November, and a Great Response

October 26, 2024 by Harvey

In today’s Journal

* A New Short Story
* November Is Coming
* What Is a First Reader?
* Wow! Great Response!
* The Writing
* The Numbers

A New Short Story

“Brain Food” went live yesterday at 10 a.m. on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. Go check it out. I think of this one as being a kind of magic realism that happens in the reader’s mind rather than on the page.

As always, if you enjoy it, please tell Everyone. If you don’t, shhh! (grin)

November Is Coming

Hey guys, November is fast approaching and it’s a 30-day month.

Several of you joined the challenges I handed you in September, so for November I want to offer something similar. We’ll call this one…

The Stephen King Challenge

The great novelist and short story writer Stephen King has often been quoted as saying he writes 1000 words per day. Let’s keep it simple and do the same.

The challenge is to write at least 1000 words per day (wpd) of publishable fiction every day during the month of November 2024. (If you set your daily goal at 1100 or 1200, you’ll almost always hit or exceed 1000 wpd.)

To write 1000 words takes only about an hour. If you WITD, this is easy. If you don’t, this is an excellent time to try it.

It’s also an excellent way to see for yourself the power of a streak. You’ll build an enjoyable new habit. If you write 1000 wpd for only a few days in a row, it will be difficult NOT to write 1000 words on the next day.

And of course, you will produce more stories or advance your novel more rapidly.

That said, average is what truly matters. If you miss your goal a day or two but still write 7000 words on the week and/or 30,000 words on the month, that’s a total win. There is no downside.

The Rules (please read carefully)

1. This is open to everyone, whether paid or free subscribers. Both are eligible for the prizes (see below).

2. Email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com on or before November 1 to tell me you’re joining the challenge. I’ll add you to the list so I don’t forget.

3. Email me once a week during the challenge, specifically on November 10, 17, 24 and December 1 (every Sunday) with your word count for the previous week. (So you get two extra days for the first week.)

• If you’ve made at least 7,000 words in any week (despite what you accomplished each day), you get one nonfiction or fiction ebook free from my personal canon.

• Important: Be sure to tell me in your weekly email which ebook you want and in which format. I won’t ask this time.

4. On December 1, if you’ve written or exceeded the 30,000 word goal (again, despite what you accomplished every day or every week), you get at least one free audio course worth $50:

• You may choose either Course 1 or Course 6, OR

• You may choose any two from among Courses 2, 3, 4, and 5.

So that’s 30 days, at least 30,000 words of publishable fiction.

Imagine how competing with yourself in this challenge will help your self-confidence going forward. Not to mention how much IP you will have added to your inventory.

And I hope you’ll keep the writing going after the challenge ends on November 30.

What Is a First Reader?

I get this question from time to time, and it’s been awhile since I posted anything about first readers.

I never recommend “beta” readers or critique groups or anyone else who enters into your writing with their conscious, critical mind.

Trust me, allowing anyone else into your work is ALWAYS a bad idea. In fact, if you can’t find a good first reader, I recommend you read your work yourself —aloud—rather than sending it to anyone for critique.

On the other hand, a good first reader is absolutely invaluable, especially for longer works. The best first reader is an avid reader, especially if s/he enjoys your fiction.

If your first reader is also a fiction writer, that’s fine, but it isn’t necessary. And depending on the writer, it can even be detrimental (see ‘What I Don’t Need’ below).

What I Require from a First Reader

1. Above all, Read Strictly for Pleasure, never critically. Then…

• Note anything that shoves or jerks you out of the story (usually confusion over something. Let the writer know where in the story you became disoriented, and why if you know.

• Note any wrong words (e.g. waste vs. waist, blue vs. blew, etc.)

• Note any inconsistencies, like eye color or clothing or a changed name. Don’t “look for” those details, but if they pop out at you, let the writer know.

2. Don’t try to spare the writer’s feelings. That isn’t helpful. Just tell the writer the truth.

I strongly recommend you levy the same requirements on your own first reader.

What I Don’t Need

• Don’t tell the writer how you would have written the story.

• Don’t tell the writer what the story makes you think of me personally (my mental health, my political attitude, religious beliefs, language, etc.) It’s the characters’ story, not mine.

• Don’t worry about spelling, grammar, etc. unless it confuses you, gets in the way of your understanding, or pulls you from the story.

The Benefits to Being a First Reader

• You get to read the story, second only to the writer.

• Your name should be listed under Credits in the backmatter of the book.

• You should get a free ‘clean’ copy of the book after it’s published.

I should mention that my own first reader, Russ Jones, is an avid reader. He enjoys my fiction, and he usually turns around my novels in a matter of a few hours. The guy is sheer gold.

Wow! Great Response!

I received more responses than I expected to my offer to enter into a collaboration. In fact, if s/he comes through, I’ve already selected the first writer I’ll be writing with.

But if you’re interested in entering into a collaboration with me, there’s still room.

I’m building a list of interested writers for now and in the future. To get on that list, send me your general story idea. A sentence or two and what you expect the genre to be is fine. (No ‘slash and gash’ horror and no graphic erotica.)

I hope to continue collaborating with other writers from the list into the future.

From now into early November, I’ll select some other writers to work with from among that list. The initial selections will be based on your general story idea.

If you want, you can also write an opening and the first scene and send that along with the general story idea. That will show me you’re confident and really interested.

In the final analysis, the writing will determine my interest level, so I strongly recommend you write into the dark and just let the story be what it wants to be.

Remember, the characters can always tell their story better than you can.

So don’t add or delete anything they give you. Your only job is to present it on the page. (You can learn how to do that with Writing Better Fiction.)

If this works out well, I might collaborate with as many as two writers at a time. How can I do that?

I’m a fiction writer, so writing fiction, putting new words on the page, is what’s important. Into which story or novel the words go, not so much. (grin)

Any questions, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com to ask.

The Writing

No fiction writing yesterday. Only the second day all month I haven’t written any fiction. I worked on a copyedit instead.

Today I’ll write my short story for the Bradbury Challenge for the week, then go to work on the edit again.

Talk with you again soon.

The Numbers

The Journal……………………………… 1280

Writing of “”

Day 1…… XXXX words. To date…… XXXX

Fiction for October……………………. 77902
Fiction for 2024……………………….. 819410
Nonfiction for October……………….. 26380
Nonfiction for 2024……………………. 329970
2024 consumable words……………… 973419

Average Fiction WPD (October)……… 3116

2024 Novels to Date……………………….. 15
2024 Novellas to Date……………………… 1
2024 Short Stories to Date………………… 18
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………..……. 97
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………. 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………..… 255
Short story collections…………………….….. 29

Disclaimer: Whatever you believe, unreasoning fear and the myths that outlining, revising, and rewriting will make your work better are lies. They will always slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.

On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Because of WITD and because I endeavor to follow those Rules I am a prolific professional fiction writer. You can be too.

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