Roland Yeomans's Blog, page 96

The NUMBING DOWN of America

'He was so terrible that he was no longer terrible, only dehumanized.'
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Have the woes of others merely become our own private reality show,
our modern gladiator games?





Take American Idol or any of the amateur talent shows.
It seems the audiences revel in the humiliation of the less talented contestants.



I waited for what seemed an eternity at the DMV.

A mother with her 10 year old boy sat down beside me.

She busied herself with FB on her phone while her son pulled out an Ipad

and promptly started playing the latest CALL OF DUTY.

For an hour, he rocked back and forth as intently shot and maimed silicon enemies.


Was he becoming numb to the realities of violence and the finality of death?



Is Technology
numbing down America?
We view the world and one another through the filter of a smartphone screen ...

distancing us from directly experiencing emotions and ugly realities.

The Internet desensitizes us to shocking images and diminishes our empathic skills.


Videos of gruesome events that we view online for the figures are so tiny that the humans do not appear real.


The shock value of the loss of human life and the cries of misery have lessened.


Desensitization has become the new normal.
Do we give up on tragedies and the people in them...
because the lack of action by politicians,
and little or no long-term coverage
by main media sources
gives a tacit message that
we are not like those suffering the tragedies.



There has been a shift in the way we communicate; rather than face-to-face ...
 Changes in the style and type of
interpersonal communication.

Young people use smartphones rather 
than interacting with the people around them,
to the detriment of being able even to make eye contact for more than a few seconds.
The Twitter and text bytes sent back and forth have reduced our ability to focus for any length of time
and have made it easier to be insensitive with impunity.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? 

HOW TO GET YOUR BOOK NOTICED

Not like this --  I think the SPCA might object.
But it could work!  Don't look at me that way.Just saying.
You can write the most beautiful novel ever crafted ...     but it will die if you cannot draw internet attention to it.

Most self-published books sell fewer than 100 or 150 copies.

GETTING YOUR eBOOK NOTICED IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT SELLING YOUR BOOK.

I. HOW DO YOU GET THAT ATTENTION?

1.) Book cover

You can choose a proper image for the book cover that will draw attention to your eBook.
     a.) You need to choose the proper thumbnail with a theme that reflects the contents of your
           eBook.

     b.) Many readers will be drawn to the book cover long before
          reading the description and the reviews.

     c.) It helps if you have a book cover that instantly draws attention.

     d.) Look at the image of THE NATIONAL LAMPOON memoir.


2.) Pricing

      a.)  it should neither be too cheap or too expensive
      b.) People value what costs them and hold to be inferior what they got cheaply.

3.) TITLE

      a.) Pick your title BEFORE you begin (you'll be with your novel for weeks so have a title that inspires you!

      b.) It's a marriage - LOVE YOUR TITLE

      C.) What a great title does:
            1.) Captures your audience’s attention
            2.) It communicates what your e-book is about
            3,) If it’s your style, it should include a little bit of a “What the Heck?” factor:
                      
Titles tell your audience a little something about you.
Look at these three sets of words:
Epic; Awesome. Remarkable; Brilliant. Elegant; Erudite Each pair of words has a unique flavor. You can almost begin to see the people that would use them in a title or a headline.

Which means that the words in your e-book title need to reflect your style.

       D.) WHO'S AN OXYMORON?~!

           i.) EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE was a great title to an older book because it linked two
                opposites.

           ii.) Startle your reader and snare his attention.

4.) YOUR BOOK DESCRIPTION

     a.)  Most people skim the content.

          1.) You’re also one of them (okay, including me)
          2.) This is where you need to write creatively
          3.) Use short paragraphs
          4.) Use short sentences like this.

     b.) Divide your content into three blocks

          1.)  Introduction (first two to three lines or really important. Tell them a story,
                make them scary, make them laugh, do anything but don’t make them bored.
               They must read your first two lines.

          2.) Middle of the content (this is where your actual MEAT of the content comes in)
          3.) Ending (end with either a surprise twist or question.)

II. HERE BE MONSTERS

   A.) It is the Old West once again.

   B.) Remember the Klondike Gold Madness (well not from actual memory, of course -- unless you're Sam McCord!)

   C.) Wild-eyed dreamers would race to Alaska where they would fall victim to prospectors
          selling fake maps to sure gold mines.

   D.) There are no GUARANTEED WAYS TO SUCCEED or 
 CERTAIN STEPS TO
          RICHES WITH YOUR EBOOK.

   E.) Once again, just write what you love, what fills your imagination with magic and delight.

The Art of the BOOK COVER

The first page of your book is not your first page ...

   It's your cover
https://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Shaman/dp/B00DO91AIU

The Last Shaman remains one of my best selling books, and I think the cover has a lot to do with it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005NCUTAG/
Victor Standish is not far behind.
My Stetson if off to Leonora Roy for her artistry.
And off to Heather McCorklefor her cover skills.



It is with the cover that the book can communicate a little of the style and mood of the tale inside.

Here is a bit of history of the fascinating artof the Sci Fi Cover
IF SELF-PUBLISHED, HOW DO YOU CRAFT YOUR COVERS? 

FOR A MOMENT OF BITTERSWEET PEACE

Here is a melody that brings to mind our search for dream's distant shore.


It also evokes the spirit of my short story,   The Town That Hated God

soon to be found in my next book Silhouettes in the Key of Scream 
  WHAT ARE YOUR DREAMS YET TO BE GRASPED?

WHY WRITE SHORT STORIES?

“A short story is a love affair; 
a novel is a marriage."  - Lorrie Moore

In this modern, fast-paced culture ...
An intense love affair is often preferred over an all-consuming marriage.
You would think then that the short story would be more popular than it is ...

Which brings us to 
What I hope will be
my next book

 


Stephen King, at the start of his career, thought of a short story as a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger.
And like with kisses, some short stories are better than others!

In the beginning of his writing struggles, Mr. King thought of his short stories as a series of pinatas he banged on --
not with a stick but with his imagination. 
Sometimes they broke and showered down a few hundred dollars.  Other times they did not.
It was an easier market to sell short stories then.  Now, not so much. 
SO WHY SHOULD WE BANG 
ON THE PINATAS 
OF SHORT STORIES 
IN THIS HARSH MARKET?


1.)  IT HELPS YOU WRITE LEAN
Each scene in your novel should be spare and lean so that the drama stands out like stirring chords in a soundtrack.
The limited space in a short story forces you to keep only what is absolutely needed 
to paint the scene and leave the rest behind.
Like Elmore Leonard advised -- Leave out the boring stuff.

2.) SHORT STORIES APPEAL TO OUR MICROWAVE CULTURE
Many readers feel that they do not have the free time to commit to a whole novel.  
They want entertainment in bite sizes.
Why do you think James Patterson writes mini-chapters?
Short stories can be read in a doctor's office or before you drift off to sleep.

3.) WRITING SHORT STORIES SAVES THOSE NEAT IDEAS THAT ARE NOT UP TO FILLING OUT A NOVEL.
How many times have you come with intriguing ideas 
that you know do not have the essence of an entire novel with its many character arcs?
You have this riveting scene with sizzling dialogue that seems to exist all on its own
 with no future beyond that moment.
A short story is perfect for that idea.

4.) SHORT STORIES PROVIDE THE PERFECT BRIDGES TO MAINTAIN INTEREST IN YOUR NOVEL SERIES 
A book can take anywhere from one to two years to complete.
Publishing short stories with the same characters can keep the interest high in your world or with your prose.

5.)  SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGIES INTRODUCE YOU TO A WHOLE NEW AUDIENCE
Also be careful in submitting your story to anthologies whose cause or company of authors mesh well with your voice and personality.
Getting your "prose voice" out there may well draw you additional fans. 

Do You Write Short Stories?
Do You Read Anthologies of Short Stories?
Why?  Why Not? 

NEED A LAUGH?

WORDS without MEANING_ IWSG post

Take WE THE PEOPLE
pretty straightforward, right?

Still, politicians, even Founding Fathers, have to placate expediency so ...
Blacks were counted as half a People  
and Native Americans as only 25% a People 

and that was only done to satisfy the bickering states 

for population count was important in determining the number of representatives each state had in the House.


Yet those words and the ones following them are important because of the ideals that lay behind them.



William Shatner let those ideals slip as his ego took control of his performance ...

and we as writers should learn from that.

Our words should not draw attention to us but to our story.  

Our words touch the reader's heart to feel when

we keep from telling them what to feel.

Take the two words above:  

Touch ...Heart
Say I write: 

"It felt so good when she touched me."
It just lays there, right?

 
Now, read Jim Butcher's way of writing it:
“There’s power in the touch of another person’s hand. We acknowledge it in little ways, all the time. 

There’s a reason human beings shake hands, hold hands, slap hands, bump hands. 

It comes from our very earliest memories, 

when we all come into the world blinded by light and color, deafened by riotous sound, 

flailing in a suddenly cavernous space without any way of orienting ourselves, 

shuddering with cold, emptied with hunger, and justifiably frightened and confused. 

And what changes that first horror, that original state of terror? 

The touch of another person’s hands. 
Hands that wrap us in warmth, that hold us close. 

Hands that guide us to shelter, to comfort, to food. 

Hands that hold and touch and reassure us through our very first crisis, 

and guide us into our very first shelter from pain. 

The first thing we ever learn is that the touch of someone else’s hand can ease pain and make things better. 

That’s power. 
That’s power so fundamental that most people never even realize it exists.” 


WORDS HAVE MEANING ONLY  IF WE WORK TO GIVE IT TO THEM.
WRITE WELL.
YOU NEVER KNOW WHO ACHES TO READ WORDS THAT TOUCH THEIR BRUISED HEART. 
Have a great Fourth!

Wynonna Earp? You like HER?

 I hear that a lot.
None of the people with whom I associate like her.
"Their loss," Wynonna would say.
Here's her story in a musical nutshell:

Imagine Firefly mixed with Supernatural.





Season 3 is coming the end of next month.
Take a chance on the 1st episode
You won't regret it.
Both earlier seasons are on NETFLIX


Have you ever liked a TV show your friends couldn't stand?

NEWS

  "Solitude is fine  but you need someone to tell  that solitude is fine.”  - Honoré de Balzac

Nothing wonderful.
 Nothing terrible. 

I have been away busily working at the blood center of course


But also I have been writing my collection of short stories.


I've finished the story,   THE DEAD HAVE NO SAY
I'm mid-way through THE TOWN THAT HATED GOD 
Writing horror late at night is an EXCELLENT way  
NOT to get a good night's sleep no matter how exhausted you are!

 Using the Mark Twain method of letting a troublesome story 
lie fallow by writing upon another, I have also half-finished the novella, DEAD YET NOT.

Depending on how long these stories and novellas run, I may include  MURDER AS A KINDNESS 

Needless to say ...
I will be busy writing these tales and may not be writing many new posts.  
I hope you will understand.
ALSO 

My good friend, Robert Rossmann, 


is laboring through severe illness to complete our next audiobook, The NOT-SO-INNOCENTS ABROAD.
He is doing this on Royalty Share, 
so if this does not sell well, 
he will receive nothing for his enormous efforts and skillful narration. 
   So when our audio book goes on sale, 
I will reimburse by Amazon Gift card the first six who send me an email saying they have bought it.
My email is in my blogger profile by the way. 
I am polishing MURDER AS A KINDNESS while listening to this:

WRITING WITH THE SOLAR PLEXUS

The ghost of Raymond Chandler sat in the leather chair stroking my cat, Midnight, 

who was more than a little rattled to be that close to a ghost.
"I looked for you all last weekend, son.  But you were off on your blood runs.  

You do know Lincoln died to end slavery, don't you?"

Midnight squirmed and popped out of his arms, and I said, "Saturday was your birthday, wasn't it, sir?"

"Yes, and Clemens and Hemingway threw me a party 

where Clemens insisted on only talking about himself and Hemingway kept challenging me to box.  

I pulled out my automatic and both of them became blessedly scarce!"

"Ghosts can kill ghosts?"

"You wrote GHOST OF A CHANCE about it, remember?"

"Even put you, Mark Twain, and Hemingway in it, too."

Chandler nodded, 

"Like me, you sneaked into it a quality which readers would not shy off from, perhaps not even know was there … 

but which would somehow distill through their minds and leave an afterglow."

"I tried."

Chandler shook his head, 
"November is coming where many of your friends will try to vomit as many words as they can a day."

He snorted, 
"I took four months to distill my first short story.  Four months.  I continued to work with painstaking slowness when I began to write novels.  

I believe that all writing that has any life in it is done with the solar plexus. It is hard work.” 

Midnight, over his fright, jumped back into his lap as Chandler continued, 

"Ten years after my first story was published, I was still on the breadline with four novels behind me."

He sighed, 
"I began to wonder if the effort had been worth it. 

But by 1945 cheap reprints of my books were selling in their hundreds of thousands, 

and the critics who had hitherto ignored me were vying to outdo each other with superlatives." 

Chandler snorted, "The world is simultaneously a horrible and beautiful place."

His words made me think of what he had his detective say in THE LONG GOODBYE:

  “I hear voices crying in the night and I go see what’s the matter. You don’t make a dime that way… 

I’ve got a five-thousand-dollar bill in my safe but I’ll never spend a nickel of it. 

Because there was something wrong with the way I got it. 

I played with it a little at first and I still get it out once in a while and look at it.” 

I thought to myself as I watched him pet Midnight 

that the best we as writers can do is make the most of our books, trying to make poetry out of the pulp of our dreams.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?