Hey Folks, Well, the transition from HEStanbrough.com to HarveyStanbrough.com with the Journal seems to have been flawless. No problems reported as yet. I rolled out around 3:30 this morning but did very little for the first 4+ hours other than email, Facebook and games. * * * The floor of our house, with the exception of the bedroom and the two offices, is Saltillo tiles. The house itself is rammed earth. Think adobe, but without bricks. … Read more
Hey Folks, Beginning today, I’m posting this Journal to my main site at HarveyStanbrough.com. If you came here looking for the Free Story of the Week, either scroll to the blog post below this or click the Free Story of the Week tab in the menu. It will still post every Friday at 8 a.m. If you’re looking for the Pro Writers blog post, click the Pro Writers tab in the menu. It will still post … Read more
Hi Folks, Awhile back, another professional fiction writer drank some Kool-Aid. Then he wrote a post about strong female characters. Oh, except that you can’t qualify them as “strong” because that word has too many “male connotations.” So instead you have to “give them agency” and blah blah blah. Holy crap. And wholly crap. Do I have something against strong female characters? Hell no! But I do have something against the writer acting as a god, … Read more
Hey Folks, A friend sent me some information re the upcoming NaNoWriMo annual “challenge.” In case you’re interested, the link is Tips for Surviving the Agony and Ecstasy of NaNoWriMo. There, I’ve done my civic duty. Now I can play a bit. Okay, first, how about that title, eh? I mean, seriously, “The Agony and Ecstasy”? Does that evoke a picture of a poor, beleagured, suffering-for-his-art writer with one forearm flung dramatically across his forehead or … Read more
Hi Folks, Note: This post was originally scheduled for 9/10/2013. It didn’t post to MailChimp, so I’m posting it again now. I’ve revised the original post so it’s up to date. As I write this, I just had an excellent question from an acquaintance in Tucson who wrote that she had bought my Punctuation for Writers a few years ago at a Society of Southwestern Authors (SSA) meeting and had found it useful. However, it had … Read more
Hi Folks, More and more often recently, I’m being asked about ghostwriters. Why to hire one, and why not to hire one. So I put together this handy list for you. When folks ask me why I recommend hiring a ghostwriter, my first answer is always this: First and foremost, a professional ghostwriter is a professional writer. When we want something done right, we employ someone who’s already mastered the learning curve. Hiring a professional always … Read more
Hi Folks, If you are fortunate enough that a professional writer who is much farther down the road happens to offer a critique of your work (most won’t, and I don’t), consider carefully what he or she has to say. Then decide whether to apply it to your own work. Apply it or discard it. Up to you. However, if you receive any free critique of your writing from anyone else, my advice is to nod, … Read more
Hi Folks, I first heard the term “jagged edge” (as applicable to writing) used by SF author CJ Cherryh at Eastern NMU in Portales NM. She was talking about writers’ block and how to conquer it. (This technique works well when writing any genre of fiction, not only SF.) If you’re still at the stage where the blank page is intimidating, or if you “get stuck” when you come back to your WIP after time away … Read more
This is a topic of the day from my Daily Journal yesterday. I’m considering moving the Daily Journal over here and posting it to my Pro Writers list every day. If you’re reading this, you’re on that list. Anyway, here’s a topic of the day for you. Story Starters, Openings and How to Write Fiction One person asked me in an email yesterday where I get ideas and how I can move from story to story. … Read more
Hi Folks, Because many of you still haven’t made the switch to my Daily Journal, I decided to post this over here as well. This is for you, not me. Workshop Report I finally watched and listened to the Week 1 videos from Dean Wesley Smith’s Teams in Fiction workshop at about 6:30 last night. I expected them to be bland and boring in the first week. Nature of the beast. In the first week, because … Read more