The Value of Humor and Interruptions
In Today's Journal
* Quote of the Day
* The Value of Humor and Interruptions
* A Rare Promotion for Another Writing Instructor
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
"[P]ublication is not all it is cracked up to be. But writing is." Ann Lamott
Thanks to Bob B. for this excellent quote.
The Value of Humor and Interruptions
Check out this lengthy excerpt from my current novel. You weel fin' a leetle more dialec' een thees wahn too (grin):
After the hostess seated us and gave us each a menu and a glass of icewater with a clear plastic straw, our waiter—a shy, skinny young man of about fifteen—came to the table, took our orders, and left.
All of that happened in only a few minutes, and suddenly Ariana and I were left to ourselves.
Her hands below the table, maybe clasped in her lap, she leaned forward slightly. “So to be hones’, the people who ron the oil— Tha’ ees nah’ the small talk, bien?”
I smiled. “Well, no. Not really.”
She nodded. “O sí, becauss the small talk ees more like,” she put up her hands, palms out, and made her eyes wide, “‘Ooh look, Jone! There ees the chanze eet migh’ rain!’ Or,” she gestured toward me with one hand and assumed a slightly deeper voice, “‘How abou’ them cowboys’?” She chuckled. “Bueno?”
Before I could respond, she frowned. “An’ why do los Americanos talk so moch abou’ the vaqueros, Jone? An’ wha’ abou’ them? They are smelly an’ their only frien’s are—” She snapped her fingers and frowned. “How you say? Los caballos y vacas?” She grinned. “Ah! The horses an' the cowss.”
I laughed. “You’re refreshing, you know that? They don’t mean real cowboys. They’re talking about an American football team in Texas. But you’re right. That is the small talk.”
She nodded, folded her forearms in front of her chest on the table, and eyed me gravely. “So tahl me, Jone.... Do you think there ees a chanze eet migh’ rain?” She chucked, then watched me as she lowered her head to sip water through her straw. Her hair fell forward on both sides and framed her face perfectly.
I had a feeling that was a well-practiced look of innocence. But it was still beautiful. And funny. I laughed. “I don’t have a clue.” I hesitated, trying not to get trapped in those baleful eyes. I looked down and stirred my water with my straw. “So you were born here in El Salvador?”
She lifted her head from her straw and wiped a drop of water from her lower lip with one finger. “O sí, almos’ twenny-eigh’ years ago. An’ I hahf neffer been marrie’ an’ I hahf no cheeldren,” she made air quotes with her fingers, “‘tha’ I know ahf’.” She giggled. “Oh, an’ my favorite cohlor ees the oranchy-peenk coral.”
She touched my forearm with delicate fingers. “Okay, now you go.” She pulled her hand back and bowed her head to sip water again, but she kept her gaze on me.
I laughed again. “You’re very good at the small talk, aren’t you?”
She lifted her head again and grinned. “I ahm?”
“Yes. And I’m not, but I’ll try. First, I was not born. I was found under a tumbleweed.”
Her eyes aglow, she giggled.
I said, “Okay, I’m 32 years old. I never married, I have absolutely no children, and my favorite color is the orangey-pink coral too.”
“Eenteresting, Jone! We hahf the same favorite color. I think I like tha’.” She frowned. “An’ wheesh way wass the tomblewee’ going?” She chuckled.
I grinned. “South, of course. How do you think I got here?”
She laughed, then laid her hand on my forearm. “An’ now you are more relaxe’, sí? So we cahn talk abou’ the ohther things.”
I frowned. “The other—”
“Perdóneme, señor, señorita.”
We both glanced to my left.
The young waiter was back with our food.
We both leaned back a little as the young man set our plates and glasses of iced tea on the table, then stepped back. He glanced at me, then looked at Ariana. “Algo más, señorita?”
She looked at me. “We wan’ nohthing else, bien?”
“Nothing for me.”
She looked at the waiter, “No, nada más, pero gracias,” she leaned up to look at his name tag, “Miguel.”
On the verge of blushing, Miguel bowed his head, turned away, and left.
She looked at her plate as she started cutting into her steak, her fork in her left hand and her steak knife in her right. “So wha’ ees abou’ the oil people you wan’ to know?”
Ah. The other things.
Do you see how the humor draws the reader into the story?
Humor, interjected naturally, makes for more personable and believable characters.
Also, do you see how the interruption (indicated by the em dash) by the waiter intensifies the reader's experience and pulls him even deeper into the story?
That lone em dash renders both an internal cliffhanger (I frowned. "The other—”) and an internal hook ("Ah. The other things.").
I call those 'internal' because both happen deep inside a scene. They effectively bookend a mini-scene—the waiter's arrival and departure—yet they don't interrupt the overall progression of the larger scene or the flow of the story.
As always, questions are welcome.
A Rare Promotion for Another Writing Instructor
Story Trumps Structure: How to Write Unforgettable Fiction by Breaking the Rules (Steven James, Writer's Digest Books, 2014)
Just glancing at the table of contents, reading the intro, and reading through a few pages during a brief road trip yesteray, this is The Best book on writing fiction I have ever read, including King's book On Writing.
I literally can't think of any living writer (except maybe Stephen King), including myself, who wouldn't learn a ton from this book.
If you do not have this excellent book, I recommend you Buy It Now. Invest in your future as a writer.
You can buy it at
You can find it at Ebay too.
Of Interest
Kickstarter Success: Crowdfund Like a Rockstar YouTube, about an hour.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 1020
Writing of Blackwell Ops 40: John Staple
Day 1…… 3397 words. To date…… 3397
Day 2…… 1651 words. To date…… 5048
Day 3…… 1960 words. To date…… 7008
Day 4…… 1777 words. To date…… 8785
Day 5…… 1310 words. To date…… 10095
Day 6…… 3346 words. To date…… 13441
Day 7…… 3322 words. To date…… 16763
Day 8…… 1062 words. To date…… 17824
Day 9…… 1452 words. To date…… 19276
Day 10…. 4706 words. To date…… 23982
Fiction for March…………………….. 71755
Fiction for 2025………………………. 257586
Nonfiction for March……………........ 24140
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 78070
2025 consumable words…………….. 328146
Average Fiction WPD (March)……... 2760
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 6
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 11
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………..... 110
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 281
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.
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.
If you are able, please support TNDJ with a paid subscription. Thank you!
If you’re new to TNDJ, you might want to check out these links:
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.
Harvey,
I have this Story Trumps Structure book. Based on Steven James's practical experience as a successful novelist, I'd approach fiction writing this way (except I would just study his advice, then approach into the dark, because I believe James does things consciously, then he edits after). To overview in ten:
1. Start with tension, not structure - Begin with a character who wants something badly but cannot get it. This unmet desire is the engine of all stories.
2. Apply the Ceiling Fan Principle - From an funny anecdote to remember that a story only begins when something goes wrong. No disruption means no story.
3. Write organically - Instead of plotting beforehand, ask these three crucial questions:
- What would this character naturally do in this situation?
- How can I make things worse?
- How can I end this in a way that's unexpected yet inevitable?
4. Follow causality - Ensure each event is caused by what precedes it, moving from cause to effect, not effect to cause.
5. Build scenes around transformation - Only render scenes where something important is altered; otherwise, summarize.
6. Create dimensional characters - Give characters variable status across different relationships and situations. No one is dominant or submissive in every context. Focus on moral dilemmas and creating characters with genuine struggles.
7. Focus on reader engagement - Maintain the "story bubble" by avoiding anything that pulls readers out—clever literary devices, coincidences, or intrusive agendas.
8. Make and keep promises - Every word creates expectations. The more words you spend on something, the more important readers will expect it to be.
9. Escalate tension continuously - Don't just add more action; make the character's situation progressively worse until the climax.
10. Write the middle and end first - Discover where the story naturally leads, then go back and ensure the beginning points in that direction.
Remember James's core philosophy: story trumps everything that doesn't serve the reader. Rules, structures, and techniques are all subordinate to creating an emotionally engaging experience that keeps readers turning pages.
Overall, it reminds me of DWS essentials, and is ultimately similar (if deliberately Pantsing is) to Writing Into The Dark and Cycles as you explained in Writing Better Fiction.
Since you are still on the dialect topic at least somewhat, wanted to mention some recommendations I read for some dialects in fiction. In case anyone wants to read fiction books that use it. There recommended authors were Cormac McCarthy for southern USA, Joe Lansdale especially "Sunset and Sawdust" for East TX rural speech, Elmore Leonard, and Robert Parker for Boston Black and White dialects. I have not read any of these myself, just passing on if anyone is interested in these.