In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Topic: Focus Down and Mentorships
* Update on my writing
* WMG Workshops Half-Price Sale
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“Fiction is a lie, and good fiction is the truth inside the lie.” Stephen King in On Writing
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.” Mark Twain in Following the Equator
“On the focus of a story, she writes ‘…the only remedy is resolutely to abandon the larger for the smaller field, to narrow one’s vision to one’s pencil, and do the small thing closely and deeply rather than the big thing loosely and superficially.'” Debbie Burke in TKZ on Edith Wharton
Topic: Focus Down and Mentorships
In the third quote of the day above, Edith Wharton’s advice to “narrow one’s vision to one’s pencil, and do the small thing closely and deeply rather than the big thing loosely and superficially” is spot on and will always be timely.
In other words, Focus Down, a technique I first learned from reading Stephen King’s and Hemingway’s and Jack Higgins’ work. Think of the never-repaired stair step in <i>Modern Family</i> or find your own examples. Great fiction is full of them. The tighter the focus, the more deeply the reader is grounded in and surrounded by the story.
I’ve been thinking about writing a non-fiction book on the technique, but I don’t know whether the thought will ever come to fruition. I’m having too much fun writing fiction.
I’ve added the technique to all of my Writing Craft mentorships though. You might consider this as an alternative to the WMG Publishing workshops. No filler in my mentorships.
Man! For some reason, I’m having fits trying to reach my daily word count on this novel. Had a great day the first day, but the next three days I fell short. Thanks to that first great day, my average is still over 4200 words per day, so I’ll take it, but I’m hoping today I can break whatever little curse this is and reach my daily goal.
Dean and WMG Publishing are offering the half-price sale on workshops again, and everything is included. For details see “Of Interest.” You can also go to https://wmg-publishing-workshops-and-lectures.teachable.com/ and look around. The code for the half-price sale is AGAIN.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Workshop Sale AGAIN!” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/workshop-sale-again-2/.
See “Workshop Questions and Day Four: Writing a Novel in Half a Month” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/workshop-questions-and-day-four-writing-a-novel-in-half-a-month/.
See “The first helicopter on Mars phones home after Perseverance rover landing” at https://www.space.com/mars-helicopter-ingenuity-okay-perseverance-rover-landing.
See “From Mark Twain to Ray Bradbury, Iconic Writers on Truth vs. Fiction” at https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/01/27/famous-authors-on-truth-vs-fiction/. (Thanks to JGV for the tip.)
See “Public Domain Day 2021 and Writing Advice from 1925” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/02/public-domain-day-2021-and-writing-advice-from-1925.html.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 460 words
Writing of The Journey Home: Part 7 (novel)
Day 1…… 6065 words. Total words to date…… 6065
Day 2…… 3887 words. Total words to date…… 9952
Day 3…… 3170 words. Total words to date…… 13122
Day 4…… 3862 words. Total words to date…… 16984
Total fiction words for February……… 78786
Total fiction words for the year………… 176263
Total nonfiction words for February… 14760
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 40090
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 216353
Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 3
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 1
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 57
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 215
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
By Focus Down do you mean:
Leitmotif? Theme (woven through human nature like a damning red thread — SK). A running gag… Or even perhaps an echoing metaphoric contrast revisited during denouement.
:^)
This really is a book worth topic.
Yes, all of that and more, but not in a reading group or literary discussion or lecture hall. All of that but dripping from the tip of your fingers onto a keyboard or from the tip of your pen onto a yellow legal pad. And all of that from the POV character, not the writer.
… Maybe, what I meant to say was Focus on a reoccurring burden carried, yet SENSORILY revealed, while moving across the burning arena sands amid the heavy fighting of the story, regardless of whether it’s an action story or not.
Everything in any story should be sensorily revealed whether it’s an action story or not. In your example I’m talking about the corn on the guy’s right foot that causes a minor limp or the sand that scoops annoyingly into his sandal or the sting of the sun on his shoulders or the one tickling trickle of sweat trailing down his back that distracts him just as the other guy’s blade appears in his left periphery.