Interview: Dean Wesley Smith on Writing Novels with the Waltese Falcon
Dean Wesley Smith has published hundreds of novels and thousands of short stories across multiple genres. He’s a former editor of Pulphouse Publishing and the co-publisher of WMG Publishing with Kristine Kathryn Rusch. He’s also one of the most outspoken advocates for writing into the dark—no outlines, one draft, done.
His contribution to the Write Stuff StoryBundle is Writing Novels with the Waltese Falcon, which combines three books tracking Dean’s experience writing novels under self-imposed time challenges: ten days, seven days, and five days while traveling. “The Waltese Falcon” was Walter, Dean’s beloved cat, who kept him company for two of the three challenges.
If you’ve ever been told that writing fast means writing poorly, Dean has some myths to bust.
The Interview
Writing Novels with the Waltese Falcon includes three books you wrote in response to challenges you gave yourself: writing a novel in ten days, another in seven days, and another in five days. What inspired you to give yourself these challenges, and what do you like about taking on challenges in general?
The reason I gave myself the challenges was because at the time writers were talking about the old myth of writing fast equaled writing poorly. Plus the first book, the one in 10 days, was my last traditional contract ghost writing and I wanted to get it done. One draft, hit the Times List, never even edited in New York.
The other two were just fun for me. I got tired of hearing myself say I couldn’t write while traveling, so I broke that stupidity.
You’re not a fast typist, but you’re a fast writer. How do you manage to write so quickly?
I hunt and peck and cycle about 1,000 words an hour counting a break. So I don’t write quickly. I just spend more time having fun writing than other writers, which at 1,000 words per hour final draft adds up.
What was the hardest part about writing a novel in five days while traveling?
Nothing, really. I just had a lot of fun, spent time playing a lot of poker and eating meals with my friends, and in the hours away from them I just wrote and made no excuses. Plus I was having a blast, so maybe my best trip in a long time. Great friends, fun writing. Nothing hard at all in that.
What is Pulp Speed writing, and what are some tips on how to achieve it?
Pulp Speed writing is doing 1 million words per year. Or about 2,700 words per day. Three hours of writing for me. It is the speed the better-known and very rich Pulp Writers wrote at, one draft, on manual typewriters. I averaged 1.3 million words per year for 31 years. Amazing how much you can publish and write at that speed, one draft.
You regularly give yourself new challenges, and often other writers will join in. What’s your latest challenge, and how is it going?
My latest challenge is just for me. I want to publish 75 new major books in my 75th year on the planet. It is going pretty much on schedule. The reason for the challenge is I have to get all my short stories to homes. Then I can really get back to writing.
Tell us about Walter!
Walter was a pure-bred Red-Point Birman that someone had dropped off and we rescued him. (Actually he found our house.) He was my heart cat for about five years before he died suddenly from cancer. He did everything with me, was always with me, always handsome and loving. I still miss him.
What are you working on now—and what’s fun or exciting about it?
Mostly the publishing of ten-story collections at the moment. Just doing some small writing projects.
About the Author
Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, New York Times and USA Today bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith published over two hundred novels and over seven hundred books in forty years, and hundreds and hundreds of short stories. He has over thirty million copies of his books in print.
At the moment he produces novels in four major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the old west, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the cold case mystery Cold Poker Gang series, and the superhero series starring Poker Boy.
During his career, Dean also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. Writing with his wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch under the name Kathryn Wesley, they wrote the novel for the NBC miniseries The Tenth Kingdom and other books for Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.
He wrote novels under dozens of pen names in the worlds of comic books and movies, including novelizations of almost a dozen films, from X-Men to The Final Fantasy to Steel to Rundown.
Dean also worked as a fiction editor off and on, starting at Pulphouse Publishing, then at VB Tech Journal, then Pocket Books, and now at WMG Publishing where he and Kristine Kathryn Rusch serve as executive editors for the acclaimed Fiction River anthology series. He took over the editorship of the acclaimed Pulphouse Magazine in 2018.
For more information about Dean’s books and ongoing projects, please visit his website at deanwesleysmith.com.
Find Dean
Writing Novels with the Waltese Falcon is available now in the Write Stuff StoryBundle, curated by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. 15 exclusive books on writing and publishing—pay what you want, starting at $5. Customers can choose to direct a portion of their payment to World Central Kitchen. The bundle runs through May 14, 2026.