Norm Applegate's Blog: Norm Applegate's Blog, page 9

Melting like butter

I was listening to itunes radio, smooth jazz. A song came on and it grabbed me. "I'm Ok," the artist is Lisa Shaw. Im a smooth jazz guy. I like an upbeat rhythm with cool instrumentation. So I bought the album, "Free." Amazing, every song is excellent. I slip on the earbuds and listen to her as I run. Great music to exercise to. Some background on Lisa. She was born in Toronto, my home town. Had nothing to do with me liking her. Apparently she went to New York and her career took off. She has performed live on The David Letterman Show. Was a backing vocalist for Jewel and is a huge success in the late hours of dance clubs worldwide. Being a drummer I listen to rhyme. The electronic drums have a great sound, good rudiments. Nice bass runs and the vocals are sultry, melting like butter. A must have...

A Shout out - this day in History:

SportsThe first Stanley Cup was played in 1894 in Montreal Canada
American RevolutionStamp Act imposed on American colonies, 1765

AutomotiveThe origins of the Hummer, 1983


Source: History.com

"The sex with Mom was good, and for once, I was in the mood for it."

A few days ago I asked this question in the Kindle Blogs. Got a lot of answers, thought I would share these.:If you're like me, you look at the cover and go quickly to chapter one, read the opening line and start the decision process. Do I buy it? Maybe you read the opening line of chapter two. It either grabs you or it doesn't. What is your favorite opening line? One that you wrote. And tell us what book please, might want to buy it.
Here's one of mine from my latest novel, First to Die. A dark SUV slipped through the fog and came to a stop. It was quiet. Almost silent.

Here's more. I've included the name of the book and author.
From "A Harmless American" by David Dalglish Javier watched her swim until she drowned.
From "Pigman's Fingers," by Ian Fraser "The sex with Mom was good, and for once, I was in the mood for it."
The Demon Girl by Penelope Fletcher "The day I learnt I was a demon was the worst day of my life."
From "Falling Star," by Phillip Chen He was killed by a hit and run jogger.
From "The Mayor," by Robin Morris "Everyone knew when The Mayor came to Madame Bob's."
From "Lucifer's Odyssey," by Rex Jameson "Lucifer sat down at his usual, dimly-lit spot at the back of the honky-tonk bar."




Anybody have any others. Come on post them.

Let me give a shout out to "Boy Day."

Let the fun begin...

Outlining your novel

I read that a breakout novel can't be written in a weekend. For most, it takes three to five years to write. I disagree with that. The three to five years part that is. I agree with the weekend. I start my process by writing out maybe forty to fifty sentences. Each one represents a chapter. Some I expand into a few sentences others I leave the headline alone. It's a plan, a roadmap so I know where I'm headed. For me it's not a detailed process. Maybe it should be. I haven't found a book on the subject of writing outlines. Ahhh, note to self, when I'm famous and use an outline write a how to book…            I have an author friend, David Hagberg he writes CIA terrorist stories. Hit the New York Times last year with The Expediter. Has a new book, The Abyss coming out in June. We have lunch together every few months. We like say we tip a few and laugh. I consider him my mentor. I pick his brain for these little nuggets. Like I have inside information on writing. Things like outlining. He has written over eighty books. I've written four. He writes a detailed outline, he even knows the end before he begins. Mine is sketchy at best, never know the end. It discovers me. I think I'm impatient. I want to write the book not plan to write it. But I've logged this into my to do's. Work on creating a detailed plan before writing the breakout novel. Maybe the next book I'll build a better plan. Let me highlight that so I can come back and read this at a later time, kinda remind myself of something I must work on.
Create detailed plan before starting the writing process.             The basics:            What's the location for the novel?            Who is the main character?            What is the main driver to the story?            What does the main character want?

Martyrs

Found the movie Trailer for Martyrs! Read the earlier post for a review.

You'll feel ashamed of yourself...

Terror. Graphic terror. I watched a horror movie a few weeks ago so violent I was blown away. It is graphic. It's tense. It's exhausting. I'm shocked that so few people are talking about it. So I'm going to. Maybe it's because the French get a bad name, I don't know, except to say this is one freaking movie.            "Martyrs"If you haven't heard of it, go get it right now. Order it from Netflix.Directed by: Pascal Laugier and was first shown at Cannes Film Festival in 2008
This is the best quality horror movie I've seen. The French are on a role, with "Frontiers," another gritty horror. They have found a niche.
I won't spoil the movie here but…It starts out with an unsettling series of camera angles. A girl, maybe about 11, beaten up, bruised, bloody face, barely dressed running out of a deserted factory. It looks real.We learn the girl, Lucie was a prisoner. We see a chair, dark dingy cell. The chair has a hole in it. She was tortured. But here's where the movie is brilliant. You don't know why she was tortured. You're thinking oh yeah, seen it before, torture porn. No, No, No. You will never guess what is going on or why Lucie is being victimized. Until the end. And it's so deep. So physiologically unsettling, it's genius.
The movie jumps to fifteen years later. This is the story. Throughout the movie Lucie is tormented by an image. A woman, think it's a woman. Yup, it's a woman. Naked, starved, bones protruding, female, very creepy. The image attacks her, cuts her up, carves in, carves out, blood, wet painful, cuts her again, and again and again.
I was confused here. I thought I knew where this movie was going, wrong. It fooled me. A different story emerges. One you don't expect. One you can't figure out. The pace is fast. You don't have time to think about where it's going. You don't have time to put the pieces together. It's happening rapidly in front of your eyes.
Lucie is at a middle class family house. Then something happens. Lucie calls her friend Ann to come help her. Another moment you don't expect. Then something happens. Again you're puzzled. Then for the next 30 minutes. You are witness to extreme horror. Only near the end does all this brutality make sense. Clue: Martyr is Greek for "witness."
All horror movies will be measured against this one!
When you have watched it through to the end. Post you're thoughts. You will feel ashamed watching this movie. It's like you're watching something you know you shouldn't be watching. Martyrs…

Eric Clapton

I went to the Eric Clapton concert March 5th in Vegas. MGM Grand Casino to be exact.  I had never seen Clapton before so I was pretty hyped up to listen to him wail. And he did by the way. But who would have thought at a Clayton concert the piano player might have stolen the show.  Chris Stainton, from England is the guy. He was incredible. Here's the background on him. He played with Joe Cocker in the 60's. He was on the Mad Dogs and Englishman Tour.  In 1979 he began playing with Clapton. He's also the guy that did the piano work on the Who's Quadrophenia album. Pretty impressive. Then there was the drummer. I'm a drummer but nothing like this guy. Steve Gadd is solid. At age eleven he played with Dizzy Gillespie. Frank Zappa even lampoon him because he was one of the highest paid sessions drummers around. He has played with everyone. Recorded on over 2000 albums, including one of my favorites Aja by Steely Dan.  Clapton showed us why he is the greatest. One word,  perfection. Not a note or a beat was overused or out of sync. He did an extended guitar solo in "I Shot The Sherriff," and two classics, "Cocaine" and "Crossroads." Surprisingly, he never talked to the audience. I found out afterward that's how he is, quiet. Lets the guitar do the talking.

This App works "Focus Booster," helps you write more!

So I'm blog hopping and I end up on Amanda Hocking's blog. We all know who she is. She's all over the place, this young girl from Minnesota that is a huge success on Amazon, kinda making us indie writers proud. Well, she mentions this app called "Focus Booster." It's a timer on your computer. I know from my consulting work, "if you measure it, you can improve it." I like it. You hit a button it starts a count down. You feel pressured to get things done. You find yourself watching the timer tick away and well, it works. You write more.

New Book Out in March

The last book in my horror series for a while comes out in March. My next novel is a mystery thriller. First to Die is set to come out on March 13th. This day in 1965 Jeff Beck replaced Eric Clapton of the Yardbirds. Big fan of both guys, saw Clapton in Vegas March 5th.
The description for First to Die is:
Coherced into a grave-robbing scheme by a group of vampires, Kim Bennett has no idea she's been set up for a grisly murder, her own. Following leads to New York and Paris, Kim battles twisted characters, a killer with a sickening fetish and a society fueled by blood lust. This novel is as much a thriller as it is blunt force trauma. Laced with sexual frenzy layered on graphic violence, this book is not for vegetarians.
Take a look at it!
First to Die on Amazon