Roland Yeomans's Blog, page 54

HOW JOHN STEINBECK FOUND THE WRITE PATH_ Of Ducks and Men

 

I am not a successful writer.  It looks as if I never will be.    But being a Sci Fi/Fantasy writer,

I thought how fun it would be to exchange letters with John Steinbeck when he was a struggling writer in the Depression   So here is the exchange --  (530 words)    {John Steinbeck - 1931}
Pacific GroveDecember 1930
Dear Roland -
     What a stupendous thing Samuel McCord has done for me.  In his presence I reflected how might the struggling author 100 years from now compare to my own starving state. 
     And as a Christmas present, he has arranged for us to send letters back and forth.
     How wonderful is that?  I do not mind that I must not inquire what my fate will be.  Judging from my plentiful rejections, I doubt you even know my name.

Thank you for your letter. I am sorry I must answer it from memory.

      Tillie Eulenspiegel, the Airedale, has puppies, as sinful a crew as ever ruined rugs.      Four of them found your letter and ate all of it but the address. I should imagine they were awed by the address if I had not learned that they hold nothing in reverence.      At present they are out eating each other, and I must try to remember the things I should answer. 
 I am daily expecting to receive both of my novels back. That will be a blow but I don’t see how I can escape it.      My work is improving, I think— and eventually I shall be able to dispose of all of it, but this is rather a long period of waiting, don’t you think?      Yesterday we bought two mallard ducks for the garden. The drake has an irridescent green head. They are beautiful. They swim in the pond and eat the bugs in the garden.      We are pretty excited. They cost our amusement quota for this month but are worth it. Named Aqua and Vita. Carol hated to go to work this morning and leave them because they are so interesting.      They do not ever step on the plants— just edge between on their big clumsy feet. They very promptly caught and ate the goldfish, but we don't care. 

       I thank you for your own Christmas present in response to my question of what might a bestselling book be like in your time.

     I read only a page or so of The Da Vinci Code. The pages I read seemed to be a hodgepodge of quotations and confusing logic. 
     Brown's words are virtual blunt instruments of prose.  My brain feels positively bruised. 
     Christmas broke Carol and me, so that we must live nine days on two dollars and five cents.
     I think we can do it although the last few of those nine may find us living on rice. That doesn’t matter either. It’s rather amusing.       At least I try to tell myself that.
     I have been filled with a curious cloying despair. I haven’t heard a word from any of my manuscripts for over three months.
     It is nerve wracking. I would welcome rejections far more than this appalling silence. My new novel slumbers. I doubt myself. This is a dreadful, crucial time. The other day I asked a young friend to read a story, and he felt that he should criticise because that was what one did to a ms.      So he tore a pretty nice story to pieces and showed me how to do it.      It was funny because he hit all the places which are simply matters of opinion and tore up some of the nicest writing I have ever done.      Such things reassure one in the matter of believing critics.      Has that ever happened to you?  How do you deal with criticism of your work, Roland?       Do you ever feel guilt for putting those you love and who love you under such strain from the clinging to your dream?       That is all I can think of. If there was more to be answered it is in the stomachs of those khaki-colored devils in the garden.      They are eating the fence now. The appetite of a puppy ranks with the Grand Canyon for pure stupendousness. I am very grateful to you for your interest.       Has Man grown kinder by 2021?  Or is the human heart withered by all it has endured?
     Tell me how your work proceeds.  No particulars on what you are writing as McCord forbids that, just how you find it within yourself to continue when all you receive are rejections.
John


What would you tell John Steinbeck were you me?

HOW TO WRITE LIKE RAYMOND CHANDLER_IWSG Post

 Ghost of Raymond Chandler here.I've appeared in one of Roland's books


https://www.amazon.com/dp/1534981861

HOW WOULD I FIT INTO THIS  #MeToo WORLD?
Why should I want to? 
Why should anyone expect a writer from the 1940's to do so?
My world-weary detective, Philip Marlowe, lived in a male-dominated world of corrupt politicians, 
insulated by their wealth businessmen, and burned-out cops.

Along with women, who through necessity or from the sheer pleasure of dominating rather than being dominated, 

learned to get what they wanted through the only coin appreciated by the world:

 their beauty

My modern critics seem to forget my girl Friday, Anne Riordan, in FAREWELL, MY LOVELY.
Prejudices are so much easier to carry when you ditch those awkward facts which question the veracity of them.
HOW TO WRITE LIKE ME?
The Truth? Don't.
BE YOU,THE BEST VERSION OF YOU.
(Midnight is not fond of my pipe smoke)
But if you must, here are a few thoughts
FIRST -
I’m an intellectual snob who happens to have a fondness for the American vernacular, largely because I grew up on Latin and Greek. 
I had to learn American just like a foreign language. …
 If I hadn’t grown up with Latin and Greek, 
I doubt if I would know so well where to draw the very subtle line between 
what I call the vernacular style and what I should call an illiterate or faux naif style.”
My poetic, high-brow literary phrases are interlaced with low-brow slang, crime jargon, and Depression-era wisecracks 
to create a text in which sophisticated cultural references appear 
like bright flowers rising above broken bottles and cigarette butts in a dark alley.


EXTREME EYE FOR DETAIL
Readers did not want non-stop action. 
They wanted to feel something. 
The things they really cared about, and that I cared about, were the creation of emotion through dialogue and description.
It was through detailed description of the clothing, bodies, mannerisms, and voices of my characters as in:

I started up the steep steps. It was a nice walk if you liked grunting. 

There were two hundred and eighty steps up to Cabrillo Street. 

They were drifted over with windblown sand and the handrail was as cold and wet as a toad’s belly. 

When I reached the top the sparkle had gone from the water and a seagull with a broken trailing leg was twisting against the off-sea breeze.

WHAT DO I MEAN?

Write a basic text, then keep injecting more and more descriptive language 

until your reader can see, feel, smell, and taste everything your protagonist is experiencing.

STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE PLOT

Does Life have one coherent Plot?

Not that I have seen on either side of the grave.

It seems to me that the real mystery is not who killed Sir John in his study, 

but what the situation really was, what the people were after, what sort of people they were.

Once you have illuminated those facets, the whole gem of the mystery is revealed ... 

as is the murderer.

A good plot is one which makes good scenes. 
The ideal mystery is one you would read even if the end was missing.

HAVE SOMETHING WORTHWHILE TO SAY

A good mystery is an allegory of what makes life worth living 

and how easy it is for it all to go astray.

I talked about what I saw in my L.A. - 

the corruption, the crime, the hubris of the elite and their relationship to the human condition -

while telling a riveting, absorbing tale.

WHAT DO YOU SEE IN YOUR WORLD?

How could you relate your impressions of it in a ripping good yarn?

https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B0982J4L23

SPEAKING OF GOOD YARNS

My friend, Roland Yeomans,

has written another good one.

TRY IT OUT.

THE 1ST 3 CHAPTERS ARE FREE

As the Medici Rule, Vampires Walk Among Them!

 

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0967PV44B/ref=pe_34264310_596653870_pe_re_csr_ea_lm

Come August 9th, my friend, Denise Covey 

has a stirring new fantasy coming out.

Duke Vipunin de Castellina's grandfather is dead.
With his father murdered by creatures of the forest,Vipunin is the rightful heir ... to castle, to lands, to titles ...to the hate of the noble who wanted them all.
To claim his inheritance, he must return from Florence to Tuscany
and face the plotting nobleman and the vampires who wait in ambush.

But when a mysterious woman arrives at his celebratory party, 
he falls under the spell of her uncanny beauty.
He should have remembered what happened to his grandfather.
Give Denise's book a try come August 9th, will you?

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/product/B0982J4L23
Remember my own Kindle Vella, too:
A Noir fantasy
The American Southwest has been invaded by the myths and monsters of many ages.
It is up to the private detective son of the Trickster, Coyote
to somehow outsmart beings cosmic in power and endless in their hunger. 
Smart Money would not bet on him.
His mother, Gaia, has no problem in believing in her son.

After all, he takes after his father!

NO E-READER FOR KINDLE VELLA ... YEAH, RIGHT

 But first:

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/product/B099QYH5KM

 A children's book for my next Vella!

Hoopah, the winged buffalo calf

is joined by Hibbs, the cub with no clue,

Azure, the insane know-it-all unicorn, 

(He's insane because he knows it all you see!)

and

Ratatoskr, the gossiping squirrel of 

the World Tree, Yggdrasil,  

to save their world.

Or destroy it ...

whichever comes first!

That is right:

No e-readers for Kindle Vella!

Vella is available in the Kindle app for iOS 

and on the web.

So your Vella will have to compete

against text messages, Facebook, Twitter.

and other smartphone sirens!

What a race for attention keeping, right?

Imagine someone reading your chapter 

receiving a text.

Is your chapter so riveting that a reader

will come back

to see what happens next?

Readers who buy tokens are granted one FAVE,

per week

eliminating the fraudulent fake reviews 

Amazon and we hate.

I have yet to receive one. 

But there is always tomorrow, right?

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/product/B0982J4L23

Twenty-two chapters are now available.

Soon the 23rd chapter. 

ONLY THE PIG ENJOYS IT,

will be available as well.

I wonder if I am being foolish trying

 this new experiment.

What do you think?

Give my Vella books a chance,

will you?

Kindle Vella has launched!

 

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/product/B0982J4L23
A New Adventure
A New Hero
A New World of Dangers

Noir Meets Science Fantasy Meets Native American Myth.

Visit Lake Pleasant
You May Never Want to Return ...
or Be Able to!

C'Mon!
The 1st three chaptersAre Free.

Give me a Thumbs Up at theend of the FREE 1st  episode
and
Follow!

KINDLE VELLA is coming soon ... And so is ADAM BLACK

 

When will Kindle Vella stories

 be available to readers?

 

Amazon has not released an official date.

but it is expected to launch before 

the end of July 2021.

Trinity was the code name of the first detonation of a nuclear device. It was conducted by the United States Armyat 5:29 a.m. on July 16, 1945

A piece of Hindu scripture ran 

through the mind of Robert Oppenheimer then: 

“Now I am become Death, 

the destroyer of worlds."

But what if it ripped a revolving tear  in the space-time continuum,
opening our plane to beings from 
constantly changing realms of existence?

And what if the Spirits of the Southwest grew weary of being invaded?


They asked Coyote to help as in the Ancient Days.
And he did ...in the most unexpected way.
Then what else did they expect from the Trickster of Legend?

Raven tried to warn them.
But who listens to featheredEarly Warning Systems?

A CAUTIONARY TALE: AMAZON VELLA_ IWSG post

 

Those of you who have been reading my posts lately know 

that Vella found fault in two of my episodes since they had characters

I used in other books and referenced scenes from earlier books.

I revised them and re-submitted them. They were accepted.

The end of last month, Amazon blocked my whole novel,all 22 chapters, 50,000 words of it.Ouch!

I decided to try again.I have written 14 chapters12,000 words.

I've noticed something new in the email they send you when they accept a chapter
"Kindle Vella stories are reviewed separately  from episodes.   Content reviews for your story  and other episodes  may impact the onsite  availability of this episode."

So if you are considering submitting to Amazon Vella, be aware that acceptance of your episodedoes not mean acceptance of your novella.

But Leonidas of Sparta gave it his all.
He died but birthed a legendthat lives on today.
Wish me luckon this one!
The Synopsis:

Lake Pleasant: a city as toxic as the lake for which it is named. 

It is a city where anything can happen so long as it is terrible, and innocence has a short life span. 

The powerful rule, and the weak scurry for the dubious safety of the shadows.

Sometimes they scurry to the impoverished detective, Adam Black. “Black Magic” he is called on the streets. 

He refuses to explain his name. 

Any explanation would be ignored, but his silence unsettles those who prowl the shadows.

The crime boss, Anthony Vincent, has a job for Black: find his missing daughter. 

The fee for success: Black gets to live.

Vincent is dying. 

All the would-be successors circle Black in his search for some secret to topple the dying King. 

Adam Black is aware they are playing a game against opponents for whom they are no match.

It is a dark secret that would be his death 

if it were known he possessed it: 

reality has been invaded by beings thrust against their will onto this earthly plane … 

and want nothing more than to return, though the door has revolved again to other stranger shores.

WHAT'S UNAMERICAN THESE DAYS ANYHOW? Ghost of Mark Twain

 

What is unAmerican these days, anyhow?

Waiting for Roland to get back from a blood run,

I read where this singer gal

said we needed a new flag.

This present one was as bad

 as the Confederate Flag!

Well, thousands of soldiers died under that "unsuitable"

one to free a lot of folks from slavery.

But what do I know?

I'm just a humorist and 

actually lived during those times.

Then, there this here athlete who found something

better to do while they played the National Anthem.

Said she was set up and all.

Well, I didn't see anybody 

twisting her body around.

Does she know the story 

behind the song?

Would she care if she did?

Let's talk about the 4th of July:

 

We have a double Fourth of July, a daylight Fourth 

and a midnight Fourth.

 

 During the day in America, as the President has indicated, 

we keep the Fourth of July properly in a reverent spirit.

 

We devote it to teaching our children patriotic things, 

and reverence for the Declaration of Independence.

 

We honor the day all through the daylight hours, 

and when night comes we dishonor it.

 

Two hours from now on the Atlantic coast when night shuts down, 

that pandemonium will begin 

and there will be noise, 

and noise, and noise, all night long,

 

And there will be more than noise --

 

There will be people crippled,

 t here will be people killed, 

there will be people who will lose their eyes, 

and all through that permission which we give 

to irresponsible boys to play with firearms 

and firecrackers and all sorts of dangerous things.

 

We turn that Fourth of July over to rowdies to drink 

and get drunk and make the night hideous,

 and we cripple and kill more people 

than you would imagine.

 

STAY SAFE THIS FOURTH, PILGRIMS!

ONLY YOU, ROLAND

 

THE WATERS AT SOUTHPARK - ALLIGATOR IN PONDFrom:Lacey Pate (Assistant Manager)Date:July 1, 2021, 4:40 pmSubject:Alligator in Pond

Good afternoon,

We have been made aware that there is an alligator in the back pond. Someone is on his way to us now to try and remove it. The back pond is connected to the pond in the middle of buildings 4,5,6,7,8 and 9 so please be cautious with small children and babies.
I will update you here when he/she has been safely removed.

Thank you.

I got the above email just before I was to leave work and trudge wearily to my apartment.

Boy, had it been HOT! 

But reading that email certainly gave me the chills.

When I got to my door, just feet away from said pond, I saw an older woman walking right next to the water's edge with her dog in one of those vest leaches.

I hurried to her and asked if she got the email. Her words?

She was looking to see if she could see its footprints.

I started backing up to my door and kept talking to her. She looked like she wanted to stay by the pond's edge.

You can't save people from themselves. I felt sorry for the dog.

THIS JUST IN

THE WATERS AT SOUTHPARK - ALLIGATOR CAUGHT

From:Lacey Pate (Assistant Manager)Date:July 2, 2021, 8:48 amSubject:Alligator Caught

Our alligator was caught and rehomed yesterday evening.

Thank you for your patience. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

TO END THE MONTH WITH BEAUTY AND HOPE

 

Last week Amazon Vella, after having approved my revised two chapters, 

decided to block my whole story.

All 22 chapters and 50,000 words of it. Ouch!

I decided to pick myself up, dust myself off, and get back into the fight..
I've only managed to write 7 chaptersand 3 of them will be offered for free.

Amazon Vella will become LIVEmid-July.
I hope to have a least 10 chapters ready by then.

What is the story?

Lake Pleasant: a city as toxic as the lake for which it is named. 

It is a city where anything can happen so long as it is terrible, and innocence has a short life span. 

The powerful rule, and the weak scurry for the dubious safety of the shadows.

Sometimes they scurry to the impoverished detective, Adam Black. 

“Black Magic” he is called on the streets. 

He refuses to explain his name. Any explanation would be ignored,

 but his silence unsettles those who prowl the shadows.

The crime boss, Anthony Vincent, has a job for Black: find his missing daughter. 

The fee for success: Black gets to live.

Vincent is dying. 

All the would-be successors circle Black in his search 

for some secret to topple the dying King. 

Adam Black is aware they are playing a game against opponents 

for whom they are no match.

It is a dark secret that would be his death if it were known he possessed it: 

reality has been invaded by beings thrust against their will onto this earthly plane … 

and want nothing more than to return,

though the door has revolved again to other stranger shores.

WISH ME LUCK!