[gizajob]

It's a pretty terrible, hackneyed, non-story, now I've read it. Flag me down all you like. Seems like the author is more interested in the stats about writing than the actual writing.

Some simple advice would be to read some Neal Stephenson, Paul Auster, and China Mieville for starters, not Michael Crichton. Good writing is a serious art and craft. It's irrelevant how many hours a specific work takes down to the second. The author seems to think writing is hard and slow. It is slow, but after the first decade or two it gets quicker when the inspiration comes.

[BeetleB]

Neal Stephenson is a very poor storyteller. Most of his books are excuses for writing encyclopedic entries on certain topics, and packaging it as a story to make money.

[gizajob]

https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/

Mother Earth Mother Board is a great example of storytelling. I was using him as a sidestep from Crichton, given that's where the author is saying he's at.

HG Wells or Margaret Atwood would also be good places to start, when looking for examples of the craft of short-story writing.

[YeGoblynQueenne]

Margaret Atwood is a terrible writer. If you're going to put someone next to Wells for mastery of the craft, that should be P.G Wodehouse. I would add Jerome K. Jerome to the list, also.

Then of course there are master storycrafters in SF like James Tiptree Jr., Cordwainer Smith, Ted Chiang, Clifford D. Simak, Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Brian Aldiss, Fredric Brown, Theodore Sturgeon, and others I'm forgetting. And H.P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, Clark Ashton Smith, R. E. Howard and Arthur Machen from the strict fantasy side.

[gizajob]

I was trying to ease the OP in, coming from Michael Crichton, not give an exhaustive list.

Also your list is 100% male.

[YeGoblynQueenne]

James Tiptree Jr was female. But yes, most of my list is male. Would you like to propose more female writers?

Edit: if you haven't read anything from Alice Sheldon (a.k.a. James Tiptree Junior, a.k.a. Raccoona Sheldon) I wholeheartedly recommend you chase down anything of hers and read it. It is not an accident that she is first in my list because she is, for me, one of the absolute best SF authors of all time. Same for Cordwainer Smith. It is distressing to see their names having faded into obscurity, with modern readers.

[mkl]

Any recommendations on where to start with Tiptree/Sheldon?

[pschuegr]

Thank you! I have not been able to get into any of his stuff for this exact reason. Interesting ideas, but I just don't give any ducks about the characters.

[egypturnash]

It's irrelevant how many hours a specific work takes down to the second

I am a professional artist and I have found it very helpful to track my work at the resolution of a half an hour. I can quote prices with confidence that I’ll make a decent wage for the time I expect them to take. I can look at how much time I’ve spent so far and decide it’s time to stop noodling on one part and make sure other parts don’t get neglected before I do a final polish pass. I can experiment with new working methods and see if the get me to something that meets my standards faster, once I get used to them. It helps me keep my life from being dominated by projects that sprawl out of control, too.

It may not be relevant to anyone looking at the final art how long it took, but it’s super relevant to me. And keeping similar data is relevant to anyone who wants to try and make a serious go at doing a thing.

[corrral]

> Some simple advice would be to read some Neal Stephenson, Paul Auster, and China Mieville for starters, not Michael Crichton.

I'd love for fiction writing to be better, generally, but if you're looking to make a career of writing—which of those made/makes the most money?

[EDIT] Incidentally, I'd put Stephenson on about the same level as Crichton. Worse in some respects, better in others.

[gizajob]

I wasn't recommending Tolstoy or Shakespeare for a reason...

Why does "making money" have anything to do with producing art or working on a craft you love? Virtually every fine artist we now regard as a genius didn't make real money in their lifetime. The people selling their art retroactively make the money.

[SamoyedFurFluff]

I imagine it took the author much longer to write, revise, etc. the work than it did to write this measurement blog. Where are you getting the notion the author prioritizes measuring their writing time investment vs the writing itself?

It’s okay to just not like a story you know.

[gizajob]

It's clearly not ok, when you get flagged down to invisibility in a forum like this.

[m0llusk]

My guess is he was going after some subtle points that are not normally the focus in this genre, so for many readers it is going to come across as hollow.