A CAST OF LOVERS, LIARS, KILLERS, AND CLOWNS ...

http://www.amazon.com/THE-STARS-BLEED-AT-MIDNIGHT-ebook/dp/B00N758R96

D.G once wrote a post on it:
http://dghudson-rainwriting.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-stars-bleed-at-midnight-and-bear.html

THE BEST REVIEW YOU'LL NEVER READ ON AMAZON

Sandra Thrasher, ill though she is, sent me a review of my book that she doesn't feel right putting on Amazon

since she is my best friend, but I just had to share:

"Heady, sardonic, yet compassionate -- with an unpredictable cast of lovers, liars, killers, and clowns, THE STARS BLEED AT MIDNIGHT entertains even as it reflects upon the instability of identities.  

It is a thoroughly entertaining book by a classic talent."

But enough about me ... on to a real talent I talked about 2 days ago: Patricia Briggs:

 http://www.amazon.com/Shifting-Shadows-Stories-World-Thompson-ebook/dp/B00IOE4M9O/

Her latest: SHIFTING SHADOWS is a volume of short stories centering on her secondary characters in her world of MERCY THOMPSON.

The intros to those stories are mini-lessons on how to write.  

If you buy only one book this month:

Buy mine, but buy hers next month!  :-)

SECONDARY CHARACTERS

Her book got me to reflecting upon them.  Could yours support a short story centering on them?  They should.

ARCS

Each of your supporting characters should have one.  Not in your novel.  That would give you mental hernias.

No, but in your mind.  They should be real not CARDBOARD CUT-OUTS of personalities.

Your protagonist is defined by his interactions with those around him. 

And if those around him are shallow, he or she will only be able to have shallow relationships.  The reader will become bored.

PERCOLATE

How do you do that you ask.  Percolate. 

You let the different characters and the rough image of your novel's actions 

slowly work through your conscious and unconscious mind.

Too many writers rush into their novels in the heat of a great opening scene or bit of dazzling dialogue.

By all means put it down on paper or in Word, but pause and reflect for a few days maybe even .... shudder ... a week.

But if the fire is hot within you, ignore me completely.  I am used to that treatment from beautiful women.

After all, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde in SIX DAYS!

TAKE KINDERGARTEN

You enter one person, meet those irritating mysteries, other human beings, and emerge a drastically different kind of person.

This happens again and again and again in the lives of us all.

A fact which irritates me when an author says she cannot write a sequel since the arc of her heroine is finished. 

I want to say: "Is she still breathing?  Then, another arc is just beginning!"

THE WORLD YOU WANT VS THE WORLD THAT IS

Most of you know the term "Mary Sue"

   

The term "Mary Sue" comes from the name of a character created by Paula Smith in 1973 for her parody story "A Trekkie's Tale"

It was published in her fanzine Menagerie #2. 

The story starred Lieutenant Mary Sue

("the youngest Lieutenant in the fleet — only fifteen and a half years old"), and satirized unrealistic Star Trek fan fiction.

You can write a MARY SUE novel, too. 

Twilight is basically one and spawned a depressingly large number of copy-cats!

The wallflower or outcast who, up until now has been ignored or ridiculed. 

Then comes the new kid: dark, handsome, mysterious ... and madly in love with the wallflower.

You can write a novel whose world is what you would have it to be. 

And if enough readers want the same kind of world, it will be popular.

But it will not resonate with truth.  It will be mental cotton candy.  And if you write enough of it, it will make you and your ability to create ill.

ANTI-MARY SUE NOVELS

Then, there are novels where every part of the universe sucks,

the heroine is the doormat of her world, incapable of not making mistakes.  She IS a mistake.

I know we often feel that way,

but if we look down and our shoes are on the proper feet, then we have done at least one thing right.

All of us write of the world as we believe it to be. 

But we must work hard to NOT write of the world that our fears believe it to be.

Like Mrs. Briggs' title to her short story collection, SHIFTING SHADOWS, 

the world is a shifting dance of shadow and light.  

If we find our novel all light or all dark,

we are making it unrealistic and without the music of life that will sing to our readers of the truths we must find for ourselves in the darkness.

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE OF DENISE COVEY

http://dencovey.blogspot.com/

One of my oldest blogger friends has been gracious enough to have me on her blog 

in her delightful series: FROM THE COUCH WITH ...

The ever-more interesting and worthy Ann Carbine Best was so honored last week.  

Check it out here:
http://dencovey.blogspot.com/2015/05/from-couch-bloggers-share-intimate-peek.html

I had the crafty Apache diyi, Elu, whisk poor Denise to Meilori's so I would be on home ground!

So don't waste a moment more here, go visit's Denise's blog 

and see what the poor woman had to put up with from me!
http://dencovey.blogspot.com/2015/05/from-couch-with-roland-yeomans.html

D.G. Hudson talks of THE STARS BLEED AT MIDNIGHT that I wrote for her and Inger Wiltz.

 In Chapter 14 MASQUE OF THE BLACK LAND

A State Ball is being given in the Cairo of 1895.  

Upon the dance floor, Samuel and Meilori must contend with fellow dancers fresh from the grave.  

This waltz is being played:

           “Every moment of the night
            Forever changing places

      And they put out the star-light
            With the breath from their pale 
          faces”
          ― Edgar Allan Poe

BLOOD, BOOBS, CARNAGE, AND MERCY THOMPSON

Alex Cavanaugh & Heather Gardner have a blogfest:

http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/

{SHIFTING SHADOWS cover by Dan dos Santos}

SHIFTING SHADOWS is a collection of short stories in the Mercy Thompson universe:

the modern world as if the beings of the Brothers Grimm existed unknown to civilized Man.

Mercy is a Volkswagon mechanic, the daughter of a Blackfeet Indian and a white teenage mother.

 She is a "Walker" (a Native American shapeshifter not linked to the moon) who turns into a coyote, a gift she inherited from her father.

A rodeo man, he died a few days after consummating his relationship with her mother.

One day, not too long after Mercy was born, her mother went to her crib only to find a small coyote pup in her place.

Afraid and unsure how to raise her, her mother took her to the only place she knew was capable—

friends of an uncle, who had been a werewolf.

This is how Mercy came to be raised with the pack of Bran, the Marrok of the werewolves.


Now, she is on her own in the Pacific Northwest. 

The local vampire seethe collects protection money from the non-humans in their city. 

Mercy has no money, so she repairs the car of one of the vampires, Stefan ( the Soldier, born in Renaissance Italy) --

whose van is painted like Scooby-Doo's Mystery Machine.

She falls in love with the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, whose members detest her as a coyote. 

She is paying monthly payments to the Dark Smith of Fae legend whose shop is now hers.

Her keen sense of smell allows her to pierce Fae glamour -- an act punishable by death from the fae should they learn of it.

After a life of staying to herself,

Mercy finds herself coming to the aid of supernatural outcasts,

though her strength is but that of a human's.

But be you Uber-Vampire, Faerie Queen, River Demon, rogue government agent, or volcanic elemental,

you hurt those she loves at your peril. 

Mercy will keep on coming as long as there is breath in her body and gambits in her sharp mind.

MOON-CALLED is her first book.

Oh, and to make her life complete ...

Mercy's just learned her rodeo rider father was actually ...

Coyote, the Trickster.

***

"Mine," growled Adam from the open door of my mechanic shop.

"Mine," rasped Mac, his eyes the yellow of the change, his arms wrapped tight around my waist.

It would have been flattering, but at least one of them was talking about lunch.

 

***

 

ANTI-WEEKEND

You've heard of anti-matter?

Well, my weekends are anti-weekends!

No rest and relaxation for my weekends.  I am on solo first call every weekend.  Take today.  I wish someone had!

I worked 11 hours straight, and I stopped counting the miles after 400. 

 And I am still on call, taking a chance that a hospital will call me while I am writing this.

So this will be short.  

I just wanted to let you guys know I am not ignoring you, I am just being battered by the anti-weekend!!

Imagine driving exhausted at 3 A.M. after having worked 11 hours straight 

to deliver rare blood to a rural hospital patient desperately needing a transfusion. 

 No fun, but necessary to that poor patient.

I once wrote a Sci Fi/Stephen King version of my job in BLOOD WILL TELL 

(Only 99 cents!)  Check it or the audio of it out.  :-)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050219BW

UNTIL OPRAH NOTICES YOUR BOOK, HERE'S WHAT YOU DO

1.) WE HAVE THE WORLD BACKWARDS

   People will buy your book for your WHY not your WHAT.

      All those "girl saviors plucking the world from disaster" books are a dime a dozen and sell like stale ideas will.
     
      Their authors have their WHAT shouting from their subject matter.  They want to jump on the bandwagon to fame and money.

      They are in pursuit of the results not the thrill of  the journey for their WHY. 

And they get meager results.



2.) THE WHY OF YOUR BOOK WILL DRAW READERS TO YOU.

     The best writers write for the thrill of telling an entertaining story with characters you can relate to.

      DC VERTIGO comics has some of the worst art, but readers are loyal to them.  BECAUSE THE STORY IS NOVEL AND RIVETING.

      APPLE begins with their WHY: 

      "Everything we do stems from our belief in challenging the Status Quo.  We believe in thinking differently.

      The way we challenge the Status Quo is by making the most user-friendly computers in unique formats.  

      We just happen to make great computers.  Want to buy one?"



3.) HOW THIS APPLIES TO YOUR NEW BOOK.

      The world must be coming to an end, for I am writing:  

JOHN LOCKE HAD SOMETHING RIGHT.

      When starting out his blog, he wrote -- not on writing -- his target audience were READERS not writers.

      He wrote heart-tugging, funny, original posts on topics relevant to the moment.

      In his side-bar, he had his books spotlighted with links to purchase them

 in the belief that if the readers found him amusing in his post, then they might be tempted to take a chance on his 99 cents books.



4.) OUR BLOGS ARE OUR MARRIAGE PROPOSAL TO THE READER.

      Reading a book is like a relationship between author and reader.  

The divorce rate is high here.  

You have to court and continually reinforce the attraction the reader has for you as an author.

      If we are boring, pedantic, or drone on about the same thing to the point of vomiting, 

we will not tempt the reader to try our books.

      If you are saying the same thing in the same way all the other author blogs are, you will be lost in the sea of those screaming, BUY ME!



5.) GIVE THEM A REASON TO CARE, TO BUY.

      Make them laugh or nod their head in sudden agreement: 

"Damn, she's right about that.  I never thought about it that way before."

     We make decisions with our limbic brain that does not think in words but in feelings like trust and loyalty.  

      Most choices are made based on feelings which we rationalize later.

     Most people will wait until the horde agree on a book.  

You want to attract those readers who BELIEVE in YOU enough to talk about you to their friends.

     And they will believe in YOUR WHY more than in your particular book.



6.) PLACE THE EMPHASIS ON THEM NOT ON YOU.

      Don't give them WHAT: 

"Matilda is torn between the merman who saved her and the hunky fisherman who netted her out of the water."

     Place the emphasis on the reader with the WHY: 

"Do you want more than lust?  Do you want lust AND love?  Boy, do I have a book for you!"

      People went to hear Rev. King not for him but for themselves 

because HE VOICED THEIR DREAMS.  

It was not I HAVE A PLAN speech, but I HAVE A DREAM.



7.) DON'T FISH IN THE TOILET BOWL.

     FB, Twitter -- these are NOT the hunting areas for readers.

      Go to Amazon.  

It is the NUMBER ONE SEARCH ENGINE FOR READERS!

But do it right.

 

{The latest Hubble view of the PILLARS OF CREATION}

THREE HINTS:

      1.) PUT YOUR KEYWORDS IN YOUR TITLE.

Amazon’s algorithms look FIRST for the most popular KEYWORDS in your TITLE.  

Why do you think you are suddenly seeing titles like THIRST: A DARK FANTASY?

    
       2.) PUT KEYWORDS IN YOUR PRODUCT DESCRIPTION.

Amazon’s algorithms are drawn to critical KEYWORDS in your product description.  

Take those hard-thought out keywords in your keyword section and place them in the description of your novel.

It will help to pad the description of your book.  

Short descriptions get skipped over entirely by those pesky Amazon’s algorithms.


Amazon’s algorithms look at keywords 

in each book’s title, series title, subtitle, product description, editorial reviews, and customer reviews, 

to match it to what customers are looking for. 

More relevant equals higher placement.

       
      3.) DON'T ENTER A SPITTING CONTEST WITH A CAMEL!

When choosing keywords go to the Amazon Search box and type a keyword that has popularity but not overwhelming lookers.


You want to be on the first page if possible of a search.

URBAN FANTASY will have you lost in a tide of books.

DARK FANTASY is a bit better.

NEW ORLEANS DARK FANTASY or NEW ORLEANS HORROR are the best of the three. 

 Popular but you will find yourself on the first or second page of a reader's search.

BUT FIRST AND FOREMOST:

HAVE FUN WITH YOUR DREAM!

DISCONNECTED?

We are creating and encouraging a culture of distraction

where we are increasingly disconnected from the people and events around us

and increasingly unable to engage in long-form thinking.

People now feel anxious when their brains are unstimulated.

We are losing some very important things by doing this.

We threaten the key ingredients behind creativity and insight by filling up all our “gap” time with stimulation.

And we inhibit real human connection when we prioritize our phones over the people right in front of us.

Are we losing our humanity?

In the pre-smartphone era we accessed the internet roughly five times per day, in longer chunks.

 

Today, with smartphones, we’re accessing it

27 times a day.

The effect of all of this is that we’re increasingly distracted.

Less and less able to pay attention to anything for what used to be reasonable length of times.

Numerous brain imaging studies have shown that what we call “multi-tasking” in humans, is not multi-tasking at all.

Your brain is merely trying to rapidly switch

it’s attention between two tasks.

Back and forth, as quickly as it can.

It’s shown not only that we’re dumber when we do this (an average of 10 IQ points dumber – that’s the same as pulling an all-nighter.),

but that we’re also 40% less efficient at whatever it is we’re doing.

We prefer to climb inside our devices than to live out in the world.

We screen our calls.
We send 10 texts rather than
make a one-minute phone call.

We don’t reply to emails. We cross to the other side of the street.

We stare at our phone in the elevator.

We avoid making eye contact.

We pray we’ll get their voicemail.

We hold the door-close button when we see them coming.

"Each step ‘forward’ has made it easier, just a little,

to avoid the emotional work of being present,

to convey information rather than humanity.”
~ Jonathan Safran Foer, How Not to Be Alone

R U friends 4 real?

Can "OMG—ROTFL" ("Oh my God! I'm rolling on the floor laughing!")

via text really convey the same amusement as hearing the giggles of a best friend?

                                                                                                                                   Phillip Toledano

New research suggests that we have never been lonelier (or more narcissistic)—

and that this loneliness is making us mentally and physically ill.

We meet fewer people. We gather less. And when we gather, our bonds are less meaningful and less easy.

The decrease in confidants—that is, in quality social connections—has been dramatic over the past 25 years.

In one survey, the mean size of networks of personal confidants decreased from 2.94 people in 1985 to 2.08 in 2004.

By 2004, 25 percent had nobody to talk to,

and 20 percent had only one confidant.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

ARE WE DISCONNECTED FROM
ONE ANOTHER? 

FROM OURSELVES?

6 Great Ways to Get People to STOP VISITING YOUR BLOG!

“Step right up and don’t read my blog!”

Would you ever write that on your blog?  You just might be if ...

1.)  Make it hard for me to find the comments box:

If I am taking time out of my day to read what you have to say but have a hard time finding the comment/reply option,

don’t expect me to comment.

Knowing I am unable to interact with you, I might not return.

Make it easy for me to find your comment/reply option.

2.) Keep the load time at its absolute maximum:

If your blog post/title catches my eye, but once I click to get there,

your load take takes what seems like forever, I might not come back.

*) Want to avoid this?

The more images, videos and other multi-media you have on your blog the longer it will take to load.

 However, images and other multimedia are important to attracting users to your blog SO

Decrease the size of your images or use thumbnails that link to the full-size image.

3.) Post content sporadically or rarely:

Do you like getting your news current or just now and then with no order to it?

 Most of us like up-to-date information.

Once your readers know your blog exists, take time to nurture and craft a blog post with regularity.

Even if you decide to post once a week, don’t stray from that.

Consistency breeds loyalty.

4.) Ignore Your Readers:

Don’t engage with people and neglect reciprocating on their blogs to ensure minimum repeat visitors to your blog.

Seriously, the first word in social media is “social”—

it’s a two-way street.

Talk to your readers, visit the blogs that visit you, engage with your audience.

Content is king but interaction rules the online social media universe.

5.) Have lots of WHINE to the cheese of your posts:

You might be one of the greatest new writers around, but if you whine continuously then expect a drop in visitors.

Depressing life-events dumps itself on my doorstep daily

so I really don't have to go out of my way to your blog for the experience!


6.) If you hawk it, they will come:

Ever been to those blogs that has tons of advertisements that shout at you?

How did you feel?

Having some advertisements is alright but crowding your blog with banners and links would turn off your readers.

Moreover, blogs with lots of advertisements usually take a long time to load,

which I’m sure you know, is not good for SEO purposes.

What do you think are ways to get people to stop visiting your blog?