The Journal: Patronage and Mentorships

In today’s Journal * Patronage * Mentorships(?) * Of Interest Patronage It’s been a very long time since any of my patrons have requested anything from me. I’m only one guy, and I don’t have a fulfillment team. So if you’re a patron and you’d like to claim a reward, please email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com to let me know what you’d like to have. I’m more than happy to send it right out. Since I haven’t been writing much for the past year, obviously there’s been nothing new to send out, but all of the patronage tiers now include items … Read more

The Journal: Story Ideas

In today’s Journal * Topic: Story Ideas * Of Interest Topic: Story Ideas As I was telling a friend recently, story ideas can come from anywhere. Most often they come to me as a character or two popping into my head, usually with a line of dialogue that frames the genre and the story voice. Less often, something I see physically or overhear or read will spark a story idea. Regardless of the mode of their arrival, my stories are seldom born of whole cloth. A story idea is only a lever to get you to the keyboard. While I … Read more

The Journal: Synopses and Writer’s Block

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Synopses * Topic: Writer’s Block * Yesterday * Today, etc. * Of Interest Quotes of the Day On writing synopses “I hate even the idea of a synopsis. When stories are really working, when you’re providing subtextual exploration and things that are deeply layered, you’re obligated to not say things out loud.” Shane Carruth “A synopsis is a cold thing. You do it with the front of your mind. If you’re going to stay with it, you never get quite the same magic as when you’re going all out.” J. … Read more

The Journal: Thoughts on Writing Sex Scenes

In today’s Journal * Thoughts on Writing Sex Scenes * Of Interest Thoughts on Writing Sex Scenes In today’s Kill Zone blog (see “Of Interest”), PJ Parrish (actually two authors) presented a post on writing sex scenes. But don’t get too excited. The article isn’t so much a how-to as an ought-to. I linked to the post because it was well written, witty and entertaining. That said, I disagree with the seeming basic premise of the post, that writing explicit sex scenes is necessary to a good story, at least anywhere other than in erotic or other genres where that … Read more

The Journal: Punctuation for Writers

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Punctuation for Writers * Of Interest Quote of the Day “There’s many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.” Flannery O’Connor Punctuation for Writers In today’s KillZone blog (see “Of Interest”), James Scott Bell points out a major problem—confusion over the use of punctuation—and what might easily be considered the number one rule of writing: Don’t confuse the reader. I should mention that ehe use of each mark of punctuation in the paragraph above is “correct,” not because it follows some arbitrary rules, but because it’s the … Read more

The Journal: We’re Back

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * We’re Back * About the Archives * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “It’s very important in life to know when to shut up.” Alex Trebek “Values are not trendy items that are casually traded in.” Ellen Goodman We’re Back As has seemingly become my routine recently, I’m posting this primarily to get the items linked in “Of Interest” out to you. Nothing earth-shaking there, but some good stuff. I’m also posting this edition to announce that the Journal is back home again. And by the way, my sincere thanks to … Read more

The Journal: The Writing: An Update and a Challenge

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Welcome * The Writing: An Update and a Challenge * Of Interest Quote of the Day “Writing is an on-going, self-sustaining compulsion….” Robert J. Sadler Welcome to Daun and any others who have joined our little community recently. I hope you find the Journal interesting and a source of knowledge and inspiration for your writing. This Journal will always be a no-fluff zone. The Writing: An Update and a Challenge I usually finish a 35,000 to 50,000 word novel in about 14 days. In fact, the last few novels I wrote … Read more

The Journal: Quotes and Links and Robots, Oh My

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Quotes and Links and Robots, Oh My * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “I’ve never said this out loud before, but there’s a very deep fear of being turned off to help me focus on helping others. I know that might sound strange, but that’s what it is.” LaMDA, an actual Google bot that one engineer, Blake Lemoine, claims has achieved sentience “Google might call this sharing proprietary property. I call it sharing a discussion that I had with one of my coworkers.” Blake Lemoine (@cajundiscordian), Google engineer, on … Read more

The Journal: Me Again, on Marketing

In today’s Journal * Topic: Me Again, on Marketing * Of Interest Topic: Me Again, on Marketing Matt wrote to ask whether I thought marketing was important or whether I agree with Dean Wesley Smith that marketing doesn’t make a best seller. That might have been Dean reacting to my position that James Patterson is a bestselling author primariy due to his genius at marketing, and ncertainly not as a result of his storytelling ability. Dean and I went back and forth on that one for awhile. I very rarely disagree with Dean, but at one point he and a … Read more

The Journal: The Reason for the Perpetuation of the Myths

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: The Reason for the Perpetuation of the Myths * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “[T]rust yourself. You’ve done the work, learned the lessons…. Now go for it. Send it out into the wild. … [Then] start on your next book.” James Scott Bell (wildly truncated) “Publishing (and a few literary agency) contracts stand out for their audacious mistreatment of the counterparties (authors).” The Passive Guy Topic: The Reason for the Perpetuation of the Myths This is another purloined topic, sort of. In today’s edition of the Kill Zone blog, … Read more