Rival Gates's Blog, page 74

Guest Blog

Guest Blog Tomorrow

Tomorrow night a good Friend of mine, Angle Dunworth is hosting me on her blog. Just go to: http://www.streetlighthalo.com/index.... and click on blog. Angel is a marvelous writer in her own right and it is a great honor to be recognized by her on her site. So tune in Monday for the guest blog.

Rudloph, A Tale of Intolerance

It is that annual time of year when all the Christmas shows you have known since you were a child come on television. I just watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with my three-year –old granddaughter. These shows take on a whole different perspective when you watch them with a child. On the plus side, you see them through the wondering eyes of a child who is terrified by the Abominable Snow Monster of the North. It reminds you of how scared you were when you were little by the poorly disguised puppet. The songs they sing are ones you know by heart from old memories and present day department stores. You sense the tension when Rudolph and his family are captured. Everything somehow seems new and alive again. It is almost like you are a child all over and story is gripping. On the other hand, when watched through an adult’s eyes you notice some new things. For example, Rudolph’s father was a terrible dad, trying to hide his son’s irregularity. So the kid had a red nose. Is that really so bad? He could have been deformed or had five legs or something. He has one little imperfection and his father freaks out. Then the rest of their society does one step worse. They alienate him and ban him from all reindeer games. You would think he had a communicable disease. But surely jolly old St. Nick puts a stop to it, right? No. He encouraged the segregation and says it is a shame about Rudolph’s nose since he had such a great take off. So what lesson does the story teach? Is it a story of tolerance and acceptance of people who are different? I think not. We are shown that Rudolph was better served by running away to grow up in the wilderness than by staying with his family. Only characters with their own irregularities join his company. Herbie, the elf dentist and Yukon Cornelius are not bothered in the least by Rudolph’s nose. Even so, Rudolph seeks his father’s approval and heads home only to find his family captives of the snow monster. As my granddaughter cringed I thought that karma had come around for Rudolph’s family. After they are saved the other characters regret their action but only accept Rudolph when they see what he can do for them. Santa only appreciates the little reindeer when he sees how he can use him for his own benefit. In summary we have an intolerant society including Rudolph’s family that only holds him in esteem when they see how his gift can benefit them. Did I miss anything? Oh yes, the snow monster gets accepted in the end as well…after they pull out all his teeth. Think how embarrassed he will be when he gets together with his snow monster friends. Maybe they won’t let him play in all the snow monster games!

Reaction

Short blog tonight but I wanted to give a shout out to Freshfiction.com. They posted an author bio and link to my book just for asking. Here’s the link http://freshfiction.com/author.php?id... . In the coming weeks I will be posting on several sites so stay tuned. I am amazed at the reaction from my blog entitled, My Trip to Sam’s Club. No one believes the part about the barrel of Jack Daniels but it is true. Someone bought it. If you had the keg, what would you do with it? What do you think he is going to do with it? After investing over $8000.00 I would hope he has more plans than just a shot glass. Leave your comments

Well Intended Gifts

I was taught as a child that everyone is the best at something; even if that thing is just being yourself. Well I have looked over my life and determined that I have a claim to fame after all. I am the World’s Worst Gift Giver…who has a very good reason each time. A lot of people really screw up the gift giving at this time of year but I actually put weeks and sometimes months of thought into my blunders. How my wife has not divorced me yet is beyond me. Let me give you some examples. I once gave a great gift to my wife of a Winnie the Pooh jacket that eventually wore out. I spent every Christmas for 8 years looking for another one like it. I finally found something similar on E-bay. I confirmed my wife’s size and it matched! I paid…well…a lot but won it. Then on Christmas day I found out the size I was given by my wife was the Men’s size. I bought the Women’s size. It only fit my youngest daughter who refused to where it. Another time I was sent to buy a purse for my wife. I even brought a female friend along and a list of all the qualities necessary. After 7 hours of shopping I found it. I went to 13 stores but I finally found the purse that met all the criteria. My wife opened it up, thanked me and hung it on the closet doorknob for several years until my daughter snagged it. Somehow I totally missed the mark. I bought my boss a fine bottle of scotch once because I knew he liked various high end brands. It turns out I bought the one he drank with his friend who died of cancer and he hasn’t bought a bottle since. Then I gave him one. The man nearly cried. I bought my children a Wii a few years ago and the game Dance, Dance Revolution. I didn’t know you needed a dance pad with it to make the game work. Then I couldn’t return the opened game and the pad was only available in a bundle with a new game. Just my luck. I thought I would try something different and give my wife a gift card to a massage spa. That was three years ago and the card is still unused. She is afraid she will like it too much and want to keep going at great expense. She is so sweet, but I blew it again. I bought my son a hat when I was away on business. I bought a large but did not see the word “Youth” on the label. It only fit on the dog’s head. I have bought flowers that died the next day. Then I bought chocolates that never were eaten. They were the wrong kind. I really mean well but I can’t get this gift giving thing down. It has reached the point where I ask people if they want a certain item and only buy it if they say yes. It ruins the surprise but it is the only way I can get it right. Sometimes I have the children save the web page for me so I don’t mess it up. I am the King of Well Intentioned Screw Ups.

My Visit To Sam's Club

I just went shopping at Sam’s Club. I needed a car battery and it was going to take a while so I shopped a little and watched people a lot! I must say, every cart must have had a different story and I am sure they were all fascinating. One cart had 15 one gallon jugs of hot sauce, 1 gallon of kidney beans, a giant shaker of chili sauce, and a large apple pie. Another person bought 27 24–packs of hotdog buns, one gallon of relish, one gallon of mustard, one gallon of ketchup. (I personally think they will be short on ketchup) and one 8-pack of Pepsi. Those are going to be some thirsty people. I sure hope they have enough hot dogs. The next cart had a turkey fryer, 2 spiral sliced hams and 6 boxes of Hunny Buns. It was more bizarre the longer I watched. One lady had 17 bottles of wine and some green peppers. Others looked like they were getting ready for the apocalypse. One person had (I counted) 32 bags of frozen chicken and was moving to the frozen beef patties with a flat cart. Another person had 12 packs of slim fast, 8 boxes of diet snack bars and six bags of corn chips. Well, I guess they know themselves better than I do. It seems though like, if you’re going to cheat on a diet and you’re planning for it, what’s the point of dieting in the first place? If you’re going to fall off the cliff you might as well get a running start, I always say. Another person had 8 boxes of white paper and a bag of trail mix. Then I saw a crowd gathering in the alcohol aisle. I went over to see what it was all about. There was a display for Jack Daniels and at the very top was an actual barrel of J.D. with a sign the said, “One time buy. Barrel for $8560.00” and a person was buying it! There were store associates going to get a lift in order to get it down from the display. I had seen it earlier and thought, “There’s something they’ll never sell.” Just a short time later, it was sold. Think about how much money that is? Then think about how much liquor that holds. I don’t have any idea of the volume but I have to believe the Super Bowl party is going to be at his house this year! What would you even do with that much whiskey? It would take years to drink. It reminded me of some forgettable nights in college that made me swear off the drink. Even if some friends went in on it with you, that would still be an enormous amount of alcohol. I wish I had taken the opportunity to ask that guy a few questions. Cashiers at Sam’s must come home every night and say, “You’ll never guess what the person coming through my line had.” At least the job isn’t boring.

How I Start a Book

A question I am often asked is how I come up with characters for my books. Until I started being asked, I hadn’t actually sat down and thought about the question. The answer is that I look for certain attributes I need in a character and develop from there. Main characters come first. I have talked to different writers and they all do things differently. In my case I decided to start with the Protagonist. It was my intent to write a series loaded with action. If I was going to do that I needed a strong lead character to fit that mold. In creating Linvin (my protagonist) I made him a general who worked his way up the ranks at a young age. I made him strong and charismatic. He is the kind of person who can inspire people to achieve beyond what they thought they could simply because he told them it was possible. Linvin is intelligent and always fights battles where the odds are against his success. Thus, he must use his intellect to solve problems and even the odds. He’s the boxer who gets knocked to the mat but always gets back up to fight on. In short, Linvin is a hero in every sense of the word. The problem with creating such a man is to avoid what I like to call “The Superman Effect”. Simply put, it is the creation of a character that is flawless and cannot lose. The very fact that he CAN lose is what makes the action so intense. Where’s the drama with a hero who never loses and cannot possibly be defeated? Perhaps that has an audience but it never appealed to me. I like strong characters that CAN be beaten…though not easily. Linvin has flaws. He is still young and headstrong. When he forgets his teachings or lets his emotions rule his actions he makes unwise decisions. Most importantly, he lets people get under his skin and then he loses his edge. It almost always leads to ruin. That is a character I think readers can root for and associate with on some level. Once you have a solid Protagonist created, you need the conflict in the story. You need an Antagonist. For my first book I decided to do something a little on the different side. Instead of having one well known antagonist, I chose to have several of varying degrees of agitation. To have a good Antagonist you need someone who perfectly exploits the Protagonist’s weaknesses. They must exploit their advantage and cause great distress and even suffering. I have antagonists in Linvin’s cousins (Bander and Rander…mostly Rander). They are a constant source of irritation and routinely press Linvin to his limits of tolerance. Then there are the Numbers Assassins trailing him. They are hardly mentioned and yet are always top of mind. Finally there is what I call the “Invisible Antagonist” This is an enemy set against Linvin from the start, but not identified. The reader is kept guessing about their name throughout the book but it is clear the person is powerful and set squarely against Linvin. The second book, due out in the next couple of months will finally unmask this villain and bring the conflict full circle. And that is my method for starting a story. If you write, find one that works for you.

Learn Tech or Be Left Behind

I would be amiss if I didn’t start out this blog with a shout out to my alma mater Michigan State University who just won the Big 10 Championship in football. Go State! With that said, I will get back to business. The other night I noticed something as I sat down in my chair. My wife was doing something on her smart phone. My one daughter was on her tablet and my other daughter was listening to her iPod. We are a technology based society these days. I actually have free reign on the desktop computer because no one else in the family really uses it except me. This is not a blog about technology being evil or great. It is an affirmation that it has become a cornerstone in our lives. I make no secret of the fact that I basically learned to write by telling stories with my family after dinner as a child. Sometimes we played cards as we talked but we always had a pot of tea. It sounds boring and downright painful to my children but that was our family time. We had television and that was about it. If there was a show you wanted to see, you better remember to watch it and hope no one else was using the T.V. because there was no DVR to save it for you. So we talked and told stories and played games. It seems like those days have gone by. I look at the Christmas lists I have been given and they are increasingly tech related. In college I was on the cutting edge of technology. Now I am a dinosaur needing my children to help me figure out my smartphone. When my daughters do their homework and can’t find the answers they look on the internet. I used to look things up in a set of encyclopedias we owned. It makes me wonder which way is better. Having the internet puts information at your fingertips and allows you to find the answers quickly. That’s certainly a plus. It is efficient and effective. Looking things up in books took more time and was often painstaking. Then again, maybe I learned more? Perhaps searching for the answers taught me organizational skills and the value of hard work. With all that being said, if I were in school and needed help on a paper I would definitely make use of the internet. Everything is right there. I think that is the point of this blog. You can love technology. You can hate technology. But one way or another, it is here to stay. When companies fail to change with the times, they go out of business. (See Blockbuster) We as individuals can’t afford to be left behind in today’s technical world. But sometimes I really do miss those talks over a pot of tea.

My Debit Card Broke!

I think my debit card just sent me a message. That message was, “Stop using me for everything!” It literally broke into pieces. The corner chipped off along with part of the reader strip. Then it split horizontally in two places. That card really didn’t want to be used again! I called my bank and it will take 2 weeks to get me a new one. That means for two weeks I have to use cash. And in order to get the cash I have to go INTO THE BANK. Farewell beloved impersonal ATM. How I miss the ability to sit in my car and be given cash. Now I will at least have to put on a hat when my hair is a mess in order to go into the bank to withdraw money. And carrying cash is so inconvenient. What if I want gas and want to pay at the pump? Too bad. I have to guess how much my car will hold and then go pay the attendant. Afterward I have to go back and get the change. How repulsive. I feel like I’m back in college or something. Then there is the problem of having a pocket of change jingling around with you. Very uncool. I am in serious withdrawal pains. It has been less than a week and I think I am going to pull my hair out. I can’t believe how much I have come to rely on that card. Oh please let the new one come early. It is sad how addicted to the card I have become but it is so convenient. You would think I was getting over drugs but it’s just a spending habit. Don’t even ask me to write a check. I do that a couple of times a year for the lawn guy. That’s about it. All I can do is watch the mail and wait for my glorious card to return.

Thanks to C.S. Lewis

My novel, “Quest for the Red Sapphire” is a montage of my life experiences and my longing to escape to a different world. The greatest literary influence in my life was C.S. Lewis. The Chronicles of Narnia were one of the first series I read. The characters were compelling. You had the wide-eyed, trusting Lucy, her easily seduced brother Edmond, the hard core fact person in Susan and the eldest, Peter, who had to keep them all together and going in the same direction. The stories were imaginative and fun. Heroes were heroes and villains were villains. Occasionally there was a misleading character but you generally knew who was on which side. It made it easy as a reader to identify with characters. As for the great lion, Aslan, transcended the protagonist role and took on a god-like persona. Rather than him being an Old Testament fire and brimstone god, he was a New Testament powerful but approachable god. Aslan was kind and wise. He always knew what to do and he never panicked. I tried to learn from the stories and incorporate elements into my own book. My heroes are clear, although the twins in the book do make you wonder sometimes whose side they are on. The voice of reason is Anvar. To be clear, he is no Aslan or even a shadow of Aslan. What he is to Linvin is the voice of reason. Anvar actually possesses a good deal of power. He does not use it for many reasons. He wants to keep it concealed as long as possible. Anvar also is older and according to the rules of magic in my world, channeling the power physically drains you. The more magic you channel, the more exhausted you become. He is of weak stature to begin with and is not capable of shouldering the load of the party. Finally, Anvar is there to help Linvin become worthy of the Red Sapphire and guide him to greatness. To do that, Anvar must let him make his own mistakes and learn from them. The dynamic of the party is most unusual as with the Narnia books. There are such different personalities among the characters that there simply must be one that you like, dislike or are otherwise engaged. It was meant to be that way. I went in another direction with the antagonist by hiding their identity. It was fun to have this ultra-powerful, mysterious enemy who would stop at nothing to see Linvin dead. So Linvin could be standing right next to his adversary and never know it. I love that. As a reader, I love to have answers but I love even more to be kept guessing. “Quest for the Red Sapphire” is my pride and joy, but I was inspired by C.S. Lewis. He was a truly great author.