The Journal: A Story Idea

In today’s Journal

* Quotes of the Day
* Yesterday
* A Story Idea
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Well, yesterday, finally, I took a few minutes to upload the slightly revised editions of The Rise of a Warrior and Comanche Fire, the first two novels in the Wes Crowley series.

Nothing major. As I was reading through them, I spotted and corrected a few typos. Anyway, anyone who would like a “clean” copy of The Rise of a Warrior, you only need to email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.

A Story Idea

For those of you who enjoy reading or writing dystopian tales…

Imagine a world in which a nation is rapidly approaching an untrusting, disease-rampant society. What happens?

You might roll back the clock a couple of decades and start with “anti-bacterial” products of every kind. Seems to me the most recent I’ve heard of is anti-bacterial paint. I’m not kidding.

If you use this part, remember that “anti-bacterial” products target all bacteria, even necessary, helpful and benevolent ones.

Remember too that as children are treated with these products and no longer allowed to play in the dirt, etc., their body’s natural defense against disease rapidly wanes.

Toss in a bat-borne virus that quickly circles the globe. Take special note of the new “elbow bump” greeting that quickly develops. Note too that it promotes mistrust among the citizens. (I know I washed my hands, but did s/he?) Probably you can ignore the fact that your society skipped right over the fist-bump in favor of the elbow-bump. But include it if you want to.

You might even expand on all of that. Maybe the elbow bump actually eradicates the need, in some people’s minds, to wash their hands often, or at all. (i.e., Why bother when you will never shake hands again?)

Add to that the certainty that any virus, bacterium, etc. can live on elbows as well as hands.

Or skip over that fact and maybe take your story in a wacky direction. Maybe instead of preparing meals with our hands, we do so with our elbows. Maybe some company even develops a line of new, elbow-controlled kitchen implements.

Of if you’re a science-fictiony kind of writer, maybe humanity speeds up the development of robots to prepare and serve our food. Maybe food companies work to make the feeding process easier. Maybe even to bags of food pellets that can easily be emptied onto a plate or into a bowl. The human could then sit at a table, lower his face to the dish, and realize his dog and cat had it right all along.

Ideas cannot be copyrighted, and I know I won’t write any of the above anyway. So if any or all of it appeals to you, dig in.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “How to Write Spaceships” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/how-to-write-spaceships/.

See “Why Detective Fiction Is So Popular” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/06/why-detective-fiction-is-so-popular.html.

See “Another ‘Kryptonite’ Issue: who vs whom” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/another-kryptonite-issue-who-vs-whom/. A little more on the dumbing down of America and that it’s fine.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 500 words

Writing of Wes Crowley, Texas Ranger (novel)
Words brought forward………………………………………… 31,122

Day 1…… 0773 words. Total words to date…… 31895
Day 2…… 2162 words. Total words to date…… 34057
Day 3…… 2642 words. Total words to date…… 36699
Day 4…… 3021 words. Total words to date…… 39720
Day 5…… 2716 words. Total words to date…… 42436
Day 6…… 3935 words. Total words to date…… 46371
Day 7…… 3307 words. Total words to date…… 49678

Total fiction words for June……… 7241
Total fiction words for the year………… 461731
Total nonfiction words for June… 1580
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 107810
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 569541

Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 9
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 62
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31

Disclaimer: In this blog, I provide advice on writing fiction. I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. To be crystal clear, WITD is not “the only way” to write, nor will I ever say it is. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among myriad other topics.