Search Results for: physical senses

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 * Some Old New Posts * What I’ve Learned & What I Teach * Of Interest * The Numbers Some Old New Posts I have a folder on my desktop labeled “Journal Topics.” When I have an idea for a topic but don’t have time to put it into the Journal right then, I make a note of it. Then, from time to time, I browse that folder and delete or add-to those topics. But I need to clear out that folder, so in coming days I’ll be posting some old new topics. Here’s the first one: … Read more

In today’s Journal * Appendix B: Some Fiction Exercises * Of Interest * The Numbers Appendix B: Some Fiction Exercises Note for Journal readers: This is currently one of only three appendices in the older book, Writing the Character-Driven Story. It will become Appendix E (one of eight appendices or more) in Writing Character-Driven Fiction. What follows are two of the more important writing exercises I have ever learned or taught. I hope you will take advantage of them. First, an exercise to get you started actually writing. 1. On a sheet of paper, write down three character names. They … Read more

In today’s Journal * Notes * Reminder * Chapter 8, Part 1: Writing the Scene * Of Interest * The Numbers Notes 1. A few days ago in my ‘spare time,’ I started compiling Writing Character-Driven Fiction in Word docs, and reality hit: It might be longer than the two months I planned before the whole thing is finished and out. I still have one chapter to finish writing (on Cliffhangers) as well as five new chapters (so far) to compile and write, and five new appendices to compile and write. I’m still writing fiction, of course, and that comes … 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 * 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 * 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