Why I Decided to Write 'Scribbles From Earth'
Why I Decided to Write 'Scribbles From Earth'
Since the publication of my latest novel, Strange Timing, I’ve been fielding questions from fans of Alexander Strange’s adventures about when the next book would arrive.
I actually wrote Strange Timing in such a way that it could serve as a conclusion to the six-part series should I decide to move on to other projects. I wanted to leave the door open to further installments, but I’ve had other kinds of stories I want to tell.
The journalist in me also has been feeling conflicted, spending my time writing fiction while the world is burning. Literally. Shouldn’t I be doing something more meaningful?
I had this idea, a way to, perhaps, blend both worlds: Using a fantastical premise as a platform to offer some occasional social commentary. To wit:
What if a visitor from another world were to land on Earth, on a scouting mission of sorts? What would this extraterrestrial have to say about the state of affairs on the third rock from the Sun, looking at us from a — literally — detached and distant perspective?
Which is how I started developing the idea of a series of essays I would call Letters from Earth. And as I always do before plowing ahead with possible titles, I checked in with Google to see if anyone else had thought of that idea.
Uh, yeah. Somebody named Mark Twain and a series of short stories published posthumously entitled nearly the same thing: Letters from the Earth. They comprise a scathing critique of culture and religion told from the perspective of Satan who visits Earth and is appalled by what he discovers.
I’ve always considered myself a fain of Twain’s work (and as an aside, I commend the retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the Pulitzer-nominated novel James by Percival Everett). But I had never heard of this collection of Twain’s stories. Turns out, Twain’s discomfort with Christianity — indeed his apparent disdain for it — was too hot to handle in his lifetime.
And while my idea for a series of essays wasn’t designed to target religion, per se, the approach was similar and I certainly didn’t want appear to be appropriating Twain’s title.
So, I spent some time with my Thesaurus, looking for words similar to “letters” — which are multitudinous — and was struck by one that tickled my fancy:
Scribbles.
Which sounded like a clever name for a journalist’s pet, perhaps informed by my calico cat Scoop who has long since ventured off to the Great Litter Box in the Sky.
Oh, I wondered, what if the visitor from another world was, indeed, a pet? Or disguised as one? One idea snowballed into another, which is how the basic concept for Scribbles From Earth was born.
The blue dog who would end up being the visitor from outer space, how he got here, his back story, all that, well, it’s an ongoing process.
As I mentioned in my June Strange Files Newsletter, I’m a “pantser,” a writer who attacks the blank page by the seat of his pants. I sit down at the keyboard and engage in one of the most pleasant forms of insanity — I let the story flow from my subconscious with no idea where and how it will play out.
Every writing session is a surprise. I never know what my characters will say or do next. It is much more fun to write this way than with an outline, the dull routine of “plotters.” Or so I imagine. I’ll never know. I’d rather crawl through broken glass than endure the tedium of trying to preconceive all the details of a story. Really, that’s not my job. It’s my characters’ roles to play. I am merely their scribe.
Ordinarily, I give myself ninety days to write a first draft — one thousand words a day for three months. Then, because I have eschewed that dreadful outline, I spend weeks and months rewriting and reorganizing, trying to ensure the tale holds together, that it has the necessary coherency to be an actual story.
It’s a task done mostly in solitude, although I am blessed with a handful of first readers, starting with (in chronological order) my wife Sandy, my daughter Kacey, and my son Logan, who keep me more or less on track. But, still, the vast majority of work takes place in isolation.
But not this story.
I’m writing Scribbles From Earth in real time, posting first-draft episodes on a special Substack page I’ve created as they decamp the keyboard. But this time, no ninety-day deadline. No set schedule. But now that I’ve published this article, the pressure’s on.
I have to confess: Sharing raw copy like this is a little intimidating. It’s a high-wire act. And nothing I’ve done before. Who knows? It could work. Maybe.
You’ll find the developing story of Scribbles’ adventures on Earth at ScribblesFromEarth.Substack.com. It’s devoted exclusively to this project.
My primary Substack account is JCBruce.Substack.com. It’s a much larger site containing the monthly Strange Files Newsletter, my JCBlog, News of the Weird, and, not to be too self-serving, news about my books.
I’ll also be launching my Substack Notes reports from there (an alternative to Twitter, now known as the antepenultimate letter of the alphabet).
Having begun writing Scribbles episodes, I find myself going back and fiddling with what I’ve already posted online, much as I would if I weren’t sharing it with anyone until the book was finished.
So, if you choose to follow along with this creative process, you’ll see just how dynamic it is. I’m constantly tinkering.
And I hope you will choose to join in.
Please consider this an invitation to play a part in this writing experiment. You can be a first reader. And as this story matures, feel free to offer your thoughts, your ideas, your criticisms.
As Nietzsche should have said: That which does not kill the story only makes it stronger.
If you are already a subscriber to my newsletter, you’ve already received this in your inbox. If you are following for the first time, please consider subscribing so you won’t miss a single episode as we join Scribbles as he explores our strange new world.
Thanks.
J.C. Bruce is a journalist and author of The Strange Files series of mysterious adventures. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and Florida. He was recently awarded a doctorate degree from the Lightgate Institute of Extranormal Studies, a Miami institution he totally made up for his award-winning novel Strange Timing.
Sponsored by TROPIC PRESS, publisher of The Strange Files Series of Mysterious Adventures.
