JM Franklin

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English teacher, writer, dad, husband, mostly an okay person.
Blogjmfranklinwriter.com
JM FranklinDec 18, 2022

Recently, I read an article about NFTs being a precursor to companies patenting individual colors for use in digital art. That idea is absolutely mortifying, but, given the world we live in, a real possibility. What would that world look like? I wrote a flash fiction story about it.

https://jmfranklinwritercom.wordpress.com/2022/12/17/a-defiance-of-color-in-the-key-of-candy-apple-red-a-flash-science-fiction-story/

“A Defiance of Color in the Key of Candy Apple Red”: A flash science fiction story

JM Franklin - Writer
JM FranklinNov 23, 2022
Finished the first draft (or as much of it as I needed to to know it was time to move to the next draft). That's when it's time to outline. Cut a central character outright. Drastically changed one. Completely redid the third act. The hunky chunky middle is lean. Don't need to show the research, just move the story along. No need for each MC (of the now 4 and not 5) to get a full scene EACH section (bogged the whole thing down). Looking good!
JM FranklinNov 21, 2022
Hey! I did the thing! The idea is good. The characters are now interesting (gotta go back and make some MAJOR changes to a few of them), and the writing itself is trash, but first drafts, right? Still have to write about 30,000 words to finish the draft. Then let it sit for a few months and come back with fresh ideas to start the hard but important part: editing.
Show threadJM FranklinNov 20, 2022
@golgaloth Devestating. One of the greats.
Show threadJM FranklinNov 20, 2022
@szattwellauthor It certainly feels like an accordian! Perfect analogy.
Show threadJM FranklinNov 20, 2022
I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It takes awhile. It’s gonna take you a while. It’s normal to take a while. You just have to fight your way through that.
Show threadJM FranklinNov 20, 2022
And if you are just starting out or if you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week or every month you know you're going to finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you're going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you're making will be as good as your ambitions.
Show threadJM FranklinNov 20, 2022

But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you're making is kind of a disappointment to you. A lot of people never get past that phase. They quit.

Everybody I know who does interesting, creative work they went through years where they had really good taste and they could tell that what they were making wasn't as good as they wanted it to be. They knew it fell short. Everybody goes through that.

JM FranklinNov 20, 2022

Ira Glass writing advice that changed my life:
Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, and I really wish somebody had told this to me.

All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But it's like there is this gap. For the first couple years that you're making stuff, what you're making isn't so good. It’s not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not that good.

JM FranklinNov 20, 2022
My book doesn't have a sagging middle. It has 4 or 5 of them. I've got a solid act 1, a solid act 3, and more act 2s than any book to ever exist before or after.