In Today’s Journal
* My Quote of the Day
* What’s Common to Different Genres and…
* Mentorship Slots Open
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
What’s Common to Different Genres and to Different Methods of Delivery (or Presentation)
You want to read this.
A young writer who was on my mentorship waiting list mentioned recently that she was going to switch from writing fiction (meaning short stories and novels) to writing screenplays.
Of course, that’s fine. But as I told her, screenplays are still fiction. The only difference is the mode of delivery (or presentation).
Now, I don’t mentor students on formatting screenplays. It isn’t my area of expertise. But the same requirements of fiction still apply across the board:
- In the screenplay (or play), the writer still describes the setting and action for visual representation later on film or stage. The writer and/or director ‘blocks’ the actors or where to stand and what to do (gestures, facial expressions, etc.) as they’re delivering their lines. Later, viewers or attendees physically see the setting and hear the dialogue spoken aloud.
- In fiction presented as a story or novel, the writer delivers all of that description plus character description (including gestures, facial expressions, etc.) as a backdrop to the dialogue, and the reader sees and hears everything in his or her mind.
As an aside, this is why I keep saying ‘Take Your Time’ in writing description of the characters and setting. The reader can only see, hear, smell, taste and feel (physically and emotionally), what you put on the page. Period.
As I also told that writer, a mentorship with me is not a magic bullet. You still have to do the actual work of the writing.
In other words, you have to practice regularly by putting new words on the page. If you don’t, no matter what I teach you or what you learn elsewhere about writing fiction, it won’t sink in.
I should also mention that to enroll in a mentorship with me, you don’t ‘have’ to write into the dark.
How you choose to write is strictly up to you, but the craft itself doesn’t change.
The bullet points below are true of all fiction across the genres and across the various modes of delivery (how you present the fiction).
- You have to write a great opening that invites the reader into the story.
- You have to keep the writer engaged throughout the story with description of the setting(s) and character(s).
- And you have to work all of that through to a satisfactory resolution and ending.
If you do write into the dark, trust yourself and your characters, and continue putting new words on the page in new stories, your characters will do all of that for you.
But if instead you choose to exercise control over the characters and the story through character sketches, world building, outlines, and conscious-mind revisions and rewrites, the three bullet points above still apply and I’ll still mentor you if you want to learn.
All of that is my long-winded way of saying I have a few
Mentorship Slots Open
I still officially have five mentorship students. However, they haven’t kept me nearly as busy as I expected them to.
So if anyone would like a mentorship, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com to at least express your interest.
The cost is only $30 per month. That’s ridiculously cheap.
The mentorship can run for as many months as you want or as few as you want. As long as you pay the $30 per month, you can ask as many questions as you want and receive solid, valid answers.
Again, a mentorship with me won’t be a magic bullet, and I really won’t tell you anything that varies from what I wrote in the numbered list above. I’ll just teach you how to accomplish those things.
The only difference between taking a mentorship with me and reading Writing Better Fiction (for example) and the Journal archives is that in the mentorship we’ll focus on your specific level of craft and on your specific work or work in progress.
So if you want to learn to tell great stories, and if you have a passion for writing and are willing to do the work (practice), a mentorship with me will help.
If you don’t really want to learn or won’t practice, it wont.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
My New Challenge Coming Into Focus
The Numbers
The Journal………………….. 730
Mentorship Words…………….. 2300 (2 emails)
Total Nonfiction…………………. 730
Writing of Blackwell Ops 53: Jack Striker | The Next Level
Day 1…… 2035 words. To date………… 2035
Fiction for December……………………… 2035
Fiction for 2025…………………………… 756682
Nonfiction for December.………………… 4630
Nonfiction for 2025………………..……… 269760
2025 consumable words………………… 1018873
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 18
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 36
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 122
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 310
Short story collections……………………. 29