Tip O'Day #294 - Living in 2 Worlds

What Facebook means to guest blogger Jo Marshall.

What I like most about Facebook is the opportunity it offers to become involved instantly in causes such as donating books to at-risk students, or signing petitions. I try to avoid politics because my pages represent the Twig Stories series and its underlying message of care for our natural world. My royalties are donated to nonprofits so my Facebook pages are not about me as an author. They are meant to be a reflection of the theme of the Twig world - climate change, endangered wildlife, shrinking glaciers, and adaptation to a warming world. These are important themes, and I am privileged to represent them via Twig Stories.

So I'm excited to use Facebook and proud I've figured out how, since I'm no longer young. Learning new tech skills becomes more painful every day. I'm very, very interested in all my fascinating Facebook friends! Their world is much more expansive, entertaining, and educational than mine. What I love most about all of them is that they are happy, busy, and encouraging! I'm learning so much about them, and from them.

Perhaps all of this has been said by others before, but I hope the goodwill extended to others in the Facebook community is carried by them into the 'real' world. I think their tolerance and cheerfulness shown here on these pages might make a difference in how we interact with one another elsewhere...or not.

But it has made a difference for me. Now I have this wonderful, meaningful and educational place I can come to everyday, and know one of my Facebook friends will always make me laugh.

Learn more about Jo Marshall at Twig Stories.

Tip O'Day #292 - Setting & Theme

The two previous blog posts have talked about the importance of setting, and the possibility it can actually become a character in your story - think The Perfect Storm. Another consideration is the use of setting to reinforce the mood and themes of your story. There’s a reason few noir scenes are set on sunny California beaches. The following is the third excerpt from my forthcoming thriller, Montana is Burning, which will be out in Kindle this summer.

The golden eagle sliced through the air, miles from where scattered rain drenched a small clearing and the stream that ran through it. She spiraled upward with little effort, riding a thermal current as she waited for the storm to break up.

The eagle was the perfect aerial predator, with cruel talons and a beak that could disembowel an adult sheep. She was death from the sky. Lacking an owl’s night vision, she couldn’t hunt after dark, even though high winds had kept her pinned to her aerie for more than a week and starvation threatened.

She circled and watched. In a valley far below, dry lightning struck a large snag and it burst into flames. Since no animals fled from the fire, the eagle quickly lost interest. She flew on.

The isolated storm finished venting its fury on the clearing and sped east. Dim memories drew the eagle above a stream where salmon returned each summer’s end and trout grew fat and pink on the helpless spawn – ancestral memories of hunts and feasts by eagles long dead but memories no less real. The raptor smelled blood and tasted flesh as if the kills had been her own.

The great bird spotted the glitter of whitewater skittering across rocks made smooth by eons of glacial runoff, and saw dark shapes carving their way beneath the surface.

She dipped a chocolate-brown wing and dropped below the air current. The eagle descended slowly at first, then folded her wings next to her body to plunge like lightning drawn to earth. Her freefall lasted hundreds of feet before she spread wide her wings, pulling out of the meteoric dive. With hardly an eddy on the water’s surface, she ripped a trout from the icy stream and started back to her craggy perch, blood on her talons and savagery in her cry.

As she climbed through the warm air, the golden eagle spotted the valley where lightning struck a snag earlier. Flames burned greedily and jumped to neighboring scrub pine. Only the eagle saw.

In the great bird’s wake, a wolf erupted into the opening and sprang across the stream, but the whitetail he had been stalking already bounded far down the slope, startled by the exultant screech from above. Stopping at the edge of the clearing, the wolf listened to the doe’s flight.

The wolf turned from the fading sound of escape. He jogged toward remembered cattle.

The world, after all, was full of prey.

Tip O'Day #284 - "Grab 'Em by the Collar"

Your genial host, novelist Dixon Rice, tries his hand at writing a blurb.

Joanna Penn recently blogged about what makes an effective book blurb in The Creative Penn. It needs to be brief, no more than 100-150 words. If space allows, you may want to make some about the author remarks, but be sure to include:

(1) A hint of the plot.
(2) Use of words that evoke images and resonate with readers of the genre.
(3) Main characters named and characterized.
(4) Idea of setting.
(5) A question or a hint of mystery that draws the reader in.
(6) Some hyperbole.
(7) Finally, quotes about the book or previous books by the author.

I like Joanna’s analysis. A blurb should be some of your best writing, not feeling like a book report. It should briefly convey a sense of the plot, setting, main characters and themes. A blurb needs to grab readers by the collar, getting them to look at the opening page (or click on the online sample pages) to see if the writing lives up to the hype. Following is my 150-word attempt to apply this concept to my novel, The Assassins Club.

Deputy Marconi spoke softly. “We know you’ve been killing people, Ty…”

Deputy Trueblood pushed his partner aside. “The point is, we want in.”

Ty blinked. “Excuse me?”

In Montana’s Rocky Mountains in the 1970s, college student Tyler Goode figures he “accidentally” became a serial killer.

Another serial killer, a bearded, thirtyish man, emerges nude from the ocean in Baja California. He thinks he is Jesus. He walks up the coast, killing when it pleases him, and gathers a Manson-like tribe of losers.

Ty and Jesus eventually collide in this fast-paced suspense-thriller, but only one will survive to pursue his addiction.

See why reviewers say: “…so fast moving, you don't stop to think how it's all going to end. But even if you did, it will still be a surprise.”

“So real you can taste it.”

“An engrossing read with a compelling plot... This novel will keep you guessing until the end.”

So what do you think - did I grab you by the collar?

Tip O'Day #276 - Universal Themes

I rarely recycle old blog posts, but this one seems worth revisiting. It was Tip O’Day #15 from a year ago, written by Yours Truly - Dixon.

Have you ever read a story – even a full-length novel – and wondered “so what?” Okay, some guys rob a bank and in the end they all die in a hail of bullets. Or geeky boy meets hot girl and loses her due to a falsehood, but they get back together in the final chapter. Or a wealthy CEO has his job, reputation and lover stolen, but manages to climb back to the top.

So what?

There are Universal Themes found in literature. “The moral to the story,” so to speak. There are many opinions about what they are, but I like a recent post by Rachel Mork which is found here.

She lists 12 Universal Themes:

1. Man struggles against nature.
2. Man struggles against societal pressure.
3. Man struggles to understand divinity.
4. Crime does not pay.
5. Overcoming adversity.
6. Friendship is dependent on sacrifice.
7. Importance of family.
8. Yin & Yang: Just when you think life is finally going to be easy, something bad happens to balance it out.
9. Love is the worthiest of pursuits.
10. Death is part of the life cycle.
11. Sacrifice brings reward.
12. Humans all have the same needs.

Maybe I’m way off base, but I think much of the distinction between literary fiction and commercial fiction has little to do with grammar, vocabulary, style or subject matter. To me, it comes down to whether plot is primary, or whether the Universal Theme is supreme, woven through practically every page of the work.

Of course, there are other considerations. Much of genre fiction follows a fairly strict formula, and many authors of book series don’t create much of a character arc for the protagonist. But ask yourself – is a Universal Theme threaded through the novel, or is “the moral of the story” mostly an afterthought, even inferred?

Tip O'Day #15

Have you ever read a story – even a full-length novel – and wondered “so what?” Okay, some guys rob a bank and in the end they all die in a hail of bullets. Or geeky boy meets hot girl and loses her due to a falsehood, but they get back together in the final chapter. Or a wealthy CEO has his job, reputation and lover stolen, but manages to climb back to the top.

So what?

There are Universal Themes found in literature. “The moral to the story,” so to speak. There are many opinions about what they are, but I like the following post by Rachel Mork:

http://www.life123.com/parenting/education/children-reading/12-most-common-themes-in-literature.shtml

She lists 12 Universal Themes:

1. Man struggles against nature.
2. Man struggles against societal pressure.
3. Man struggles to understand divinity.
4. Crime does not pay.
5. Overcoming adversity.
6. Friendship is dependent on sacrifice.
7. Importance of family.
8. Yin & Yang: Just when you think life is finally going to be easy, something bad happens to balance it out.
9. Love is the worthiest of pursuits.
10. Death is part of the life cycle.
11. Sacrifice brings reward.
12. Humans all have the same needs.

Maybe I’m way off base, but I think much of the distinction between literary fiction and commercial fiction has little to do with grammar, vocabulary, style or subject matter. To me, it comes down to whether plot is primary, or whether the Universal Theme is supreme, woven through practically every page of the work.

Of course, there are other considerations. Much of genre fiction follows a fairly strict formula, and many authors of book series don’t create much of a character arc for the protagonist. But ask yourself – is a Universal Theme threaded through the novel, or is “the moral of the story” mostly an afterthought, even inferred?