Month: February 2025

In Today’s Journal * My Quote of the Day * Fiction Mimics Real Life: Part 2 * Took a Day Off * Of Interest * The Numbers My Quote of the Day “Fiction makes the indecipherable, the unbelievable, clear and real.” Harvey Fiction Mimics Real Life: Part 2 Before you read this, please read Fiction Mimics Real Life: Introduction and Fiction Mimics Real Life: Part 1 As to the Original Notion that “Life can be unbelievable, but fiction has to make sense,” I don’t buy it. Even unbelievable events in life make sense. The lack is in the context and … Read more

In Today’s Journal * My Quotes of the Day * Fiction Mimics Real Life: Part 1 * Of Interest * The Numbers My Quotes of the Day “In fiction, character voice is what matters, and that doesn’t always mean dialogue. It means description. It means pulling the reader into the story.” Harvey “Writing fiction should be fun. It should be an escape for you—though often an unnerving escape—just as your story will be an escape for your eventual readers.” Harvey Fiction Mimics Real Life: Part 1 First, please read Fiction Mimics Real Life: Introduction. Description, or What Pulls Readers into … Read more

In Today’s Journal * My Quote of the Day * Fiction Mimics Real Life * Of Interest * The Numbers My Quote of the Day “Lisa Hall-Wilson, in the second article linked in Of Interest, wrote ‘The power of Deep Point of View is creating a sense for readers that they’re IN the story AS IT’S HAPPENING with your characters.’ “You create that ‘deep POV’ and that effect by describing whatever the POV character sees, hears, smells, tastes, and feels, physically and emotionally.” Harvey Fiction Mimics Real Life Introduction Well, to be accurate, fiction mimics real life within your fictional … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Writer Resources * A Workaround for the Rule of Threes * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Snatching the eternal out of the desperately fleeting is the great magic trick of human existence.” Tennessee Williams Writer Resources Other than TNDJ, here are some writer resources for you. Most of them are free. These include everything from a course on using Microsoft Word to essays on copyright to practical how-to writing-craft advice to dictionaries and converters and more. And not all of them are from me. I recommend you … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * Nuances Matter * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “A writer outlining a novel has a beginning and an end. He’s working toward that end, but after beginning he has to create a lot of stuff to get there. Too often, at that point, he’s no longer writing and is just producing filler. “The problem? The author is bored … because he knows exactly what is going to happen, when it will happen and to whom it will happen. He knows the … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Writers Email * On Writing What’s “in Style” * Of Interest * The Numbers On Writing What’s “in Style” A writer recently sent me a link to a video to “give [me] ideas to write about for the Journal.” I appreciate the thought, but I have no shortage of ideas. After all, TNDJ is mostly my own informed opinions and suggestions. Anyone who would care to write a guest post for TNDJ is welcome. Send it to me via email and I’ll consider it. The writer also wrote “One thing he mentions in this video is … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A New Short Story * Bradbury Reminder * The Character’s Will * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “I thought that you ought to add Corrin Tellado to the pulp writers. She started a bit later, in the 1940’s, but she’s the empress of speed. “Tellado is sometimes called the most important Spanish writer after Cervantes, and no one outside the Spanish-speaking world has heard of her. “During her 60 odd year career, she published 4182 original novels, with 400 million copies in print, writing … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A Lingering Thought on Italics * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “At the moment of truth, there are either reasons or results.” Chuck Yeager A Lingering Thought on Italics I thought I had nothing for TNDJ today, but I wanted to pass along the stuff in Of Interest. So I looked back over some files on my desktop and found a note I’d written and forgotten about. Here it is: Recently I posted in TNDJ regarding the use of italics to indicate the POV character’s unspoken thoughts … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * On Reader Taste * A New Consideration for Backmatter * A Comment on Chapter Heads * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Keep going. If you keep writing, you’ll outpace the rejection.” Nanu Ekua Brew-Hammond, author of My Parents’ Marriage (Amistad Books) “Read the best writing you can lay your hands on. Experiment with workshops, writing groups, and teachers. But most of all, let yourself fall headlong into the fictional dream of your characters. Sit in the backseat and notice where they take you. Don’t … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A (Surprise) New Short Story * I Was Surprised Too * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” Scout Finch, protagonist in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird Exactly how I feel about writing A (Surprise) New Short Story Surprise! “Something in the Way She Moves” went live yesterday at 10 a.m. on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. Consider it a bonus. Somehow I hit the 1 instead of the 2 and scheduled … Read more