It's All About The Story
...because at that point in the story, the character is fragmented, and I want to convey that to the reader using the narrative. Instead of telling or showing, I want the reader to experience the story.
I am a self-published storyteller, not under contract by a major publishing house and have sold a very limited number of books. In the literary world I am insignificant. That is the truth, but that truth doesn't change the reality that I am a storyteller. Storytelling is my passion and drive. Storytelling is my love... Continue Reading →
...because at that point in the story, the character is fragmented, and I want to convey that to the reader using the narrative. Instead of telling or showing, I want the reader to experience the story.
I have developed a bit of a disdain for the overuse of the term "mental illness." I truly believe it has become overused for what are normal personality traits and differences. In a country as free as the United States of America is supposed to be, we have a group of medical professionals and pharmaceutical... Continue Reading →
.....doesn't mean you didn't tell a good story! On the author pages I belong to on social media, I see comments from authors distraught that someone gave their writing a negative review. In a profound way, when I read these comments, it pains me. When someone reviews a story, the odds are their review does... Continue Reading →
Ernest Hemingway's economy of words style applied not only to his writing. His Nobel acceptance speech is a little over three hundred and thirty words. What an incredible three hundred and thirty words they are.... Having no facility for speech-making and no command of oratory nor any domination of rhetoric, I wish to thank the administrators... Continue Reading →
The last scene of "War Springs Eternal," was a dream and in the dream, the main character was Ernest Hemingway.{I had been reading a biography.} The dream was so vivid, that when I woke, I grabbed my cellphone, opened my memo app, hit the microphone icon and immediately dictated the details of the dream. I... Continue Reading →
Each time I am writing a story, I read the following, and strive to do all except numbers 3 & 6 This particular list comes from open culture. In a writing phase, I read these every morning, every night, and of course, each time before I sit to write or edit. I actually have it... Continue Reading →
Please purchase a copy today. https://www.amazon.com/Springs-Eternal-Damaged-Broken-Collection/dp/1722717998/ War Springs Eternal is dedicated to my brothers and sisters in arms - -To those who were asked to do the unthinkable. -To those who HAD to do the unimaginable. -To those who are broken and still fighting. -To those for whom the fighting became too much. War Springs... Continue Reading →
Florence Zeka, on her blog Fiez-Writer, had a post titled Does Drinking Help With Writing? Of course, I was immediately drawn to the Hemingway quote - “Modern life … is often a mechanical oppression and liquor is the only mechanical relief.” As I read it, I got to thinking about my life. I spent the... Continue Reading →
Hemingway had a simple trick for overcoming writer's block. In a memorable passage in A Moveable Feast, he writes: Sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame... Continue Reading →
"When you first start writing stories in the first person if the stories are made so real that people believe them the people reading them nearly always think the stories really happened to you. That is natural because while you were making them up you had to make them happen to the person who was... Continue Reading →
Hemingway was counted among the lost generation. Today, are we living with a spoon-fed generation? Has a generation which has been conditioned by an educational system that teaches to standardized testing to be little more than automatons, regurgitating information and data as a demonstration of intelligence, now having difficulty grasping Papa's concept of omission as a means... Continue Reading →
I write to show the reality of life's injurious lessons. I write to spark conversation. I write to open eyes.
.....doesn't mean you didn't tell a good story! On the author pages I belong to on social media, I see comments from authors distraught that someone gave their writing a negative review. In a profound way, when I read these comments, it pains me. When someone reviews a story, the odds are their review does... Continue Reading →
I had always believed living such a great life in my youth was a blessing. Now that I am older and realize my life will never be that great again; it has become a curse. Right out of high school, I began what was believed to be a grand adventure. I joined the navy with... Continue Reading →
The last scene of "War Springs Eternal," was a dream and in the dream, the main character was Ernest Hemingway.{I had been reading a biography.} The dream was so vivid, that when I woke, I grabbed my cellphone, opened my memo app, hit the microphone icon and immediately dictated the details of the dream. I... Continue Reading →
Hemingway had a simple trick for overcoming writer's block. In a memorable passage in A Moveable Feast, he writes: Sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame... Continue Reading →
“… the alteration of a word can throw an entire story out of key.” Ernest Hemingway I have had people criticize my work for breaking conventional rules of writing and grammar. Sometimes, these notes are accurate, and I make corrections. More often, they are given by those who believe themselves superior to the storyteller. These over... Continue Reading →
.....doesn't mean you didn't tell a good story! On the author pages I belong to on social media, I see comments from authors distraught that someone gave their writing a negative review. In a profound way, when I read these comments, it pains me. When someone reviews a story, the odds are their review does... Continue Reading →
The last scene of "War Springs Eternal," was a dream and in the dream, the main character was Ernest Hemingway.{I had been reading a biography.} The dream was so vivid, that when I woke, I grabbed my cellphone, opened my memo app, hit the microphone icon and immediately dictated the details of the dream. I... Continue Reading →
The last scene of "War Springs Eternal," was a dream and in the dream, the main character was Ernest Hemingway.{I had been reading a biography.} The dream was so vivid, that when I woke, I grabbed my cellphone, opened my memo app, hit the microphone icon and immediately dictated the details of the dream. I... Continue Reading →
“… the alteration of a word can throw an entire story out of key.” Ernest Hemingway I have had people criticize my work for breaking conventional rules of writing and grammar. Sometimes, these notes are accurate, and I make corrections. More often, they are given by those who believe themselves superior to the storyteller. These over... Continue Reading →
Hemingway had a simple trick for overcoming writer's block. In a memorable passage in A Moveable Feast, he writes: Sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame... Continue Reading →
Yes, one of our very own, a fellow author becomes a totalitarian dictator laying down commandments -- commandments cut in stone by their fiery finger whose very ability to express is a freedom held so dear.
According to Jenna Blum in The Author at Work, “Hemingway said that only the tip of the iceberg showed in fiction—your reader will see only what is above the water—but the knowledge that you have about your character that never makes it into the story acts as the bulk of the iceberg. And that is what gives... Continue Reading →
A good article, written by Hemingway's grandson https://lithub.com/what-hemingway-cut-from-for-whom-the-bell-tolls/ “Who am I?” I am an independent, self-published teller of tales, an author, as of yet, scarcely any renown. However, as a storyteller, I know who I am, and with that persona, I am both confident and comfortable. I invite you to visit my website, ShortStoryScribe.com and/or... Continue Reading →
A while back, I linked to an excellent story on Medium by Steve Newman, “The Death of Ernest Hemingway.” For those new to my writings, I am an admired of Ernest Hemingway, the man and artist and storyteller. In my novel, “One Day I Was,” I create a fictional character, The Old Man, who was a friend of... Continue Reading →
Fifty-eight years ago today, a flawed man, one who forever changed American Literature, died at his own hand. Genius is an over-used word, but that doesn't mean it is misapplied. It is applied across many different fields. Often times, it is up for debate if one is or is not a genius. Over used or... Continue Reading →
Please purchase a copy today. https://www.amazon.com/Springs-Eternal-Damaged-Broken-Collection/dp/1722717998/ War Springs Eternal is dedicated to my brothers and sisters in arms - -To those who were asked to do the unthinkable. -To those who HAD to do the unimaginable. -To those who are broken and still fighting. -To those for whom the fighting became too much. War Springs... Continue Reading →
May I trouble you to read the following excerpt, and if you are at all interested, click on the book's cover and please purchase a copy of War Springs Eternal? Thank you, Joe The sea air of The Shore is somehow both foreign and familiar. I can hear the bustle along the boardwalk. People are... Continue Reading →
To say I have been in a bad place lately would be a gross understatement. I am not unique in being damaged. We are all waging our own personal battles with the world. It is my hope through telling stories of the damaged and broken, I may spark discussions. To help us understand ourselves. To help... Continue Reading →
Of his style Hemingway observed, in “Death in the Afternoon,” “If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them.”
The following is from my debut novel, One Day I Was. In this passage The Old Man and Dominique are discussing Hemingway's suicide. “If my father was such a strong man, then why…” She held back tears, “why did he do something so cowardly and take his own life?” The Old Man stood up. ... Continue Reading →
War Springs Eternal by Joe Leonardi ©2018 All rights reserved. -1- Thunder announces a release from the earth. Fire ignites the darkness. Illuminating the night sky, Hell’s flame explodes bright orange. A yellow, oily rain falls upon the battlefield. It touches the soldiers. Skin boils and blisters. A few will die here. Many, will recover. The... Continue Reading →
The problem with many reviewers is that they are giving their opinion of what they like, not the quality of the story, and more importantly, not the value and understanding of the writer’s heart and soul.
“… the alteration of a word can throw an entire story out of key.” Ernest Hemingway I have had people criticize my work for breaking conventional rules of writing and grammar. Sometimes, these notes are accurate, and I make corrections. More often, they are given by those who believe themselves superior to the storyteller. These over... Continue Reading →
Recently I did a post entitled, Thank You Ernest Hemingway. The post contained seven tips from Hemingway on writing from open culture's website. The #6 tip was to write with a pencil. Hemingway gave three very very good reasons for using a pencil. All three basically boiled down to providing the writer multiple opportunities to... Continue Reading →
Each time I am writing a story, I read the following, and strive to do all except numbers 3 & 6 (which I will discuss in an upcoming post). This particular list comes from open culture. In a writing phase, I read these every morning, every night, and of course, each time before I sit... Continue Reading →
I had always believed living such a great life in my youth was a blessing. Now that I am older and realize my life will never be that great again; it has become a curse. Right out of high school, I began what was believed to be a grand adventure. I joined the navy with... Continue Reading →
Am I wrong in my presumption that by omitting parts of the story, they will understand the layered depth of the world I am creating? Or, is their perception limited only to what the words which appear on the page, or screen, tell them?
Cash can’t be saved. Retirement is nothing but a dream. I will most likely die on the job, or homeless, cryogenically preserved in some street’s gutter.
Thank you for all of you who follow and read my blog. Lately I have been posting almost daily. I am now getting back into writing "The Damaged and Broken Stories," so, will be posting about 2 - 3 times a week. The following are my plans for the next 6 months, I am expecting to... Continue Reading →
I have developed a bit of a disdain for the overuse of the term "mental illness." I truly believe it has become overused for what are normal personality traits and differences. In a country as free as the United States of America is supposed to be, we have a group of medical professionals and pharmaceutical... Continue Reading →
...because at that point in the story, the character is fragmented, and I want to convey that to the reader using the narrative. Instead of telling or showing, I want the reader to experience the story.
I am a self-published storyteller, not under contract by a major publishing house and have sold a very limited number of books. In the literary world, I am insignificant. That is the truth, but that truth doesn't change the reality that I am a storyteller. Storytelling is my passion and drive. Storytelling is my love... Continue Reading →
The fact of the matter is that life can suck. For so many there is no joy, there is no elation, there is no happiness. The treadmill to nowhere keeps moving and there is no choice but to keep pace until the effort causes the body to become frail, the mind to falter, and the soul to flail.
As writers and storytellers, we are often too in tune to our emotions and sensitivities. However, it can lead to unique insights.... There was a time I looked forward to each day. There was a time when I was ready. I now know I wasn't ready. I now know I won't ever be ready. The... Continue Reading →
According to Jenna Blum in The Author at Work, “Hemingway said that only the tip of the iceberg showed in fiction—your reader will see only what is above the water—but the knowledge that you have about your character that never makes it into the story acts as the bulk of the iceberg. And that is... Continue Reading →
Take a tour of Key West, Florida and follow the Old Man as he passes on his accumulated knowledge of being alive for more than 200 years. One Day I Was is a work of historical fiction that follows the Old Man on a journey through U.S. history. During his expansive lifetime, The Old Man... Continue Reading →
