The Writer's Journey of John Earl Stark 02 R. L. Saunders - - - - John Earl Stark problems were far from over. He was up to his neck and now his stories were running his life. All he wanted was to improve his book sales. But what he got was too many stories to write. And now he wasn't sleeping as a result. There were just too many and they wouldn't stop coming. He simply couldn't write them fast enough. Worse, the stories were getting jumbled, the characters mixed. If he didn't do something soon, he'd probably go insane. Focus. It's a matter of focus. And staying awake. - - - - Hi-ya, boss. It's been a week of too much and too little. All delivered through dreams, or just after waking. John got way too many. He'd find himself awaks with a story … [Read more...]
The Writer’s Journey of John Earl Stark 01
The Writer's Journey of John Earl Stark 01 by R. L. Saunders The First Four Rules - - - - This is Robert C. Worstell, Chief Editor and Author Wrangler here at Midwest Journal Press. Recently, I had an author return to my stable after a short dint in a "digital rehab". He was a bit more gaunt, a bit hollow-eyed, but calmer. He seemed to have lost a nervous "edge" that he'd always carried around - along with a sharply barbed wit that had a hair trigger. His name is R. L. Saunders. Perhaps you've read some of his books. Maybe not. He said he was back and he wanted to get back into writing. We both knew it wasn't going to be easy. That "addiction" he went off to cure was also his crutch - the one he leaned on to write his satire and parodies. So I gave him a job. We had a … [Read more...]
Writing Your Book: The Genius of Daydreaming – Earl Nightingale
Writing Your Book: The Genius of Daydreaming - Earl Nightingale Another essay by Earl Nightingale from the How to Completely Change Your Life Series A teacher, busy with instructions for the next subject, noticed that one child was gazing out the window. She stopped talking, and the entire class turned to look at the daydreamer. Finally, the child realized everything was too quiet, except for an occasional snicker from another student, and turned to face the teacher. “What have you been doing?” asked the teacher. “I was thinking,” the child replied. The teacher snapped back, “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to think in school!" Whereupon, after a moment of stunned silence, the children burst into helpless laughter, much to the teacher’s embarrassment. I saw the most interesting … [Read more...]
How to Train Your Inspiration Part 2 – Creative Writing
How to Train Your Inspiration Part 2 - Creative Writing (See Part 1 here.) Let's get some facts out in the open: Your imagination is always on. And it's infinite. Seriously. Any "writer's block" was invented and can be released. Use the assignments in Dorothea Brande's "Becoming A Writer" and preferably treat this book as a course, which it was designed to be. Your abilities are unlimited. You can Be and Have anything and everything you can dream of. (See J. B. Jones' "If You Can Count to Four..." and Claude M. Bristol's "Magic of Believing.") You have to do a thorough study of the books and material dealing with the subject of "subconscious" to start understanding your own imagination. Frankly, there hasn't been a definitive Western study of this area. Ever. Lots of … [Read more...]
How Writers Use Imagination for Creative Plotting
PLOTTO: How Writers Use Imagination for Creative Plotting Mastering Plotto Training Series 7 Note: One of the master writers of our age was William Wallace Cook. Producing often a novel per week, he was also a student of dramatic plots. This lesson from his long unavailable “Mastering Plotto” book gives you inside tips on how to improve your story output by coming up with plots more simply. An online version of his PLOTTO is available from Gary Kacmarcik for the exercises below. Enjoy. This is to be the last lesson; and in this, the final lesson, there are several important matters to be discussed. First, there is one very helpful practice in connection with the Plotto Method, and it has to do with what may be called “individualizing Plotto.” You individualize Plotto, of course, … [Read more...]
Plotto: How Writers Use Characterization
Plotto: How Writers Use Characterization Mastering Plotto Training Series 6 Note: One of the master writers of our age was William Wallace Cook. Producing often a novel per week, he was also a student of dramatic plots. This lesson from his long unavailable “Mastering Plotto” book gives you inside tips on how to improve your story output by coming up with plots more simply. An online version of his PLOTTO is available from Gary Kacmarcik for the exercises below. Enjoy. In commercial affairs, a large organization may have intimate relations with a number of subsidiary organizations. The parent organization, in such a case, may exercise control over the subsidiaries by the devise of having some of the directors of the larger company act also as directors of some of the smaller … [Read more...]
