In Today’s Journal
* My Quote of the Day
* A Note on the Bradbury Challenge
* A New Offer
* Update on Recasting the Saga
* Of Interest
My Quote of the Day
“democratic republic, n. that form of government in which every four years the citizens are kept busy canceling each other’s votes while the electoral college selects a president.” from Harvey’s Dictionary
The above is a tongue-in-cheek comment. Please vote if you haven’t already.
A Note on the Bradbury Challenge
Beginning next week on November 8, I’ll report the weekly results from the Bradbury Challenge one day earlier, on Sunday vs. Monday.
So the new deadline for reporting will be whatever time I get to the Hovel on Sunday morning.
This would be an excellent time for some of you to jump into (or back into) the Challenge. If you write short fiction, you have nothing to lose and the whole world to gain.
A New Offer
You all know (or should know) how much I love to teach writing. Especially fiction writing.
Over the past ten or twelve years, I’ve literally spent thousands of dollars on video courses about writing. I’ve learned a few things during that time, but most of what I’ve learned has come from putting new words on the page.
So all but maybe $100 of the money I spent on those courses was wasted, at least on my end.
Flash forward: A few days ago I had a short but frank discussion with another writer about a video event we’d both recently attended at $400 a pop.
During that event, I learned absolutely nothing. My respondent might have picked up a pointer or two, but certainly nowhere near four hundred dollars’ worth.
The disappointment and disenchantment were palpable. Enough is enough.
That started me thinking about making this offer, and I’ve decided to put it out there. If you want it, jump on it. Frankly, I doubt I’ll have many takers.
Before you sign up—and pay big money—for any online video courses on writing fiction from anyone, it would benefit you to check with me.
You can email me anytime at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.
- If I think the course is a good idea, I’ll say so.
- If I believe I can teach the course better and for a lot less money, I’ll say that instead.
A Few Notes
1—Most video courses cover only the basics, often because that’s all the presenter knows.
Other times the presenter knows more, but chooses to withhold that information for presentation in an ‘advanced’ class for which he gets another fee.
The trick? You are required to take the more basic course before you’re allow to take the more advanced. (Yet the information in the ‘advanced’ course is often barely distinguishable from the information in the more basic course.)
2—Most video courses that run over several weeks (beginning or advanced) contain only ‘fluff’ in the first two weeks. The seemingly friendly presenter chats aimlessly or repeats the same information ad nauseam, making those early weeks a complete waste of your time.
3—Most video courses that include assignments and promise personal responses DO include the assignments, but the responses are generalized and presented in the next video.
As an aside, I have never received a personalized response to any assignment in any video course. (The closest I’ve seen is a non sequitur like “good job” that doesn’t indicate the instructor even read the assignment.)
In other words, most video courses at least border on being scams, devised primarily to separate you from your money. Video courses are the new iteration of the door-to-door salesman.
But Here’s the Thing
I’m not interested in getting rich from selling video courses at $300 or more per course. If you don’t believe me, join the dozens who have emailed me with specific questions about writing fiction and see how much I charge to respond: Nothing.
I’m more interested in helping you cut your personal learning curve as you learn to write better, leaner, tighter fiction by presenting what I know, honestly and openly, and then answering your specific questions.
Depending on the topic and the time involved, I might charge a fee, but it will be only one-half (or less) than you would pay elsewhere.
Why? Because sharing knowledge is always a good idea, and I’m an open book.
Chances are excellent that I can teach you the same information (and more) for much less money and with zero fluff. So…
- If all you want is to “interact” with a face in a video course, by all means sign up for that.
- But if you actively want to actually learn the techniques of writing that you personally need, contact me.
I’ll teach you what you want to know, and you won’t come away frustrated and disappointed. If you do, I’ll even give your money back.
Update on Recasting the Saga
With my ongoing cycling and recast of the Wes Crowley Saga, I want to put the entire saga into chronological sequence so it’s one big story. Just as importantly, I want the story to flow seamlessly.
Part 1 (so Book 1) is finished at around 114,000 words and is off to my first readers. It’s also roughly 5,000 words longer than the original books that went into it.
But as I started to write Part 2 (so Book 2), I realized some of the names who had appeared in Part 1 had mysteriously vanished.
The explanation, of course, is that I wrote the original saga in fits and starts over 22 novels in 7 years. So the process has become more complicated.
I see now that it will be necessary to ‘mine’ information from various books at different points during the saga, then move the gleaned information to its appropriate chronological place in the sequence, THEN begin the cycling and recasting process for that section.
Most recently, I realized that over 50,000 words of the original Book 13 (Wes Crowley, Texas Ranger) was basically a flashback to a year after Wes and Mac joined up, followed by another, much shorter, flashback to four years later.
The first flashback will form the basis of Part 2 of the new Saga, and the second flashback will appear elsewhere, probably in Part 3.
Quite an interesting and exciting process, especially given that I’ve forgotten probably 90% of the details of the overall tale.
Of Interest
Dr. Mardy’s Quotes of the Week: Political Indifference (Reprise) Thank you, Mardy.