In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* From Yer Uncle Harv
* Acting Out (guest post)
* Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.” Malala Yousafzai, women and girl’s education activist
“Lovers of print [paper books] are simply confusing the plate for the food. Douglas Adams
From Yer Uncle Harv
Point of View —
Remember that the narrator can describe only what the POV character can see, hear, smell, taste, feel (physically or emotionally) and think. Yes, even if the narrator is omniscient. You can have only one POV character at a time.
E.g., if something is happening behind a barn as the POV character approaches from the front, s/he might hear, smell, fear, or think about that occurrence, but s/he can’t describe the sight of it because it’s on the opposite side of the barn.
But s/he would HAVE to at least hear or smell it, or s/he wouldn’t know anything is happening at all. S/he might also “suspect” (unspoken thought) something’s going on, but s/he can’t see it or know for sure until s/he’s back there.
By the way, to see the chronological reading order of my novels, including series, please visit HarveyStanbroughWrites.comhttps://harveystanbroughwrites.com/reading-order-for-novels/.
Acting Out
This is a guest post from Dan Baldwin.
I recently saw an interview with Sir Patrick Stewart where he touched on the art of acting.
Stewart eventually came to a point in his career when he knew he could trust his subconscious mind to provide all he needed to play any given role. His life experience was all he needed.
I’m paraphrasing, but he said that when he steps onto the stage or set he hasn’t a clue as to what he is about to do, but he knows his subconscious mind will deliver the right performance.
The interview reminded me of Michelangelo’s famous quote about his statue of David. “In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”
The performance or the statue is within and that theory holds true for writing. It’s called Writing Into The Dark.
When a writer sits down at the computer, typewriter, or notepad, the story is already within, waiting to be released. There’s no need to plot, plan, develop character sketches, work out pacing, invent red herrings, or whatever – they’re all inside.
The writer only has to put fingertips to keyboard and let them out.
To borrow a line from one of Sir Patrick’s most famous roles, when starting a writing project you don’t need to think – just turn on the computer and “engage.”
Quote of the Week: “Sloth (like rust) consumes faster than Labor wears: the used Key is always bright.” Benjamin Franklin
Green Valley Book Festival (email address)
Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting
Anyone can jump in (or jump back in) and join the challenge at any time. This is a great way to jumpstart your writing and get more practice pushing down the critical voice.
There’s no cost.
Notice, there’s no pressure re submitting or publishing. That’s up to you. The point of the challenge is to have fun. Learning to keep track of your writing is a bonus.
Note: Bradbury Participants, please report your progress in the format shown below. Note the absence of “words” and the absence of punctuation. Thist would make things a ton easier and quicker for me. (grin)
During the past week, in addition to whatever other fiction they’re writing, the following writers reported their progress:
Short Fiction
- *Erin Donoho “Untitled” XXXX Historical Psychological
- Heather Hatch “Missing Sock” 1475 Children’s
- Heather Hatch “Skipping Stones” 1313 Children’s
- Heather Hatch “Delivery Bicycle” 2847 Children’s
- Heather Hatch “Honey Heist” 2789 Juvenile
- Loyd Jenkins “Prince Slayer” 2530 Low Fantasy
- George Kordonis “Under the Mask” 2369 Supernatural Horror
- Chynna Pace “The Haunting of Orion Merritt” 2098 Paranormal Fantasy
- Christopher Ridge “Breaking Bones” 7500 Extreme Horror
- K.C. Riggs “Chat Bot Fever” 3852 Old Codgers Getting Even
Longer Fiction
- Balázs Jámbor *Trilogy of the Lora Stories* (novel) 3500 (18000 total to date) Fantasy
- Alexander Nakul *Horses of Mayhem* (novel) 9235 (43061 total to date) Historical Fantasy
* Erin finished a story this week, but she hadn’t yet typed it in, so she didn’t report the title or actual word count yet.
If this happens to you, please let me know the title and at least an approximate wod count. You can approximate by counting the words in a typical line, then multiplying times the number of lines and then pages. 🙂
Remember, even if the week for your personal challenge is different, the story period for this report runs from 0001 on Monday morning through midnight the following Sunday. (grin)
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Nothing specific for “Of Interest” this morning, so I thought I’d pass this along:
You can find tons of story ideas and politically unbiased news at 1440 Daily Digest. And it’s free.
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 810
Writing of Blackwell Ops 11: More Jeremy Stiles (novel)
Day 1…… 5214 words. To date…… 5214
Day 2…… 2657 words. To date…… 7871
Day 3…… 2481 words. To date…… 10352
Day 4…… 0923 words. To date…… 11275
Day 5…… 3424 words. To date…… 14699
Day 6…… 3649 words. To date…… 18348
Day 7…… 3334 words. To date…… 21682
Day 8…… 4633 words. To date…… 26315
Day 9…… 4761 words. To date…… 31076
Fiction for October…………………… 23205
Fiction for 2023………………………… 240747
Fiction since August 1………………… 126200
Nonfiction for October……………… 8150
Nonfiction for the year……………… 206490
Annual consumable words………… 447177
2023 Novels to Date……………………… 4
2023 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2023 Short Stories to Date……………… 6
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………… 75
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)…… 234
Short story collections…………………… 31
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 will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
The Journal Is a Reader-Supported Publication
If you find it of value, you can help keep it going with either a one-time or a recurring monthly donation via debit or credit card or PayPal. Click Here To Donate. Thank you!