KillZone Blog

The Journal: Short Writing Day

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Short Writing Day and a revelation * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “People want stories. That never changes. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of getting pulled into a fictive dream.” James Scott Bell Short writing day yesterday though it was also an exciting day for me. After writing several short stories and 15 novels in concert with Wes Crowley, he finally told me what happened to him before he met Mac and consequently joined the Rangers. Turns out that’s when his one rule for life was … Read more

The Journal: Some Next-Level Stuff on Pacing

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Some Next-Level Stuff on Pacing * As predicted * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I will fail to success. Two novels this month and four next month.” Dean Wesley Smith “To be an author, you have to sit your gluteus maximus in a chair, somewhere, and string words together.” Reavis Wortham Topic: Some Next-Level Stuff on Pacing Just had a chat with a mentoring student. In part of that, I told her the main thing DWS taught me about pacing: Hit the freakin’ return key (Enter … Read more

The Journal: Don’t Cut Off Your Nose…

In today’s Journal * Topic: Don’t Cut Off Your Nose… * The Novel Wrapped * First Reader? * Of Interest * The Numbers Topic: Don’t Cut Off Your Nose… Before my computer crashed, I had a good quote queued up for today. In that quote Stephen King says [paraphrasing] he doesn’t write in science fiction or westerns or horror or mystery “or any of that,” but his work contains elements of all of them. Amen. (That quote and several other good ones are in one of the vids for which I gave you the URL the other day, the one … Read more

The Journal: Another Brief Note on Focusing Down

In today’s Journal * Another Brief Note on Focusing Down * The Novel * Of Interest * The Numbers Topic: Another Brief Note on Focusing Down Okay, and some story ideas, and a bit on dialogue. Focusing down means making readers lean into the story, or lean into it more closely. It means focusing their attention “down” or more tightly on a detail. You can’t do that with a chase scene. But you can do that with the tires squealing and a wheel cover spinning off and clanging down the side of the road. If it sends people scattering when … Read more

The Journal: Journaling, Focusing Down and More

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Birthday thoughts * Thank you * For those of you interested * Whale Sharks * Focusing Down * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “If you’re only going to mention something once, and it has no other significance to the story, choose one specific detail, and that’s it.” James Scott Bell “In a way we’re stenographers. The story’s being told to us.” Stephen King Happy Birthday to my wife. Today she turns 36. No, seriously. 36. Happy birthday, Honey. Oh, and happy 245th birthday to the USA. Thank … Read more

The Journal: On Taking Your Time and Focusing Down

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: On Taking Your Time and Focusing Down * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I asked him how he described himself on his passport. ‘I bet you call yourself an Author,’ I said. He agreed, with a shade of reluctance, perhaps because he scented sarcasm on the way. ‘Just so,’ I said. ‘Well, I describe myself as a Writer. There are authors and artists, and then again there are writers and painters.’” Ian Fleming “There is only one recipe for a best seller and it is a … Read more

The Journal: Gems About Writing

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Dean Wesley Smith * John Gilstrap * Confidence Matters * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “In this line of work, every moment we live and every person we interact with is a moment of research. More times than not, I find that the really good stuff comes less from studying books than it does from passive listening and watching. It doesn’t take work so much as it takes paying attention.” John Gilstrap “Want to write about quilting? Go where quilters go and then shut up and listen.” … Read more

The Journal: Whalin’s 10 Publishing Myths

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Whalin’s 10 Publishing Myths (a review) * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “A Lisbon, Portugal court just ruled that rather than the ‘official’ 17,000 COVID deaths reported by the health ministries, only 152 actually died of COVID.” Russell Blake Now there’s a current story idea if I ever saw one. “Experience the place through your characters’ eyes [ears, nose, etc. and] … Speak to the senses.” Erika Liodice I recommend Blake’s post on the push to vaccinate children too, especially now that the president seems to be … Read more

The Journal: Tough Love

In today’s Journal * The last item (tough love) * There’s a good chance * Of Interest * The Numbers The last item in “Of Interest” today is titled “An Editor’s Guide to Why You Don’t Suck.” I almost didn’t list it, for a few reasons. 1. The article was written by a “developmental editor.” In other words, someone who believes he understands the content of your book (your story) better than you do. Of course, that’s a scientific impossibility. How can ANYone know “your” story, something that resides in your creative subconscious, better than you do? Well, except your … 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