies, based on a similar concept. Now the better example: "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact". Both were good, but they were almost the same damned movie if you ask me. The only reason that "Armageddon" was more popular, was because it had LOTS of big-name stars, a waaay bigger buget, and Liv Tyler ;}

So I say run with it! :}

And please forgive me for posting three times in a row, but I noticed a typo in my last post that is just aggrivating the crap outta me. I said "writing a store" and it should be "writing a story"! You know what I meant of course but dang I hate typos like that! :}

just an idea--

if death is in town because there's a killer on the loose, it would be more interesting for the killer to be an ambiguous figure-- someone doing 'the wrong thing for the right reason.' you could use that to compare and contrast the characters of Death and the killer.
for example, the killer could appear to be the brother of the girl Death falls in love with. the brother finds out from a videotape that the girl has been gangraped by the son of the mayor & his fratboy buddies, and goes to the police chief abut it, but no one is willing to help out of fear of retaliation from the mayor. the fratboys die one by one in deaths that seem like freak accidents at first.
after a couple of deaths, people get suspiciious, and a murder investigation begins, but things don't add up. the murders just can't be pinned on the girl's brother.

instead-- it is actually the girl who is the killer, instead of her brother.

Don't make him People Death. Make him Pet Death.

Fred: You mean the Death of Rats, or the Death of Fleas...?

Even better have Death fall in love with the killer. The great thing about this, is that the person that he falls in love with can be any age/race/person, because this is Death and he really doesn't have the same boundaries that we would have when it comes to stuff like that.

I don't think I'm going to let Death fall in love with anyone. I think that's been done to . . . death.

Heh.

But I think I will let a neighborhood girl get a crush on him, and see what happens there.

Wil - more than anything, don't write by committee. Take the idea you had and run with it.

Will I gotta tell you... you've got me hooked. And congratulations, not only are you the first 'blogger' i've begun reading religiously (beyond Michael Moore's links to sensibility), and pretty much every time I read something you've shared with we creepy internet lurkers, I feel better knowing i'm not the only one at least attempting to share their noodle with who-knows-who-from-where. My site has become more of a place for me to vent my frustration for the way things are today, probably because my life isn't nearly as interesting as yours to report the 'normal' stuff...

Regardless...keep it up, and something tells me, if you and yours were ever to meet me and mine, we'd probably be on the same page about a lot of things..probably that whole same place at the same time in life thing... (of course mine lacks that whole celebrity stigma, but you know what i mean)...

-cw

damn brain adding extra letters to my words.. any other Internet junkies find their fingers typing words before their brain can tell them to type the correct word? (ie. sometimes shot comes out sh!t, etc)

Sounds like a video i made in the summer of 2002.

Screenplay's here, warts and all

Or here, rather
(http://www.freestructure.net/d3domain/random/copingwithdeath.html)

"Wow, there's useful information on the Internet, if you can get around the porn and shopping."

Pretty funny -- it's going in my Email Signatures file.

k.

I immediately thought of Meet Joe Black (an excellent and somewhat underrated film) when I read your story premise, but there's no reason for you to abandon it. - Especially if you avoid having 'death' falling in love with some local girl. And I think it would be interesting to see a characterization of death that is complicated and ambiguous, without humanizing him.

Think of someone like T'Pol on Enterprise. They screwed her up by trying to make her human. But it could have been far more interesting to see people reach out to her without having those feelings reciprocated.

Ugh. If you decide to have Death fall in love with someone, please, for god's sake, handle it better than Meet Joe Black!

One of the most painful movies I have ever had to sit through. I'm convinced Brad Pitt did it because it was every actor's wet dream: a three hour long death scene.

Take a look at http://www.fmwriters.com/ for info on writing. They have had a pretty good community over there and some good articles for writers.

Yeah, I here what you're saying about the porn thing. Almost every search I do, something porn comes back. Then after clicking on it, I loose track of what I was searching for, and all is lost.

Ok, mostly kidding there. Mostly. *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*

When I start writing stories, I often run myself into a wall, and usually end up dropping it completely because I don't know where to take it next. I have often thought that a writing partner would come in quite handy in these situations. Someone that you can toss the started story to and then talk back and forth about what could come next or how it might end. You could do the same for him when his story is stuck.

Ok, I've rambled on quite enough.

I'm out...

You already have me wanting to read more, you definately need to develop this..
I wouldn't worry too much that the Death story has been done before, because I honestly think you can make it your own and take it in a direction that has yet to be done.
If you are interested there is a great book called The Novel Writers Toolkit written by Bob Mayer who has written several Best Sellers under various Pseudonyms.
You can find it here.
http://www.bobmayer.org/fiction.html

I'm not sure Neil Gaiman's idea about "what if..." beginning a story is a very common practice among authors. But I suppose it's a matter of whether you regard the "what if" as providing the basis for the beginning of your story, or whether question truly resides at the story's end. If you begin the creative process with sense of the conclusion to your story, then the question becomes "if this is my ending, then how did I get here?". I believe it is a more useful thing to begin writing with a sense at least of the parameters of a story, than to write blindly. Plot holes form where no structure resides. And while the creative process might divert from a basic structure, it is the consciousness of an impending end that provides the true relish of the narrative. As readers we are given a taste of a life. To have no sense of an end to that delicious morsel, is to render ourselves to a feast that eventually becomes dull and indistinguishable from the tedious conventionalism of daily life. To hold in your mind the sweetness of a tale's end, is to provide the very texture of the tale.

you should check out www.sfwriter.com Robert J. Sawyers site (Hugo and Nebula award winnner) he has an amazing amount of stuff about writing, getting published and character development. He shares it all free and all willingly.

Wil,

I didn't realise that Americans used the word 'shite', so thanks for that.

As others have said, I think you need to take the premise you have and make it your own, and not worry if the same idea has inspired other writers. It won't have inspired them in the same way.

On the subject of writing, I agree with Shelby that you should read Stephen King's On Writing, if you haven't already. I think it should be compulsive reading for anyone interested in the process of writing fiction.

"I met, not long ago, a young man who aspired to become a novelist. Knowing that I was in the profession, he asked me to tell him how he should set to work to realize his ambition. I did my best to explain. 'The first thing,' I said, 'is to buy quite a lot of paper, a bottle of ink, and a pen. After that you merely have to write.'" (from 'Sermons in Cats' in Music at Night) ALDOUS HUXLEY

Wil, you might enjoy something a frind of mine recently posted in her Live Journal:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/agrathea/53566.html

Other people have mentioned Terry Pratchett, but not specifically the book which comes to mind for me, which is 'Reaper Man', in which Death takes up residence in the barn of an old lady, helps her with the harvest and such, and ultimately grows fond of her and takes her off dancing and such, the catch being, she hasn't realised she's actually dead at that point. The 'Death' novels are my favourite of Pratchett's discworld series, and I recommend them unconditionally.

if you change "death" to "the devil"...or just add "the devil" to the scenario you open up additional possibilities...like who would the devil entertain in his room...and what price would they pay for his favors...maybe "cheating death with the devil" would be a good title.

Gidday Wil,

I just love writers who can evoke full senses descriptions, especially new spins on the olfactory.

>He smelled nice, like old spices and leather.

MMmmmmm ...

This link might also be of interest to your good self and others who aspire.
http://www.abc.net.au/writers/

Cassy

The Death of cuddly kittens, puppy dogs, and everything in between. The Death that rips the heart out of little kids.
If this were Hollywood, the little girl would be played by Natalie Wood, the mom by Sandra Bullock, Death by Steve McQueen, music score by Randy Newman w/vocals by Streisand, would be directed by Sam Peckinpaugh, would bankrupt the studio, and replace "Cleopatra" in the annals of film lore as the biggest bomb in film history, causing the
writer of the original story and film script to move to France and take up wine making, with a few yearly appearances on Letterman, where he launches into drunken profanity filled rages against those @$#&^@ bean counters who re-wrote the film behind his back.

you know...not only is your blog extremely entertaining (I get crap daily from the man I live with for being addicted *g*), but I have to tell you that reading about your writing trials and tribulations makes me sooo much better about my own. thank you for that, and for the great links :):)

ADVICE FROM INTERNET FRIEND #237

Again, I urge you to pick up a copy of "The Art of Fiction" by John Gardener. No, it's not as easy as looking stuff up on the Internet. Yes, you MAY have to leave your incredibly clean home to get the copy, but I'm telling you it's worth it.

I realize you don't know me from a knot in a Christmas tree, and you really have no reason to take my advice... for all you know, I could be one of those people who sits at the local Barnes and Noble on a laptop finishing their "NOVEL"--
Luckily, I don't own a laptop.
Take a chance. Take my advice. And if getting out to the local bookstore seems too daunting, you could always ORDER IT ONLINE.

Marlene.

INTERNET FRIEND #237 NEEDS AN EDITOR:

It's John Gardner NOT John GARDENER.

I can't believe no one has said that that was a qoute from The Doors.

This blog needs more Our Lady Peace some of The Cars or um Gin Blossoms...

Just forget about it.

Hmm that creative commons licence is interesting. It says I can't use your stuff for commercial purposes, but what if I set up myslef as non profit?

Can you imagine? The Wil Wheaton monologues as performed by mikesum32.... ack, it's so bad someone will have to like... I mean, c'mon, people on teh interweb ar stoopid. It could be, like, a ballet with lots of over-acting, like Star Trek 3.

I am Chris Pirillo's Ego... Eggo... EggMcMuffin.

I think you should read the Terry Pratchett Discworld novel "Reaper Man." But then if you quote Neil Gaiman then you've probably already read it and Good Omens which Neil co-wrote.
"Soul Music" is a good book too.

Hey Wil!

There is a Writing correspondance course I am taking right now that is pretty good. I have found the material they have sent me both informative and interesting. I am learning alot from the course. Its called Breaking Into Print from the Long Ridge Writers Group. If nothing else the site for them has some interesting articles:

http://longridgewritersgroup.com

Beth

Well, the "what if" is a great start. It should provide a good premise. Thing is, you need to ask more questions after that, the most important being, "why?"
Why is Death renting a room? What's he (she?) there for? Why are the other characters who show up important? Okay, the second question had a "what" in it, but I think you get the idea. Don't just start with one question and leave it at that. Keep asking questions! You'll keep it going from there, trust me.

And details! Details are important. Just remember that if and when you include them, they need to be important to the story somehow: descriptive element to a key character, a plot point (such as the quintessential "gun in the desk drawer"), etc.

Dear Mr. Wheaton:

I am writing on behalf of the estate of the late Rod Serling, creator of the television series, "The Twilight Zone." This is your notice to cease and desist in your derivative work of Twilight Zone Episode NOTHING IN THE DARK (hereinafter "the episode")in which a young Robert Redford (as Mr. Death) knocks at the door of an elderly lady played by Gladys Cooper.

If you continue in this manner, we will have no choice but to contact your ISP, and have them remove all your access to Porn and Shopping for the duration, while leaving your IP addresses only able to access videos of David Hasselhoff singing "Hooked on a Feeling" and Hello Kitty fan pages.

And don't think we don't know about those nudie pics on your hard drive, either.

We're watching you, Mister.

Sincerely,

Sussim Naretev, Esq.

The killer's wife/daughter/sister/partner/deputy could fall in love with Death, because he's hanging around near her so much under such mysterious circumstances.

Maybe if she had a little Nancy Drew in her, she'd figure out where he lived and start asking questions of the housemates and landlady.

Story could be from her perspective, too.

I like your idea. A lot. Feel free to rip off the above ideas if they work for you. And I hope to see the whole thing published...

Funny how you put that Jim Morrisson quote as your posts' title so close to what would have been his 60th birthday....

Can you believe 60? I guess when you die young, you never get old!

58 comments and it's only been 40 minutes... hmmm.

Oops. delete previous.

Thanks for sharing your writing process. As a novice author struggling with the challanges of his first graphic novel, I find it helpful to see how you work through your writing projects. The resources that you hip us all to are a goldmine to old guys like me who are playing catch up. Thanks again for letting us all watch the little gears go 'round in your head.

Only, please don't be mad if you hear something rattling. I think I dropped a Skittle in there.

Wil,

Seems like we are both working on stories about death, thought my novel in progress COBWEB BRIDE is built on a somewhat different premise. :-)

In any case, I am so glad you are doing this, and a recommendation is for you to start freqenting SFF Net where a whole lot of speculative genre writers, editors, publishers and other industry pros hang out -- from the newest newbie to seasoned pros -- and just ask your questions or just lurk and learn.

Go here:

http://www.sff.net/

And also here to read the various free-access writing and publishing newsgroups and individual publisher and author topics:

http://webnews.sff.net/browse

This hangout really is the heart of the genre writer indiustry, and is the home of the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) and the Horror Writer Association (HWA) not to mention a whole bunch of other orgs.

Instead of Death being evil, think of Death as neutral. Or, Death could be an angel (maybe that's why he picks the upstairs room - to be closer to Heaven.). Who says Death only shows up when there's a murder? Hhmmm...

Those destined to be sick on a hollywood set always suffer on-scene... if only for the "shot". Those destined to die on-screen get a paycheck, and quite a good one at that. Those destined to be shot as true volunteers = national guard units, who are fighting deployment now = end up volunteering for the waterwheel foundation and eating lots of B&J... Not that following Phish is altogether bad... ;) But, when our soldiers come home with "no place" to go:

I'd rather work on future media contacts... what we and our buddies do in our basements today is tomorrow's blockbuster... If you fancy yourself available to work within the "common-man" denominator, of course.

Is there an individual-liberty foundation you favor? (not that I care, I was just asking).

rick

http://www.isil.org/resources/introduction.swf

I can only recommend Orson Scott Card's "Characters and Viewpoint" for some good ideas.

Hi Wil

Just stumbled onto your weblog for the first time yesterday - yes where have I been this century? - I just had to say that your writing is amazing. After 45 minutes, any story I start resembles limp cardboard. Yours breathes. It's also interesting to see how you tackle it. As a very green writer, I'm still using the ol' post-it approach. I sit at work randomly writing notes to myself whenever my brain cells peek through from behind the number crunching.

I've always liked to believe that there a no original stories, only original spins on them. Keep going with this (if I get to vote).

Thanks for sharing.

It's always fascinating to watch one persons idea turn into a brainstorming session. As to the first variations on this theme..the first version I can pull from memory was written by Cervantes (and no, I don't remember because I was there when he wrote it). There really are only 7 basic plot lines.

Wil,
In an effort to be different, trim the story. Make it short. Really really short. Death is simply taking a room in her house because the old lady is going to die shortly, and without a lodger, she'd have been left to die alone. Make it a character piece, and have Death be sympathetic. We'd all like not to be scared of Death when the end comes.

Of course, before she dies, she should find out who he is. But I think the focus should be on her at the end of her life, looking back.

Serial killers? Falling in love with mortals? Psha!

Didn't have time to read all the posts, but I skimmed. Not sure you're asking for plot advice, but I'll join the bandwagon:

There is a child somewhere close by in the neighborhood. Perhaps one who has lost a parent. Something like the creepy new kid from ER, fixated on death and misfortune. The kid is intrigued by the character of Death and becomes a tagalong, eventually taking this to the point of following Death about when he shouldn't be. When the kid figures out who he's made friends with, rather than freaking out, he becomes more interested, perhaps asking Death to put him/her in touch with the dead parent.

I think the thing that will make this story different from others in the personification of Death genre, is a very matter-of-fact tone. No mistical, magical mumbo-jumbo, and for the love of all that's warm and fuzzy, NO LOVE STORY! Unrequited, disappointed crushes with bad, heartbreak endings, sure, but no mutual falling in love. Look forward to seeing more of this story.

Hey wil, ever thought of writing a small piece on self-publishing? You've done the panel, I think a lot of writers who regularly surf in your site would benefit from it.

Sounds like a cool concept for a book Wil.

Put me down for a copy!

Whatever else you do, listen to Heinlein about writing- he sold every word he ever wrote, even if he hated the stories and had to put them out under another name (or had more than one story in a magazine. It was a point of honour with him- he always said he would stop writing the day his stuff stopped selling. One day it did, and he stopped, and the magazine publisher had to beg him to start again and published his work.

I have four favourite writers: Theodore Sturgeon, Robert Heinlein, John D. MacDonald and Spider Robinson. Stephen King creeps in there sometimes, depending on his latest project. I thoroughly recommend all of them as not just absolutely wonderful to read, but past masters of the art of writing. The world is just a better place because they were in it, and it just sucks big time that only Spider and Stephen still are.

And in the end, it turns out to be the old lady who is actually Death. The poor young man had been laboring all these years, working his fingers to the bone, under a misapprehension.

"You've come for me?" she said sweetly. "My dear boy, you have it all backwards. Just sit back and enjoy your tea. Drink it all or you'll hurt my feelings."

The young man drained the teacup and politely declined the offer of another. He was impatient to broach the particulars of his hostess' timely demise. He had a schedule to meet after all, places to go, people to kill, that sort of thing.

“Good boy,” she said as he swallowed the last drop. “The tea is poisoned, of course. You’ve been most helpful these past few years, my dear, but it really is time for me to go back to work. I’ve had a splendid holiday. You’ve given me a chance to build a rather nice life for myself. It is a shame I can’t offer you the same.”

There was no reply. The man was already dead. She sighed, and rose to retrieve her guest’s teacup, which had fallen to the floor.

“He could have at least waited until I was through talking to expire,” she lamented to herself. She busied herself straightening the room. She had company coming later, and all must be perfect.

“Better get the kettle on.”
-------------------------------------------------

Not that you give a tiny rat's ass about my story idea, but I couldn't resist throwing in my two cents. Although, I have posted a couple of comments to your site. You now own at least $1.30 worth of my opinion.

So much for the 'Who done it?' part of the book.. Talk about a Huge Spoiler! LOL :)

Well I never thought of anything to do with Meet Joe Black when I read this. Of course, I never saw that Twilight Zone episode but whatever. You have your own spin on this and like many other people before said, that's what counts. Putting a modern spin on it will give a whole new dimension to the story. Actually reading your scene had my own creative juices flowing, making me want to write my own story, at least do a rewrite of one that I have. I'll stay away from anything to do with the character of death though. ;) Anyway, if you need any help for ideas, I have a few books on creative writing as I was a Writing major in school. Just send me an email. I would send you one, but I don't know anything about all that encryption stuff. Anyway, have a good day and just keep writing. :)

You should participate in NaNoWriMo - it forces you to write a "novel" - or at least get a crappy skeleton novel written so you can go back and do the revisions and add the flesh later. Once the skeleton is done - the rest falls into place.

You know whats really weird? Just yesterday I was looking stuff up to help my with my story. Maybe we came across some of the same sites...

Anyway, this is just a thought, but "What if death rented a room in your house" is such a great quote, maybe you could go somewhere else with it. I like what you have going on, and your drafts were awesome, but maybe you could make the qoute more metaphorical. Instead of having Death actually rent a room in your house, it could be about a death in someone's house. I don't know, ignore this if you want because the ideas you came up with were very interesting and you could have a great story here. Don't give it up!!!

Wil,

Love your idea...it is definately a story that I would read. It doesn't matter how many other people have written stories about death incarnate, yours will be different, and I, for one, can't wait to read it.

Puck's Harlan Ellison paraphrase up above sounded a whole lot like the first several lines of John D. Macdonald's introduction to Stephen King's Night Shift (short story compendium).

"I am often given the big smiling handshake at parties (which I avoid attending whenever possible) by someone who then, with an air of gleeful conspiracy, will say, 'You know, I've always wanted to write.'

"I used to try to be polite.

"These days I reply with the same jubilant excitement: 'You know, I've always wanted to be a brain surgeon.'

"They look puzzled. It doesn't matter. There are a lot of puzzled people wandering around lately.

"If you want to write, you write.

"The only way to learn to write is by writing. And that would not be a useful approach to brain surgery."

Maybe there are really only 7 snarky comments ever made by successful writers to those who admire them...?

Er, didn't Terry Pratchett do the whole Death renting a room (well, he worked to keep his room, I think) thing way before Meet Joe Black? As well as a whole lot of other people? Death takes a holiday, that kinda thing?

I don't know if anyone reads this far down or not, but one site that is *really* worth having a look at is Robert J Sawyer's site [http://www.sfwriter.com/] or more specifically the How To Write [http://www.sfwriter.com/owindex.htm] section of his website.

He goes into alot of detail on the art of writing with a serious slant towards Sci-Fi (because thats what he is) - he won the Hugo this year for his novel Hominids, as well as many others.

There is a fair amount to read, but it is well worth it as are his books.

Wil -- other writing advice:
The notebooks of Raymond Chandler and English summer : a gothic romance / by Raymond Chandler ; illustrated by Edward Gorey ; edited by Frank MacShane. New York: Ecco Press, 1976.

I've read it and it's full of helpful advice, including a nice essay about writing and literature, and samples of the kinds of notes he kept.

if you're feeling 'noirish'

My wife is a science fiction writer. She's pretty well known in the field. I like to tease her about being "semi-famous". Anyhow, there's a couple of essays about writing on her webpage you might find useful: http://my.en.com/~mcq/

There's also an essay about being a stepparent you might like.

What if Ray Bradbury rented a room in your house?
Maybe Death's in town for a convention of some kind. Perhaps he has a schedule, and peoples' interest and these unexpected deaths are screwing him up. Just my absurdist take on it.

What if... stories are very Heinlein, Bradbury, Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. Concept fiction is a dated form, and so well worn that it seems an elementary exercise.

What do YOU do best, Wil?
I would say it was your casual writing style, your love of real people, communicated by moving anecdotes and thoughtful observations.

Whatever you write, however you start, you already have your voice. I didn't hear it in the fragment you posted; it seemed like you put it aside. Anyone can sterilize their prose to do the kind of story that you are attempting. It is necessary to be deadpan to carry an ironic fantasy even a short distance. But if ironic fantasy is your thing you shouldn't expect Wil's posse to marvel at it. You've already set the bar higher than that -- do the story as a tongue-in-cheek homage, or find characters that you really like on which to centre things, and work Mr. Death in after you have them.

I'm a reader, not a writer, (not yet) but I think you don't need to pose to be taken seriously. Not now, if ever.

And now for something I'd normally save for a private conversation...

[I'll remove all Star Wars/Mark Hamil references this one time ONLY!]

Regardless if you never use this idea, regardless if it's been done a zillion times over (and, you know, you're an actor--how many "teens save the private school" movies could their possibly be? Oh, wait... Anyway, insert reference to formulaic writing that works here) you've effectively done something in less than 100 posts that a boatload of publishing companies, authors, etc. would love to do:

You've successfully tapped a core sampling of your audience and once you throw out the overtly plus and overtly minus feedback, you've got something to go from.

Kudos man. Again, without knowing it (I bet), you've just tapped your audience for some pretty killer insight.

I don't understand why you would get caught up in an article about copyright law and royalties when you're having a creative problem. The two seem totally separate in my mind. Are you questioning whether to continue to be a writer? I can see how the royalty issue is interesting in its own right (I host a community radio show on copyright matters, and this would be interesting to talk about), but it makes me think you're saying something you might not mean about your future as a writer.

"They end up writing novels about novelists writing novels."

That makes me go "LOLOLOL!" Very true. So many of Stephen King's characters are novelists, which is okay of course, because we can all identify with writers. We all have a story to tell.

Which, of course, nicely segues into: who cares if it's been done before? YOU haven't done it, so to neglect that story is to rob the world of your own personal vision of this. c.f. the "Volcano/Dante's Peak" argument. ;)

hey wil, that sounds like a really good story, and i love that first bit. i am not a writer, so to me that bit sounded great!! i love your style of writing..its been said before and i'm gonna say it again, you really make me feel as if i am right there watching the action, not just reading it. thats one of the things i love! keep up the great work dude! can't wait to read the rest of it. i really like that idea, to start with it sounded a bit too much like Meet Joe Black, but then when i read on, its really not...AT ALL! its great!! go wil!

love rach
xxx

That story sort of reminded me of a very old Twilight Zone with a very young Robert Redford. He is Death and trying to get into this old lady's house, but she won't open the door. She does eventually.

I enjoyed Terry Brooks "Lessons from a Writing Life". He has a great chapter on his first book signing event and why he thought his career as a writer was over at that point that you should definately go read.

Nit-picker geek post: The Heinlein quote should have '1936' not '1966' ... Anyway :) Read Isaac Asimov's "On Science Fiction" for lots of good prolific writing tips.

Wil, A similar kind of premise was done on that Twilight Zone episode......Mr Death (I think that was the title.). Robert Redford played Mr Death. The old woman was afraid that Death would come for her so he had to be disarming in order to get in the house. A young, handsome police officer that has been injured. One of my favorite episodes. I like your idea, however. Work with it!

Wil remember that long post you made 2 years ago about when you auditioned for a Christmas Story? (one of my favorite movies! besides Stand by Me) i'd really like it if you would post it again because it was my favorite post you ever put up and a very cool story. Thanks I hope you see this message.

Hello! Just a couple of thoughts... your story idea sounds really interesting. It's obviously something that struck a chord with you, enough for you to try writing about it - so who cares if it shares some similarities with previous works? Given the vast realm of written work in existence, it would be difficult NOT to be similar to something. I'm sure that you can shape this idea as YOU see fit, and it will be your own. My one question is... how is Death paying the rent??

Also, sorry it's a bit off-topic, but I caught the Aqualad episode of Teen Titans tonight... I *knew* I recognized that voice. Fabulous job, and that's from someone who's been a big fan of animation (and voiceover work) for a long time. A great addition to a great show. :)

The Lost Coin by Blaylock. A guy (not exactly Death, but sort of close) rents a room at a house. Setting is modern day Southern CA.

Sorry Will :(

See my review at http://www.odonnellweb.com/mtarchives/000239.html#000239 if you are interested.

Hey Wil -

Great idea, and if you want to do some more research, you should also read a novel by Piers Anthony, called On a Pale Horse. I agree with these guys about the Heinlein, Gaiman, and Bradbury, but I read the Anthony book for the first time around 15 years ago, and have reread it about 7 times since. It's GOOOOOD. And yes, I know, a lot of his stuff is shallow, but I really liked that one. Can't read Asimov all the time. My link goes to the Amazon page for this book.

Dawn

Ok, maybe it doesn't. Sorry!

Check out the Judge Dredd story where Judge Death rents a room in the flat of an old lady called Mrs Gunderson, who wears those bottle bottom glasses so she can't see or hear properly. Very, Very funny.

Wil,

you just kill me sometimes...

what if...

some guy named "Wade", rents a room a Wils house?

scary?

Heh...

Maybe it's been mentioned, but exactly this idea can be found in one of terry Pratchett's best books: Reaper Man!

http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061020621/qid=1070872217/sr=1-16/ref=sr_1_11_16/028-4918217-9846106

Good you are dumping the fall in love with death theme... put Brad Pitt in the lead, and you'd be writing "Meet Joe Black... Again"

room for rent...old. done. boring. there are so many others. think lolita. think over. no offense. just please move out of that one. it sounds like the opening for a love story and eventhough you've made it known that you aren't going for that, please PLEASE escape the room for rent deal with the WOMAN having a room for rent. it's so very boring at this point. gee, i can't wait toget tons of slack from your readers.

Greetings Wil,
Gee, after reading all those comments I almost forgot what I was going to say. How about making your "Death" character a female. After all, it seems Death is always portrayed as a male. The female element might add more than "old spices and leather" to this tale you're spinning. OK, that's all... now I'm going to hit Submit twice just because you said not to...and if anybody points and laughs, you will definitly be burned up at the Prom( but most of you Old Goats out there have already been to the Prom, so you don't have to worry).

Gidday again,

Can't resist, what with all these film and fiction references being ... ahem ... done to death, but who can forget the film classic, Arsenic and Old Lace, with Cary Grant in his finest comedy role?

(yes, I know, not strictly Death coming to visit, but those little old Aunties were sooo sweet ...)

Toodle-oo
Cass

Hey Wil, that is the start of an interesting story for sure! I know you surfed the net for a bit about writing fiction and I wanted to send you a link to www.hatrack.com which is the website of Orson Scott Card.

If you have not read Orson's Ender's Game before, you have truly missed out. Rush out and buy it and read it, I think it is modern day "literature" that should be read by all.

Orson also has links about his writing class, and I believe he also has a book out about writing fiction, developing interesting characters, etc. This is certainly worth a few minutes for you to surf over and check him out.

I hope that helps!! Good luck on the writing project and those writing rules certainly make sense!

oops, one more thing, sorry to say this, but be VERY careful about the help on your storyline, it sucks to say this, but many authors have to protect themselves from "...I gave him that idea and I want $$$...etc"

I am sure that won't happen, but someone needed to mention it....be careful!

Sam Hinton

"Awake...
Rise from your sleep my pretty child, my sweet one.
Choose the day and choose the sign of your day... the day's divinity....

I closed my eyes and Death smiled."

Morrison does get the creative juices flowing, don't he?

Dude!

As a writer wanna-be, I think this book is a must-read. Please put it on your Christmas list.

http://tinyurl.com/y8j5 (links to an Amazon reference)

You see, I think the way stories should be written is to fully develop the cast of characters, and set them loose on one another. Go Wil!

Hi Wil,

Do you read this far into the comments? Well, if you do, I have two books on writing to recommend. Both of them, besides being helpful, are excellent reads in and of themselves.

1. Bird By Bird, Anne Lamott
2. Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg

Also, if you can get through it and actually do the 12-weeks of exercises, Artist's Way by Julia Cameron can be life-changing.

J

I'd definitely read it. The idea is exactly the kind of stuff I go for when perusing the aisles in the bookstore.

Fragile eggshell? That's a redundant redundancy.

I've been reading this thing for a while, and whenever i see you put your 'seed' ideas out there before they've even had a moment to germinate i can't help but think you're doing a disservice to yourself and the idea. Perhaps it's a personality/validation thing, but who can judge an unborn storyarc. eh, my 3 cents(inflation).

I don't know if any one has mentioned it yet, but the Piers Anthony series 'Incanations of Imortality' (sp?) has a book about death in it. The book is called 'on a pale horse'. It is, IMHO, the best book in the series.

The pale horse reference is taken from the Bible. I met a pale stranger and he rode a pale horse (called Binky) or something like that.

It has inspired many a book and also the title of a film known as Pale Rider (Clint Eastwood).

People meeting death isn't original, death coming to stay isn't original, but how you write it can be. If we let the fact that someone else wrote a similar story already stop us we'd never write. It is said the ancients Greeks have written every story possible to write. Girl meets boy, boy takes girl to death star etc. etc.

I understand that some of your ideas seem to be quite accidentaly coincidental to the things people have already done. What matters is that you take your own ideas and twist them into your own work of art. Sometime down the road when your story is out and somewhere in the world there is a conversation on literature. Someone in that conversation will say, "I think the version that Wil Wheaton wrote is much better. His ideas are geniuine and his charasmatic approach in the telling of his story, making his story much more magnetic".

I myself read what you have so far and I find myself sitting here thinking that I need more.

Take life one day at a time...Conquer the world one reader at a time.

How bout 'his hair FLOWED to his shoulders' instead of 'WAS to his shoulders'?

To Wil,

I don’t think that you need any help/advise on writing. I think you have already nailed writing. Just do what you think is best. Let your instincts take you.

For example, I did not understand why you described the boards creaking under her feet. But it made since when you described Deaths footsteps. In fact, I loved it. I think I got goose pimples.

If you are worried about doing something that has already been done, just remember William Shakespeare. That guy didn’t have any original bone in his body. But he wrote great plays that are loved to this day (I too am a big fan). So screw anybody that gives you any grief. Besides, there are some of us that love stories about death (expl: On a Pale Horse). Of course, I am told that if you listen to the Cure for too long, you’ll cut your rist’s. While I on the other hand can’t help but smile.

I really don’t think that you should take anybody’s advice on a plot (see first paragraph). But I did like Joseph’s idea (Dec. 7th, 3:06 AM). Even though that reminds me of two movies. The first is “The Shootist”, starring John Wayne. This is one of his best, and a must see. But I digress. The second is “The Professional”. Another great movie starring Jean Reno, and Natalie Portman. Again, see third paragraph.

Keep writing what makes you happy, or challenges you.

You might want to check out Stephen King's "On Writing"---he mentions that he doesn't outline at all, because he's telling *himself* the story as he writes it, and doesn't want to know what happens next until it does.

GMS

I like your take on death not necessarily being a bad/evil thing.

Maybe explore what's deeper in your mind here -- what is death really? A helper? A guide to the next thing?

How about giving this entity an occupation that is a metaphor for the real work? Or something totally off-the-wall -- death is an obstetrician and helps bring people INTO the world too.

Side story - death asking questions trying to figure out why people cling so desparately to life? Do they know it's just another phase before the next thing (or the same thing again)?

Personality trait that makes people uncomfortable when all the murders start happening - death is calm, unalarmed and acts puzzled by the reactions of everyone else... doesn't get it.

Last bit: why does death have to always be male?

I believe Piers Anthony even did a story with this theme, only he branched out and used incarnations of Time, Fate, War, God and Satan as well.... started out with Death though, called "The Incarnations of Immortality Series", and it's humourous.

Still, you really should trudge through and make this a story worth reading. There's always room for more stories, even if there are only 7 ideas to work from...

Wil, check out Robert Sawyers website at http://www.sfwriter.com/. It's the best I've found for writing advice. He paraphrases Heinlein's rules in slightly different (better) way. Also, if you want to READ a great story on Death, check out 'Doctor Dodge' by Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff(http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewshortstory.asp?AuthorID=5296).
It begins: "When Reedy Watson was still a young man, he determined he must find a way to avoid Death..."

Wil,

Take my advice: just write your story.

Yes it does sound a little like "Death Takes a Holiday" which was then remade as "Joe Black" or something with Brad Pitt but all stories start with a concept and JAWS and MOBY DICK sound awful similar when reduced to the concept level.

So do all Hollywood movies which come to think about it are only really interested in selling concepts (as my Hollywood screenwriter friend put it)

But none of the individuals who have written about death as a person share all your values, your experiences, loves, hates, philosophies, perceptions, politics, thoughts, feelings, attitudes, beliefs and anything else I happen to forget.

That cuts to the core of the very definition of an artist. Is that an artist be true to himself.

So just write your story, be honest, and use your own words, your own mind.

And that is originality.

Stephen King's "On Writing" may address some of your concerns. It's a great read, and is very helpful.

Hi Wil!

Great idea. There's great symbolism in which room death chooses. Perhaps he takes the upstairs room, symbolizing that he's Heaven's messenger of Death and does the day to day stuff in nursing homes, hospitals, etc.

A Death that takes the downstairs would be direcly from Hell, and could deal with the murderous/rage murders that might occur. Perhaps there's two, and they're twins...nah, too complicated. For a short story though, the idea is awesome.

peace.
-Nathe

oh! oh!

A twist would be that death isn't a 'Joe Black' character, but rather a character like Steinbeck's Lenny from "Of Mice and Men," or the lawnmowerman from King's short story. Still rich with the smells, history, and world understanding, but just a bit slow.

*damn, I wish blog comments had edit buttons*

Wil, I really enjoyed your links. Having just finished the first year of a creative writing course at RMIT University in Melbourne (and about to reinrol, yay!), enlightening windows into how other people write (including yourself) is always fascinating. I feel priveleged to sit inside your head for a bit.

You may be pleased to know (and hopefully secretly thrilled to bits) that I got onto your website when one of my fellow students gave a talk on blogs for our editing class. Yours was one of the sites she featured - and I was hooked - especially being a Star Trek fan as well.

Can't wait for the movie deals to come from your books!!!!! (Sorry, I'm addicted to exclamation marks. It's a vice I'm desperately trying to control - infortunately one of many, but hey, I reckon it makes for good writing, or the process particularly enjoyable at times. OK, adverbs are another bad habit of mine that I'm trying to break after being taught we should be using muscular verbs.)

Sam Hinton is right. Be very careful about using these suggestions for plot lines. It can seriously come back to bite you in the butt. Even J.K. Rowling got sued for someone who said she stole her idea. Stephen King says this is the reason he doesn't read anyone's manuscripts.

Hey--Congratulations on your book deal! I just read about it on Publisher's Lunch. I knew some publishing company should have grabbed you a long time ago.

Wil,
Douglas Rushkoff wrote a few posts on the topic a while back here is a link to one of them.

http://www.rushkoff.com/2002_09_01_archive.php#85421421

If you're looking for advice for writers, and the like, I'd like to take the opportunity to point you in the direction of a great non-fiction book. It's called On Writing: A memoir of the craft and it's written by someone you might've heard of by the name of Stephen King. It was written back in 2000 and was actually interrupted by him getting blasted by that minivan. There's actually a section of the book that talks about it, but all in all the book is a great piece of work that details just about every aspect of the process. Just tossing my nickle's worth in, though, cuz of well..ya know..inflation. :)

I've read most of the posts here, and they seem pretty positive. I've got to tell you, though, I was not all that impressed with what I saw. No offense, but it just didn't grip me like a lot of your other writing has. It just seemed to me that you were trying a bit too hard. It was rather stilted.

I do realize, of course, that it was a quick draft, and reworkings would probably lead to better prose, but the whole idea of the story itself doesn't really excite me either. It's not fresh, it doesn't grab me. I see the premise and I think, "Oh, another story about death." I know those are some pretty harsh judgments for such a brief snippet, but that's what I felt as I was reading it. Who knows? Maybe you'll whip this thing into shape and dash off something really impressive. That would certainly be nice. But I think you're going to have an uphill battle with this one.

Someone already mentioned it... but NaNoWriMo all the way... http://www.nanowrimo.org -- go for next year, National Novel Writing Month 2004!

ED

The comment posted by Dawn on December 7, 2003 11:12 PM has a superlong URL that is making the page wide. Right now this window has to stretch across two monitors if I want to get rid of the horizontal scroll bar.

Heinlein's rules suck. They're rules for Heinlein. I'm sure they worked great for him. Leo Tolstoy rewrote War and Peace eight times (in longhand) and was still revising it as the print run started. Once you find Wheaton's five rules you'll be all set. Of course it will take you half your writing career to find them, so they don't really do you much good now do they?

Well OK, Heinlein's first rule makes sense to me.

If you're geeking on the sensory details of the scene, some of Theodore Sturgeon's short stories might provide inspiration. The man was IMHO unequalled for bringing a moment or a character to life with two exquisitely-chosen details.

The first rule is "There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays and every single one of them is right!" The second rule is "Submit it and let the editors decide for themselves if they want it."

You should check out the usenet group rec.arts.sf.composition, which is a discussion among people who write speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, and related ambiguities). Lots of useful information, brainstorming, and commiseration.

MAO

STOP! Please stop with all of the waxing eloquent crap. Good heavens, even I, your arch enemy, could dig into the meat of your site and appreciate the raw, unfocused heat that emminated from each entry. But now, now you are so gung ho on this "I'M A WRITER" kick, that your site resembles the likes of an angst ridden adolescent that just wants to be heard. I can hardly get through any of your entries anymore. Listen, just because you have a drove of groupies, doesn't mean that your kickin ass. You'll always have a group of Wheaton-ites calmoring to feel close to a famous person, as your site typically allows one to feel, BUT you need to (cliche' alert) keep it real. In other words.....Wil? Where'd you go?

Sincerely,
Fats Vernon

A fiction writer, you are not. Stick to what you do best and stop humiliating yourself.

It's nice that you're trying to stretch and write fiction, Wil. But I must say that the pieces I like best are the ones you write about your family and friends. Your love for them really shows through. I'm just an old softy, I guess. And I enjoyed your earlier "geek" pieces when you would talk about getting this site whipped into shape. You made me feel both your enthusiasm and your frustration, even thought I had no idea what you were talking about most of the time.

"After Loretta went mad with Alzheimer's the previous Fall..."

Oh, so that's what happened.

"But I think I will let a neighborhood girl get a crush on him, and see what happens there"

What happens is you end up with a short story called, "Death Gets a Hand Job."

The girl should fall in love w/ Death. When Death falls in love w/ her or they decide to be together, the girl dies. The town thinks she committed suicide.

You've got a really good start so far. I'm a writer...I get in SO much trouble for writing when I'm not supposed to...anyway, if you need some help or tips or something from anything that you're writing, I may be able to help if you'd like.

Speaking of Death, do you know who my favorite version of Death is? The character from Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. I thought it was hilarious how William Sadler gave the character a ton of insecurity. Believe it or not, he played the character back in the 80's on some European show. For those who don't remember, this might bring back some memoriese....

---
Death: A hit. You have sunk my battleship!
Bill, Ted: Excellent! Yes!
Ted: I totally knew he would put it in the J's, dude!
Bill: Good thinking, Ted.
Death: You must play me again.
Bill: WHAT?
Death: Um, best two out of three.
Bill, Dead Ted: No way!
Death: Yes way.
---
AND;
---
Death: I believe Colonel Mustard did it in the study with a candlestick.
Bill: Sorry, Death, you lose! It was Professor Plum!
Death: I said Plum!
Ted: No way! You said Mustard! Can we go back now?
Death: Uh, best three out of five!
Ted: I don't believe this guy!
---
AND;
---
Bill: Best of seven?
Death: DAMN RIGHT!

I loved how the writers started with a cold, inhuman Death. But then during the flow of things we see how he has real human-ness to him...even if a bit over the top.

Idiot Troll.

129.115.38.64

First thought was "Dead Like Me" (which I don't have access to anymore).

Second thought was "Why doesn't Wil turn it into an episode of 'Dead Like Me'?" You probably have enough contacts to get it in front of someone. And why shouldn't they consider it -- you are a published writer after all.

I'm not wil.

that whole essay that mr. gaiman wrote was wonderful. absolutely wonderful. so i thank you for sharing it with us, and introducing me to a writer i should've been paying attention to long before now... considering i keep seeing his name show up everywhere. :)

There are too many Wils around here! :)

Would the *real* Wil Wheaton please stand up?

Don't worry Wil. We all know you wouldn't talk about Anne like that in here. It's not your style. Besides, she would probably kick you arse for making such a comment! LOL

Maybe if you can, you could modify the blog script so that when you post, it will put your name in a different color or a different font or something like that, so that people can't pretend to be you. :)

Dude,

you need to update that top info about Dancing Barefoot, dude. Like, with that deal with O'Reilly, man.

Like, I am not that much of a writer myself, see.

:-)

That's really cool stuff. I love books that flip back and forth between different perspectives. you could do Dorothy's perspective, the student perspective, death's perspective (which would rock if you could do that). I would read it :P
And about writing a "proper" fiction according to all the rules... Rules suck. Tolkien broke every farkin' rule in the book :D

It's a weak idea, its been done to death, and you can do better, good job getting the discussion going though.
Hope this doesn't piss anyone off, especially you Wil, but truthfully, I don't think you need
500 people fawning over your every thought. The thing about writing that I'm sure you're aware of is that it takes 99 shitty ideas to come up with one great one....so keep at it, and you'll come up with something great. I have faith.Then again, if I get blasted by 500 people who think you need sunshine blown up your ass, I'll keep my comments (Positive or otherwise) to myself.
Happy writing !

I like the idea. So what if it's been done? Some of the best books are a new writers take upon an old and craftworn story. You mentioned one point in that you hadn't mentioned what period it was set in and asked if it needed to be set into a period. With a tale such as this, the best thing is to leave it for the readers imagination to place the time or space. It could be any house at any time. The victorian down the street at the turn of the centruty. A Craftsman house in California during the depression. A Brownstone in Manhattan 10 years from now. My point is that the freedom granted a mind to mold the story to it, the better for the reader and the more likely they will return for more. but you must give it structure, a juicy plot that doesn't make the reader feel like you are feeding them pure sugar.

Please keep on writing, and thank you for the enjoyment from a fan, not just of Star Trek, but also of talented actors.

Reminds me of Stephen King's Needful Things, except there is was a shopkeeper who moved into town. That was creepy enough. I can't imagine having someone like that move in upstairs (or downstairs, whereever you decide)...

The writing tips I like. The point of ALL of them is to keep writing no matter what. You should know by now what we all think of your writing. If we didn't like it, we wouldn't all keep coming back for more...

I broke Stephen King's first rule: write the first draft with the door closed.

Closing the door, now.

I love it!

Why can I not access wilwheaton.net anymore? I'm currently only able to do so through Google's cache. When I type in the URL I end up at:

http://www.wilwheaton.net/error_docs/forbidden.html

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access to this document on this server.

Can someone please help!?

From a collection of his short stories, I think, since I copied it out by hand and didn't write down from where, this is "Kurt Vonnegut's Creative Writing 101"

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things - reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them - in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

Debunking one of my childhood literary heroes isn't going to be easy, except he kind of makes it that way. Oh, and I'm a writer.

>> 1. Writers write. They don't wait until they "have enough time" or "inspiration strikes."

Can't write if you don't have time. Writers also take crappy side jobs a lot because writing fiction, even doing it really well, is not much of a marketable skill, especially in a "jobless recovery".

>> 2. Writers finish what they write. No matter how much they hate the current project, they slog through to the last page.

Some things sit around unfinished for a long time because a writer can have ADD just like anyone else. Only upon the writer's death can it truly be decided that something was left unfinished.

>> 3. Writers never rewrite except to editorial order. Writing a novel is like building a deck or renovating a bathroom--you don't want to rip everything up and do it all over again. So you plan carefully, do it right the first time, and don't keep fussing with the story.

It is important to note that word processors were not widely used back in the day. When revising means tearing up a whole page and re-typing it, one tends not to look forward to the process.

>> 4. (Kilian's Exemption) When you're starting out, you need your novel in progress to teach you a lot, so it's OK to go back and revise your ms. on the basis of what you're learning.

I have never known quite what this means. If I am shopping a story, that means I'm already working on two others. Don't do the math, though. It'll make you crazy.

>> 5. Writers put their work on the market. They don't just inflict it on friends and family.

Writers write. Agents put their work on the market. Self-selling writers exist, but would likely rather be writing. I know I would.

>> 6. Writers keep their work on the market until it sells. So the first 15 or 20 rejections don't matter; you send it out again.

Unless you write something better, in which case you sell that instead. Do this long enough and eventually some editor somewhere will find you endearing enough to take a look at all that old stuff that didn't used to sell.

If all you're selling is junk, order new merch. Sell enough of the good stuff and people will buy your crap later with a smile on their faces.

Wil, I don't know what it is but you always seem to come through with something helpful just when I need it. I was recently thinking about my blog and how much I enjoy writing and how I'd like to perfect my skills and you come through with writing rules from Heinlein... my favorite author.
You and your "narative non-fiction" were the inspiration for my starting a blog. Thank you.

two cents:

pick a spice - "old spice" is a deodorant

"His footsteps were like sand blowing across dunes."

& she would know what this sounded like how? is this taking place in a desert town?

#3a (4) is wrong and everyone knows it. No one writes it perfectly the first time, even if you plan it correctly. Please show me ONE short story by a popular author (that doesn't suck) that hasn't been re-written. It is never perfect out of the box.

People who believe that re-writes are only editorial and for crappy writers that can't do it correctly the first time do the rest of us a great dis-service. They are also delusional and probably get mad when people on the street don't ask for their autograph.

It's precisely why I don't read "writing manuals". Everyone writes differently and there is no right or wrong way to do it. For me, I write, I edit, I edit, I edit, I put it away for a few months, I pull it out and I edit some more. When I'm sick of looking at it, I submit it for publishing. I write when I can and I make as much time for it as I can. I work for a living. It would be nice to think I can drop what I'm doing to do more than jot down a few notes for later, but that's not the reality I live in. If it makes me a "bad writer" in someone's eyes, too-freakin-bad.

If I ever get to be a "Famous Author" and start blowing smoke up people's asses, I want to be shot. No questions, just walk up and put me out of other people's misery.

Hey, Wil, Nabokov and Updike also have comments about writing, too, that are notable.

I highly recommend Nabokov's essay entitled "The Art of Literature and Commonsense," which, though a mix of analytical and creative means, says that these asides a writer makes, like noting a rolled up sock on the floor, or anything bizarre and random that strikes a reader as 'out of place,' these are the asides of the spirit that make the world goodtruebeautiful, etc.

In a cute, aphoristic nugget: abandon common sense, even though Thomas Paine (Max Payne) may suggest to the contrary!

Best,
Evan.

I didn't see mention of it before,but there was a British comedy series called 'Mulberry' (i think... at least it was the main character's name). The premise was that Death's son was serving as Butler to this old woman who Death wanted him to collect.

It was a great show. I hope I still have the tapes from when it was on PBS years ago...

You might be interested in reading the short story "Mr. Death and the Red-Headed Woman" by Helen Eustis. Even though they say you shouldn't read stuff.

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