Scott Bell's Blog, page 5

Head Hopping or Just a Fluid POV Experience

Legal Disclaimer

If you’re not a writer, and don’t care about the writing process, skip right over this go on to the next entry. If you are a writer and still don’t care about the writing process, move on. In fact, take up another trade … like bomb testing. For the rest of you, this might hold some interest. Dialogue encouraged.

This post attempts to answer a nagging question that crops up in writerly circles over expensive coffee drinks as writers twiddle with their laptops and wear out the elbow pads on their tweed jackets.

What in Neptune’s blue balls is head hopping?

Head hopping is a term used to describe an author’s shifting the point of view (POV) from one character to another with little or no warning. It requires a reader to follow and understand whose perspective is being used to tell the story when that perspective shifts during the middle of a scene, and often several times during the scene.

Head hopping doesn’t make the writer a bad person. It’s not on a par with, say, drowning kittens, or fondling yourself in public. Some authors can make it work well enough, there’s no real danger of the reader suffering whiplash, or needing schizophrenia medication.

It is not the same as Omniscient Point of View. More on this later.

Reasons to use head hopping:

You’re not strong enough at writing to convey the emotions and reactions of non-POV characters through observation of the POV character.
You desperately need to let the reader know what more than one person is thinking during a scene and you can’t wait for a scene break to shift POV character because you’re a hack and should consider knitting instead of writing.
Your name is John Grisham and you’ve gotten a huge writing contract despite your poor command of prose.

Reasons to avoid head hopping:

Avoid reader confusion. Without sufficient clues, the reader gets lost trying to figure out who is thinking what, and who’s telling the story.
Using 3rd Close, or First Person POV immerses the reader deeper in the story and is easier for the author to connect them more strongly with the character.
POV restrictions leave unanswered questions for the reader. Little bread crumbs to follow. With head hopping, there is no longer any dynamic tension. The reader knows what everybody is thinking and feeling, so there’s no mystery left.

Differences between head hopping and Omni. This is where it gets hard to explain and most new writers say, “Man, you’re getting into writer arcana here. Get a life,” and return to the special snowflake school of writing.

Omni: There is never a doubt about who’s relating the scene. The author. Period-dot-turn-the-page. You know it, I know it, and Aunt Matilda senses it from beyond the grave.
Head hopping: Everyone is relating the scene. The author, the protagonist, the antagonist, the side characters, the protagonist’s dentist, and the editor’s niece who needs a break into show business.
Omni: The author guides the reader very carefully through the scene, orchestrating the characters and demonstrating their thoughts and actions the way a director focuses the camera to reveal the story.
Head hopping: Characters babble their thoughts and feelings like a kindergarten class.

Examples*

#1. Boris stood by while his wife packed for their vacation. Natasha’s thin frame and narrow features gave her a Slavic look that had attracted him from the beginning of their relationship. He smiled, remembering their first meeting at the Belgrade dead drop. The moment he saw her pinched lips and distrustful gaze, he had fallen in love, and believed she had always loved him in return.

His smile dropped as Natasha threw a second suitcase on the bed.

“Why do you need so many clothes?” he complained. “It’s a two-day trip!”

Natasha didn’t spare him a glance.

Boris always complained; it was his default setting. He had a whiny voice that tended to grate on everyone’s nerves, and Natasha had slowly been building a castle of hate with Boris’s name over the door. She smiled where he couldn’t see. Her nasty surprise at dinner tonight would take care of everything.

Boris threw up his hands and left the room to watch football on TV.

 

#2. Boris stood by while his wife packed for their vacation. Natasha’s thin frame and narrow features gave her a Slavic look that had attracted him from the beginning of their relationship. He smiled. She had looked so beautiful at the Belgrade dead drop where they first met, with her pinched lips and distrustful gaze. We have loved each other ever since.

His smile dropped as Natasha threw a second suitcase on the bed.

“Why do you need so many clothes?” he complained. “It’s a two-day trip!”

Natasha didn’t spare him a glance. What a pain. What was wrong with Boris that he couldn’t understand her desire to always look her best? I hate his whiny voice so much! She couldn’t wait for dinner, when she could drop the bomb on him. Literally.

Aw, what the heck, Boris thought in disgust. He threw up his hands and left the room to watch football on TV.

 

#3. Boris stood by while his wife packed for their vacation. Natasha’s thin frame and narrow features gave her a Slavic look that had attracted him from the beginning of their relationship. He smiled. She had looked so beautiful at the Belgrade dead drop where they first met, with her pinched lips and distrustful gaze. We have loved each other ever since.

His smile dropped as Natasha threw a second suitcase on the bed.

“Why do you need so many clothes?” he complained. His voice had taken on a whiny quality that he couldn’t seem to stop. “It’s a two-day trip!”

Natasha didn’t spare him a glance. Her back stiffened and her hands took on the jerky motion of a robot wound too tightly. He’d annoyed her, again, it seemed. It was all he did these days. Hopefully dinner tonight would help. She told him earlier it was to be a special going away dinner, which sounded to Boris like a peace offering.

Aw, what the heck. Time for football on TV. Boris threw up his hands and left.

 

Which is which?

Which is head hopping, which is 3rd Close, and which is Omni?

#1 __________ #2 __________ #3 __________

*Grading my examples on quality of writing will earn you a visit from the Kissmyass Fairy.

 

Bam! Book Two is Here

Yeager’s back and he’s hotter than ever.

After a number of earthquakes hammer the Sierra Madre region of Mexico, Grupo Verdugo, a splinter group of cartel enforcers, takes control of the drug shipping routes through that territory. Caught in the middle, a small orphanage high in the mountains, desperate for supplies to care for the children and the battered earthquake victims, reaches out to Abel Yeager for help.

Yeager and his friend Victor agree to deliver the needed food and medicine. But Grupo Verdugo seems to have a special interest in starving out the clergy and forcing them to bend to their will. They send a man known as the Executioner to stop anyone daring to assist the people.

Yeager and Victor are in for the biggest fight of their lives as they are forced to move forty children, a dozen sick and injured patients, and one feisty doctor out of the mission and through mountains infested with vicious killers.

E-reader release day today, June 21st. $2.99 for a short time only

6 Days to Release of Yeager’s Mission

Six more days until the official release date of Yeager’s Mission in eBook format.

Some early reviews –

“Yeager’s Mission” is the second installment in the Abel Yeager series by Scott Bell. If I had any doubt it could hold up against the excitement and action of book one, “Yeager’s Law,” that was put to rest immediately. It’s even better! – Marsha H.

Yeager’s Mission is a cowboy western brought into modern times and continues the adventures of Abel Yeager, a very alpha, very Eastwood/Bronson/McQueen type character. Abel will resonate well with most red-blooded readers who enjoy such tales of bravery and chivalry. But he is even stronger than that. He’s the knight errant of old, the bringer of justice to an unjust world. When the law breaks down, who you gonna call? Yeah, not those guys with the proton packs, but Abel—because he’ll get the job done. – Steve Y.

This is the second book in the series and it surpassed the first. The edge of your seat action and suspense was evident all the way through the book.  – Denise C.

Available June 21st. Pre-order your copy today on Amazon.

Barbarians

A climber clings to a sheer cliff face, fingers pressed onto a narrow ledge. Above the climber, a steep mountain arises; below him, a deep chasm awaits the tiniest slip.

Humans have climbed a long way from the hills below. We have achieved wondrous things in art, science, mathematics, and medicine. We like to think we’re at the pinnacle of our great journey as reasoned, rational beings.

Savages claw at our ankles, pulling us down, threatening to dislodge our hold on the knife-edge of civilization. They murder, they rape, and they destroy. They see a thing, and if they can’t eat it, or screw it, they piss on it.

Barbarians use piety as a mask, shrouding their evil with the exemption of righteousness, thereby relieving themselves of responsibility. They use the language of the victim. God told me to do it. Society made me this way. I’m poor. Nobody will give me a chance. You take more than your share. I have no choice.

Ignorance is the blanket which comforts the savage. The cruel and brutal abhor education. They revere vulgarity and praise illiteracy. Apologizing for them makes them stronger. Misguided empathy feeds their hunger for more blood.

Savages breed in every dark corner, throughout every social strata. They molest children. They murder innocents. They shout down and heckle the speech of others. They hold the weak in contempt and they prey on the good will of the decent. They destroy civilization.

These vicious monsters can’t be appeased. Unless those who preach ugliness through deed or dogma are silenced, their cycle of ignorance and brutality will continue. Every olive branch will be burned. Every helping hand chopped off. Every dollop of gold consumed until there is no gold left in the land.

Barbarians want to pull us off the ledge. Our choice is to release our grip and fall onto the rocks below, or kick them in the teeth. Savages want to kill us. We can bow our heads for the sword, or whet our blades to cut hard and fast.

Stand up. Face the fiends. Look them in the eye.

Don’t let them win.

Cracking 100

I was pretty sure this would never happen. But it did. Yeager’s Law just cracked Amazon’s Top 100 Bestsellers (Kindle Paid), hitting #74 today.

Thanks to everyone who bought a copy, suffered through an early draft or ten, edited, proofread, and encouraged me to keep going.

Yeager’s Mission Release Date

It’s here. Or it will be on June 21st, at least.

Yeager’s Mission is now available for preorder on Amazon at the release day price of $2.99 in Kindle format.

Sam Cable, Texas Ranger

Update on my new Cable series.  (I’m never going to get tired of puns like this.)

April’s Fool, the first in the series, has been picked up for publication by Divertir, leading May Day (Yes, the novels were accepted out of order, don’t obsess over it.) as the beginning of Sam Cable’s career in the world of fiction.

April’s Fool (publication date a state secret) will find Sam Cable, Texas Ranger, waking up in the bed of a woman he was assigned to protect.  He has no memory of the how he got there.  The woman – a black activist candidate for the U.S. Senate – can’t tell him what happened because, well, she’s dead.

Sam, with the help of an FBI agent named Rita Goldman, must find the killer while dealing with a hornet’s nest of racial tension and animosity.

May Day will find Sam escorting a prisoner back from California to Texas.  Their aircraft is sabotaged and crash lands in the Gila National Forest.  Powerful enemies are seeking to silence his prisoner before she can finger them for corruption, and it’s going to take everything he has to keep himself and his prisoner alive.

To come in the series will be June Bug and July 4th Amendment.

Stay tuned to this Cable channel for developments.

Dear Fellow Republicans: Y’all are Idjits

I’m just gonna lay it out there.  Which one of you dumb bunnies left the door open and let Trump in?  And how come that fucking clown—pardon my language, but there’s no other adjective that works—is getting the majority of the votes in my (once) logical and intelligent Republican Party?  And what’s happened to Ann Coulter?  She’s gone total whack job nutso loco over DJT?  A woman with an IQ bigger than the national debt has lost her mind over Mexican crooks running loose on our streets and thinks Trump’s Wall is the answer.  What? The? Hell?

The GOP is gonna Thelma and Louise itself this election.  We got us a Trump, we got us a Marco “Bring ‘Em Over” Rubio, we got us a lovable Teddy Cruz, and we even have a Doctor Ben, who believes the Rapture is imminent and he for one is gonna be ready to go.  And let us don’t forget that ball o’ fire Johnny Kasich.  He just lights up the stage, now don’t he?

But why should I be surprised?  We’ve been on a crash dive to Stupidville since “Read My Lips” turned into “Spread Your Hips”.

Allow me to illustriate my point:

Affordable Healthcare Act.  GOP failed—repeatedly—to stop it at its passage.  Then failed to stop it by cutting off the money.  Despite a majority in Congress, and the overwhelming will of the people, the Republicans have failed to repeal it every single chance they’ve gotten.

TARP.  GOP allowed it.  Shovel-ready projects to move mounds of crap down our throats and money out of our pockets.

Trans-Pacific Trade Deal.  GOP failed to stop it.  Half of our Senators probably have notes out to the Chinese.  Have to keep the lenders happy, right?

Executive Order Ending Deportation of Illegal Aliens.  Republicans said, “WTF just happened?  Hey, he can’t do that!  It’s not fair, I’m tellin’ Mommy.”

Omnibus Spending Bill.  They loved it.  Let’s have us some more spending.  Thank you, Paul Ryan and John Cornyn.

Planned Parenthood.  Whether you support Planned Parenthood or not, the GOP made all this noise about cutting off the money, then when it came to nut-crunching time, slunk away into the corner and cried.  They showed all the guts of a dead cat.

Two-Year Budget Deal.  Republicans gotta have us somma dat free money, too.  Can’t let the Dems eat all the pork.

Iranian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone.  “Well,” says John McCain, “Senate cain’t do nuttin’ bout a treaty, now can we?”  Yes, John, the Senate is obliged to ratify all treaties.  Read that danged ol’ Constitution, boy.

 

Apparently, many believe the answer to feckless Republicans in Congress is to elect a buffoon to drive the clown car.  For those idgits, well, (in Bill Engvall voice) here’s your sign:

Damn, I’d vote Democrat if they gave me a halfway decent choice.  No, their answer is a lying, amoral witch, or a former hippie with the economic policies of a twelve year old.  After hearing the Bernie and Hillary supporters speak, I’ve given up on the Democrats ever coming back from the Land of Make Believe in which they live.  What the hell did we do to deserve this?  Where are the Teddy Roosevelts and the John Kennedys and the Ronald Reagans?  Where’s Condoleeza Rice and why can’t we get her to run for office?

 

All I can tell my kids is this:  Stock up on food, ammo, and bottled water.  The Zombie Apocalypse is coming, but it ain’t dead people rising gonna to eat your brains, it’s the Walking Dead Republicans who’ve already lost theirs and are coming for yours.

 

What is Free Health Care?

Free healthcare means I can go to any doctor, any time I want, and receive all the care I need, including tests and medication, and I don’t have to hand over a single dollar from my bank account.

Right?

A basic assumption is that doctors, medical staff, drug company employees, and medical testing service staff won’t work for free, as they need to eat. Someone therefor has to provide the money to pay for these services.

I mean, everyone has a basic, constitutional right to healthcare.

Right?

The obvious choice of funding source is the government. Or Warren Buffett, but let’s be real, okay.  For the government to pay for all health care, we would need to raise around $3.8-trillion in taxes, from the entire U.S. population, regardless of how much each individual partakes of health care services.  No doubt we could raise this money if we stopped paying our health insurance and other medical out of pocket costs.

Right?

Total cost of an insurance plan, on average, is $11,176. This cost is shared by the company and the employee.  Depending on the statistics you use, a family of six pays an average premium of $1,091 per month ($13,092/yr).  This translates to health insurance premiums of $2,182 per person annually.  Other stats put this number at $2,470 per person.  Out-of-pocket costs are about equal, making the average insured person’s burden around $5,000/year out of their own pocket.  (Sources:  Forbes, Annual U.S. Healthcare Spending Hits $3.8 Trillion, Feb 2, 2014.  Aon Hewitt Analysis Shows Lowest U.S. Health Care Cost Increases in More Than a Decade, Oct 17, 2013.)  So we can shift the insurance costs and out-of-pocket to taxes and raise about $13,500 per worker in taxes.

Great! We’re nearly there.

Right?

Since the above numbers include only full-time employees (121 million people), and presumably their families, this leaves only the uninsured and those on Medicare to account for.

Medicare population is 50 million and Medicare is funded through payroll taxes, premiums, and general tax revenue. But we’re going to kill all those programs and pay for everything with one, easy-to-use, government system.

The uninsured population is around 11 to 13%, depending on whose numbers you use, so we’ll call it around 40 million.

So we would need every employed person to support the entire population, including 90 million seniors and uninsured persons.  We going to give our workforce a benefit of no more insurance payroll deductions, out-of-pocket costs, and Medicare deductions.

Uh, too much math?

Okay, let’s do this instead…

Total US Population

Total Cost (per person) for Health Care
Total Employed
Total Cost per Employed Person

Additional Cost per Employed Person

318,000,000

$11,949*
121,000,000
$31,404**

$19,455

*3.8-trillion divided by 318,000,000.

**3.8-trillion divided by 121,000,000.

So to achieve our objective, we would need to tax each working person in the country an additional $19,455 per year. This does not account for their current payroll deduction of 2.9% for Medicare, so to be fair, we can cut that number by a couple of grand.  Call it an additional tax payment of $17,000 per year.  Everyone can afford that!  Not a problem!

Right?

Scatter Shooting 2015

Random thoughts from the past twelve months:

Muslims.  Perplexing to see how the liberals embrace Muslims and denounce conservative Americans as xenophobes and bigots.  It’s as if they prefer Muslims over Christians.  Republicans and Christians, to the best of my recollection, do not believe the practice of stoning gays, rape victims, and adulterous women is the revealed word of God, the way fifty percent of all Muslims do.  (Pew Research Center, The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society.)

The first people to be destroyed under the caliphate will be liberals.

Hmm.

Maybe conservatives should rethink their stance on importing refugees from Muslim countries?

Gun Control. Popular liberal stance: We need mandatory safety training for all gun buyers.

You know, that’s not a bad idea.  Let’s start in first grade, make gun training part of the school curriculum every two years.  Every school child in America gets two hours per week weapons training, focusing first on the safe and correct operation of all manner of firearms.  This would prevent many of the needless deaths from curious children playing with found weapons, plus take away their fascination with a deadly tool.  You learn how not to hit your thumb with a hammer in shop class, why not learn how not to shoot your foot off in gun class?

And let’s add one more level of protection: In order to graduate, every student should be required to undergo a six week boot camp, including physical training, weapons training, and the correct and proper use of force.  Swear everyone in as a de facto militia, thus ending this idiotic argument over what the founders meant by the Second Amendment.

Donald Trump. The man’s a clown.  Sorry fellow conservatives, but he’s a nut job.  The sooner we stop cheering his cute little spoiled child routine and focus on real issues, the sooner we can move on to stopping the liberal freight train.

Gun Control, again. Background checks are a red herring.  Yes, we need to do them because not doing them is stupid, but don’t think for a second that background checks will deter gun violence.  None, absolutely none, of the mass shooters in recent history had an issue with background checks, either because they had no record, or they used a straw buyer.

Death of the GOP. 2015 is the year the Republican Party abandoned conservatives.  They not only approved a two year budget that removes spending caps, they approved a 1.3-trillion dollar omnibus spending bill that funds everything Obama wants.  They failed to stop the (Un)Affordable Care Act.  They failed to end taxpayer funding for fetal destruction.  They aided and abetted Executive Action on immigration.  They keep trotting out milquetoast candidates like John McCain, Mitt Romney, Bob Dole, and Jeb Bush.  (And Lindsey-f*ing-Graham.)

Sadly, the list goes on.

Just like the Democratic Party has abandoned the blue-collar worker, the Republican Party has abandoned their principals of smaller government, less regulation, and protection of the American people.

The next liberal bitching about the Republicans needs to STFU. The Republicans in office are your best friends.