In Today’s Journal
* One More Note…
* A New Nonfiction Book? Nah…
* Meanwhile, the Novel
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
One More Note…
on POV self-description and on the POV character speaking directly to the reader through narration.
This is another note I sent a mentorship student yesterday. Like anyone else, I realize different things at different times, or update previous realizations later, or find another way to explain.
In this particular story, the POV character is awakened by knocking on the door of his apartment, in which he also has a roommate:
The POV character (or the current POV character if you have more than one), wants his story out there. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have come to you to write it.
As such, the POV character also wants the reader to understand and be immersed in his story.
To that end, the POV character would provide a general description (only what matters to him) of the initial immediate setting so the reader could more easily visualize that setting—in this case, his bedroom—and the route to the front door since that’s where he’s going next.
This is the same reason a POV character in any first-person story would tell the reader what he looks like (if he did), so the reader could visualize him and would be more fully engaged with and immersed in the story.
In the first-person story, the POV character doubles as narrator.
Of course, if the story were written in third person, the narrator (maybe the writer, but the identity of the unnamed narrator doesn’t matter) would provide the same information, albeit still filtered through the current POV character’s physical and emotional senses.
A New Nonfiction Book? Nah…
I’m kind of feeling like I need to write another nonfiction book on all this stuff.
Anyway, if I wrote that nonfiction book maybe I could title it Specific Thoughts on Writing Fiction or something like that.
Of course, the book would be a compilation.
As I did with Punctuation for Writers and Writing Realistic Dialogue and finally Writing Better Fiction (that one even contains significant information from the other two), I would cull through the TNDJ archives for tidbits like the above, arrange them all, and create a table of contents with various craft topics as headers.
But that would just be silly. I’ve covered most of what I know about writing fiction in the past four years in TNDJ.
I’ve also made those past four years of archives available—FREE—in searchable, printable PDF format. To get them, all you have to do is email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. I don’t even collect your email address.
You can even get archives from the earlier years if you ask, but I suspect the last four years hold most of anything you’d want to know.
Yet of over 200 subscribers, maybe a dozen folks have requested the archives. That realization always brings me back to Earth and lends a sober bent to the value of my knowledge to others.
Come to think of it, Writing Better Fiction has had 887 views on my discount site, but it’s sold exactly 31 copies, and I suspect that includes a few copies I gave away. Shrug.
I also suspect a new nonfiction book would sell about that poorly or worse, so it isn’t worth the time or effort it would take me to compile and publish it.
If you’re wondering (but why would you?) Writing Realistic Dialogue and Punctuation for Writers have combined for a whopping 671 views and sold exactly 5 copies.
In the meantime, nonfiction books in which the piranhas promote how to delay or even avoid putting new words on the page completely by outlining, doing conscious-mind revision and rewrites, and seeking critical input from critique groups continue to be bestsellers. Go figure.
Sometimes that nagging little voice in my head says, “Tell ’em what they want to hear: that anybody can be a best seller if they only follow the steps and construct rather than create the stories. Nobody’ll know.”
The problem is, I’d know. I guess I’d rather tell the truth and be ignored and suspected of scamming people than lie and enhance my bank account.
Robert A. Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, and Isaac Asimov must be spinning in their graves. Even Stephen King might be spinning in his grave, although he isn’t dead yet. Somehow I suspect if anyone could do that it would be him.
If I sound depressed, I’m not. I’m just a little annoyed at my own impotence. As I’ve said before, if my job were leading horses to water, I’d probably be fired for the sheer number of horses folded down over their legs and lying dead around the water tank.
Meanwhile, the Novel
When I wrote this post yesterday morning, I started this section with “No fiction writing day before yesterday, and maybe none yesterday. (Is there a Day 3 in the numbers below yet?)”
After being hyper-excited about my new character only a few days ago, I was starting to think maybe he isn’t as wild about me. The guy was really dragging his feet.
I thought I might have to set him on a shelf, write something different, and check in with him again later.
Then the story broke free yesterday. I set aside a chapter and a half and wrote almost 4000 words of new stuff. Whew. That was a close one.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Book Marketing Tips & Author Branding Advice One commenter recently mentioned she thought all book-marketing sites are scams. This one is not. I’ve known Penny Sansevieri for a couple of decades. If you have the money, Penny’s company is legit. That said, her infrequent newsletter is free and filled with good marketing advice.
The Numbers
The Journal………………….. 960
Mentorship Words…………….. 0
Total Nonfiction…………………. 960
Writing of Blackwell Ops 53: Jack Striker | The Next Level
Day 1…… 2035 words. To date………… 2035
Day 2…… 2217 words. To date………… 4252
Day 3…… 3751 words. To date………… 8003
Fiction for December……………………… 8003
Fiction for 2025…………………………… 762650
Nonfiction for December.………………… 8410
Nonfiction for 2025………………..……… 273540
2025 consumable words………………… 1028621
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 18
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 36
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 122
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 310
Short story collections……………………. 29