In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Welcome
* Happy Mardi Gras
* We Among Aliens
* Speaking of SF
* Of Interest
Quotes of the Day
“Selling has little if anything to do with it. Writers don’t write to sell, we write to tell stories.” Dean Wesley Smith in a response to a comment on his website
“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.” Vincent Van Gogh
“[S]ometimes when I’m stuck coming up with a character in a setting with a problem, I go to http://www.seventhsanctum.com. They have a quick story idea generator there. Really helps to get the sparks popping.” Mark Kuhn
I’m always amazed when writers say they aren’t flooded with story ideas, and frankly, I never knew it was possible to get stuck in trying to come up with a character with a problem in a setting.
Anyway, if you’re one who needs a story-idea generator, there you go. If you key-into any search engine “idea generator” or “story prompts” you can probably find many more.
Welcome to the several new recent subscribers to the Journal. I hope you find it useful for your writing. If I can help in any way, feel free to email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.
To see my creds, click https://hestanbrough.com/my-biography/.
Happy Mardi Gras
Happy Mardi Gras to all, and especially to those who consciously mark the end of Carnival season and the beginning of Lent. May the next year be a wonder to behold.
We, Among Aliens
The phrase “aliens among us” has been around long enough to be widely recognized. But the actual reality is the reverse: we are among aliens.
I have a 10-volume science fantasy series called The Journey Home. In it, a literal boatload of humans embarked on a generation ship to one day establish a presence on a new home world. With help from one of the aliens they encountered, the arrived much earlier than planned.
On the surface of the new planet as they set about the various tasks of colonization, they encountered similar but different animals and plants than those we have on Earth.
Before I return to write more books in that series, I’ll spend a great deal more time looking around right here. Why? Because if you flip everything and assume that we humans came to Earth from elsewhere (or even if you don’t), you’ll see that we’re still discovering strange, alien activities all around us.
For just one, see “Chemical signals from fungi tell bark beetles which trees to infest.” I am not making this up.
The only thing we can really pretend to know are humans, and we have only the slightest grasp of even that topic. Consider, everything else on this planet is an alien lifeform. Everything.
Speaking of SF
If you think AI-generated content isn’t dangerous, SF magazine Clarkesworld reports they are “getting inudated with AI short stories.” As a result, they temporarily blocked all submissions.
The data is almost unbelievable. See Clarkesworld’s tweet at https://twitter.com/clarkesworld/status/1628059492486115328.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Planning For the Unthinkable” at https://killzoneblog.com/2023/02/planning-for-the-unthinkable.html.
See “The Psychology of Personality – Bringing your Characters to Life” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/the-psychology-of-personality-bringing-your-characters-to-life/.
See “Last Day” at https://deanwesleysmith.com/last-day-4/.
See “Salman Rushdie, Brian Cox slam Roald Dahl publisher for inclusive book edits” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/salman-rushdie-brian-cox-slam-roald-dahl-publisher-for-inclusive-book-edits/.
See “Our Share of Night” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/our-share-of-night/. Just seemed like something you might want to see.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 570 words
Writing of Wes Crowley: Deputy US Marshal 2 (WCG9SF4)
Day 1…… 3231 words. Total words to date…… 3231
Day 2…… 2990 words. Total words to date…… 6221
Day 3…… 1805 words. Total words to date…… 8026
Day 4…… 2025 words. Total words to date…… 10051
Total fiction words for February……… 1089
Total fiction words for 2023………… 47962
Total nonfiction words for February… 17840
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 38190
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 86152
Calendar Year 2023 Novels to Date…………………… 1
Calendar Year 2023 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2023 Short Stories to Date… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 72
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: Because It Makes Sense, I preach trusting your characters to tell the story that they, not you, are living. Duh. See My Best Advice for Fiction Writers at https://hestanbrough.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/My-Best-Advice-for-Fiction-Writers.pdf.