Harvey

The Journal: The Essential Elements of a Story

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: The Essential Elements of a Story * Hit another minor snag * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.” Wole Soyinka (the first African writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature) How very apt. Thanks to PG for the quote. Topic: The Essential Elements of a Story Disclaimers 1. In the following, when you see “story,” know that the advice applies to a short story, novella, or novel. A short story is about one event. A novella … Read more

The Journal: A New Use for Reverse Outlines

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Happy Birthday * Topic: A New Use for Reverse Outlines * The Value of Cliffhangers * Tomorrow * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “The faster the action, the more the writer should slow down the description.” Debbie Burke Yes. In the heat of battle, the POV character will notice far fewer aspects of the setting, but he will focus on that one aspect (or those few aspects) with a heightened sense of awareness because those aspects are crucial, as if time has slowed almost to a crawl. … Read more

The Journal: My (Our) Beginning-Writer Anti-Scam Efforts

In today’s Journal * My (Our) Beginning-Writer Anti-Scam Efforts * Of Interest * The Numbers I dropped in on my Facebook account this morning just to see what was going on. In a writing group (Arizona Writers) several days ago, I’d responded to a question from a new author who’d just finished her book. Other apparently beginning writers and-or writers who have bought into all the most prevalent myths were telling her how much it costs to self-publish and talking about traditional publishers. I wrote “Self publish. ALWAYS keep control of your intellectual property (IP) copyright and it will pay … Read more

The Journal: A Conundrum

In today’s Journal * Digital Marketing Assistance * Karen Riggs * Odd. At roughly the 2/3 point * Of Interest * The Numbers Over at The Passive Voice today, among other articles, was one titled “Should You Hire a Social Media Assistant?” See https://www.thepassivevoice.com/should-you-hire-a-social-media-assistant/. The article was written by Barbara Linn Probst as a guest post for Jane Friedman. If this topic interests you, I also encourage you to read the comments. For one digital marketing and/or virtual assistant possibility, see https://www.pub-craft.com/. I’m not recommending them, only mentioning them. I encourage you to key “digital marketing” and/or “virtual assistant” into … Read more

The Journal: A New Writer Resource

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * A new writer resource * I haven’t written * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I truly believe subscribing to MasterClass and getting a wide exposure to A-List resources can do a lot for you as a writer.” Garry Rodgers A lady named Carol Briggs emailed me yesterday with a breath of fresh air. Carol is a self-described youth services librarian and educator. In her email, she asked, on behalf of a young student named Anna, whether I’d be willing to add Theater Seat Services to my Writer … Read more

The Journal: Election Day

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Today Is Election Day * Another great day of writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “The cat sat on the mat is not the opening of a plot. The cat sat on the dog’s mat is.” John LeCarre “The thing I like best about being a writer is the escape it provides.” Yer Uncle Harv Today is election day. I know, old news. But if you live in the United States, this is probably the most important election day of your life. Today the citizenry and … Read more

The Journal: A Great Motivator

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: A Great Motivator * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Write about what you know, and what do you know better than your own secrets?” Raymond Carver Topic: A Great Motivator This will be a little rattled and fragmented, but I think the advice is there and sound, so bear with me. One of the articles I linked to recently contained some good advice on writing, but it also offered some advice that I thought was not so good. One of the things the author thought was … Read more

The Journal: Halloween, CovID-19 and a Great Writing Day

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Happy Halloween! * Another Perspective of CovID-19 * A great writing day * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I feel shy of saying this, because to non-writers it sounds so lazy—but if, seven days a week, you can cut out two hours for yourself, when you are undistracted and on-song, you will soon have a book.” Hilary Mantel “Writing is a long game and you have to be patient with yourself and your material. A great deal happens in the dark, as it were; work goes on … Read more

The Journal: Quanta Magazine

In today’s Journal * Quanta Magazine * Of Interest * The Numbers Not a lot to talk about today, but I wanted to get the “Of Interest” items out to you. But before I do that, I strongly recommend a free subscription to Quanta Magazine’s free newsletter. Did I mention it’s free? To find the subscription form, click the link to the first article in “Of Interest.” Then click the small menu icon to the right of the search icon in the upper right corner. When the new page loads, enter your email address under Newsletter on the right and … Read more

The Journal: A Writing Secret

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * A Writing Secret * The Link Between Poetry and Novels * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Less is more. My first drafts [sic] went into phenomenal detail about absolutely everything. … A sense of place is good. Overwhelming readers is not. I had to keep reminding myself to make sure everything related to the plot and characters.” Terry Odell (See my vehement disagreement in the Topic below.) “As a writing instructor, I find that most of the time when writers teach classes, we focus on teaching people … Read more