Roland Yeomans's Blog, page 84
March 11, 2019
Is There Room In a Novel for the Big Questions?
From the diary of Ingrid Durtzfound in Temple of Tongues
(I re-named my Work In Progress)
Eyes born of a world whose air was death for humans to breathe studied me.
The Ningyo called Ice murmured, "Ingrid Durtz, you died and re-awakened in another's body."
I suspected where this was going. "Yes."
Her race was long-lived.
That very fact made the prospect of death more frightening, not less, for them.
Death in a strange land horrified them.
Would their spirits become lost looking for their world not of this plane?
Death is a Void. The body a fact.
My tenant body they could see. But what of my spirit? What had become of it in the ether of non-existence?
She proved my supposition right. "What do you remember of your journey from your old body to this one you now possess?"
There was a sadly obvious answer which was much like the answer to that tired jest:
'How many World War II veterans does it take to change a light bulb? '
"You don't know, man. You weren't there."
But we were friends so I answered in a word she might believe but probably would not.
"Nothing."
Her face lengthened as the faces of her race did when angry.
"Nothing has two faces: 'Emptiness' and 'Infinite Potential.'"
I sighed.
That duality shaped her ideas of the afterlife.
If she couldn't quantify the difference between the medical definition of life and the spiritual concept of the soul ...
at least she knew when there was no good reason for me to hold the knowledge and personality
of a dead woman.
When nothing becomes something, it defies death.
It put aside somewhat her fear that all awaiting her after death was the void.
I think having the people in my novel introspective and flawed makes them come alive
and has the reader root for them to survive or at least die with dignity.
What do you think?
How do you make your characters believable?
ALEX ROSS_Brushstrokes of Life
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401220347/In Kingdom Come, Alex Ross breathed life in a graphic novel which
depicted an older Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman
facing a future where heroism has gone darkly, violently wrong.
It presents a world much like our own today which seems to be spinning inexorably out of control.
Ross’ painted, hyper-realistic visuals may be the most awe-inspiring in modern comics.
Like to see more of his artwork?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375422404/Take a look into the artist's
mind, studio, childhood, and passions:
Alex Ross is even in
the Norman Rockwell Museum.
In his words:
"There is always something to learn from the past if you only open your mind to look at it."
Do you have a favorite artist,
traditional or comic?
March 5, 2019
HOW TO HOOK YOUR READER _ IWSG post
THE TITLE:
The title TUGS the eye of the browsing would-be reader on Amazon.
It snares and entices.
It makes your first impression.
THE COVER:
A successful book cover makes a reader 'feel' things rather than 'tell' them something.
The cover sets the mood of the book.
If the cover is mostly dark colored with shadows and a disturbing image,
it shows that the story inside the book must be scary.
THE FIRST PAGE:
How to Write a Good Hook and Start Your Novel with a Bang!
1.) Startle readers with the first line.
2.) Begin at a life-changing moment.
3.) Create intrigue about the characters.
4.) Use a setting as the inciting incident.
5.) Up the stakes with the first page.
6.) Introduce something ominous right away.
7.) Set the mood.
8.) Make your characters sympathetic and relatable — immediately.
EXAMPLE:
Take the first page of my next novel: WITHOUT MERCY OR NAME
(Did you know that hurricanes in 1947 had no names?)
A POLISHED LIFE OF LIES
“It was a beautiful lie that Hoover had been telling himself: that he could bend his own rules to protect his sin without becoming more monstrous than those he was sworn to arrest.” – Diary of Ingrid Durtz, 8 March, 1947
I once thought you had to be cut to hurt this badly. I have come to realize that there are some memories that cut deeper than any surgeon’s scalpel. Though our flight through the night skies was smoother than the softest velvet, I seemed to feel the aircraft shake violently from Nazi flack exploding all around us.
My memories had me back aboard the Douglas C-47 of my last mission ... the mission in which I died. The airplane was originally designed as a passenger airplane for TWA airlines. However, it became a vital part of the Allied fleet in World War II, particularly during D-Day and missions over "The Hump,” the India to China airlift over the Himalayan mountains.
It served in military missions for a long list of countries. In addition to being well suited for carrying supplies, the C-47 was ideal for dropping paratroopers, with its wide rear door located between the left wing and elevator. Hence why I and my O.S.S. team members were then aboard.
That particular C-47 had been adorned with nose art done by Captain Lucas which gave the craft its much too melodramatic name: “Devil's Darlin'.”
Since he was my superior officer in the O.S.S. and the man I loved, I did not object … much.
Love.
The most used and least understood word in any language whether it be my native Swedish or Lucas’ American English.
I thought I never would find a man I could love until I met Lucas. He thought himself incapable of love, of loving me … until I died in his arms.
Life, love, death, undeath … they are never what you expect.
HOW DO YOU
HOOK YOUR READERS?
March 1, 2019
How to Approach the Guilt, Shame & Privilege of being a White Woman
I was scrolling down my emails when I spotted the above article title.
WHAT THE?
All the white women with whom I work
are too busy making ends meet, working, and raising their families to feel guilt, shame,
and they certainly do not feel privileged!
It turns out that the article was written by a white woman
who directs research and leads events with indigenous women.
But in the article, she wrote:
"There are assumptions that being white is doing wrong."
We are responsible for what we DO not what race or gender we are.
Brie Larson stated in a speech last year
that she had no interest in hearing an opinion of a movie from
someone who is male, pale, and middle-aged.
It seems to me as if we as a society have gotten lost in labeling folks as THEM and US.
The author of the article also wrote:"People of all colors can create more harm than good.
We need to all be part of this conversation"
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
February 27, 2019
DID YOU KNOW?? Captain Marvel Editon
Paul Yanover has been president of Fandango since 2012
Fandango owns Rotten Tomatoes
The percentage of responders who said they wanted to see Captain Marvel went from the the high 90's to 27% ...
citing lackluster trailers and comments from Brie Larson in her Crystal + Lucy Awards speech:
“I do not need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn’t work for him about ‘A Wrinkle In Time.'”
and strident Identity Agenda comments on her press tour.
Hours later Rotten Tomatoes removed the ability for viewers to say they were not interested in seeing the movie ...
The only option was to vote for seeing it.
Rotten Tomatoes did this across the board for all their movies.
Did Disney have a hand in this to protect the only Marvel movie to sink so low in viewers wanting to see it?
Remember Paul Yanover?
Prior to becoming president of Fandango,
Mr. Yanover served FOR 12 YEARS as Executive Vice President and managing director of Disney Online.
Was the change at Rotten TomatoesRANDOM CHANCE?
What do you think?
MARVEL? THIS IS HOW IT'S DONE
Are you tired of all the media bickering about the upcoming CAPTAIN MARVEL?
Give yourself a smile or two and watch how the trailer should have been done: YIPPEE KREE YAY!
WHAT DID YOU THINK?
February 25, 2019
ALONE IN THE LIGHT
"We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone.
Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone." - Orson Wellesfrom Perchance to Nightmare.
"I sometimes think loneliness kills more people than cancer." - A Simple Favor
“That is part of the beauty of all literature.
You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone.
You belong.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald
It is said that no person is an island unto themselves. That is not true.
We are all islands unto ourselves.
Though we swim in a sea of humanity, we are isolated one from another.
No one can truly know what thoughts churn in the skull of another.
Even if we speak the truest words we know, are we heard?
There are filters of perception over the ears of everyone we meet ... even those who know us best.
Yet, we are a tribal species.
We thrive through healthy relationships; shrivel without them.
Authenticity is the prime ingredient for healthy connecting to another.
Social Media makes it too easy to edit, filter, pander to gossip, photo-shop the realness from our image.
And to make it all about ourselves.
If we want to be heard, we must first listen.
To truly listen, we must care about the person in front of us.
We must give that time, that energy only to those who respect and cherish it back.
In being seen and loved for who they are, how they think, and how they feel,
they learn it is okay to be who they are.
And in reflecting that back to us, we learn the same thing.
I hope you have or had such a friend.
Tell me what you think of friendship.
We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/or... born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/or...
February 17, 2019
February 13, 2019
February 12, 2019
EMPTY ROOMS IN EMPTY PEOPLE
“Between the ideaAnd the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow” - T.S. Elliot, The Hollow Men
Empty rooms in empty buildings range from Congressional buildings to churches.
Empty people with empty rooms within total even more:
senators who pass more gas than useful legislation; vain professors of philosophy; burned out mothers whose children run wild like weeds.
Derek Price, who was a British physicist, historian of science, and information scientist, discovered something about his peers in academia.
He noticed that there were always a handful of people who dominated the publications within a subject.
Price found out the following (now called Price’s law):
50% of the work is done by the square root of the total number of people who participate in the work.
In other words:
Only a handful of people are responsible for the majority of the value creation.
Academics and intellectual bloggers love to dissect the world from their leather desk chairs, drinking their bottled water.
They love to explain how their perceived world works.
But we have to live in the real world.
We don’t have the time to study all the 1419 mental models that exist.
We still have to put on our clothes every morning and work, so we can pay the bills.
But on the minefield that is life, it would benefit us to think and walk smarter ...
and if we find empty rooms within ourselves, to fill them with things and thoughts that matter.
If you’re feeling empty, you’re not alone. Many of us feel empty in different ways.
For instance, you might feel empty because something is missing in your life,
Or the emptiness might stem from slowly abandoning ourselves,
not listening to our own hopes and desires.
You might abandon yourself unintentionally or unknowingly because you’re striving for perfection or others’ approval.
WHAT TO DO?
DENIAL IS NOT JUST A RIVER IN EGYPT
Don’t beat yourself up for feeling this way. Don’t try to dismiss or change your feelings.
Whatever has happened to hollow you out has happened. A new normal has been established.
Learning to live with it will take time.
DO NOT BE A STRANGER TO YOURSELF
Instead of trying to fill the void with drugs, alcohol, TV, computer games or anything else, look within and spend time with yourself,
Carve out time to explore your own desires, fears, hopes and dreams. This helps you create more meaning in your daily life and your future.
BE YOUR OWN BEST FRIEND
It’s important to be self-compassionate.
Whether you are experiencing difficult relationships, losses or feeling a lack of purpose or meaning,
you are worthy of living a fulfilling and meaningful life.
Give yourself permission to find a path to it.
LOOK UP - CONNECT TO ANOTHER HUMAN BEING
Walk into a lunch room, down a street -- sit and observe in a mall.
Everyone is looking down into their cell phone's screens.
But our spirits are filled when we look into another's eyes and see we matter to them.
No wonder then that our cell phone generation feels so hollow.
We have succeeded in amassing more and more things, but we have less and less joy, less and less empathy.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
And now, for a little laughter:
