L. Lane Bailey's Blog, page 16
June 11, 2021
Author Drivers
There are two things that drive indie authors… those of us that take on self-publishing. I don’t mean the things that drive us to create, but the things that drive our creations and propel us into the market, building success. Read More
The first one is fans. Not just those that drop a like on FaceBook or other social media platforms, but that take an extra moment and hit the share or retweet button. It can’t be overstated how important that is for our success. Most of the platforms lim...
June 9, 2021
New Life excerpt II
New Life is an unpublished work in progress. The title is subject to change… If you like this story, you might like one of my others. Here is my Amazon Author’s page. Check it out…
Owen’s phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket, “What do you have for me Dutch? Is Helena there?”Read More
…
“Shit. Can you…”
…
“We’ll meet you there,” Owen said before he hung up the phone.
“What is it, Owen?”
“They found her. Her car was laying on its side against a rock. Helena is ser...
June 7, 2021
New Life excerpt I
New Life is an unpublished work in progress. The title is subject to change… If you like this story, you might like one of my others. Here is my Amazon Author’s page. Check it out…
Twelve years ago
Helena Swanson pulled out of the garage of the family cabin. As she pulled away from the house, the passenger window exploded inward with the sound of the gunshot. She swung her head to her right as she slammed her foot into the gas pedal. Her Corvette leapt forward, spitting gravels as...
June 4, 2021
YOU are Quite the Character
I am asked regularly… perhaps more than anything else… where my characters come from. Often, the question has a hidden subtext, though. The asker is wondering if THEY might be a character. With about the same frequency, they are wondering if they know some other characters.
Yes, no, kinda, everyone. Read More
If I know you, more than just passing, you are probably a character. But you really aren’t. There are VERY few people that have been lifted wholesale from my life and dropped...
June 2, 2021
The Cliff
It has been a while since I put up anything from Who, What, When, Why? so here is part of Storytime with Gunny.
The adults gathered near the edge of the cliff. Of the thirty boys and ten adults that had camped on the mountaintop, ten of the older boys and four of the leaders were rappelling down the face. It was a hundred and fifty-foot rappel, and they had been practicing for months. Aside from the mental challenge of stepping off a cliff, they had to deal withRead More
the logistical ...May 31, 2021
Excerpt from The Angel
It has been a while since I put up anything from Who, What, When, Why? so here is part of the Angel.
The Ranger unit loaded up into an M-35 truck to head out on patrol. It was 1425 local, and they were scheduled to roll out at 1430 hours. They had three outposts to check on and were expecting to be gone about four hours. Sergeant Prince was in the passenger seat, as leader of the unit, with his driver and four soldiers in the back of the truck.
This wasn’t their first patrol, and it wa...
May 28, 2021
Creation of a Pattern
Let’s see if I can make this stick.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve mostly stuck to a pattern… Monday and Wednesday are narratives… short stories or excerpts from longer works. But they are all about telling a story. Read More
In the case of the excerpts, maybe hoping that you will like it enough to want to read some more. But then on Friday, I have slipped in something about the act or business of writing.The last couple of Friday posts are things like Vella and the Story Arc, And o...
May 26, 2021
Melody excerpt II
Grafton (working title) is a group of novellas I have coming out soon. There are a couple of stories staring Gunny Grafton, one staring Melody, and another with a new character… she’s shy and doesn’t want to reveal herself quite yet. The Melody story is about how she wound up working for Bill Prince and Ed Dixon. This portion of the story takes place in 1974.
She had ridden with the two detectives to the Coroner’s Office, downtown. Marlow held the door for her as he let her out of the car, a...
May 24, 2021
Melody excerpt I
Grafton (working title) is a group of novellas I have coming out soon. There are a couple of stories staring Gunny Grafton, one staring Melody, and another with a new character… she’s shy and doesn’t want to reveal herself quite yet. The Melody story is about how she wound up working for Bill Prince and Ed Dixon. This portion of the story takes place in 1974.
It wasn’t until her last class was over and Melody walked back to the apartment that she figured out something was amiss. She wal...
May 21, 2021
Vella and the Story Arc
I’ve been thinking a lot about Vella, Amazon’s new episodic product. I wrote a little about it here. That post is about what Vella is, whereas this post is more about the strategy I plan to employ to write an effective series on Vella.Read More
As a very quick reminder, Vella is for “episodic fiction.” That means that each individual work will be shorter. Under 5,000 words. There is some speculation that 2,000 to 3,000 words would be ideal. Users will pay per word (in credits) for the storie...
