Bradbury, and Spicey Stuff

by

In Today’s Journal

* Today’s Best Misplaced Modifier
* The Bradbury Challenge
* Spicey Stuff (a guest post)
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Today’s Best Misplaced Modifier

Cloned yak delivered via C-section weighing 74 pounds.

Fair enough, but how much did the yak weigh? (grin)

The Bradbury Challenge

The whole point of the Challenge is to have fun and grow as a writer. There is no cost. The only requirement is to write at least one short story per week. Feel free to jump in at any time.

During the past week, in addition to whatever other fiction they’re writing, the following writers reported these new stories:

  • Erin Donoho “After the Last Movie Gets Out” 1900 historical thriller
  • Loyd Jenkins “Excitement in Marker” 2400 Space Western
  • Vanessa V. Kilmer “Skeptically Skeptic” 3713 Humor
  • Christopher Ridge “The Girl in the Fog” 2130 noir
  • Dave Taylor “Do You Live Up to Your Creed?” 2,094 general fiction

Congratulations to these writers.

Spicey Stuff

a guest post by Dan Baldwin 

A friend in promotions and public relations had a client with an idea for a novel. The client was a good writer and had a small non-fiction writing second career going.

But he was wise enough to know he wasn’t up to the task of creating scenes, fully-developed characters, dialog, and the transitions necessary to create a successful novel.

My friend brought me into the picture, author met writer, and the deal was done.

My client had only a few ideas central to the story he wanted to tell. He had three major characters, a tragedy that got the plot going, and a few spotty ideas for scenes here and there.

This was okay with me. With such extremely loose guidelines, essentially I’d be Writing Into The Dark—my way of writing fiction. My client gave me a free hand within his rather loose specifications.

He did propose one fundamental aspect of his novel that could have proven a stumbling block: The main action had to take place in Chile…. The stumbling block? Neither of us had ever been to Chile and neither one of us knew a damn thing about Chile.

So it goes. That’s the way of the ghostwriter. Research, obviously, was the big challenge. Fortunately, there’s this thing called the Internet, which provided all the information I needed.

This is key: I did not use Internet sources for facts and figures. I used the research tool for color.

For example, a photo of the airport in Chile showed a coffee shop, so I included the heady aroma of brewing coffee, the sound of cups and saucers on hard table surfaces, and so on.

When I found the image of a horse barn perfect for the novel, I wrote about golden dust floating in the late-afternoon sun, the feel of dirt beneath feet, and the smell of hay and the horse-produced hay byproduct on the dirt floor.

I followed the same technique when describing a restaurant, a hotel, the hacienda of the lead male character, and so on.

Working from information like that isn’t difficult. Just view the scene through the character’s eyes and write what he or she sees.

  • Ralph hugged Karen and gently closed her eyes as the Titanic sank into the cold, dark waters.
  • Ralph hugged Karen and gently closed her eyes as the avalanche crashed through the trees above them.
  • Ralph hugged Karen and gently closed her eyes as the bombs rained from the skies above.
  • Ralph hugged Karen and gently closed her eyes as Mongoo the Monster Amoeba crawled from the cave.

My client’s novel was completed to his satisfaction and he sent it off to his agent.

The agent wrote my client a note praising the descriptive passages and expressing delight at his obviously in-depth knowledge of Chile, its environment, and its people.

The key to earning that praise was the focus on color vs. facts and figures. That’s the real spice in the mix.

*

Thanks, Dan. Folks, that is what we mean when we say “spot research.” No rabbit holes: just in, out, and back to the story.

Of Interest

Turn Your Editing Scraps into Marketing Magic

Famous Writers and Their Typewriters

Writing Career Camp Starts Tomorrow

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………… 700

Writing of

Day 1…… XXXX words. To date…… XXXX

Fiction for July..………………………. 2590
Fiction for 2025………………………. 523397
Nonfiction for July…………………….. 10100
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 161730
2025 consumable words…………….. 677513

2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 13
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 31
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 117
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 301
Short story collections……………………. 29

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Questions are always welcome at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. But please limit yourself to the topics of writing and publishing.