H Bedford-Jones

H Bedford-Jones was one of the most prolific writers of his era. His only rival was the equally prolific Fredrick Faust (aka Max Brand).

During his 40 year career, HBJ sold 231 novels, 21 novellas, 372 novelettes, and 748 short stories — more, or less. We write “more, or less” because HBJ used so many pen names it is difficult to pin down with exactness everything he wrote and got published.

After his death, however, his name, along with those of many of his fellow pulp fictioneers, faded into oblivion.

Thankfully, the renewed interest in the fiction of the pulp era is restoring the reputations of the many fabulous writers that era produced.

Consequently, we can now find many of H Bedford-Jones’s works back in print.

One of the most enjoyable books I read last year was HBJ’s lost race novel The Buddha’s Elephant, published in 1916 in All Around Magazine, under his Allan Hawkwood byline. The book is a rousing adventure yarn that is thrilling and suspenseful.

HBJ, because of his prolificity, was dubbed “The King of the Pulps”. His prolificity also earned him during the 1920s $60,000 to $100,000 per year. Which in today’s money would be equal to a few million dollars in purchasing power.

What was the key to his prolificity, and the key to his popularity? Let’s take a look at each in turn and see if we can’t find some clues.

Prolificity

What I’ve gleaned from HBJ’s book This Fiction Business and from information in King of the Pulps: the life and writings of H Bedford-Jones by Ruben, Richardson, and Berch, HBJ viewed writing as a job. In fact, it was his job. He had no other source of income. Writing was it. Consequently, if he wanted to eat, he had to write.

HBJ was not a good record keeper. One of the reasons why we aren’t sure what his total output actually was.

The estimate is that HBJ wrote at least 25 million words in his 40 year career. That means he wrote on average 625,000 words or more per year, or about 1712 words per day at a minimum.

On a good day, I can write those 1712 words in an hour and a half. However, HBJ advised writers to work 4 to 5 hours a day at just writing, and the rest of the work day reading or studying. He limited writing to four or five hours, because writing is exhausting work, and he felt we should protect ourselves from exhaustion.

My guess is that HBJ wrote far more than 1712 words in a day, at least up until a heart attack left him in poor health. In fact, he advised writers to write between 5,000 and 10,000 words per day.

Nevertheless, if you start at age 25 writing 1712 words per day — you will have your 25 million words by the time you are 65. The same as HBJ.

Another key to HBJ’s prolificity was that he did not let writer’s block get in his way. He had four typewriters loaded with stories in progress. If he got stuck on one, he just moved over to another machine.

I do the same thing and I can tell you — it works!

HBJ also wrote in series. Doing so speeds production because you don’t need to think about scene or setting. The world of the story is set — just start writing.

Popularity

In his day HBJ was exceedingly popular. What was the key to his success?

It lay in avoiding what HBJ called The Deadly Sin. That is, “The lack of perception as to what must be emphasized…”.

How does this lack of perception manifest itself? By not letting the reader follow and share the emotions of the hero in detail. By skimming over the crucial conflicts — by not sharing the details of the hero’s thoughts and feelings with the reader. To quote HBJ:

The reader wants the situation prolonged in proportion to its bigness, or at least emphasized: even though it passes in a moment’s time.

Let the reader share in the agonies and the ecstasies of the hero. Don’t gloss over them.

I recently read three books by a writer who is very high up on the Amazon charts. I read them because even though they were loaded with PC pandering (which I don’t like), he didn’t commit The Deadly Sin.

And neither did HBJ.

Therefore, I got to experience the ups and downs the main character experienced in both writer’s books.

Lessons Learned

H Bedford-Jones was a giant among the writers of his day. He was prolific and he was popular.

So what can this man who died in 1949 teach us today about This Fiction Business? I think it is two-fold:

• Plant butt in chair and write. Write like your supper depends on it. 5000 to 10,000 words per day needs to be your goal, according to HBJ.
• Don’t cheat your readers. Let them freely and fully experience the main character’s emotions. Give the reader a powerful vicarious experience.

H Bedford-Jones should be on every writer's reading list. If you want to be a successful writer, he is a fine exemplar to follow.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

Keeping a Reading Journal

Readers of this blog know I love to read. Reading is my most enjoyable form of entertainment. Reading brings me pleasure. Reading stimulates my imagination. Reading allows me to meet people and to go places not possible in real life. Reading is the best!

When I retired in January 2015, I decided to keep a list of the books I read. A Reading Journal of sorts. What I discovered in doing so is that I can go back over the lists and relive the memorable books and stories.

In the beginning, the lists were quite simple: just title and author. Over the years, they’ve become a bit more detailed.

What I’ve discovered in keeping my lists is that my reading has increased over the years. And that is definitely good.

In 2015, I read 23 novels. Last year I read 46. All told, I’ve read 184 novels and novellas. Plus 15 short story collections and 125 individual short stories. And this reading is just for pleasure. I’m not doing it because I’m reviewing books and such.

If I do like a book, I’ll write a review and promote the book on Facebook and Twitter. But only for indie or small press authors. The reason being is that they most likely don’t have the resources the publishing mega-corps have. Book reviews are a form of word-of-mouth advertising — and totally free! 

In looking over my lists, I’ve also noticed my reading has become narrower. More and more I find myself turning to mysteries and supernatural horror for my main reading pleasure. I’ve also noticed that I mostly read indie authors and dead authors.

And of those two groups, the dead author list is growing. Mostly because I find too much in the way of politics and political correctness dogma in the writing of far too many contemporary authors. 

As I get older, I have a decreasing tolerance for politics and the stultifying effects of political correctness. It ruins my reading pleasure. I just want a good story. If I want the other stuff, I’ll watch the news. And I no longer watch the news.

Keeping my reading journal focuses me more on reading. I challenge myself to read more each year than I read the year before. This year I want to reach 48 novels/novellas for the year. Two more than I read last year.

Keeping the journal also shows me those delightful reading surprises. Having read 2 westerns, I found I rather liked them — and will probably read more. I also read a weird west novel and short story and liked them as well. This year will probably see more westerns and weird west tales on my reading list.

I encourage you to keep a reading journal. It can be simple, like mine, which is basically just a list, or it can be more detailed, with added notes.

But do keep one. You just might find yourself turning to a book rather than the TV, and other video content.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

Write Bravely

The best writing advice is free. Mostly because there is nothing new under the sun, and the same advice is simply recycled. And the internet is a great repository of recycled advice.

I started getting The Writer magazine in 7th grade (1964) and Writer’s Digest shortly thereafter. And I constantly run across the same writing tips that I read 56 years ago. And when I read books on writing from the ‘50s or earlier, I smile at the knowledge that what I read a half-century ago was simply advice recycled from decades earlier.

A couple weeks ago I ran across the following advice on Twitter from Matthew J Crocker (@CooksUpAStory):

My 1st book taught me I COULD write.

My 2nd book taught me my method.

My 3rd book taught me my voice.

All will never be published as is. And all were invaluable.

Writer. Every word you write teaches, makes you better.

So write bravely.

There is nothing new in Mr Crocker’s advice, other than it receiving the imprimatur of his own experience, which moves the advice from the academic to the personal. And therein lies its value. It’s proof that what he says is true.

Mr Crocker’s experience is similar to my own, just substitute poems for books.

As Dean Wesley Smith notes — writers write. You learn writing by writing — not by re-writing. 

A carpenter learns how to make cabinets by making cabinets. A potter learns how to make pottery by throwing pots. A painter learns the art of watercolor painting by painting. 

It is only in writing that the authorities tell you to learn the craft by not doing the craft.

However, the pros, the ones who earn a living putting words on the page, will tell you that it is only by writing that you will ever truly learn the craft and art of writing.

Robert A Heinlein and Edgar Rice Burroughs were two writers who gave the same advice to new writers as Smith currently does. They just said it differently. And Mr Crocker is saying the same thing as Smith, Heinlein, and Burroughs. He’s simply using his own words to describe his experience.

Each book we write teaches us something. Doesn’t matter if it’s our first, or our hundred and first.

Writers write. So, my friends, write bravely. Because there are no mistakes. Only happy accidents.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy (and brave) writing!

In Memoriam: Joe West

Joseph A West

(14 January 1922 - 11 December 2019)

Every now and then someone enters your life and has a profound impact on it, although you don’t realize it at the time. It’s only years later that the impact becomes apparent.

A few days ago, I learned that a friend of mine, Joseph A West, or Uncle Joe to those of us who knew him, passed away in December, a month shy of his 98th birthday.

Reflecting on the four decades that I knew Uncle Joe, I came to realize that if it wasn’t for him I’d probably not be a writer today. I would not have written the couple thousand poems I wrote, nor have had hundreds of them published. Most likely not a single one of my 30 books would have been published and available for sale on Amazon, Apple, Kobo, and other vendors.

In fact I think I can honestly say if Joe West had not entered my life, it would be a very different life indeed. I seriously doubt I’d be a writer.

Way back in 1973 Weird Tales made a brief 4 issue reappearance, and was edited by Sam Moskowitz. I wrote a letter to the editor welcoming the return of “The Unique Magazine”.

Uncle Joe saw my letter, tracked me down (which took a bit of sleuthing on his part, as I was living with my parents and wasn’t listed in the phone book), and called me on the phone to invite me to a meeting of a local group of horror and pulp fiction aficionados. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The first meeting I attended was held in the home of Jack Koblas, the group leader, and Joe introduced us. Jack subsequently became a well-known biographer and historian. Jack also supported my fledging writing efforts and years later said to me one day: “I believed in you when you didn’t believe in yourself.”

I can thank Uncle Joe for being the one who truly launched my writing career, because he introduced me to Jack and other writers such as Carl Jacobi and Donald Wandrei.

Uncle Joe was an artist and a poet. He drew creepily humorous pen and ink drawings and wrote darkly humorous poems. Everyone loved Joe’s art and poetry and we always looked forward to his hilarious readings of gruesomely funny poems.

My first published poem was in the fanzine The Diversifier, and Uncle Joe graced it with one of his wonderful drawings. An honor indeed!

Aside from his poetry and art, what made Uncle Joe so loved was his kindness and gentleness. To be sure, he had plenty of opinions, but he never let them get in the way of a friendship. He was always supportive and encouraging of other artists and writers.

I will miss him, but he will not be forgotten. His bright smile remains with me.

Joe once told me his favorite book was Rogue Herries by Hugh Walpole. I think I’ll pick up a copy and on his birthday read something that gave my friend pleasure.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, take time to reflect on, and thank, those who influenced you.