A friend of mine suggested the Miracle Morning, by Hal Elrod. I listened to the audiobook, learning most of what I needed by the halfway mark but finished the short, nonfiction audiobook. Good stuff.Mr. Elrod has an mnemonic called SAVERS. For the purpose of today’s-lightning quick blog, I will only be talking abut the ‘R.’Which is for reading, of course. My current nonfiction selection is 20 Master Plots and How to Build Them, by Ronald B. Tobias. Each morning, after silence, affirmation, visualization, and exercise, I read nonfiction for twenty-five minutes. (Fiction is pretty much squeezed in during every free second for the rest of the day, via audiobook.)Thoughts from today’s selection: The Quest Plot.First off, I was glad to see elements I am using in my work-in-progress, Bayonet Dawn (available for pre-order), which is at least partly a quest by the definition in Mr. Tobias’s book. I enjoyed his clarification of how a quest should begin, the difference between Intent and Motivation. My biggest takeaway from the section on Act 1 was the discussion of supporting characters, the reason the exist, and when they should appear.Very nice, Mr. Ronald B. Tobias.I also liked the examples he used from Gilgamesh, Don Quixote, Jason and the Golden Fleece, and The Wizard of Oz. (Often this kind of analysis is a bit tedious, to be honest, but this time it worked well.)Mr. Tobias also gives Act 2, commonly known in many circles as “The Muddle” some respect. Basically the middle / muddle is there to make things interesting, and I am paraphrasing here, worth reading.Thanks for stopping by. Now it is time to write. My work-in-progress is the best part of my day right now; I’m really thankful I’m a writer!Peace.
Archives for November 2016
An Interview with Peter F. Hamilton
Today my co-host, Josh Hayes, and I will be interviewing Peter F. Hamilton. I was hesitant to blog about this because it hasn’t happened yet.I am still a bit awestruck. Josh reached out to Mr. Hamilton’s people, and long story short, he has agreed to come on the Keystroke Medium show today. We are huge fans, old and new. (A couple of months ago, Josh learned I had not read anything by this legend of science fiction. He jumped up and down and waved his hands…in a totally dignified and supportive fellow science fiction fan kind of way.I purchased the audiobook of Pandora’s Star…and listened to it twice. (Spoiler alert, not a short book!)About the time I finished Judas Unchained and was straight up in awe of this massive story, we got the word that Peter F. Hamilton, best selling science fiction author and genuine legend of the genre, would be on the show.This episode won’t be recorded live, but please go to KeystrokeMedium.com or find it on YouTube tonight and check it out. Or maybe this Facebook event link will help.And now I will practice deep breathing exercises for the next three hours to get ready to meet one of my writing heroes. This is happening!