Hey Folks,
Via The Passive Voice, the author of an article at Fast Company states one of the goals of a “3D novel” she wrote was to articulate “some of our generation’s concerns in the sense of … how can we find a future worth living for.”
That got my curmudgeonly hackles up. Maybe because I’ve always had one foot in my father’s generation and one in my own. Maybe because I’ve been close to death a few times. Maybe because I think manufactured-drama is a silly way to shore up your own sense of self-esteem.
Yawn, stretch. Yeah, well, I have some advice for the young woman who wrote the article:
In my humble opinion, one sure way to “find a future worth living for” is to get out of your own 90% and help someone else.
And I don’t mean by spouting idealogical niceties as if you’ve cornered the market on them and then going home to a warm, safe bed. Contribute something real, something concrete.
Join the Peace Corps. Join the military. Donate some time at a soup kitchen. Spend some time actually listening to the elders at a Home. Or even just share your expertise (free) with others.
Of course, another way is to have your air supply suddenly cut off. THAT’ll enable you to see a future worth living for. If only you can claw your way toward it.
But the first way is much less traumatic.
***
We’ve had some new folks join us here, so I thought I’d reference a few links to topics I often mention in the Journal:
See “Character, Setting and Grounding the Reader” at http://harveystanbrough.com/pro-writers/character-setting-and-grounding-the-reader/.
See “Scene and Chapter Breaks and Hooks” at http://harveystanbrough.com/pro-writers/scene-and-chapter-breaks-and-hooks/.
See “On Pacing and Paragraphing” at http://harveystanbrough.com/pro-writers/on-pacing-and-paragraphing/.
***
Laundry day today. Writing and laundry day. So back and forth.
***
I’m glad to see Reedsy is putting more of their excellent articles in blog posts. That means I can share them. (grin) There’s a good one in today’s “Of Interest.” Pay particular attention to the admonition under “Include sensory details.”
But as you read, remember that what a character in a tense situation sees, hears, smells, etc. is probably different than what the same character would see, hear, smell etc. in a non-tense situation. This is where I make my living in my stories. (grin)
Also see “Control the pace.” You can control a lot of that (especially in a tense scene) by hitting the Return (Enter) key more often.
End of lecture. Read it for yourself in “Of Interest.”
***
To the Hovel back and forth while doing laundry, did some cycling and bringing my reverse outline up to date, and wrote a bunch of new words. A little under the weather so I stopped at 2 p.m.
I think I inadvertently found the end of this novel today, which is odd for me, finding it when I still have a major scene to write. But this is a prequel, so….
Of Interest
See John Gilstrap’s “Cla-shack” at https://killzoneblog.com/2018/08/cla-shack.html/.
See “How to Write a Fight Scene” at https://blog.reedsy.com/how-to-write-a-fight-scene/.
See “Writing Believable Make-Believe Begins With Knowledge, Not Guesswork” at https://www.leelofland.com/writing-believable-make-believe-begins-with-knowledge-not-guesswork/.
For an official update on the CreateSpace/KDP Print switchover, see “Hello” at https://www.thebookdesigner.com/2018/08/whats-going-on-with-createspace-and-kdp-print/.
To see KDP Print’s printing costs, click https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201834340.
From the article, “To learn more about the move and review the latest, visit” https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GSJULX3WGP36HQ3R.
Talk with you again soon.
Fiction Words: 3244
Nonfiction Words: 530 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 3774
Writing of Old Endings (Nick Spalding 1)
Brought forward…… 17778 words
Day 1…… 1449 words. Total words to date…… 19227
Day 2…… 1611 words. Total words to date…… 20838
Day 3…… 3169 words. Total words to date…… 24007
Day 4…… 3077 words. Total words to date…… 27084
Day 5…… 2146 words. Total words to date…… 29230
Day 6…… 3882 words. Total words to date…… 33112
Day 7…… 2511 words. Total words to date…… 35623
Day 8…… 3244 words. Total words to date…… 38867
Total fiction words for the month……… 56986
Total fiction words for the year………… 305283
Total nonfiction words for the month… 18530
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 116816
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 421849
Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 6
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 2
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 11
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 32
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 6
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………………… 193