In today’s Journal * A New Story * Chapter 7, Part 4: Using the Five Senses * Of Interest * The Numbers A New Story “The Cycle of Ramón,” the seventh story in an interconnected series of ten magic realism stories, went live yesterday on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. If you enjoy magic realism, you probably don’t want to miss this series of stories. Chapter 7, Part 4: Using the Five Senses When describing setting, most writers use only the sense of sight. They’re leaving a LOT of the story in their head. To make the setting (and the scene) … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * No Fiction Yesterday * Chapter 7, Part 3: Setting Matters * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “When an idea occurs, write the opening. Right Now. If it doesn’t work, throw it out. Then, if you still like the idea, write the opening again. Caution: Don’t rewrite, and don’t try to remember what you wrote before. All of that is conscious-mind stuff. It will derail the story. • Write a new opening. Start fresh and just write whatever comes. Let the character lead you. • Remember, the characters, … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * No Fiction Yesterday * Chapter 7, Part 2: Writing Setting * Of Interest * The Numbers No Fiction Yesterday I didn’t write fiction yesterday. Too many other things going on. I hate when that happens. Chapter 7, Part 2: Writing Setting Notes on the Example Notice that in the example I focused-down on a some details (specifity matters) so the reader could see or feel them clearly: The stoop The specific detals in the otherwise vague description of the character (age, hair, suit, satchel) The temperature and air quality Thin clouds … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Chapter 7, Part 1: Writing Setting * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Creative writing is about possibilities, not about restrictions and limitations.” Jane Friedman And then she immediately missed the point of her entire quote and talked about rewriting, etc. Chapter 7, Part 1: Writing Setting Note: If you’re confused because this isn’t Chapter 6, please read the Updates in yesterday’s post. So What Is the Setting? This will be a deep dive. And this entire chapter, like the entire book, applies to all genres across the … Read more

In today’s Journal * Correction * Chapter 5: Writing the Hook * Of Interest * The Numbers Correction This is what I meant to write toward the end of yesterday’s post. “It’s completely up to you. The story you write can have authenticity that you can see, hear, smell, touch and taste, or you can write one more bland, made-up, cookie-cutter story from your conscious, critical mind.” I sent a second, updated post, so if you got two, keep the second one. Update 1. First, the book you have been reading excerpts from in this series of posts is tentatively … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * Writing the Opening: Another Case in Point * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “When tackling the art of fiction writing, it’s common to immerse yourself in the fundamentals: plot, structure, characters—the building blocks that demand time and mastery.” CS Lakin Thing is, you’ve been “immersed” in those fundamentals all your life with your reading, sitcoms and dramas and movies on TV. All you have to do to “master” them is practice. And that means trusting that the knowledge is there and … Read more

In today’s Journal * Short Video * Writing the Opening * Of Interest * The Numbers Short Video on my YouTube channel: Yes, this is southeast Arizona! Still thinking about reviving the channel to talk about writing. But I already do that in the Journal, so…. Thoughts? Leave a comment. Writing the Opening As I mentioned in the Definitions section of the Introduction, the opening is the introductory scene of whatever you’re writing. The sole purpose of the opening is to introduce the reader to a character with a problem in a particular setting. That’s it. Well, and to pull … Read more

In today’s Journal * Bradbury Challenge Reminder * A New Story * An Important Breather * A Revelation * Notes: You Want to Read This * Of Interest * The Numbers Bradbury Challenge Reminder Anyone can jump in at any time. You aren’t competing with anyone but yourself. Just sayin’. Please be sure to get your story info into my before the Journal goes live on Monday morning. A New Story “The Dawn of Rigoberto,” the sixth story in an interconnected series of ten magic realism stories, went live yesterday on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. If you enjoy magic realism, … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Writing * Writing the Character-Driven Story: Chapter 3, Part 2 * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “What I turn away for one of the 20 or so reasons I have written about in this series, [another] editor might snap up. Does not mean they are less an editor or have lower standards, it simply means they are looking for something different than I am. Nothing less and nothing more. That’s why you send stories to lots of markets, one right after another.” Dean Wesley Smith Ah. … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Note * Writing the Character-Driven Story: Chapter 3, Part 1 * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Even when an outline was a homework assignment, I’d write the story, then do the outline to turn in.” KC Riggs “If you ground the reader as you run through the story with the characters, write the truth of what happens and write the truth of how the characters react and what happens as a result of that reaction, you cannot write a bad story.” from Chapter 6 of the forthcoming … Read more