In Today’s Journal
* The TNDJ Challenges Report
* Chapter Heads
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
The TNDJ Challenges Report
The whole point of these challenges is to have fun and grow as a writer.
There is no cost. Feel free to jump in at any time.
Participating in any challenge is a way to drive yourself to the computer or legal pad and write fiction. It’s also a great way to build and maintain a streak.
As if writing more and better fiction isn’t enough, I even offer prizes. To see those, please visit The NEW TNDJ Challenges. BUT note the change in the Run With Harvey Challenge below.
Bradbury Challenge
The only requirement is to write at least one short story, short-short story, or essay per week.
During the past week, the following writers wrote these new stories:
- Erin Donoho “The Girl Who Looked Like Winona Ryder” 1100 middle-grade contemporary.
- Loyd Jenkins “The Shadow and the Light of Norwood” 3410 Fantasy
- Vanessa V. Kilmer “Shell Game” 3111 Dystopian Farce
- KC Riggs “Valhalla” SF 2315
- Dave Taylor “The Bounty Hunter’s Enigma” 4402 Time Travel
- Mattie Fern Worrix “Santa’s Little Yelper” 3075 romantic comedy
The Stephen King Challenge
The requirement is to maintain an average of at least 1000 words per day as you proceed through writing a novel or novella.
- Jacob Hawes “Crystal God 2” 7433 Fantasy To date 42964
The Run With Harvey Challenge
NEW! Since the SK Challenge above is restricted to novels and novellas, I changed this one a little so writers of shorter works can still participate.
The requirement is now to maintain an average of at least 1000 (up to 2000) words per day. The words can go into any short or long fiction or both.
- Balázs Jámbor 7000 words this week
Congratulations to all of these writers. They’re kickin’ it!
Chapter Heads
I talked about this awhile back and thought I’d talk about it again.
Everything is about not interrupting the reading of your work.
These days, I use a common sense approach to chapter heads. And I use chapter heads (or not) in short stories, novellas, and novels depending on the content of those.
By the way, despite what you’ll read below, for dramatic effect I sometimes use numeral-only chapter heads in short stories (e.g., 1, 2, 3, etc.).
But otherwise, first, as a separator between one scene and another or to indicate a passage of time or change of setting inside a chapter, I use a single, centered asterisk: ( * ). I don’t skip a line or leave a blank line before or after it.
Like a good tag line, the single centered asterisk is almost silent. It subliminally indicates the skip, but it doesn’t overtly interrupt the reading.
Then, if the chapters would only be numbered (Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc.) in whatever I’m writing, instead of bothering with all of that, I use a trio of spaced, centered asterisks (* * *) followed by a blank line to indicate a major passage of time or change of setting/scene. Again, it’s less intrusive. I don’t skip a line before that series of asterisks.
But if the chapters are actually named and therefore provide something useful to the reader, for example, a kind of preview of the chapter (Chapter 1: Spokane to Seattle, Chapter 2: Seattle, and Caroline Simon, Chapter 3: Reggie Slake, and the Egress, etc.) then I use chapter heads.
They provide a break for the reader, but again, they also provide something useful.
I’ve created a novel template with styles for the body text and chapter heads:
- The body text, in 1.5 line spacing, is 10-point, left-justified Georgia with a .25 first-line paragraph indentation and zero spacing before and after the paragraphs.
- The chapter heads (also in 1.5 line spacing) are 12-point Georgia, centered. There is also an18-point space before and after each chapter head.
I’d be happy to send the template I use to anyone who would like it. You may email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. When you receive it, I suggest you Save As a different file name, then modify it if you want.
If you want to use it as-is, you can do that too. Again Save As first, then save it as whatever file name you want (I suggest using the title of the story or novel). Then separately highlight the title, author name, chapter head, body text etc. and replace each with your own text.
It’s nice to be able to just start typing on your next work without having to set up styles again, etc. (grin)
You’re also welcome to use, without any kind of attribution, my front matter and back matter, including my disclaimers, if you so choose. You’ll see them in the template.
For those who would like it, I also have a Reverse Outline template in a .txt document.
A reverse outline is basically an ongoing note you update as you finish a chapter (hence, reverse outline) so you don’t have to scroll endlessly through your Word document manuscript to find various facts.
Finally, I also have a short story template that I use, but it’s very similar to the novel template.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
The Secret Weapon Behind Every Great Character Arc
Unlocking Amazon Ad Success: Set Up an Automatic Targeting Campaign
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 840
Writing of Blackwell Ops 49: Wesley Stark
Day 1…… 2381 words. To date…… 2381
Day 2…… 3283 words. To date…… 5664
Day 3…… 2934 words. To date…… 8598
Day 4…… 2305 words. To date…… 10903
Fiction for October………………… 34458
Fiction for 2025…………………… 612996
Nonfiction for October.…………… 8090
Nonfiction for 2025……………….. 218200
2025 consumable words………… 823627
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 15
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 32
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 119
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 306
Short story collections……………………. 29