In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting
* Mentorships
* A Few Notes
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“Imagination is the highest kite one can fly.” Lauren Bacall
The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting
To take part, the only requirement is to write at least one short story per week. Then, if you want to share your success, submit the story title, word count, and genre to me each week for publication in the Journal on Monday. (Yes, you can also write a longer story and submit your progress each week.)
The whole point is to have fun and grow as a writer. You can join or rejoin the challenge at any time.
There’s no cost. You can even do it on your own, without reporting numbers to me or anyone else.
During the past week, in addition to whatever other fiction they’re writing, the following writers reported these new stories:
- Vanessa V. Kilmer “Avenging Demon” 2578 Paranormal
- Maggie King “Meet Cute” 4446 Romance
- Adam Kozak “Desert Deal” 4028 Crime Fiction
- Alexander Nakul “Look, how the roads darken” 4641 Thriller Noir
- Christopher Ridge “The Midnight Show” 5500 Horror
- Ann Stratton “Breakfast at Mira’s” 5774 Rural horror/thriller
- Dave Taylor “Quantum Apocalypse” 4197 SF
Congratulations to all, and encouragement to the few who missed this week. Get back on the horse! Have some fun!
Mentorships
If you’d like me to help you improve in a particular area or areas of the fiction-writing craft, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.
But email me soon. The offer is only open for the next week. I don’t know whether or when I’ll offer mentorships again.
A Few Notes
I recently sent these to one mentorship student:
- When you receive your manuscript back from any editor or critiquer, ask yourself, Did the editor/critiquer do or recommend anything that wasn’t a fit for the actual characters? Go with your gut.
- Read your work aloud, especially any sentenses or passages that “sound” or “seem” or “feel” a little off to you. Reading aloud will help you “hear” the sentence or passage more clearly (as the character intended).
- Many early writers bathe in em dashes. If this is you, read Punctuation for Writers. It’s friendly and extremely informative. Or read (or re-read) the punctuation section in Writing Better Fiction.
- If you’re a talented, “natural” writer (and if you think you aren’t, you probably are) probably 80+% of those who enjoy your genre will love your writing style. So trust yourself and put it out there.
- Remember there’s a reader on the other side of your story. As you cycle through your story, slow down just a bit and take your time while cycling. Be as accurate as you can to ensure readers take your meaning and aren’t confused.
Talk with you again soon.
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 460
Writing of Blackwell Ops 27: Sam Gentry
Day 1…… 3004 words. To date…… 3004
Day 2…… 2111 words. To date…… 5115
Day 3…… 1726 words. To date…… 6841
Day 4…… 2092 words. To date…… 8933
Day 5…… 1306 words. To date…… 10239
Day 6…… 2523 words. To date…… 12762
Day 7…… 3018 words. To date…… 15780
Day 8…… 1443 words. To date…… 17223
Fiction for August…………………….….… 17223
Fiction for 2024………………………….… 502846
Fiction since October 1………………… 747830
Nonfiction for August……………………… 10530
Nonfiction for 2024……………………… 257540
2024 consumable words………………… 703756
2024 Novels to Date……………………… 11
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 4
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)……………… 93
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 241
Short story collections…………………… 29
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 are lies, and they will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
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