Bradbury Challenge, and Writers Ask

July 15, 2024 by Harvey

In today’s Journal

* The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting
* Writers Ask
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting

To take part, write at least one short story per week, then submit the story title, word count, and genre to me each week for publication in the Journal on Monday.

The whole point is to have fun and grow as a writer. You can join or rejoin the challenge at any time. There’s no cost. You can even do it on your own, without reporting numbers to me or anyone else.

During the past week, in addition to whatever other fiction they’re writing, the following writers reported these new stories:

• Vanessa V. Kilmer “Picture This” 2402 Paranormal

• Adam Kozak “Knowledge For Sale” 3250 General Fiction

• Christopher Ridge “Spider” 3500 Horror

• Dave Taylor “Population Wars” 2041 Apocalyptic Horror

• Dave Taylor “Learning to Fly” 3257 Science Fiction/Paranormal

Writers Ask

On Health and Writing

A few days ago a writer emailed me with a comment about health and writing:

“I’m a still a pretty recent follower so I don’t know if you’ve written about health and writing.

“For months, I had a hard time writing. Trouble getting to the chair, tired, loud critical voice and I couldn’t hear my characters. I had some other symptoms like being irritated and hungry most of the time, and no matter how much I ate it felt like my body wasn’t using the food.

“I finally saw a doctor and found out I’m pre-diabetic, and have been for a while. We talked. I already have a food diary and exercise, but medicine could help lose weight and reduce chances of getting full diabetes.

“I think it was Week 3 when I noticed changes. My hunger levels are normal, I’m not tired, and I can tell when I’m thirsty or bored. Before both of those read as hunger.

“Also I can hear my characters again. I’m having more fun writing and the critical voice is quieter. Sometimes I’ll get an itchy feeling that I should write. It’s wonderful. I wish I’d had my blood sugar measured earlier.

“I’ll probably reverse my pre-diabetes and then stay on guard. I thought it might help others to be aware that ‘writer’s block’ can be a symptom and that health affects the writing.”

Note: Other than mentioning taking frequent breaks and the importance of posture, I hadn’t written about health and writing. But thanks to this writer, now we have.

POV Q & A

The same day, another writer sent me this comment and question:

“After a first read of Writing Better Fiction, I started reading your novella, A Little Time.

“If Joey doesn’t show up until the sixth paragraph (as the POV character), who is writing the description in the first five paragraphs? It seems acceptable, but I thought everything was to come through a POV character.”

My Response:

Great question. The short answer is, I wrote that a long time ago (late 2015), so it reflects my skill level at that time.

But I was curious, so I just looked at it again.

To answer your question, Joey Bones is the POV character from the opening paragraph. Let me ‘splain.

Everything in the first five paragraphs is what Joey Bones saw as he approached.

The description is also what anyone else would have seen, but that it “looked as if it had been crammed into the roadside cutout” and that the paint was an “unrealistic” sky blue and the plywood goose looked “like a big blue jellybean with tail feathers” are all Joey Bones’ opinions.

A different character almost certainly would have had another opinion of those things. Certainly a local wouldn’t have thought about the restaurant being “crammed into” a cutout in the hillside or the piney woods. That’s all in the first two paragraphs. There are probably other opinions below that.

In paragraph 4, “Although very few over the road truckers came through here” (for example) is me intruding as the writer. No way could Bones have known that, and in my writing today I would never write that.

Paragraph six is actually the next author intrusion. If I were writing that story now, I probably would have started it with something like this:

Oh, I’m Joey Salerno. My friends call me Joey Bones. As I turned my metallic ivory Caddy into the parking lot, I glanced at the girl in the passenger seat, tryin’a figure out what’m I gonna say to her after I park.

But if I revised/rewrote every story or novella or novel I’ve written to bring it up to my current skill level, I wouldn’t have time to do anything else, much less write new stories. (grin)

That’s why I always emphasize putting new words on the page. Hovering over one work is never a good idea. I write, cycle, publish, and then let that work stand as a testament to my skill level at the time.

I very much appreciate the question, but I have a piece of advice. When you’re reading my fiction or anyone else’s (I always recommend Hemingway and King),

1. First read the whole thing strictly for fun or pleasure. Not as a writer, but as a reader, strictly for the story. Allow yourself to be lost in the story, to be entertained.

2. As you read, if a passage has a particular effect on you (wow! or ugh! or if it brings a question to your writer-mind), mark it with a slip of paper or whatever and continue reading for pleasure. Then,

3. After you’ve finished reading or pleasure, go back to the pages you marked with slips of paper and try to figure how the writer caused you to feel blown away or whatever.

What did s/he do with the writing to cause that effect? And if it’s something that causes you, as a writer, to question how it was written, do what you did this time and ask me about it.

This is exactly how I study Hemingway and King et al, though unfortunately I’m not able to ask them directly.

Note: Folks, if you ever have comments or questions about writing fiction, please ask. Answering your questions is the whole purpose of TNDJ and why I’m here, but very few take me up on it.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

Dr. Mardy’s Quotes of the Week (“Sense of Humor”) I meant to post this one last week, but it slipped through the cracks. Enjoy.

The Numbers

The Journal……………………………… 1070

Writing of Blackwell Ops 26: Tailor Moses

Day 1…… 2069 words. To date…… 2069
Day 2…… 3438 words. To date…… 5507
Day 3…… 1464 words. To date…… 6971
Day 4…… 2089 words. To date…… 9060
Day 5…… 1037 words. To date…… 10097
Day 6…… 1092 words. To date…… 11189
Day 7…… 1286 words. To date…… 12475

Fiction for July…………………….….… 19683
Fiction for 2024…………………………. 428952
Fiction since October 1………………… 712326
Nonfiction for July……………………… 17950
Nonfiction for 2024……………………… 228830
2024 consumable words………………… 638099

2024 Novels to Date……………………… 10
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 4
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)……………… 92
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 241
Short story collections…………………… 29

Disclaimer: Harvey Stanbrough is a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog he teaches Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing are lies, and they will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. Harvey will never teach the myths on this blog.

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