Ronald E. Yates's Blog, page 85

Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing: Annotated

At least once every year I find it useful to take a look at the late Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing. It is sage advice from a master. Every writer should read these rules and remember them. I’m doing my part by posting them here for your edification and enjoyment. 

I began reading Elmore Leonard’s books before I knew anything about writing or even that I wanted to be a writer. Back then, a lot of his books were westerns filled with gritty characters, powerful stories, and tough, convincing dialogue.

I remember reading Last Stand at Sabre River and Hombre, both of which were made into successful movies. Later, after Leonard had moved from westerns to crime and suspense stories, I read Mr. Majestyk, The Big Bounce, and the Moonshine War.[image error]

From 2010 to 2015 I watched with great pleasure the TV series “Justified,” based on Leonard’s book “Raylan” and partly written by Leonard. It has run its course, but I encourage you to take a look at the series. I am sure it is available on Netflix. Timothy Oliphant plays Raylan to a “T.”

Elmore Leonard was a writer’s writer. Not only could he spin a great story, he could create characters you loved to hate or hated to love and some you simply learned to tolerate because they made the other characters interesting.

If you like reading William Faulkner or Thomas Wolfe, you probably will not like reading Elmore Leonard. As brilliant as those two writers were, their stream-of-conscious narration probably drove Leonard nuts.

Leonard believed the writer should never get in the way of the story. (NOTE: See “Hooptedoodle″ at the end of Leonard’s rules)

I am not sure when Leonard wrote his 10 Rules of Writing, but I found them a few years ago and filed them away.

Some of you may already know those 10 rules, but I am betting a lot of you don’t. So let me share them with you today. Read them, consider them and most of all, and try to follow them when you write your own books. I think you will be glad you did.

Here they are in Elmore Leonard’s own words:

These are rules I’ve picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I’m writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what’s taking place in the story. If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you can skip the rules. Still, you might look them over. (Elmore Leonard)

[image error]        Elmore Leonard

1. Never open a book with weather.

If it’s only to create atmosphere, and not a character’s reaction to the weather, you don’t want to go on too long. The reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people. There are exceptions. If you happen to be Barry Lopez, who has more ways to describe ice and snow than an Eskimo, you can do all the weather reporting you want.

  2. Avoid prologues.

They can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword. But these are ordinarily found in nonfiction. A prologue in a novel is backstory, and you can drop it in anywhere you want.

There is a prologue in John Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday, but it’s O.K. because a character in the book makes the point of what my rules are all about. He says: “I like a lot of talk in a book and I don’t like to have nobody tell me what the guy that’s talking looks like. I want to figure out what he looks like from the way he talks . . . figure out what the guy’s thinking from what he says. I like some description but not too much of that. . . .Sometimes I want a book to break loose with a bunch of hooptedoodle. Spin up some pretty words maybe or sing a little song with language. That’s nice. But I wish it was set aside so I don’t have to read it. I don’t want hooptedoodle to get mixed up with the story.” (NOTE: I already violated that rule in my Finding Billy Battles trilogy. Sorry, Elmore. I won’t do it again.)

      3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.

The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But said is far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied. I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with “she asseverated,” and had to stop reading to get the dictionary. (NOTE: I learned this wonderful rule in journalism school at the University of Kansas. It has served me well.)

     4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” …

…he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost anyway) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange. I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write historical romances “full of rape and adverbs.”

     5. Keep your exclamation points under control.

You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful.

     6. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”

This rule doesn’t require an explanation. I have noticed that writers who use “suddenly” tend to exercise less control in the application of exclamation points.

    7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.

Once you start spelling words in dialogue phonetically and loading the page with apostrophes, you won’t be able to stop. Notice the way Annie Proulx captures the flavor of Wyoming voices in her book of short stories Close Range.

     8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.

In Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants, what do the “American and the girl with him” look like? “She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.” That’s the only reference to a physical description in the story, and yet we see the couple and know them by their tones of voice, with not one adverb in sight.

     9. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.

Unless you’re Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language or write landscapes in the style of Jim Harrison. But even if you’re good at it, you don’t want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill.

And finally:

     10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

A rule that came to mind in 1983. Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them. What the writer is doing, he’s writing, perpetrating hooptedoodle, perhaps taking another shot at the weather, or has gone into the character’s head, and the reader either knows what the guy’s thinking or doesn’t care. I’ll bet you don’t skip dialogue.

My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative. It’s my attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing. (Joseph Conrad said something about words getting in the way of what you want to say.)

If I write in scenes and always from the point of view of a particular character — the one whose view best brings the scene to life — I’m able to concentrate on the voices of the characters telling you who they are and how they feel about what they see and what’s going on, and I’m nowhere in sight.

What Steinbeck did in Sweet Thursday was title his chapters as an indication, though obscure, of what they cover. “Whom the Gods Love They Drive Nuts” is one, “Lousy Wednesday” another.

The third chapter is titled “Hooptedoodle 1″ and the 38th chapter “Hooptedoodle 2″ as warnings to the reader as if Steinbeck is saying: “Here’s where you’ll see me taking flights of fancy with my writing, and it won’t get in the way of the story. Skip them if you want.”

Sweet Thursday came out in 1954 when I was just beginning to be published, and I’ve never forgotten that prologue.

Did I read the hooptedoodle chapters? Every word.

 

 

Check Out These Posts This Week!

If you are thinking of writing your memoirs, you are in luck. This week, beginning Tuesday, I am running a three-part series on how to write a memoir and the first thing you will learn is that a memoir IS NOT an autobiography.

Before that, however, on Monday I am re-posting Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules for writing. I post these at least once a year because I don’t believe any author can get enough of them.

So set back and be prepared to pick up some great tips!

The Rave Reviews Book Club 3rd Annual Writers’ Conference & Book Expo

If you are an aspiring author or an established professional, you don’t want to miss this one of a kind conference, which runs for one full week beginning August 12 and ending on August 18, 2018.

And here’s the kicker. You don’t even have to leave the comfort of your home to attend, because it’s all online!

Register NOW to get an early bird registration discount. Here are some of the topics and sessions that you will find:

SHOW DON’T TELL:  LETTING YOUR READERS SEE IT FOR THEMSELVES
KEEPING IT SIMPLE – HOW NOT TO OVERWHELM YOUR READERS
BOOK CLUB ETIQUETTE
“KILL YOUR DARLINGS” – SAYS STEPHEN KING. WHY EVERY STORY NEEDS DEATH
And so many more topics that would be of interest to any and everyone in the field of literature!

In addition, there will be several Author Booths on site for RRBC members to showcase, promote and sell their books, and Vendor Booths for those who wish to showcase and introduce their services.  No event is ever complete without giveaways, so allow me to mention that our RAFFLE this year is going to be just as good (if not better) than last year’s, and made fully possible by our ever-generous (member) SPONSORS!  We will be raffling 7 gift card/gift baskets – one for every day of the conference and there will also be door prizes up for grabs in every Author Booth!

If you are an Author and have books releasing this year or have newly released books, this event is a great venue to debut them, so don’t miss out on getting your Author Booth!

REGISTRATION OPEN NOW!

***This event is open to the general public***

*General Info – https://rrbcwritersconferencebookexpo18.wordpress.com/

*Registration Info – https://rrbcwritersconferencebookexpo18.wordpress.com/register-now/registration-general-info-rrbc-wcbe/

*Registration Packages & Pricing –https://rrbcwritersconferencebookexpo18.wordpress.com/register-now/registration-packages-pricing/

*Registration Page – https://rrbcwritersconferencebookexpo18.wordpress.com/register-now/

*Sponsorship Info – https://rrbcwritersconferencebookexpo18.wordpress.com/sponsors-rrbc-wcbe/

*Raffle Tickets Registration –https://rrbcwritersconferencebookexpo18.wordpress.com/raffle-rrbc-rwisa/

 

 

The Lost Years of Billy Battles Now Available on Amazon!

The Lost Years of Billy Battles (Book Three in the award-winning Finding Billy Battles Trilogy) is now available on Amazon.

About The Lost Years of Billy Battles:

The year is 1914 and the world is in turmoil. In Europe, the Great War is raging. In Asia, fierce insurgencies are in progress against the colonial powers of Europe. In Mexico, a bloody revolution is ripping that nation to shreds and threatening to spill over into Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, Billy Battles and his wife, the former Baroness Katharina von Schreiber, have managed to live an uncommonly sedate life for almost ten years. But, with one telephone call their tranquil world is shattered.

Katharina and Billy set off on a succession of wild adventures that will alter their lives for all time. Their new and violent world is one brimming with miscreants, secret agents, treachery, and tragedy. But most important, it triggers Billy’s mysterious decades-long disappearance. Where is he? What happened? The answers are in The Lost Years of Billy Battles, Book 3 of the award-winning Finding Billy Battles trilogy.

What readers are saying about this final chapter in the amazing life of Billy Battles:

“This well-written conclusion to the Billy Battles Trilogy is its crown jewel. The characters are so vivid and compelling it’s hard to believe that this is a work of fiction. Astounding imagery puts you right in the thick of things. In more ways than I can count, this book is a masterpiece.” Marcha Fox, author of the Star Trails Tetralogy Series.

“Ron Yates is a master of historical fiction. The Lost Years of Billy Battles is an epic finale to an incredible lifetime.”  Scott Skipper, best-selling author of Artifact and many other titles.

“Exclamations all OVER the place about this wonderful trilogy!” Heidi Mastrogiovanni, screenwriter and author of Lala Pettibone’s Act Two

“A perfect finish to a masterful series expertly written and researched as only award-winning author Ron Yates could do. The characters were terrific!” John Howell, author of Circumstances of childhood.

“This is a series of books that kept me thinking about the storyline even when I was not actively reading.  I constantly looked forward to where the story took me and suffered a huge letdown when the story ended.  I did not want the story to end but wanted it to go on. The characters were very easy to get to know and to picture in my mind. I also got a great history lesson as I read about all of the adventures of Billy Battles. Prior to reading the series, I was totally unaware of the US involvement in the Philippines and the ‘invasion’ of Veracruz.” Larry Plano 



“A trilogy that will have your attention from book 1, Finding Billie Battles. Book 3, The Lost Years of Billy Battles, brings back so many characters you’ve come love and hate. I’m sorry it’s over but will have the chance to begin again. Thank you, Ron Yates, for sharing your gift.” Terry Bruton

Here is the Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DKD5MYX/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

I want to especially thank my Editor, Susan Hughes and my First Readers for their exceptional work in going over the book with incomparable assiduousness. (Billy Battles would NEVER use those last two words!)

I hope you will give The Lost Years of Billy Battles a look see.

 

 

Read The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles for just $1.99

For a limited time, I am offering The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles, Book Two in the Finding Billy Battles Trilogy, for the special price of $1.99. You can’t beat the price! So pick up a copy today!

Awards


Winner, 2018 Book Excellence Award, Action/Adventure category
Grand Prize Winner, 2017 KCT International Literary Award
John E. Weaver Excellent Reads Award, Historical Fiction 2017
First Place: 2016 Chanticleer International Book Awards in the Literary Category
2016 New Apple Literary Award in the Action/Adventure category
Finalist: 2017 Diamond Book Award in the United Kingdom

Click here to download The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles from Amazon now

This book is on a temporary promotion and is available for $1.99 for a limited time.

You do NOT need a Kindle. You can read this book for free on ANY smartphone, tablet, or computer using the Free Kindle App.

Feel free to share this post with others by clicking on the share buttons to the right.

Here is the most recent review of the book by Chanticleer Book Reviews:

Ronald E. Yates continues the robust adventures of a lawman, gunslinger, and journalist in The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles, the second volume in his trilogy about the title character.

As in the first volume of the trilogy, William “Billy” Battles addresses the reader, but Ted Sayles, Billy’s great-grandson, is the one who compiled Billy’s life story through studying his great-grandfather’s journals, letters, newspaper articles, tapes, and other materials. And what an adventurous life it is! Living a full one hundred years, William Fitzroy Raglan Battles was born in Kansas in 1860 but eventually travels the world. Readers familiar with the first volume will no doubt want to continue William’s journey with the second book which begins in 1894. The Improbable Journeys, however, can function as a stand-alone volume because Yates takes great care to bring the reader up to speed with what has already taken place.

[image error]

The opening chapters of Book 2 find William aboard the SS China, bound for French Indochina although the ship will make stops along the way. He is grieving the loss of his beloved wife and seeks to assuage that grief with travel, leaving behind his mother and young daughter, Anna Marie. However, the Pinkerton Detective Agency is hot on his trail, investigating William’s part in the deaths of members of the Bledsoe family back in Kansas.

His future is also set in play when he meets Baroness Katharina von Schreiber, a brilliant intellectual who, despite her aristocratic German title and surname, was born and raised in Chicago. Like William, her spouse is dead but the circumstances involving Rupert’s death are suspicious, and she takes great pains to avoid questioning by the authorities. William learns that some officials believe she’s in possession of top-secret German documents that she confiscated from her husband. There’s much political intrigue, but Katharina and William delight in each other’s company, and he feels the first stirrings of romance since his wife’s death.

William’s journeys bring him face to face with the realities of late 19th-century colonialism. As an American traveler and journalist, native peoples expect that he will sympathize with their struggles against colonial powers. After all, America set the example for the rest of the world by throwing off the chains of England more than one hundred years earlier. In the Philippines, Katharina’s brother, Manfred, supports a secret organization that seeks to overthrow colonial rule and establishes independence for the nation. And while William has great admiration for the Philippine revolutionary leader, Aguinaldo, William is coaxed into military service. He fights alongside American soldiers from Colorado and Kansas – even though he knows all too well that McKinley’s “Proclamation of Benevolent Assimilation” is not truthful; the U.S. ultimately annexes the Philippines not as “friends” but as invaders and conquerors.

These fascinating chapters are narrated with an experienced journalist’s objective and encompassing eye. Yates, also a journalist, does an exemplary job of having William note every angle of the despotic nature of colonialism and the vast and complex difficulties involved in native peoples achieving independence.

The book is not without humor. William is witty and candid, occasionally sliding into cowboy-speak, and he knows a cast of characters, real and fictional, who provide surprising hilarity throughout the book. Bat Masterson is on hand, as is Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith. We leave William anticipating more dangerous exploits, one involving Francisco Villa, better known as “Pancho Villa.”  Thank heavens this is a trilogy because it’s clear Billy Battles adventures are far from over.

Ronald E. Yates won first place in the 2016 Chanticleer International Book Awards for Somerset, Literary category.

 

All Authors Should be Appalled by This!

In yet another example of twenty-first-century political correctness invading and perverting the past, the Association of Library Service to Children voted unanimously recently to remove Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award and instead call it the Children’s Literature Legacy Award.

Why, might you ask, would the ALSC, a division of the American Library Association do something like this to such a beloved author as Wilder? Because of her portrayal of minorities and Native Americans in her “Little House on the Prairie” novels, the ALSC says.

Nevermind that Wilder was the first to win the award in 1954 when she was in her late 80s and nearing the end of her life. Until her death in 1957 she was beloved for the semiautobiographical “Little House” children’s books, which are fictionalized versions of her family’s adventures traveling the western frontier in their covered wagon and its encounters with Native Americans.

“This decision was made in consideration of the fact that Wilder’s legacy, as represented by her body of work, includes expressions of stereotypical attitudes inconsistent with ALSC’s core values of inclusiveness, integrity, and respect, and responsiveness,” the Association for Library Service to Children said in a statement.

[image error] Laura Ingalls Wilder at a 1930s book signing

In its decision to remove Wilder’s name from the award, the library association cited “anti-Native and anti-Black sentiments in her work.”

What a bunch of hooey.

The reason is quite simply this: The ALSC has decided to apply 21st-century attitudes about race and minorities to literature that accurately portrays those attitudes as they existed in the 19th century.

Authors of historical fiction should be outraged by this kind of gratuitous censorship and suppression. I know I am.

While passages within Wilder’s work reflect many attitudes of the era, the section of literature most often cited in this debate is from the 1935 story “Going West,” about a pioneering family.

In the book, the character “Pa” explains that on the land his family is seeking, “there were no people. Only Indians lived there.”

In 1953, Wilder changed the passage to say, “there were no settlers there. Only Indians lived there.”

That change has not appeased the politically correct crowd, however. Never mind the fact that in her books Wilder correctly portrayed the pioneer environment in which she grew up. That apparently offends people who say she should have been “more inclusive” in her books and provided more examples of “diversity.”

Once again, what a bunch of hooey.

I belong to a lively Historical Novels online discussion group in which authors engage in discussions ranging from how one researches historical novels to selecting book titles. Most recently someone started a discussion about whether or not we authors should be politically correct when writing historical fiction. The result was a long thread of comments from authors of historical fiction.

Almost to a person, authors of historical novels say political correctness should NEVER influence how we write about the past. To do so is to be disingenuous to those who read our books.

Our job as authors of historical fiction is NOT to “clean up” or rewrite history, so the sins of the past are expunged from our consciousness. The fact is, overt racism, religious oppression, and other forms of discrimination have been part of life for several thousand years. They still are.

You can see how political correctness has distorted the literary landscape when writers of historical fiction attempt to cleanse offensive language in their books that once was used to describe certain races, classes, religions, and ethnic groups.

As one group member said: “Let’s not only get political correctness out of historical fiction, let’s get it out of society. If you wrote a Civil War story and had a character refer to a black person as an African-American, you ought to be horsewhipped.” 

Let me say it forthrightly and plainly: political correctness has no place in historical fiction or, for that matter, in any other form of literature.  If you are striving to create accurate characters and events in a novel about the past, you must create characters that think, speak, and act the way they did during the period in which the story is set. You cannot impose inclusiveness and diversity retroactively by substituting today’s anodyne language for the often provocative and offensive vernacular of the past.[image error]

To inflict today’s political correctness on literary art is to censor and suppress creativity. PC has already overrun and dampened free speech and innovative thought in our schools and on college campuses. God forbid that the thought police should be successful in invading the province of historical fiction too!

The PC thought police have been successful getting American classics like Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain and Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe removed from some school libraries because of their use of language and racial characterizations prevalent in 19th Century America. They have even convinced a few publishers to issue “cleansed” versions of Mark Twain’s work with some passages and descriptions rewritten and some offensive words removed.

That is nothing more than the desecration of art. As writers of historical fiction, it is incumbent upon us to be truthful in our depictions of times past–ugly warts and all.

For the PC thought police, it is not only the politically incorrect word or name that is the problem. It’s a person’s attitude, an individual’s mindset, his or her ability to think freely and express himself or herself in a particular way that the PC bullies want to control. If an individual’s opinions do not conform to their Weltanschauung, then those views should not be expressed. This is intolerance in the extreme.

The underlying question is this: are we really ‘free’ in what we choose to write and say? Do we indeed still have ‘freedom of speech’ as guaranteed by the First Amendment, or do we now SELF-CENSOR because we are afraid of ‘the backlash’?

For those who write or who create other forms of art, these are critical questions that need to be considered. I for one will not be bullied by the PC thought police in my historical novels. I want my work to accurately reflect the time in which my novels are set.

Politically correct speech and its offshoots of intolerance, censorship, and social intimidation are the greatest dangers to free speech since the First Amendment was inserted into our Constitution in 1791. If the PC thought police manage to eviscerate that critical component of our Constitution, freedom of speech will cease to exist.

Laura Ingalls Wilder does not deserve this kind of bowdlerization and maleficent treatment by the Association for Library Service to Children and its parent, the American Library Association.

Authors of historical novels should be sickened and disgusted by this treatment of one of America’s most treasured authors.

In the meantime, the Children’s Literature Legacy Award will remain a fraud because by cleansing the muck and ignominy from our collective history we are being dishonest and insincere with the children we are charged with educating.

 

PUNS FOR THE EDUCATED

I hesitate to post this, but after reading through it a few times, I just can’t resist. We all know that the pun, or paronomasia, is often called the lowest form of humor. But as the American wit, Oscar Levant once said: “A pun is the lowest form of humor—when you don’t think of it first.”

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a pun this way: “The usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound.”

My introduction to the pun came from my fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Gooch. One day in class she asked: “What is the difference between a conductor and a teacher? The conductor minds the train, and a teacher trains the mind.” 

With that, herewith I give you:

PUNS FOR THE EDUCATED

The fattest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.

No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.

A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

[image error]

A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: ‘You stay; I’ll go on a head.’

I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ‘Keep off the Grass.’

The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

A backward poet writes inverse.

In a democracy, it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism, it’s your count that votes.

When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you’d be in Seine.

A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, ‘I’m sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.’

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Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says ‘Dam!’

Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can’t have your kayak and heat it too.

Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, ‘I’ve lost my electron.

The other says ‘Are you sure?’

The first replies, ‘Yes, I’m positive.’

Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

Then, there was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Congratulations if you made it this far. Now I dare you NOT to repeat one or two of these to your friends or family.

 

A Conversation with Author Don Massenzio

Today, ForeignCorrespondent has a chinwag with Don Massenzio, author of the acclaimed Frank Rozzani Detective Series as well as several other books. His newest book, Extra Innings, was released just last week. You can read Don’s bio at the end of the interview.

Q. Tell us a bit about your latest release, Extra Innings.

A. Well, this book is a major departure from my usual crime/detective drama genre. It has elements of supernatural/paranormal devices and really isn’t at all about crime.

Here is a blub that sums up the book:

Joe McLean hates his life. A lonely, divorced, middle-aged man, stuck in a cramped apartment, the only bright spot in Joe’s life is cheering on his hometown baseball team. Now, the local stadium, the place of many childhood and adult memories is being replaced. Joe desperately wants a piece of this iconic venue to preserve his memories and have some memorabilia from his happier past.

  That’s when unusual things begin to happen, and Joe begins to rethink the direction his life has taken. Can Joe take a different path in life? Can he use the special ability that he has acquired to change the course of his life? Will he realize the truth about the adage, you can never go home again?

  Follow the twists and turns in this supernatural story, Extra Innings, to find out.

Q.   When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

[image error] Don Massenzio

A.   I was a voracious reader as a kid. I lived in an urban neighborhood with no kids to play within an old two-family house. We had an attic apartment with a bookcase full of old books. I would read books from the Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew series and then would try to write my own stories. I think I was in 2nd grade when this really kicked in. Of course, I’ve been an editor/writer throughout my business career but didn’t have the guts to publish my first work of fiction until I turned 50.

Q.   What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a published author?

A.   Go ahead and publish. Don’t wait. Of course, that doesn’t mean that you should throw a junky first draft of a rambling manuscript up on Amazon. Make sure your product is good before you publish it. Use a professional editor and cover designer. If you don’t, your work won’t receive the recognition that it should.

Q.   What do you think makes a good story?

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A.   It starts with compelling characters in an interesting situation. The reader needs to relate to the main character and react with them as they journey through the plot of a book. The main character must be believable and genuine, and the situation must be realistic with conflict and resolution. That doesn’t necessarily mean that every story should have characters you like and a happy ending. Sometimes a tragic character that makes mistakes that end up in a negative resolution to a story can be compelling.

Q.   If your book became a movie, who would be your first choice to play the lead roles?

A.   I actually thought about this. My two characters from my Frank Rozzani detective series are the title character, Frank Rozzani, a transplanted ex-police officer from New York that moves to Florida, and his sidekick/partner, Clifford “Jonesy” Jones. Frank is a blue-eyed Italian. Bradley Cooper would be perfect in this role. Jonesy is a surfer/lawyer/computer genius. Matthew McConaughey, in his younger days, would be perfect.

Q.   Do any of your characters have qualities/characteristics that are similar to yourself?

A.   Frank Rozzani plays jazz piano, as do I, and grew up in my hometown and went to the same high school. Jonesy is a wise-ass, that’s me too.

Q.   Is being a writer a curse or a gift?

A.   Always a gift from my perspective. The only aspect that is curse-like is that I’m always people watching and observing my surroundings. I have so many story ideas and character traits in my mind; I’m not sure I’ll ever get them all on paper.

Q.   Where do you write?

A.   I have an office at home that I use when I’m home. My past job required that I travel 45 weeks per year. This meant that I was writing on airplanes, in airport lounges, and in hotels. Anywhere I could get my computer out during my free time, I was writing.

Q.   How do you market your book? What avenues work best?

A.   I’ve tried just about everything. My blog is one indirect avenue. I’ve put ads on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. I’ve also attended many author events. The ads work in establishing a brand, but I’ve found that word-of-mouth and the use of the Kindle Scout program were likely the most productive.

Q.   Is anything in your books based on real-life experiences or are they all solely the product of your imagination?

A.   When my family and friends read my books, they are always telling me that they recognize characters and anecdotes. I write what and who I know in many instances. It’s inevitable that those who know me best will recognize those things.

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Q.   If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

A.   This is an easy one. It would be my dad. He died when I was 24 years old. He never saw me have success in my career or have children. He taught me so many things, but he never got to see me use those things in my adult life. I miss him every day.

Q.   What books have most influenced your life?

A.   From a fiction standpoint, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is at the top. Stephen King’s On Writing is a nonfiction book every writer should read.

Q.   If it were mandatory for everyone to read three books, what books would you suggest?

A.   To Kill a Mockingbird is one. It is a timeless book. The Stand by Stephen King is another. It is a study in complexity and character development. Also, anything by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. His Sherlock Holmes collection has been copied and remade so many times. What I realized in reading his work is how great his descriptive narrative was as he wrote about areas ranging from the English Countryside to the Wild West of the United States.

Q.   If you could spend a day picking the brain of one author, who would that be? Why?

A.   Stephen King. He is prolific, intelligent and he understands the mechanics and art of writing and can speak to both effectively. Also, he likely has some fun stories that I’d love to hear.

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Q.   What do you think makes a book “a great book?”

A.   I mentioned the timeless quality of To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s a book that I read first in high school. I read it again in my 30s and again, most recently, before the ‘sequel’ Go Set a Watchman came out. The book spoke to me differently at each age. This is especially true the last time I read it. I am in my 50s, and my daughter was seven or eight at the time. That made me the same age as Atticus Finch, and my daughter was the same age as Scout, the main character. As she talked about the trials and tribulations of having an ‘older’ father, I wondered if my daughter felt the same way and I was very conscious of how I acted around her. It’s a book that one can pick up 100 years from now and still relate to the themes and the struggles of the time.

BIO

Don Massenzio was born in Syracuse, New York. He’s an avid reader and prolific writer with ten published books and numerous short stories and serials.

He started writing fiction to combat the long hours of travel, and numerous hotel stays that are part of the ‘glamorous’ world of corporate life. He has spent the past few decades writing and editing both business and academic publications.

His first published fiction book, Frankly Speaking, is the first in a series of books focused on the character, Frank Rozzani, a Florida private detective. The series is a throwback to the days of pulp detective novels with a tip of the hat to Jim Rockford from the 70’s television show, The Rockford Files.

Don moved to Jacksonville, Florida several years ago where he currently lives with his wife, daughter, and three dogs.

Social Media Links:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/authordonmassenzio/

Facebook Business Page: https://www.facebook.com/dsmpublications/

  Twitter: @dmassenzio

  Blog: https://donmassenzio.wordpress.com/

Business Blog: https://dsm-publications.com/

  Buying Links:

  The Frank Rozzani Series

  Book 1 – Frankly Speaking: http://getbook.at/FranklySpeaking

Book 2 – Let Me Be Frank: http://getbook.at/LetMeBeFrank

Book 3 – Frank Incensed: http://getbook.at/FrankIncensed

Book 4 – Frankly My Dear: http://getbook.at/FranklyMyDear

Book 5 – Frank Immersed: http://mybook.to/FrankImmersed

Boxed Set – Books 1-3: http://mybook.to/Books1to3

 

The Brad Rafferty Series:

  Book 1 – Blood Orange: http://getbook.at/BloodOrange

Book 2 – Blood Match: http://mybook.to/BloodMatch

 

Short Story Collection:

  Random Tales – Volume 1: http://getbook.at/RandomTales

  Nonfiction:

The Ultimate Guide for Independently Published Authors: http://getbook.at/UltimateGuide

 

Read The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles for just $1.99

For a limited time, I am offering The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles, Book Two in the Finding Billy Battles Trilogy, for the special price of $1.99. You can’t beat the price! So pick up a copy today!

Awards


Grand Prize Winner, 2017 KCT International Literary Award
John E. Weaver Excellent Reads Award, Historical Fiction 2017
First Place: 2016 Chanticleer International Book Awards in the Literary Category
2016 New Apple Literary Award in the Action/Adventure category
Finalist: 2017 Diamond Book Award in the United Kingdom

Click here to download The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles completely FREE from Amazon now

This book is on a temporary promotion and is available for $1.99 for a limited time.

You do NOT need a Kindle. You can read this book for free on ANY smartphone, tablet, or computer using the Free Kindle App.

Feel free to share this post with others by clicking on the share buttons to the right.

Here is the most recent review of the book by Chanticleer Book Reviews:

Ronald E. Yates continues the robust adventures of a lawman, gunslinger, and journalist in The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles, the second volume in his trilogy about the title character.

As in the first volume of the trilogy, William “Billy” Battles addresses the reader, but Ted Sayles, Billy’s great-grandson, is the one who compiled Billy’s life story through studying his great-grandfather’s journals, letters, newspaper articles, tapes, and other materials. And what an adventurous life it is! Living a full one hundred years, William Fitzroy Raglan Battles was born in Kansas in 1860 but eventually travels the world. Readers familiar with the first volume will no doubt want to continue William’s journey with the second book which begins in 1894. The Improbable Journeys, however, can function as a stand-alone volume because Yates takes great care to bring the reader up to speed with what has already taken place.

[image error]

The opening chapters of Book 2 find William aboard the SS China, bound for French Indochina although the ship will make stops along the way. He is grieving the loss of his beloved wife and seeks to assuage that grief with travel, leaving behind his mother and young daughter, Anna Marie. However, the Pinkerton Detective Agency is hot on his trail, investigating William’s part in the deaths of members of the Bledsoe family back in Kansas.

His future is also set in play when he meets Baroness Katharina von Schreiber, a brilliant intellectual who, despite her aristocratic German title and surname, was born and raised in Chicago. Like William, her spouse is dead but the circumstances involving Rupert’s death are suspicious, and she takes great pains to avoid questioning by the authorities. William learns that some officials believe she’s in possession of top-secret German documents that she confiscated from her husband. There’s much political intrigue, but Katharina and William delight in each other’s company, and he feels the first stirrings of romance since his wife’s death.

William’s journeys bring him face to face with the realities of late 19th-century colonialism. As an American traveler and journalist, native peoples expect that he will sympathize with their struggles against colonial powers. After all, America set the example for the rest of the world by throwing off the chains of England more than one hundred years earlier. In the Philippines, Katharina’s brother, Manfred, supports a secret organization that seeks to overthrow colonial rule and establishes independence for the nation. And while William has great admiration for the Philippine revolutionary leader, Aguinaldo, William is coaxed into military service. He fights alongside American soldiers from Colorado and Kansas – even though he knows all too well that McKinley’s “Proclamation of Benevolent Assimilation” is not truthful; the U.S. ultimately annexes the Philippines not as “friends” but as invaders and conquerors.

These fascinating chapters are narrated with an experienced journalist’s objective and encompassing eye. Yates, also a journalist, does an exemplary job of having William note every angle of the despotic nature of colonialism and the vast and complex difficulties involved in native peoples achieving independence.

The book is not without humor. William is witty and candid, occasionally sliding into cowboy-speak, and he knows a cast of characters, real and fictional, who provide surprising hilarity throughout the book. Bat Masterson is on hand, as is Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith. We leave William anticipating more dangerous exploits, one involving Francisco Villa, better known as “Pancho Villa.”  Thank heavens this is a trilogy because it’s clear Billy Battles adventures are far from over.

Ronald E. Yates won first place in the 2016 Chanticleer International Book Awards for Somerset, Literary category.

 

Read The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles Completely FREE

Today Only, I am offering The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles, Book Two in the Finding Billy Battles Trilogy, for free. You can’t beat the price! So pick up a copy today!

Awards


Grand Prize Winner, 2017 KCT International Literary Award
John E. Weaver Excellent Reads Award, Historical Fiction 2017
First Place: 2016 Chanticleer International Book Awards in the Literary Category
2016 New Apple Literary Award in the Action/Adventure category
Finalist: 2017 Diamond Book Award in the United Kingdom

Click here to download The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles completely FREE from Amazon now

You do NOT need Kindle Unlimited to get this book for free. This book is on a temporary promotion and is available COMPLETELY FREE for a limited time.

You do NOT need a Kindle. You can read this book for free on ANY smartphone, tablet, or computer using the Free Kindle App.

Feel free to share this post with others by clicking on the share buttons to the right.

Here is the most recent review of the book by Chanticleer Book Reviews:

Ronald E. Yates continues the robust adventures of a lawman, gunslinger, and journalist in The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles, the second volume in his trilogy about the title character.

As in the first volume of the trilogy, William “Billy” Battles addresses the reader, but Ted Sayles, Billy’s great-grandson, is the one who compiled Billy’s life story through studying his great-grandfather’s journals, letters, newspaper articles, tapes, and other materials. And what an adventurous life it is! Living a full one hundred years, William Fitzroy Raglan Battles was born in Kansas in 1860 but eventually travels the world. Readers familiar with the first volume will no doubt want to continue William’s journey with the second book which begins in 1894. The Improbable Journeys, however, can function as a stand-alone volume because Yates takes great care to bring the reader up to speed with what has already taken place.

[image error]

The opening chapters of Book 2 find William aboard the SS China, bound for French Indochina although the ship will make stops along the way. He is grieving the loss of his beloved wife and seeks to assuage that grief with travel, leaving behind his mother and young daughter, Anna Marie. However, the Pinkerton Detective Agency is hot on his trail, investigating William’s part in the deaths of members of the Bledsoe family back in Kansas.

His future is also set in play when he meets Baroness Katharina von Schreiber, a brilliant intellectual who, despite her aristocratic German title and surname, was born and raised in Chicago. Like William, her spouse is dead but the circumstances involving Rupert’s death are suspicious, and she takes great pains to avoid questioning by the authorities. William learns that some officials believe she’s in possession of top-secret German documents that she confiscated from her husband. There’s much political intrigue, but Katharina and William delight in each other’s company, and he feels the first stirrings of romance since his wife’s death.

William’s journeys bring him face to face with the realities of late 19th-century colonialism. As an American traveler and journalist, native peoples expect that he will sympathize with their struggles against colonial powers. After all, America set the example for the rest of the world by throwing off the chains of England more than one hundred years earlier. In the Philippines, Katharina’s brother, Manfred, supports a secret organization that seeks to overthrow colonial rule and establishes independence for the nation. And while William has great admiration for the Philippine revolutionary leader, Aguinaldo, William is coaxed into military service. He fights alongside American soldiers from Colorado and Kansas – even though he knows all too well that McKinley’s “Proclamation of Benevolent Assimilation” is not truthful; the U.S. ultimately annexes the Philippines not as “friends” but as invaders and conquerors.

These fascinating chapters are narrated with an experienced journalist’s objective and encompassing eye. Yates, also a journalist, does an exemplary job of having William note every angle of the despotic nature of colonialism and the vast and complex difficulties involved in native peoples achieving independence.

The book is not without humor. William is witty and candid, occasionally sliding into cowboy-speak, and he knows a cast of characters, real and fictional, who provide surprising hilarity throughout the book. Bat Masterson is on hand, as is Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith. We leave William anticipating more dangerous exploits, one involving Francisco Villa, better known as “Pancho Villa.”  Thank heavens this is a trilogy because it’s clear Billy Battles adventures are far from over.

Ronald E. Yates won first place in the 2016 Chanticleer International Book Awards for Somerset, Literary category.