JonathanTurley.org

The Journal: Be True to the Story

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Be True to the Story * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “I never consciously place symbolism in my writing. That would be a self-conscious exercise and self-consciousness is defeating to any creative act. Better to let the subconscious do the work for you, and get out of the way. The best symbolism is always unsuspected and natural.” Ray Bradbury “Symbolism? Symbolism is what critics search for and readers sometimes believe they discover. But it has nothing to do with me. I just write the stories.” Gervasio Arrancado, writer of … Read more

The Journal: New Releases

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * New Releases * Of all the blogs I visit and read * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quotes of the Day “[Y]our words are how you see yourself, your actions are how other people see you.” Farnam Street blog “Talent sets the floor, character sets the ceiling.” Bill Belichick “If you’re too busy to read the fine print and figure out what it means, don’t enter the contest.” The Passive Voice New Releases Well, Wes Crowley: The Final Chapter went live yesterday. You can see it at https://books2read.com/u/3Lw9le. That’s the … Read more

The Journal: SpaceRons, and Author Angst

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Novel Wrapped * Author Angst * SpaceRons * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “We have have been discussing how writers, editors, commentators, and academics have embraced rising calls for censorship and speech controls…” Jonathan Turley Well, my short novel wrapped yesterday at a little over 28,000 words. I was fine with that. Honestly, this one felt more like a really long short story than a novella or novel. (grin) That makes an even dozen novels this year so far, including novels 5-10 of the SF FOH … Read more

The Journal: On the Use of Language

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: On the Use of Language * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Polish-American scientist and philosopher Alfred Korzybski remarked that ‘the map is not the territory’ and that ‘the word is not the thing,’ encapsulating his view that an abstraction derived from something, or a reaction to it, is not the thing itself.” Wikipedia On the Use of Language Most if not all nouns and verbs and phrases in the English language have at least two meanings: the actual definition(s) (the denotation) and the implied meaning in … Read more

The Journal: Weird and Weirder

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Weird and Weirder * The monsoons are here * Topic: Deciding Who You Are * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “If you could go on a no-return trip into the future, say hundreds of years, would you? And why would you do that?” story prompt from Dean Wesley Smmith Weird. I couldn’t help but notice the novel wrapped on Writing Day 14. That seems to happen a lot. Talk about an active creative subconscious! It even crossed my mind that maybe my creative subconscious was jerking me … Read more

The Journal: Mentorships, and Just for Fun

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The first quote of the day * I used to teach * Just for Fun * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Two to three years writing one novel. What the hell? What is she doing the rest of the time? Actually playing the harp? Because real writers write.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” Stephen King The first quote of the day is from the first post listed in “Of Interest.” I also … Read more

The Journal: On Censorship and Cancel Culture

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: On Censorship and Cancel Culture * Patreon * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “The job boils down to two things: paying attention to how the real people around you behave and then telling the truth about what you see.” Stephen King “Authors are now being successfully pressured to remove lines from published books that are deemed objectionable by some readers. … The point of cancel campaigns is to create a chilling effect for academics, writers, editors, and others.” Jonathan Turley, author of the first item listed … Read more