In Today’s Journal * A Bit of Fun * If You’re Having Trouble Writing * Of Interest A Bit of Fun My favorite comment from readers on my stories is also my biggest aspiration as a writer: “I feel as if I’m in the story with the characters.” I achieve that end by being sure to describe—sometimes focusing down to details—every bit of the setting that the POV character notices, along with his opinions of the overall setting or parts of the setting. Doing that requires no great skill. It requires only attention to detail and practice. I’ve said before … Read more

In Today’s Journal * In Yesterday’s Post * The Truth About “Big” Publishers * Of Interest In Yesterday’s Post In yesterday’s post I mentioned that studying only the works of Stage 4 writers who are traditionally published (or were before jumping over to indie) doesn’t fit the current publishing environment. There are a lot of Stage 4 writers who’ve never had novels or short story collections published through traditional publishers. I’m one of them. Likewise, there are Stage 3 and even some Stage 2 writers who are best-sellers (and therefore not worth studying) who have been traditionally published by the … Read more

In Today’s Journal * My Quote of the Day * On Writing, Marketing, & Best-Seller Status * Of Interest My Quote of the Day “I can teach best-practices in writing fiction all day and into the night, but I couldn’t successfully market and sell space heaters to people in Point Barrow, Alaska.” On Writing, Marketing, & Best-Seller Status The catalyst for this post… Recently, a writer who has taught me a ton about writing fiction said in a video that aspiring and beginning writers should study the works of Stage 4 writers they admire. I couldn’t agree more. But then … Read more

In Today’s Journal * This Just In * The Bradbury Challenge Report * Of Interest This Just In “Meta to develop an AI pendant—a clip-on Bluetooth microphone that records and interacts with users throughout the day—over the next year, according to reports (More)” from 1440 Daily Digest Story ideas abound for science (fiction?) writers, legal thriller writers, et al. I mean, how can you read even just that quote and NOT get story ideas? “Records and interacts with users….” So it will also record those with whom users interact? Aren’t there privacy concerns? But aside from that… Will the device … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Author Intrusion: How Fiction Writers… * I Still Have Available * Of Interest Author Intrusion: How Fiction Writers Kill Their Own Work On Friday morning I finished up Author Intrusion and published it. I also finally learned how to make Word formulate an interactive table of contents for me (instead of me enduring the laborious back-and-forth process of creating one manually). So it has that too. Plus the finished book contains a few easter eggs that were not included in the blog posts. Author Intrusion is available wherever ebooks are sold for $9.99. In the meantime, … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * I’m Just Not a Paperback Guy * Reader Taste Dictates Genre Preference * On Grounding the Reader * A Rule of Thumb for Description * Of Interest Quote of the Day “I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning … Every day I find something creative to do with my life.” Miles Davis I’m Just Not a Paperback Guy I’ve been working at putting together a paperback version of Writing Better Fiction. Because I finally had to “nuke it” (strip all formatting and start over), … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 10: Final Notes Chapter 10: Final Notes As you read this book, you probably noticed I didn’t mention typos or wrong words (e.g., waist for waste) except in passing. But those are author intrusions too, aren’t they? Well, yes and no. If your story is intriguing enough, engaging enough, most readers will gladly skip over the occasional typo or wrong word without a second thought. Some readers won’t even notice them. Besides, both typos and wrong words are content problems. Your spell check and/or your first reader—preferably an avid reader who will not try to … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Memorial Day * The Bradbury Challenge Report * Freebies * Of Interest Memorial Day Wishing you all an enjoyable and thoughtful Memorial Day. The Bradbury Challenge Report Participating in any challenge is a great way to have fun and grow as a writer. The requirement is to write at least one short story per week, then let me know the title, word count, and genre per the format below. During the past week, the following writers wrote these new stories: Erin Donoho “A Letter From an Old Friend” 1300 historical coming-of-age Balázs Jámbor “AI WAR” 3400 … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 9, Part 2 * Of Interest Chapter 9: Cycling vs. Editing Same Technique, Different Processes Every writer is different, but among those who cycle, all of them perform the first kind of cycling I talked about above whenever necessary. Again, the writer is unstuck in time. But each writer performs the second kind of cycling in his or her own way: Multi-million-copy bestseller Dean Wesley Smith cycles back about every 500 words. Ernest Hemingway, at the beginning of his writing day, reportedly reportedly cycled over everything he’d written up to that point in the current … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 9, Part 1: Cycling vs. Editing Chapter 9: Cycling vs. Editing This chapter doesn’t really belong in this book. The purpose of this book is to point out mistakes, misuses, and other negative things and how to fix them. Of course, editing is based on negatives, and even an otherwise good copyedit at the hands of an amateur—if he changes the actual content of the story—will only take what you’ve written farther from your character’s original, authentic story. So in that way I guess this chapter belongs. But cycling is a positive technique, one that … Read more