In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Thought of the Day
* Correction (the Case of the Missing Photo)
* A New Word for My Personal Dictionary
* A New Story
* I Love Comments
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“Everything is habit-forming, so make sure what you do is what you want to be doing.” Wilt Chamberlain
Thought of the Day
When I read work that’s new to me, I don’t expect anything but to be entertained. That’s up to the writer. If s/he doesn’t pull me into the story, I stop reading and reach for another book or find something else to do. I think that’s most readers. Some readers, of course, will fight through the boredom and keep trying, but few people finish a book that doesn’t pull them into the story.
Correction (the Case of the Missing Photo)
For anyone who missed the photo I mentioned in yesterday’s edtition of the Journal, you can see it here in the original post.
And I’ll figure out how to add other pix to Substack. (grin)
A New Word for My Personal Dictionary
As I was writing “An Affidavit” for yesterday’s post, originally I misspelled the word affidavit. I spelled it affadavit.
Then, on further thought, I added the misspelling to my personal dictionary:
affadavit, n. a joking, flippant pass at sworn testimony
It’s an affidavit—”a written statement confirmed by oath or affirmation, for use as evidence in court”—but one delivered affably and definitely NOT “confirmed by oath or affirmation.” (grin)
As almost any of my Brooklyn characters would say, “Hey, would this face lie to you?”
A New Story
“Pete and the Angel,” the final magic-realism story in the series, went live yesterday on my Stanbrough Writes Substack.
Next up at Stanbrough Writes, an emotional tribute to a young daughter to whom I was personally very close.
To subscribe to Stanbrough Writes, click the link above and then the Subscribe button at the end of the story. You’ll receive a new short story every Friday, and it’s free.
Below the Subscribe button, there are other short stories you can read in most genres. Enjoy!
I Love Comments
that either bring up a new topic I haven’t addressed or that call for clarification. Either of those tend to feed the Journal.
Yesterday I received such a comment from Sebastian M:
“Is this Quote of the Day for sarcasm?
“Because at first I could not figure out how this really had anything to do with WITD and Cycling, because it’s about Critique and Editing.
“Or are you now recommending this type of editing of the character’s story? A tightening up? Sharpening? Or a Cycling trim? What do you do?”
Excellent question. As I’ve always said, Question Everything re advice on writing, even when you get it from me.
Here’s my response:
“I picked on Nathan a little bit for the exact wording he used in the quote. I NEVER recommend conscious-critical mind editing—EVER—primarily because that opens the door to intrusive, external writer input vs. internal input from the characters.
“That said, as I cycle and allow the characters to touch the work, there is almost always some tightening-up, sometimes some trimming, more often some additions, and almost always a sharpening, especially in high-action or high-tension scenes.” (I often cycle over those scenes more than once.)
“In every case, it is still the characters’ authentic story, period. But it is MY (the writer’s) responsibility to convey that story as accurately as possible to the readers. I’m the one making the little black marks on the screen with my laptop keys.”
Cycle with the creative subconscious mind, the same way you read fiction. If while you’re cycling, you catch yourself “thinking” about what’s right or wrong, I suggest getting up and taking a stroll or something until the urge to “correct” your characters goes away.
Make sense?
If not, please feel free to leave a comment or email me.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
The Fallacy of the Findaway “Victory”
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 680
Writing of Blackwell Ops 21: Johnny Mercer
Day 1…… 4190 words. To date…… 4190
Day 2…… 2599 words. To date…… 6789
Day 3…… 3380 words. To date…… 10169
Fiction for March…………………….…. 3380
Fiction for 2024…………………………. 167972
Fiction since October 1………………… 471027
Nonfiction for March…………………… 1440
Nonfiction for 2024……………………… 100630
2024 consumable words………………… 268602
2024 Novels to Date……………………… 4
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 1
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………… 86
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)…… 239
Short story collections…………………… 31
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
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