S.A. Schneider's Blog, page 9

Martin & James Adventure Progress Update

I just made progress on Martin & James Adventure! So far I’m 46% complete on the Writing phase.

Martin & James AdventurePhase:Writing46%Get Book Updates

Case Files stories

The second Martin & James story, vs the Evil Mosquito Scientist, is out of Kindle Unlimited and the price is reduced to FREE!

Look for it in other outlets like Barnes & Noble and iBooks soon.

Check it out!

How I broke my hand

I broke my hand over the weekend. Actually, not the whole hand, it’s not shattered or anything. Just broke the pinkie on my left hand. If you had to choose a finger to break, that’s a good one to choose.

How did I break my finger? That’s a good question. Below are three stories of how I MIGHT have broken it. See if you think any are true:

 

Story 1

So there I was, standing in the alley with the smell of rotten garbage. Water dripped down my hair and into my eyes. I was soaked all the way to my converse. No way was I leaving, though. The drunk moron in front of me was going to learn some manners and I was going to defend my wife’s honor.

Was I worried? Heck no, I’m a black belt after all.

Then, just like in the movies, he lumbered unsteadily forward, throwing a roundhouse that a hippo could have avoided. I slipped by and pow, landed a good one on his nose. He rocked back, shocked.

Now I was a little giddy with the achievement, so I danced in to pop him another one. I swung my left hand, and crack. His head felt as hard as steel as my hand connected and I felt pain shoot up my arm.

Cradling my hand, all I could do was watch his fist coming right at my face.

Story 2

“Spin me.”

Little did I know that those words would be my undoing. I mean, come on, it was just a kids merry go round. I had spun my older kids on them hundreds of times when they were growing up. I couldn’t tell my stepson no, could I?

Telling him to hold tight, I grasped the rails and started to run. It’s a very weird thing to run while crouched over and grasping two rails on one side. Once I had him going I stopped to watch.

Yup, sure enough, he had that glazed look of a kid that was absolutely terrified and enjoying himself silly at the same time.

Timing it just right, I started to reach for the bars as I started running to match speeds. Therein lies my downfall. If I had just gone around the mud I wouldn’t have slipped. If I hadn’t slipped I wouldn’t have heard the loud crack as my finger was bent at a very unnatural angle.

Story 3

“Last chance, so ya’ bedder tell us, see?”

Since I was strapped to a chair, I wasn’t about to correct this neanderthal’s grammar.

“Seriously, I think you have the wrong guy. I don’t know anything about a diamond.”

I looked desperately at the two thugs hovering over me. They exchanged a glance.

“Want me ta’ loosen his tongue Tony?” the bigger one asked.

“Nah, let’s look around first. It’s gotta be here.”

What could I do but sit as they busted up the joint. Not my place, which I think may have been the problem.

“Um, fellas, I don’t want to interrupt, but this isn’t even my house. Honest, I was just trying to collect money for cancer research. See? My bag is right there.”

I bobbled my head, trying to indicate the forgotten bag by the door.

“That’s it, Sylvester. Let’s rough him up.”

I was stunned. What type of respectable mafia guy is called Sylvester. Before I could question the name, the big guy grabbed my pinkie and yanked it up. I barely heard the snap before I blacked out.

I hope they found their diamond.

There you have it. Which one do you believe?

If you are interested, I have a couple other stories to check out:

Jeff Strand “I gotta pee” fan fiction

Dr. Time

Martin & James Visit the Witch

I can send you more stories, including an exclusive Martin & James story where they battle the first vampire.

Martin & James Adventure Progress Update

I just made progress on Martin & James Adventure! So far I’m 44% complete on the Writing phase.

Martin & James AdventurePhase:Writing44%Get Book Updates

 

The goal is to write a couple more short stories and compile all of their adventures. If you haven’t read the first couple, go to Martin & James vs The Masked Moss-Trooper and check it out.

writing exercise

There are many ways to improve your writing. The first, and most obvious, is just to write more. With more practice you should get better. Part of that process is to get feedback from others. What we think we are writing is not always what is coming across to others.

It can be very difficult to put your work out there and get feedback. One problem, though, is that many people don’t want to hurt your feelings and just tell you “Oh, that’s great, loved it.” That doesn’t really help you because if all the feedback you get is so positive, once you submit to the world or even just to an agent or publisher, you’ll get devastated when told how bad things may be.

But that feedback is so very important because it is a great way to see where your writing lacks and how to improve it.

There are also various exercises you can do. For example – get a topic or situation and just write about it. I have several weekly contests I belong to that do just that. Each week they have a topic or story starter and you have to take that and make a full fledged story. It’s fun and helps because you may write something you may not have any other time. You stretch, which is a great way to get better at writing. It’s also nice to get feedback on these writings because you may not be so emotionally attached to it, so any feedback can be viewed with a more critical eye. That will carry over to your other writing.

Another exercise I like to do is re-writing. I take a section of a book and then re-write it in several ways. I’ve done this with Harry Potter and below I’m doing it with The Shining.

I did 2 sections from Stephen King’s book. They are in bold. I then rewrote it as you might as a new writer. I wrote it again as someone that is over compensating or that hasn’t learned to trim down their writing. Then I wrote it and made other word choices.

Am I saying I can write better than you or Stephen King? No, not at all. This is just an exercise meant to stretch my abilities. I could have chosen to rewrite it as my dog might write.  I could have chosen to write it like Charles Dicken’s might have written it. Whatever. You can also choose any book or passage. It’s probably a good idea to choose something not in your favorite genre at times.

I’m interested in what others think of my choices and if you’ve done this exercise yourself and what the results were.  Here is what I have for this one:

Jack came out onto the porch, tugging the tab of his zipper up under his chin, blinking into the bright air. In his left hand he was holding a battery-powered hedge-clipper. He tugged a fresh handkerchief out of his back pocket with his right hand, wiped his lips with it, and tucked it away. Snow, they had said on the radio. It was hard to believe, even though he could see the clouds building up on the far horizon.

 

Newbie and dry:

Jack walked onto the porch. He zipped up his jacket and blinked in the light. He pulled a handkerchief out and wiped his lips. He then put it back in his pocket. In his other hand he carried a hadge-clipper. He looked at the clouds. The radio had said there would be snow.

 

More full blow:

Jack took a step onto the porch. He grabbed the tab for his jacket zipper, pulled it and zipped it all the way up to his chin as he blinked into the bright light and the air. In his left hand he carried a hedge-clipper. The hedge-clipper was battery powered. Reaching into his back pocket with his right hand, he took out a handkerchief. He used the clean, new handkerchief to wipe his lips and then he moved his arm and put the handkerchief back in his back pocket. He had heard on the radio that the weather was calling for snow. He found it hard to believe that it might snow, but he could see snow clouds on the horizon. They were still far away.

 

Changed words:

Jack stepped onto the porch, pulling the little zipper tab up under his chin as he blinked into the brightness of the air. He carried a hedge-clipper, battery powered. Using his free hand, he pulled a crisp handkerchief from his back pocket and proceeded to wipe his lips before tucking it away. As he looked at the sky, he thought it hard to believe that the radio had predicted snow, but sure enough, he could see the build-up of clouds on the horizon.

 

 

He started down the path to the topiary, switching the hedge-clipper over to the other hand. It wouldn’t be a long job, he thought; a little touch-up would do it. The cold nights had surely stunted their growth. The rabbit’s ears looked a little fuzzy, and two of the dog’s legs had grown fuzzy green bonespurs, but the lions and the buffalo looked fine. Just a little haircut would do the trick, and then let the snow come.

 

 

Newbie and dry:

He walked down the path to the topiary. He moved the hedge-clipper to his other hand. It wouldn’t take long to touch up the shrubs he thought. They were probably not growing because of the cold nights. He thought the rabbit’s ears and dog’s legs may need trimmed. He didn’t think the lion nor buffalo needed trimmed. Once he finished, the snow could come.

 

More full blown:

Jack started walking down the path to the topiary. As he walked along ,he moved the hedge-clipper from one hand to the other. He was thinking that it wouldn’t be a tough job at all. He thought that the shrubs just needed a bit of a touch up. The nights had been cold and that would have stunted the growth of the shrubs. He thought the rabbit’s ears might have looked a little bit fuzzy. He also thought at least two of the dog’s legs had grown some making it look like they had bonespurs. Looking at the lion and the buffalo, he didn’t think the needed trimmed at all. After he finished trimming just a little it, the snow could come and he wouldn’t care.

 

Changed words:

He switched the hedge-clipper’s to his other hand as he walked the path to the topiary. All they needed was a touch-up, he thought. The cold nights had surely stunted their growth, making this a quick job. The rabbit’s ears looked a little fuzzy, and a couple of the dog’s legs had grown leafy bonespurs, but the lion and buffalo looked fine. After a bit of a haircut, the snow could fly all it wanted.

 

Book sale promotion

FREE STORIES for a LIMITED TIME!

I have one story that is in Kindle Unlimited, so the price is still 99 cents. But I have it on promotion right now for FREE! This is a limited time, so grab them right away.

Martin & James vs The Evil Mosquito Scientist

I have 3 other stories available wide. They are all free and available at multiple online locations (iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords).

Martin & James vs The Masked Moss-Trooper and you can the audiobook

Martin & James vs The Crazed Weatherman

Martin & James Visit the Witch

Right now they are all free – go grab them and enjoy.

If you read any of the stories, a review would be appreciated. Really, reviews are awesome and help a lot with getting a book known and helping the author to sell more. If that happens, you get more stories, so we all win. Please though, if you are a close friend or family, make note of that in the review.

Free Stories

Good news readers!

Right now, Martin & James vs The Evil Mosquito Scientist is FREE on Amazon!

Even better, The Crazed Weatherman and The Witch are also free, and those will stay free! If you would really like to help a new author, go check those out, click to buy them for free. Just doing that would be immensely helpful.

The other book, Masked Moss-Trooper, should be free soon. How soon? Not sure, Amazon doesn’t move fast on these things.

Also, if you like to read on other platforms, you are in luck, because you can get these all elsewhere. Check out the book pages for the link that works for you. Note – Evil Mosquito Scientist is not currently free on Amazon nor available elsewhere. As soon as it is out of Kindle Unlimited, I will be able to make it available all over.

Martin & James vs the Masked Moss-Trooper

Martin & James vs The Evil Mosquito Scientist

Martin & James vs The Crazed Weatherman

Martin & James Visit the Witch

 

Justice League movie – story fail

Have you seen the Justice League movie? If you haven’t, it’s pretty good, you should check it out. It’s supposed to be DC’s answer to the Marvel multi-movie universe. That’s a whole different discussion and not what I want to bring up today.

In the movie, Batman gathers Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Cyborg to take on this threat to the world. The climax of the movie sees the team battling flying, demon insects while trying to stop the big, bad guy. OK, so far, so good. (Warning: there’s a bit of spoilers below, so if you haven’t seen the movie, go see it before reading.)

When this big, bad guy shows up, another dimension starts intruding on our world. Essentially a portal opens up and the demon bugs come out and the portal is getting bigger. When the portal opened, it was right in the middle of this town. Of course, most of the people, being smart, bug (ha ha) out and get away as fast as they can. That is, except for one family.

This guy boards up his windows to keep the bugs out and he’s ready to fight with his shotgun. His little girl, the star of this little scene, is scared and hiding under the table. After listening to the bugs slam into their house, she decides to crawl over to a cabinet. Reaching inside she pulls out — bug spay! I loved it. This little girl isn’t going to be afraid, she will fight the bugs and gets the best weapon she can think of.

Fast forward: The Justice League shows up and is fighting the bugs. The father, realizing he can’t fight them, takes the opportunity to skeddaddle. He loads the family up in the pickup truck and gets out. Except it isn’t that easy. The portal is getting bigger and about the engulf their truck and the bugs are swarming and will be attacking the family, and the little girl, riding in the back. Of course, there are superheroes to save the day, and the Flash uses his super speed to move the truck, and family, far down the road out of danger.

Right here is the missed opportunity. Flash tells them bye, and leaves. Ugh, ball dropped. Here’s what really should have happened. As he’s about to leave, the little girl tugs his sleeve and hands him the bug spray.

That’s it. Nothing super big or spectacular, but it’s exactly what was needed. They had this whole arc with the little girl and her family. They are trapped and she’s afraid, yet she decides to fight back and does what she can. Now, there are super people that will take care of things, yet, she wants to help and gives him her can of bug spray. She doesn’t need it. Regardless of the abilities they have, she is helping him and giving him the only thing she can, not only as thanks but because she knows they will need all the help they can get.

Even better would have been as the Flash is running around, he actually gets attacked by a group of bugs and pulls out the bug spray and blasts them, causing them to all fly away, maybe some fly into trees or buildings or whatever. He then smiles and looks at the can. That, to me, would have been perfect and was really missed. They could have finished that little sub-plot very well but left it go and it feels missed.

Wait, there could have been one more thing. End of credit scene, the Flash visits the family and gives the girl a new bottle of bug spray. Yeah, that would have been great.

Did you see the movie? Did you like it? Do you think they should have done what I said? Just curious. Thanks.

 

Star Wars fan fiction – Han and Chewie Search for a Rebel Base

As I might have mentioned before, for years I have written little stories to give my kids at Christmas. It started as stories set in the Star Wars universe.

After the rebels blew up the first Death Star and before they had their base on Hoth, there were several years in between that we really haven’t gotten much about. They had to have people out scouting the galaxy for a better rebel base, right?

Many of the stories I wrote for the kids were based on this idea. It’s one of the more intriguing aspects of Star Wars for me, the unanswered questions of what went on. This story was written when I was wondering what Han and Chewie would do if they were out looking for one of the bases.

Since the new Solo movie is out, I figured I’d give this out to any other Star Wars fans. It’s not my best story, but it has some fun in it. At the time, the 2,500 words seemed like a lot. I look at it now and realize how much more there could have been.

Anyway, enjoy the story:

Han and Chewie Search for a Rebel Base

The Haunted Forest Tour – Jeff Strand & James Moore Fan Fiction

I’ll tell you a quick story before I tell you a story.

I sometimes review audiobooks. Some are good, some aren’t as good. I try to be fair, even if it is a book I personally am not enjoying or it’s a genre I don’t read much of.

On occasion, though, I get an audiobook that I love. That’s what happened with Cyclops Road by Jeff Strand. I was hesitant at first because I couldn’t quite figure out what this was going to be about. As I got further into it, I found that I was loving it. Not only did it have a bit of fantasy, but it was funny. A great blend.

I finished the audiobook and immediately checked out the author – you know, social stalking on Facebook and his website. Turns out this guy has a ton of books. So of course, like we all do when we find an author we like, I grabbed one of his books – The Haunted Forest Tour.

Once again, this book delivered. It’s light-hearted, funny, has some sci-fi type fantasy, and it has tons of monsters killing people in interesting ways. It was kind of like a B-movie on Syfy. Come on, who doesn’t like a good B-movie on Syfy?

Anyway, I finished the book and am moving on the another. BUT – being who I am, my brain sparked. There could have been other people that got off that tram car, right? Maybe a few of them got separated from the rest of the group. Hmmmm……

If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about, check out the book. For me, I sat down and wrote a story. I’m sure there was a guy that must have gotten off and separated. Maybe he had something even more on his mind than tons of monsters trying to eat him……

So here you go – fan fiction for The Haunted Forest Tour.

PDF – I Gotta Pee

I hope you enjoy it. Made me chuckle, hope it brightens someone’s day.

Please, do yourself a favor and check out these two authors.

Jeff Strand – website and facebook

James Moore – website

As another aside, I found out that Jeff and I were born 2 days apart and he went to school in the next town over from me. How cool is that?