The American Revolution never stops

A note from the blogger.

The United States of America is growing up. Sometimes, like now, we take a step backwards, or two, or three. Out of the rubble of hatred will come a better day, due to the spirit of the vast majority of people living in this country.

I'm encouraging all writers to consider multi-racial or multi-cultural themes or sub-themes is their stories. Not only to create compelling story but help fight the cancer in our society.

I was encouraged to write Cinnamon & Sugar by the event described by the Washington Post below. 

Here’s the beginning of the Washington Post article describing the event:

Written by Joe Heim, Peter Hermann, Perry Stein, and Marissa J. Lang
August 12, 2018

White supremacists held a rally in Washington on Sunday, and almost no one but their opponents and the police showed up.

Jason Kessler, one of the organizers of last year’s violent and deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, wanted to hold an anniversary demonstration there, but the city wouldn’t let him. So he brought his show to Washington, where he hoped 400 supporters would join him for a rally at Lafayette Square, across from the White House. Fewer than 40 turned out.

The group was met by thousands of protesters who filled their half of the leafy, seven-acre park chanting “Go home, Nazis!” “No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!” and “Black lives matter!” They drowned out whatever message Kessler and his small band of followers had hoped to deliver — and that was their goal.

For opponents, the day felt like a victory, albeit an often tense and angry one.

[Blogger] To me, the event meant hope for a future in which white hate groups would realize they are vastly outnumbered, wrongheaded, and living in a delusional fantasy world supported by their over-inflated egos and under-performing lives. They seem to ignore or not notice what advantages there are to loving other people.

In memoriam

My lovely daughter, Lani Nicole Schiller passed away on March 21, 2019 from the ravages of cancer. She left behind two sons and a husband. My heart is broken, and breaks everyday. She was a sweet caring woman of color with a vision of a better society. She marched, as her daddy did years ago, for equal rights, civil rights, and every cause that required compassion in our souls.

On the day she died, she, being a kindergarten teacher brought each one of the forty there in one by one to give an assignment. She told me I must find a traditional publisher for my current romance novel.

Okay, writers, can you think of a better motivation.

Tell over show?

Tell over show?

Writers are often vexed over show versus tell. The problem boils down to knowing when to tell.

First let’s look at the reasons for showing.

1.      To help the reader become emotionally invested in your character. Telling: Nell was tied to the tracks and saw the train coming. Showing: Nell struggled to free herself, biting at the ropes. The train blew its whistle as it came around the bent. Shit. [Stay tuned.]

2.      When chemistry is involved: Telling: The moment she first saw Snidely she knew he only wanted one thing. [The deed to her ranch.] Showing. He had the look of a cad. His mustache oozed of grease, his cold rat eyes said you’re mine.

3.      Transport your reader to your fictional world. Tell: Beside the train track was a lovely place to have a picnic. Perhaps Snidely would have a change of heart. Show: This stretch of worn wood train track, overgrown bushes brushing the rails, the smell of lilac, and scampering deer gave her ease. Surely no train would interrupt their picnic.

4.      Important pieces of the story. Tell: Snidely collected deeds as a means of insuring his financial wellbeing. Show: Snidely played the townsfolk as if they were part of a giant Monopoly game.

Pretty damning, right?

Here’s when you should tell:

1.      Transition. Also known as sequel and often involving the character’s internal arc during a scene, perhaps a summary in the mind of the protagonist. True, the character can show via description, but keep the description to a minimum and get on with the story.

2.      Redundant. If you must, be quick.

3.      Too melodramatic. A characteristic of melodrama, especially in being exaggerated, sensationalized, or overemotional. She melted before him. A slave to his whim. What was to become of her? This one is easy to screw up. My only advice is to be precise. Another example: He was stabbed. The blood squirted like ketchup. He was not going to relish this. Cut the details even if well written. There’s action and it moves. It’s the story.

4.      A bomb goes off. Much like 3. Let’s get carried away describing in slo-mo every color, every body part flying by. Stick to the human reactions mostly.

5.      Sometimes what you want to impart is not too important to the story. Go fast through this part.

Please add to this your ideas.

Unreliable narrators

The term unreliable narrator is a misnomer. Everybody is unreliable because they see the world through their own eyes. A writer thinks they must make the unreliability obvious, so that the reader will know the truth. Don’t go there. Trust your reader. Besides, the truth is what the character thinks it is. If they don’t get it, it’s because they’re unreliable, LOL. There’s a circular argument here, somewhere.

Readers want flawed characters and that includes how the character sees the world.

Here’s an example. Set up, a man is dying and on the ground:

...As his vision turned to hallucination. He heard a rifle shot echo through the park. An ambulance wailed. He was on his Harley, Alice holding him tight again. He smiled.

...As his vision turned to hallucination. He heard a rifle shot echo through the park. An ambulance wailed. He swore he was on his Harley, Alice holding him tight again. He smiled.

Which is better?

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

On Sunday morning, I often steal material from my priest (insert minister, rabbi, imam and season to taste). Later, I go to confession for the theft.

It may be hard for some of you to believe, that every week this holy person gets up there and talks about romance (and related issues, LOL.) The golden rule is the base for religion as it should be practiced. How the hero and heroine change to love and caring with all its ups and downs is the base of romance.

The core and often the arc of every romance is love, of course. Whether it be sweet, religious, or if you like chili peppers, a 1 to 10 in hotness. This includes erotic romances, because believe it or not people yearn for and lust after each other. There's something like 7 billion of us and how did that happen??

So, the story does not go boy meets girl, they fall in love, the end. This ignores the dichotomy of man. Romance must have interior and exterior forces that fully show how these two people and why they get together, gay, straight or other.

So a priest, minister, rabbi, and imam walk into a bar. The bartender asks, "What are you having?"

They speak up in unison. "An epiphany, no olives."