An Important Breather

In today’s Journal

* Bradbury Challenge Reminder
* A New Story
* An Important Breather
* A Revelation
* Notes: You Want to Read This
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Bradbury Challenge Reminder

Anyone can jump in at any time. You aren’t competing with anyone but yourself. Just sayin’.

Please be sure to get your story info into my before the Journal goes live on Monday morning.

A New Story

“The Dawn of Rigoberto,” the sixth 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.

To subscribe, 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!

An Important Breather

First, I know the recent posts have been long, but given that you have my permission to copy/paste them for your own use, at least you’re getting something back, right?

For the next two Mondays, the posts will be a little longer so I can also post the Bradbury Challenge writers’ reports.

For today, I’m giving you a brief breather from the current series of posts You’ve read the Intro and three full chapters. Learn anything yet? Is it helping?

If you find it of value so far, please share the posts with others and please leave a comment.

A Revelation

I published the first version of the information in these posts in Writing the Character-Driven Story. That was in February 2016. This new book will be almost completely different.

When this one is finished, I intend to “unpublish” Writing the Character-Driven Story. If you want to buy it, you have maybe a month to do that.

The title of this new book will be similar but different. The content also will be similar but different, and much more expansive.

When I published Writing the Character-Driven Story I had written only 13 novels, 1 or 2 novellas, and a smattering (50 or so) short stories. I know a great deal more about every aspect of writing fiction now than I did then. This book will reflect that.

In the new book I updated and revised a few chapters of the old book. I completely rewrote most of them. The final book will also include at least three new chapters and some new appendices. It will vary somewhat even from these posts.

Notes: You Want to Read This

1. You will notice that I repeat some aspects of craft through the new book. Those repetitions are intentional. Those aspects apply differently in different topics.

2. If you bought a copy of Writing the Character-Driven Story and if you’re a donor, please email me.

I’ll add you to a list, and when this one goes to press I’ll send it to you free of charge in your preferred electronic format. (Bob B, you’re already on the list.)

3. If you bought Writing the Character-Driven Story but are not a donor, I will still discount the completed new book for you. But again, you have to email me to let me know.

4. Posting the chapters or partial chapters here has been a great deal of work. Unless I get good feedback, I probably won’t post chapters from other nonfiction books as I write or revise them.

5. As I’ve written and posted this series, new chapters and topics have emerged. When it’s finished, the book will have 12 or more chapters and 5 or more appendices. Much, but not all, of it will have been posted here in 21 posts.

6. After this series of posts is completed and when I’ve finished the book, I will update the list of chapters, topics, and appendices below. The asterisks indicate subtopics. The numerals in parens — (#) — indicate the posts in this series:

(1) Introduction

(2) 1 — What Do You Mean, Character-Driven?
What About Plot-Driven Fiction?

(3) 2 — Determining Your Role in the Story
The Almighty Writer on High
Let’s Talk Sense
The Recorder (or Friend with a Keyboard)
(4) BEING the Almighty Writer on High
The Writer Is the Worst Judge of His Own Work

(5) 3 — Story Starters and Story Ideas
Story Starters and Where to Get Them
First the Difference
The Story Starter
(6) Story Ideas and Where to Get Them
Some Ways to Create Triggers (to Get You to the Keyboard)
Notes on Story Ideas

(7) 4 — Writing the Opening
Take Your Time
Tips for Writing the Character in the Opening
Tips for Writing the Problem in the Opening
Tips for Writing the Setting in the Opening
When Do You Write an Opening?
A Case in Point
(8) Another Case in Point
So Here’s the Whole Point

(9) 5 — Writing the Hook
What Is a Hook?
The Components of a Hook
A Few Ways to Write Hooks
A Few Examples of Hooks

(10) 6 — Writing Setting
So What Is the Setting?
The Two Types of Setting Description
* The Area of Description
** Immediate
** Expanded
** Distant
* The Degree (or Level) of Description
** General
** Specific
** Focused
An Example of Setting
(11) Notes on the Example
Points of View
Some Ground(ing) Rules
Notes on Too Much or Too Little
The Importance of Focusing Down
(12) Setting Matters
Characters Have Physical Attributes and They Wear Clothing
Places Wear Clothing Too
Why I No Longer Offer Critiques: A Cautionary Tale
(13) Using the Five Senses
Again, Focus Down
Take. Your. Time.
Another Cautionary Tale

(14) 7 — Writing the Scene
Definitions
* The Major Scene
* The Minor Scene
* The Transitional Scene
An Example in Focusing Down
A Crash Course
The Length of Scenes
(15) High-Action Scenes

(16) 8 — Writing the Ending
The Climax
The Resolution
Tricks for Endings
Watch Your Pacing
Watch for the Ending
What Makes a Good Ending?

(17) 9 — Writing into the Dark
You Know Story
The Writing
Cycling

(18) 10 — It’s All Up to You
The Conscious, Critical Mind vs. the Creative Subconscious (My friends just cringed, but yeah, I’m going there.)
The Two Big Categories of Fiction Writers
The Myth Pushers
Okay. Now.
The Creative Subconscious

(19) Appendix A — Hooks

(20) Appendix B — Exercises

(21) Appendix C — Rules

Next up, Chapter 4, Part 1.
I’ll talk with you again then.

Of Interest

If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say, Try a Dysphemism

Cheers in Czechia for the End of VAT on Books

The Numbers

The Journal……………………………… 1040

Writing of Blackwell Ops 20: Soleada Garcia: Into the Future (tentative title)

Day 1…… 3681 words. To date…… 3681
Day 2…… 3044 words. To date…… 6725
Day 3…… 3375 words. To date…… 10100

Fiction for February……………………. 13786
Fiction for 2024…………………………. 131390
Fiction since October 1……………… 434447
Nonfiction for February……………… 11820
Nonfiction for 2024…………………… 43780
2024 consumable words…………… 175170

2024 Novels to Date……………………… 3
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 1
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………… 85
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.

If you find this Journal of value and want to make a one time or recurring donation, please Donate Here. If you can’t donate monetarily or don’t want to, that’s fine, but please consider donating by sharing this post with friends.