Harvey

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * Writing the Opening: Another Case in Point * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “When tackling the art of fiction writing, it’s common to immerse yourself in the fundamentals: plot, structure, characters—the building blocks that demand time and mastery.” CS Lakin Thing is, you’ve been “immersed” in those fundamentals all your life with your reading, sitcoms and dramas and movies on TV. All you have to do to “master” them is practice. And that means trusting that the knowledge is there and … 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

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, … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Writing * Writing the Character-Driven Story: Chapter 3, Part 2 * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “What I turn away for one of the 20 or so reasons I have written about in this series, [another] editor might snap up. Does not mean they are less an editor or have lower standards, it simply means they are looking for something different than I am. Nothing less and nothing more. That’s why you send stories to lots of markets, one right after another.” Dean Wesley Smith Ah. … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Note * Writing the Character-Driven Story: Chapter 3, Part 1 * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Even when an outline was a homework assignment, I’d write the story, then do the outline to turn in.” KC Riggs “If you ground the reader as you run through the story with the characters, write the truth of what happens and write the truth of how the characters react and what happens as a result of that reaction, you cannot write a bad story.” from Chapter 6 of the forthcoming … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Writing the Character-Driven Story: Chapter 2, Part 2 * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Be honest about the words and actions of your characters, and they will not lead your story astray.” Stephen King Chapter 2, Part 2: BEING the Almighty Writer on High First, if you do not outline and simply serve your characters as their Recorder or Stenographer or Friend with a Keyboard, you can skip this part of the chapter. There is no reason to subject yourself to the horrors that will follow. (grin) … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Writing the Character-Driven Story: Chapter 2 * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Be honest about the words and actions of your characters, and they will not lead your story astray.” Stephen King Chapter 2, Part 1: Determining Your Role in the Story This is a difficult concept for many writers to grasp. Why? because of the myths of fiction writing that have been drummed into us during our entire life. The big myth here is that writing fiction is some sort of high calling. It isn’t. I’ll … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Clarification on the Blackwell Ops Sale * The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * A Great (and Helpful) Comment * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “The soil of a man’s heart is stonier, Louis. A man grows what he can, and he tends it. ‘Cause what you buy, is what you own. And what you own… always comes home to you.” Gravedigger to Louis Creed in Stephen King’s Pet Sematary “There’s a trite old saying that people are meant to blossom where they’re planted. I’ve come to believe … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Congratulations * Writing the Character-Driven Story: Chapter 1 * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “It’s been a wonderful decade. My first book published two weeks before my 50th birthday, my seventh three months before my 59th.” Anonymous from Twitter Whatever “works,” eh? Every writer’s different. “Doing it well now is much better than doing it perfectly later.” Seth Godin in his blog Congratulations Congratulations to Erin Donoho on the publication of her first novel in print and ebook. To see the paperback, Click Here. The book is … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * A New Story * Writing the Character-Driven Story: Introduction * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” Madeleine L’Engle “What’s preferable, to struggle with a paragraph for days or to finish a story in the same amount of time and move on to the next story and get more experience by writing more?” Adam Kozak in a Substack Note to another writer … Read more