Writers

Writers are a funny breed. As many of you know me and know I am a member of the Florida Writers Association. I am a member because I believe in their moto, “Writers helping writers.” In an effort to help other writers, I started a local critique group and hold bi-monthly meeting. I meet writers from every skill level and walk of life. The most amazing thing is that I learn from others as I try to teach better writing skills.

While reasearching subjects, last week I can across an article about showing a story vs telling it. Sounds good, so I investigated it further. How can you tell you’re telling a story instead of showing it? That question led me to an article by the Book Doctor, Bobbie Christmas. In the article it described how to look for weak verbs in a manuscript. Amazing, I thought.

I recently finished cutting thirty thousand word out of a thriller I wrote a few years ago. I had entered the story in a contest and actually won a litary award for it. When I submitted it to agents and publishers the few that bothered to answer told me the word count was too big. It only had a hundred and thirty thousand word. After spending weeks cutting out thirty thousand, I ran across the article and put “was” in the search part of MS Word.

I had used it eighteen thousand times. Oh my God, I told the story instead of showed it. Back to the editing. I have spent several weeks changing the weak verbs in my story adding over fifteen hundred words to the word count. Work well worth the time, because it changed the story dramicly. Now all I have to do is go back and cut fifteen hundred unnessary words.

Bring your writing to life, cut out the weak verbs. You’ll be glad you took the time and effort when you submit it.

A famous writer once said “Writers are a dime a dozen. What seperates most of them from the successful ones is hard work.”
Put the time in and do the work. Pay your dues and you will see the results.

JW

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Literary Elements

As most of you know, I’m very involved with the Florida Writers Assoc. I lead a writing group that critiques the work of members. After months of critiquing, I found it was time to go back to the basics. We have new writers in the group and a brush up wouldn’t hurt the veterans either.

The first element I chose to talk about was Point of View. Who is telling the story? One of the common mistakes of a new writer is switching points of view without any kind of break or reason to do so.

The different Points of View in literature are:

1. First Person. —The narrator is a character in the story who can reveal only personal thoughts and feelings. The character can relay what he or she sees or things told to him by other characters. He can’t tell us the thoughts of other characters.

2. Third Person Objective— The narrator is an outsider who can report only what he or she sees and hears. This narrator can tell us what is happening, but not the thoughts of the characters.

3. Third Person Limited— The narrator is an outsider who sees into the mind of one of the characters.

4. Omniscient—The narrator is an all-knowing outsider who can enter the minds of more than one of the characters.
While I find that most new writers try to write in the first person, it is difficult for them not to fill their paragraphs with “I”s. As a result, they end up telling a story instead of bringing the reader into the action by showing it.

JW Thompson

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The Solitude needed for writing.

The Solitude needed for writing.

I’ve asked this question to many of the writers I know and am amused at some of the answers I receive. As a writer, I know the importance of uninterrupted time for the muse to work through us to let words flow. A ringing phone or someone poking their head into our inter sanctum to ask a simple question often breaks our concentration and ends the session.

I try to get my writing done in the wee hours of the morning when most people are asleep. This works for me most of the time, except when the muse refuses to be awake enough to work with me. Often I awaken at two or three AM and head for the coffee pot and my laptop. Words stream from my fingers often faster than my mind can keep track of them. Then I have to spend an hour or two correcting the Type-Os and grammar.

It is hard to write when you have a family or when everyday life keeps you busy. Often housework and yard work pile up on me until I have to take a day or two to catch up. This is easy for me since my children are grown. To be honest I never tried to write when they were young. I couldn’t find the time, yet I know plenty of writers you manage.

I’d love to have you reply to my question and maybe others can pick up some tips and tricks to help them along the way. “How do you find the quite time necessary to get your writing done?”

JW

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Short Story

Short Story
Short stories are what most writers start off with. Many of them never learn to master the art of writing a short story before they move on to trying to write a novel. The main difference is the writer bring forth a story in fewer words and pages. Why is this important? According to a study published by the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning and Development Centre, students retain only 20% of what they hear and only 10% of what they read (Glaser, 1983).

With this study in mind, it makes one think that all the adjectives and adverbs may be wasted on most readers. Do they do anything to help the story along? How short should a short story be? Ernest Hemingway is said to have asserted that his best work was a short story of only six words. Six words? What kind of story could be written using only six words? A carefully crafted story that lets the readers mind work is the answer. The story Hemmingway wrote is as follows: For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Let’s examine the words. “For sale,” what does that tell you? Someone is selling something but who is selling them? “Baby shoes,” is pretty plain, we know what is for sale. “Never worn,” brings more questions to mind. Why were they never used? Did the parents have too many baby shoes that they received at a shower and the baby outgrew them before it wore them? Maybe something more sinister happened. It is left up to the reader to decide.

A story like this is easy to remember because it challenges the mind of the reader. More over it is good practice for a writer. Most of the bestselling books on the market, challenge the reader. They make them participate in the story. This is something all writers strive to accomplish.

The six word short story also introduces to the writer to using third-person, limited narration. This narrative device was used by Hemmingway in his novel “Old Man and the Sea.” Using his six word story, a writer could expand it to an interesting tale simply by asking and answering a few questions. I know that many of my stories began with a word or phrase that I heard or thought about and then asked myself why or why couldn’t.

I want to challenge you to take ten minutes and write your best short story using only six words. Post them as replies to my blog if you like.

JW

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The Holidays

The Holidays

As Christmas and the New Year get near, let us remember that it is not the happiest time of year for everyone. Depression set in on many people while the rest of us rejoice. Suicides are at their highest level. It is especially frustrating this year with the economy in the toilet, many jobless and homeless wander around in despair.

I have felt these feeling. In hard times, it is hard to remember to count your blessings instead of focusing on your losses. That is exactly what you must do to survive. Not just during the holiday season but every day of your life. Once you learn this lesson, life is much more meaningful. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Look at what you have not what you don’t.

In my case, it took a while to see that I have my health, children who love me, a roof over my head, and food to eat. While you may not have a job or extra money to spend, focus on the ones you love and that love you. Remember, no matter how bad you think life has treated you, there are always someone who doesn’t have the things you do. Some have no one that cares about them. There are many who don’t have a home or food to eat.

If you learn to take the time to count, your blessings instead of feeling down, you will see that you are rich with what matters in life. Family and friends are worth more than extra pocket change. Health and love are things you can’t buy. Remember the greatest gift you can give someone is your love. Presents are nice, but will not last long, but letting someone know how much you love them is worth the world.

The world had got caught up in the commercialization of Christmas. For the true meaning, you have but to look at John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son…” That was the gift, not something wrapped in pretty paper. There were no lawns decorated with inflatable Snowmen or houses that lit up the neighborhood. It wasn’t the giving of expensive gifts, but the present of love.

So stop and think. If you have people that love you and you love them, then you have the greatest gift of all. Material things come and go but love is forever. Count your blessings and share your joy with the ones you love and everything else will no longer bring your spirits down. Once you realize what is important in life, the little things will fall into place.

Once you have found peace within yourself, you will be able to look at others and wonder what is so important that they get up at 3AM to stand in line at a store to get a deal on a big screen TV. Gather not material things in life, but guard the love in your life. For that, Flat Screen TV will not stand beside you in hard times, but those that love you will be there.

JW

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What is Evil?

Evil

According to Wikipedia, Evil is intentionally causing harm or destruction, or deliberately violating some moral code. The philosophical question of whether morality is absolute or relative leads to questions about the nature of evil. Evil is usually seen as the opposite of good.
In my research, many believe that evil can manifest itself in morally good people, leading to what is called possession. Being controlled in part or totally by something or someone is a common belief in many religions. Exorcism is believed to be the only way to return ownership to the possessed. This raises many questions.
1. How did this person lose control of their being?
2. Who or what took ownership of this person.
3. Why did this happen?
4. Whose fault is it?
While looking at these questions, a few things came up that surprised me. One item is that there is a confirmed condition called Dissociative identity disorder. The diagnoses appear to be almost entirely confined to the North American continent. It is commonly known as split or multiple personalities. Two distinct personalities living in the same person and are often exact opposites.
While many think this is caused by a social disorder that happened in the patient’s childhood, there are those that believe it is paranormal activity. The condition was made famous by the 1957 file, The Three Faces of Eve. So is it a medical condition or what the religious call possession? Could it be more like the 1973 film, The Exorcist? You decide.
Hidden Evil takes a look at it from different viewpoints and lets the reader decide.

JW Thompson

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Hemp Twine

In several emails, fans asked what gave me the inspiration to write Hidden Evil. Like most writers, ideas pop into my head from the most unusual things and places. This particular brainstorm came to me after I received a gift secured with several pieces of hemp twine. That simple wrapping sparked something in the back of my mind and Hidden Evil was born.

Putting the twine together with my love for reading, the scheme came to the forefront of my thoughts. If I can read books and watch TV shows about how criminals are captured using trace evidence, why couldn’t a killer? This one would subconsciously, use this knowledge to avoid capture and baffle local law enforcement officers so that they would not put the crimes together as an act of a serial killer.

The only evidence that these crimes were committed by one individual is the lack of evidence left at the crime scene. Then I had to get into the mind of a serial killer. Why would he kill? How would he kill? What makes him tick? Why no one suspects him? These are the questions that fueled the writing of the novel.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well Hidden Evil was received by not only readers but by law enforcement agencies across the nation, who took the time to write to me. Is there another book in the series forthcoming? Only time and inspiration will tell. Will Hidden Evil become a movie? There is some talk among independent filmmakers.

JW Thompson

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Why use PDF?

Portable Document Format
There are several reasons to be familiar with this format. It was developed to hold the format if a document was opened by a program that was not used to create it. MAC users have a problem opening MS Word Documents. PDF is a universal way for everyone to be able to read your document in the format it was written in. If a document was saved in Word 2007 format, users that have not upgraded and are using Word XP or older are unable to open the document. Using PDF eliminates this problem. By using a free program Adobe Reader, everyone can open the document if it is saved in PDF format.

Besides these reasons, writers need to be aware that many publisher and agents are going green. This means that instead of the old way of accepting manuscripts they are now taking them electronically. This eliminates the mounds of paper coming into their office and the postage of sending it to them and their having to return them. Most of them only accept the attachments in PDF format. No matter if they are using a MAC or a PC they can open the manuscript. It is also not likely that a virus is hidden within a PDF document.

How do you convert a Word document to a PDF? This has caused some confusion among those that are not PC gurus. If you use Word 2007 or later, when you go to save your document there is a option to save it as a PDF file. There are several inexpensive programs that will convert the documents available for you to purchase and install on your computer. In addition, there are several websites that will convert the document free.

To explore the latter of the two options all you have to do is Google –PDF Convert. You can also ask a friend who uses these programs. You may also download a free word processing program named Open Office, which can export your files as a PDF. To download the free program go to — http://www.openoffice.org/. People resist change but as a writer you must also keep up with technology, if not you wouldn’t be using a computer to write your stories. You would still be banging away on a typewriter. Take the time to learn where the business is going and how to keep up with it, unless you want to be passed by.

JW Thompson

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Modus Operandi

Modus Operandi

Modus Operandi or MO as it is commonly called in law enforcement shows and books. The simple definition is motive. Exactly what makes someone act the way they do. It is used to profile criminals to help apprehend them. Serial killers usually have a particular target and it usually ends up fouling up their killing sprees, by letting the agency pursuing them guess their next target.

All law enforcement agencies agree the hardest criminal to arrest is the one who does random crimes. Still most leave some kind of clue behind and with DNA testing available they leave trace evidence behind. Crime Scene Investigation units are specialist in gathering and examining the smallest piece of evidence left at a crime scene. This is well documented in popular television programs and novels about criminal apprehension.

What if the only MO left behind by a serial killer was the randomness of his crime? What if he chose his victims by opportunity instead of by a set of characteristics of his victim? If he never committed a murder in the same state twice and used different methods would anyone even know they were committed by the same killer? If I can watch these TV shows and read the books telling me how criminals make mistakes, why couldn’t the killer?

With these questions in mind, my novel Hidden Evil was born. The added twist is the Mask of Sanity, which makes it hard to distinguish the classic serial killer from a normal person. Hidden Evil will make you look at your coworkers and neighbors in a different way. Do you really know them?

I wish to thank my fans who have sent me valuable feedback on the novel. If I haven’t answered your email yet, be assured that I personally answer everyone and will get to yours as soon as possible.

JW Thompson

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Semper Fi

Semper Fi

On this day, November 10, 1775 at Tun’s Tavern, in Philadelphia, PA the United States Marines was born. Marines remember this date, as well as they recall their own birthday, because it was, the day the brotherhood was came alive and a tradition that still exists today.

From the very start, every Marine was a rifleman, and marksmanship from the yardarms or crow’s nest was a famed early Marine skill. Shooting accurately from high in the rigging during boardings and close ship to ship fighting Marine sharp-shooting became legendary by the end of the time of the great sailing ships. Marine officers to this day wear a special cover (hat for you landlubbers) which distinguishes them from above to identify them to their sharpshooters in close on deck fighting.

At the beginning and for all time they are an elite fighting force, at the beck and call of their country. Once a Marine —Always a Marine is a fact of every Marine’s life, as well as Semper Fi (Always Faithful) it is imprinted in the mind of every recruit that passes through boot camp and live on for a lifetime. I am proud to be part of the Corps and wish my brothers and sisters in arms a Happy Birthday.

JW Thompson

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