For these special posts, I’m providing only an excerpt via email. Please click Read More or Read On near the bottom of the email to read the entire post at the website. Remember, you can get this and other of my works by subscription now at a substantial savings. To learn more about that, click the Subscribe to My Work tab on the website. About the Blog Version Writing the Character-Driven Story is going to be … Read more
Howdy Folks, How many times has some pundit told you to “write what you know”? Uh, no. That is bad advice. Maybe the baddest advice ever, and I mean that in the old sense of “baddest,” before we started dumbing down the language. I mean “worst.” It’s bad advice because the connotation is that you should write ONLY what you know. So what? You’re supposed to write what you DON’T know? Yes. Of course. You should … Read more
Hi Folks, I’m thinking about doing a daylong seminar on this. It would depend on interest. If you happen to be interested and able to travel to Tucson, let me know by email please at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. A brief announcement for a friend. JoAnn Popek and Deborah Owen recently told me about a no-fee short story contest. The deadline is September 15 though, so get cracking. (grin) For guidelines, visit Creative Writing Institute and scroll down. I’ve had questions … Read more
Playing around in Gila National Wilderness or someplace just as wild. No entry today about the day. Topic: Setting and How to Write It Okay, to start a story (of any length) you have to begin. You have to write an opening. In order to write an opening, you have to create a character, give him a problem and drop him into a setting. But what do I mean by “setting”? First, here I’m talking about … Read more
Hi Folks, Well, here we are with another post that isn’t part of the usual series. Still, even with these that are not part of the normal series, I try to pass along what I’ve learned as a writer. This post is the result of an email I received in response to a recent short story of the week. The respondent (also a writer) writes, [H]ow do you manage to get all these stories edited? Congratulations … Read more
Hi Folks, This is a personal aside. It isn’t part of the regular series, which comes out every ten days. There’s some humor here, so I hope you’ll enjoy it. If you take it seriously… well, that’s a function of your perception of yourself, not my intent. Here’s the thing: People keep talking about me having found “my way” to be a writer. Then most often they congratulate me, as if I’d been out in the … Read more
Hi Folks, Okay, this post is gonna be about The Care and Cleaning of Pseudonyms and Personas, Part I: The Pen Name. As usual, I’ll start with a definition. A pseudonym is a pen name. It’s something you use when you want to publish something without allowing others to know you’re the author, or perhaps you want to let them know selectively. Some writers use a pseudonym because doing so makes them feel cool or makes … Read more