The Longest Opening I've Ever Written
In Today's Journal
* A New Short Story
* How Important is an Opening?
* Only Four Days Left
* Not to Complain Here But...
* Pulp with a Legacy!
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
A New Short Story
I just posted a really intense, mind-bending short story story that's bonus content for The Darling Members Club, the novel I just serialized at Your Morning Serial.
The short story contains spoilers, so I suggest reading the novel first. You can find the first episode here.
After you've read that, check out "Old Times."
Starting on June 1, I'll serialize the first novel in The Journey Home saga. Your Morning Serial is still free. If you visit at either of the links above, go ahead and subscribe.
How Important is an Opening?
At first, at least, the opening is the most important part of any story.
The opening hooks the reader, introduces the main POV character, then pulls the reader into the story by grounding him in the world the POV character and other characters inhabit.
If you remember, I've said before that an opening can be anything from around 300 words to a full chapter or two or on up.
In this case, the first entire novel (The Journey Home: The Ark) also serves as the 50,000+ word opening for the saga. It's the longest opening I've ever written for a single, ongoing story.
Check it out free beginning on June 1. Enjoy.
Only Four Days Left
on the Echoes of Hemingway short story contest.
Echoes of Hemingway
This is a free short story contest.
Everyone is eligible.
Deadline May 31, 2025.
There are cash prizes.
If I receive enough quality entries, an anthology will result.
For contest rules, click Short Story Contest or The New Daily Journal: Short Story Contest.
Not to Complain Here But...
With this contest, I'm tryin'a get you to believe in yourself a little bit. If you're afraid your story might be rejected...
Well, it might be rejected. Or it might not be rejected.
Don't pre-judge your work on my behalf by not even sending it it. If you wrote it into the dark, chances are it's better than you think.
Hey, your story might even win a cash prize. Or it might not win a prize but it might be included in the anthology and earn you $10. And if it IS rejected, I'll probably tell you why, so you'll have the opportunity to learn something.
In other words, this is a win-win for you, the writer. Plus I don't even do the typical 3-month or 6-month or a year rights-grab.
TNDJ has 200+ subscribers, yet to date I've received 7 short stories. So either everybody out there's writing only novels, or...? Of course, maybe some of you have a story in the works. I hope so.
One of those 7 entries is from a non-subscriber, and one of them was submitted in the wrong format. I've emailed that writer twice asking her to resubmit in .doc, .docx, or .rtf, but she hasn't thus far. And if she doesn't, her entry will be disqualified.
I'll still read it, of course. How terrible it would be to disqualify an excellent, prize-winning short story just because the writer couldn't be bothered to send it in the right format? Sigh.
Pulp with a Legacy!
I have a story ("No Way Alive") in the upcoming anthology True Pulp, edited by bestselling authors Troy Lambert and Vin Zandri. They're even doing a Kickstarter for it beginning on June 3.
But there's a preview page up Right Now at Kickstarter. If you have a moment, please stop by and check out the True Pulp Kickstarter.
While you're there, do me a personal favor and click "Notify me of Launch" to show your interest. The more people who click before the release, the happier the Kickstarter algorithm will be. Early interest helps a lot.
Of Interest
3 Pulp Fiction Masters to Rediscover
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 640
Writing of Blackwell Ops 45: Sam Granger | Continuing Along the Ghost Trail
Day 1…… 2637 words. To date…… 2637
Day 2…… 3648 words. To date…… 6285
Day 3…… 3483 words. To date…… 9768
Fiction for May………………………... 81505
Fiction for 2025………………………. 459918
Nonfiction for May………………........ 22880
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 123970
2025 consumable words…………….. 577378
Average Fiction WPD (May)……...... 3019
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 11
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 27
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………..... 115
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 297
Short story collections……………………. 29
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.
Writing fiction should never be something that stresses you out. It should be fun. 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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Oh, and here’s My Bio. It’s always a good idea to vet the expertise of people who are giving you advice.
Questions are always welcome at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. But please limit yourself to the topics of writing and publishing.
I just finished up my first attempt at a 'short' story. 13K words that reads more like an abbreviated novella.
I struggled for weeks to shorten it and the more words I found unnecessary, the more details I saw needed to be added to bring clarity to the story. The first draft was about 13.7K and worked it down to a little over 12.9k, but now a little under 13.0K.
Now considering accepting I have either a novelette or a novella and then adding back some of the cut scenes plus a bit more.
The closest I have for a short story is a prologue for a novella. Not sure if that would be acceptable for an entry for anyone. And doing something on Hemingway? That is beyond my ability. Sorry.
Is there a specific genre the short story needs to be in? And can it already be published elsewhere? I have one in mind I'll send over to you if you don't mind the piece already being published on Substack.