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The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

Black Echo by Michael Connelly

Black Echo by Michael Connelly, Harry Bosch Book #1

Introduction

LAPD Hollywood Homicide detective Harry Bosch takes a case that appears to be a junkie overdose, but he soon finds out the case has links to his past. Bank robbers, street hustlers, and FBI agents complicate his case. He must follow the evidence to discover the reasons behind the murder and unmask the plot that traces back to the Vietnam War or face death from the perpetrators.

Summary

Bosch knows the murder victim, Billy Meadows. He was a fellow Vietnam War veteran that fell on hard times. Meadows and Bosch were tunnel rats in the war, who went into tunnels to find the enemy. Tunnel rats call the feeling they get when they were lost in the dark underground, the black echo. The job breaks many and the successful still suffer. The witness to the crime goes by the tagger’s name of Sharkey. He is a street hustler that Bosch searches for and finds. Bosch is contacted by the FBI because Meadows was suspected of being part of a bank-robbing gang that uses the underground LA storm sewers for their crimes. Bosch is partnered with FBI agent Eleanor Wish, with whom he starts a relationship. The various elements come together, and Bosch is tested both mentally and physically to solve the case.

Recommendation

I read this novel after I watched season three of Bosch on Amazon video. Season three was based on the novels The Black Echo, and A Darkness More Than Night. The season was released in 2017 and the novel was published in 2002. Because of the gap in time, certain things had to be changed on the show. Changes in technology were updated and the Vietnam War was changed to the Afghanistan war. The bank-robbing plot was changed to a stealing money plot. The biggest change was how Eleanor Wish was portrayed.

This is the first Bosch novel and FBI agent Wish is first introduced to Bosch in this novel. In the show, Wish and Bosch are divorced, have a high school-age daughter, and Wish lives in Vegas and is a card shark, no longer an FBI agent. The change with Wish was the thing that surprised me the most when I read the novel after seeing the TV show. I did not expect what happened in the plot and I like that. One thing that stayed the same was the character named Sharkey. What he did and where he ended up were the same on the TV and a novel. It was the perfect choice. I like this novel. I plan to read Angels Flight next because it inspired season four of Bosch (released in 2018), which I have also seen.

Links

Black Echo by Michael Connelly

This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/48262-the-black-echo

A book that shares some similarities to the Dead Key by DM Pulley. They are both mysteries where the key to solving the case is found in the past. The protagonist in the Black Echo is  LAPD Hollywood Homicide detective Harry Bosch. The protagonist in the Dead Key is forensic engineer Iris Latch. The link to the Dead Key by DM Pulley is linked below.

The Dead Key by D. M. Pulley

Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference 2018

Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference 2018

Introduction

The Cleveland Inkubator was held on August 4, 2018, at the Louis Stokes Wing of the Cleveland Public Library, 525 Superior Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44115.

The event was sponsored by Literary Cleveland. Literary Cleveland’s mission is to create and nurture a vibrant literary arts community in North East Ohio. The group sponsors writing workshops, author interviews, and a monthly group meeting mixer.

http://www.litcleveland.org/

Summary Introduction

Registration was on the second floor of the Louis Stokes Wing. Events were held on the second floor in four rooms and in the first-floor auditorium.

There were fifteen talks divided into three sessions with three workshops and two craft talks per session. A poetry reading was held during lunch at the Eastman Reading Garden. The day ended with a keynote reading and an interview with Benjamin Percy.

First Session

In the first session, I attended D. M. Pulley’s workshop on What happens after the end? Reworking and revising your first draft. She is a mystery writer who writes mysteries involving two protagonists in two storylines separated by decades but connected by the mystery. DM Pulley has published three novels The Dead Key, The Buried Book, and The Unclaimed Victim. She is working on her fourth novel now. She handed out a PowerPoint presentation on her topic. DM Pulley went over her experiences in creating the first draft of her first novel, The Dead Key.

This is the link to the Goodreads page of the Dead Key by DM Pulley.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22914448-the-dead-key

DM Pulley’s Method

DM Pulley cut over 80,000 words from the first draft of the novel including the beginning chapters where her main character Iris’s workplace was detailed. She suggests writing the first draft for you to discover what you want to write about and then write the second draft for your audience. DM Pulley has an eight-step process to create that second draft.

Step one: celebrate. Completing the first draft of a novel is an accomplishment.

Step two: wait at least two weeks or better yet a month before you start the rewrites because you need distance from your work.

Step three: Identify your audience. She paused for us to do a five-minute exercise to describe your ideal reader.

Step four: Identify the kind of story you are trying to tell. A five-minute exercise followed to describe your story in one sentence, a. k. a. the pitch.

Step five: Review of story structure including the three-act structure, outlining your first draft, tracking plot holes, using storyboards, and doing a plot check.

Step six: Character development including the hero’s journey. A five-minute exercise followed by describing the protagonist’s character arc including the beginning, obstacles, and how the protagonist is different at the ending of the story.

Step seven: Choose a rewrite strategy. You can self-edit and use beta readers and/or writing groups and/or hired editors.

Step eight: Rewrite. Each session at the conference was one and a half hours and she ran out of time here. There were 12 more slides to the presentation, so I think this PowerPoint presentation was designed to be presented in two hours.

This was a good presentation and topical for me since I recently finished the first draft of my first novel. It was useful for me to do the exercises to help me do my rewrite.

Second Session

In the second session, I attended Crafting a Killer Plot: what makes your mystery or novel a bestseller, presented by Amanda Flower.

She is a mystery writer who specializes in Amish cozy mysteries. She thinks that the elements of the plot that are necessary are; start with a bang in your first words and first page, make the reader care for your characters, raise the stakes, put in all the fields, make room for magic by looking for the surprise, create a false high, and then have a dark moment, before the climax and the resolution.

Rewrite and repeat. Her first draft is 40,000 words where she puts down the basic plot. In the second draft, she adds subplots and red herrings to build the novel to a total of 80,000 words. She suggests authors should write every day, and she is motivated by deadlines.

I thought her writing process was interesting.

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Assaulted Caramel by Amanda Flower.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33290628-assaulted-caramel

Third Session

In the third session, I attended Kevin Keating’s workshop on Chapter One: how to hook readers, agents, and editors. He presented a slide presentation that illustrated his points through still photos from movies that applied to the theme of the topic for each slide. He says that agents and editors have an eight-line rule. If they don’t read a unique voice that commands their attention in the first eight lines then they will move on to the next manuscript because they always have a pile of them to go through. So it is imperative to make sure the first page is excellent.

The presenter stated that there are three important aspects to writing, setting, character, and plot.

  1. First, establish the setting. Don’t be vague, be precise and declare your time and location. The setting is interrelated with plot and character and is just as essential.
  2. Characters must have a goal. The protagonist must be active and not passive. They must overcome obstacles. The obstacles can be external, internal, or psychological.
  3. Many plots follow the hero’s journey which is the path of home, voyage, and return. The protagonist begins in their home, travels to another world, discovers the nature of that other world, and is transformed by their experiences in that other world. The protagonist is scarred in some way and returns to relay their new knowledge to the people of home.

I liked that he referenced movie tie-ins to illustrate his points on writing.

This is a link to the Goodreads page for the Natural Order of Things by Kevin Keating.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17081562-the-natural-order-of-things

Keynote Reading

The keynote reading was given by Benjamin Percy in the downstairs auditorium. It was the last activity of the conference. He read from his most recent novel, The Dark Net. He read the prologue about Hannah. She has retinitis pigmentosa and receives a science fictional augmented treatment for the disease. The rest of the novel involves the darknet, cyber-crime, and demons. He is an engaging reader who has a deep voice and his reading was dramatic and interesting.

The next part of the presentation was an interview conducted by Brad Ricca. He asked the author about his experiences in college as a literary fiction major, writing comic books, and his process for writing novels. The last part of the presentation was a Q and A with the audience. The keynote reading and an interview was a fitting end for this conference about the writing process.

This is a link to the Goodreads page for The Dark Net by Benjamin Percy.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30971743-the-dark-net

Conclusion

I enjoyed the programs that I attended at the Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference 2018 and plan to attend next year. My highlights were D. M. Pulley’s eight steps for writing a second draft, Amanda Flower’s short first draft to get the plot down, Kevin Keating’s point about how critical the first eight lines are in selling a novel to agents and editors, and Benjamin Percy’s dramatic reading of the prologue to the novel named The Dark Net.

Links

Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference 2018

I also attended the Marcon Conference from May 11 to May 13, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio. It is an SF conference, while Inkubator is a literary conference. My review of Marcon is linked below.

Marcon Conference 2018

Writing Progress Report for September 2018

Writing Progress Report for September 2018

It was raining at halftime at Ohio Stadium on 09-01-18. I didn’t get wet because I sat in B deck.

The final score was Ohio State 77 and Oregon State 31.

Writing Progress from August 2018

I bought and used the editing program Pro Writing Aid to edit the novel. I edited and typed Assassin in New Marl City Chapters 30, 32, and 33 in August of 2018.

The first draft of Assassin in New Marl City was complete at 99981 words in July of 2018. Decided to cut six chapters to use in book #2 and write two new chapters in September to end up with about 88000 words in book #1.

Completed and sent a query for submission to Agent Cyle Young in August. He was not interested.

Edited Chapter One of Assassin in New Marl City and submitted it to Pitch Wars on 08-28-18. Results on October 12th.

Completed and submitted a Query letter and a synopsis to Pitch Wars on 08-28-18.

The stories 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to the Point, and LARP Film Noir have been submitted to magazines.

Statistics of magazine submissions for 2018 are; 0 different stories submitted a total of 0 times with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 0 rejections.

Events from August 2018

I attended the Cleveland Inkubator at the Cleveland Public Library on August 4, 2018. It was sponsored by Literary Cleveland. It was a one-day writing conference.

Pitch Wars is a mentoring program contest where contestants submit a finished but unpublished novel to mentors. Each mentor picks one contestant to mentor for the program length. The submission was online on August 28, 2018. I submitted a query letter, a synopsis, a 35-word pitch, and the first chapter of my novel to the contest.

Writing Goals for September 2018

Write two new chapters for Assassin in New Marl City. They will be Chapters 5 and 10.

Type the edits for Assassin in New Marl City Chapters 34, 35, and 36 in September 2018.

Edit Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of Assassin in New Marl City using comments from the Advanced Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio.

Polish and submit the stories Sleeping Sickness, Space-Dog Confession, White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short fiction magazines.

I submitted Grognard to my writing group. I will take the feedback gained and revise the story so it can be submitted to magazines again.

Submit 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, and LARP Film Noir to other short fiction magazines.

Edit Searcher of Riven.

Hire an editor for Searcher of Riven from Fiveer.

Edit Ruins of Yarnud.

Hire an editor for Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.

Put the novel, Assassin in New Marl City, into the writing program, Scrivener.

Purchase e-book covers for Searcher of Riven and Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.

Purchase an e-book cover for Assassin in New Marl City from Fiveer.

Planned Events for September 2018

None for September

My next scheduled event is the Indy Writer’s Conference in Parma, Ohio on October 13, 2018, which is held by the Cuyahoga County Library.

Website Anniversary Report August 26, 2018

Website Anniversary Report August 26, 2018

Introduction

On August 26, 2016, I created my website at garydavidgillen.com. Making a website was part of my plan to become a social media experienced writer. I had written a novel and a few short stories over the years, but I had stopped writing in 2012. In December of 2015, I decided to start writing again. I finished the story I was writing in 2012 (called Dystopia then, now called Kay-Eye.) in that month and created a plan for 2016.

My 2016 plan called for writing four short stories, begin attending conventions, creating Facebook and Twitter accounts, and starting a website. I wanted to become a better writer and then expand the short novel that I had written in 1995 (it was called A Gathering in New Marl in 1995 and I have renamed it Assassin in New Marl City). I joined a writer’s workshop group at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst Public Library and two at the Parma-Snow Library. It has been a busy two years and I expect a busier year in 2019.

Writing Progress from August 2016 to August 2018

Worked on Assassin in New Marl City. I wanted to expand the novel from 20 chapters to 36 chapters (100000 words total). I wrote six chapters from January 2017 to August 2017. Wrote the other ten chapters from August 2017 to July 2018. Cut six chapters of the ten and plan to use them in the sequel novel. Editing the novel now and it is planned to total 88000 words.

Bought a Map for Assassin in New Marl City from Fiveer in April 2017.

This is the link to the Fiveer website.

https://www.fiverr.com/

I bought a banner from Fiveer for my website, Facebook, and Twitter accounts in April 2017. (It is the banner at the beginning of this report.)

Writing Progress from August 2016 to August 2018

January 2016 to August 2016 I wrote Four Humors and Space Station Sunyata.

August 2016 to October 2016 I wrote White Bracer and Mage Squad.

January 2017 to August 2017 I wrote the flash fiction short stories LARP Film Noir, Hybrid-Dog Confession, and Get to the Point.

September 2017 to August 2018 I wrote the flash fiction short stories Torso Secret History, Sleeping Sickness, Memorial Board, A Yacht at Midnight (a scene from Cuba Liberto), and Tales of the Sacred Band (prequel story from the Gairn series).

The stories Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to the Point, and LARP Film Noir has been submitted to magazines.

Statistics of magazine submissions from December 2016 to August 2018 are; 5 different stories (Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to the Point, and LARP Film Noir) submitted a total of 15 times with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 15 rejections.

This post is my 94th post in this last year for the website including 50 Book Reviews, 24 Writing Progress Reports, 11 Conference Recaps, and 9 Random Posts.

Events from September 2017 to August 2018

September 23, 2017, Western Reserve Writers Conference in South Euclid, Ohio

November 14, 2017, Indy Writer’s Conference in Parma, Ohio

March 9 to March 11, 2018 Concoction in Cleveland, Ohio

May 12, 2018, Marcon in Columbus, Ohio

June 9, 2018, Mystery Writers Getaway in South Euclid, Ohio

July 14, 2018, Cleveland Writing Workshop in Independence, Ohio

July 28, 2018 Confluence in Pittsburgh, PA

August 4, 2018, Cleveland Inkubator in Cleveland, Ohio

Writing Goals for August 2018 to August 2019

Edit Assassin in New Marl City (about 88000 words) and try to get an agent to sell it to a traditional publisher or prepare to self-publish it.

Get a cover for Assassin in New Marl City.

Self-publish Searcher of Riven (about 11000 words) and Ruins of Yarnud (about 24000 words) by August 2019.

Have a screenplay called Cuba Liberto (about 24000 words). I want to turn it into a novel and expand it to about 72000 words. Plan to complete a draft of this novel by August 2019.

Complete the novelette called Chemthurgy (I expanded it to 5500 words in February 2018. The finished story will be about 11000 words)

Continue to submit Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, and Get to the Point to other short fiction magazines.

Polish and submit the stories White Bracer, Mage Squad, Time Traveler One, Prisoner of Tarnal, Kay-Eye, LARP Film Noir, Void-Dog Confession, and Sleeping Sickness for submission to short fiction magazines.

Planned Events for August 2018 to August 2019

October 13, 2018, Indy Writer’s Conference in Parma, Ohio

November 2 to November 4, 2018, Book Baby Writer’s Conference in Philadelphia, PA

January 17 to January 20, 2019 Confusion in Detroit, MI

February 14 to February 17, 2019, Capricon in Chicago, IL

February 2019 Winter Fiction Fest in Cleveland, Ohio

March 1 to March 3, 2019 Concoction in Cleveland, Ohio

April 19 to April 21, 2019 Conglomeration at Louisville, KY

April 2019 Western Reserve Writers Conference in South Euclid, Ohio

May 10 to 12, 2018 Marcon in Columbus, Ohio

July 26 to July 28, 2019 Confluence in Pittsburgh, PA

August 2019 Cleveland Inkubator in Cleveland, Ohio

Links

Website Anniversary Report August 26, 2018

I wrote a first-anniversary post on garydavidgillen.com in August of 2017 linked below.

Website Anniversary Report August 26, 2017

Son of Cayn by Jason McDonald, Alan Isom, and Stormy McDonald

Son of Cayn by Jason McDonald. The Cayn Trilogy Book #1

Introduction

Xandor the ranger has a mission from Marcus, the leader of the Kral’s Secret Service. Xandor must infiltrate a caravan headed out of the city of Pazard’zhik with his crew including Chert, Jasper, and Grendel. The caravan is smuggling soap. Soap? Yes, soap. Xandor’s crew must determine where and why the soap is being smuggled. The answer to those questions will task his courage and determination.

Summary

Jasper is hired as the caravan’s cook by the caravan leader, Dragahn. Dragahn drives the Chuckwagon and Jasper rides with him. The second wagon is driven by Sachin, the financier of the caravan who has just hired Grendel, a half-orc, as his bodyguard. The third wagon is driven by Pyotr, the horse doctor, with the cook’s helper Lucky sitting by his side. Xandor is a Ranger and Chert is a dwarven cleric. They try to discover the secret of the soap but are unsuccessful before the caravan leaves the city. They follow the caravan trying to complete their mission. The caravan goes through the Plague Lands, into the haunted forest, and approaches its destination.

Xandor and Chert fight deadly foes along the way. The people of the caravan must also contend with Marco the Knight, Kourash who is a beast, and the unnamed villain leader. Secrets are revealed, enemies are uncloaked, and the next book of the series is set up.

Recommendation

Son of Cayn is a brisk and well-drawn adventure quest. The novel was influenced by Dungeons & Dragons. There is a human Ranger, a dwarven cleric, a human mage, a half-orc, trolls, orcs, elves, and other fantastic beasts. The novel reminded me of the first law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie because both series are about a group on a quest and the setting is dark. I like the smuggling soap plotline. It was very inventive. There were a few things that could have been better. It took too long to establish that Marcus sent this crew to investigate the smuggling operation of the caravan. That should’ve been clearer earlier. There were one too many battles with Xander and Chert defeating a fantastic beast. They both almost get killed again and again and Chert heals them back to full health. Xandor’s powers, like the cat thing, appear unestablished.

My main issue was the villain wasn’t revealed until over halfway through the novel. Early viewpoints from the villain would have increased the tension. I like the Russian names and background including the references to the Christian church. The orcs and other beings are referred to as Sons of Cayn which is an interesting background element. I like Xander’s crew and plan to follow them on their next adventure in book 2 of the trilogy.

The Speed of Sound by Eric Bernt

The Speed of Sound by Eric Bernt. Speed of Sound Thrillers Book #1

Introduction

Dr. Skylar Drummond has recently been hired at Harmony House. Harmony House is run by Dr. Fenton and is a place where kids with autistic disorders are housed. These kids were specifically picked by Dr. Fenton because they have savant knowledge along with their autism. Skylar connects with her patient Eddie Parks who has Asperger’s syndrome. Eddie’s project is to create a machine that can replicate sound waves, an echo box. He wants to hear his deceased mother sing. If he can make the device work, Dr. Fenton and other government agencies will take it from him. They will kill to get the device. Skylar cannot let them take it from Eddie.

Summary

Eddie Parks doesn’t want to be touched, he likes birds and has designed his room to specific sonic specifications. Skylar connects with him partially due to her experience with her deceased brother, Christopher. She helps Eddie rethink his echo box. Three factions want a working echo box. Barnes, Dr. Fenton’s security chief at Harmony House wants the box for Dr. Fenton to secure the funding for Harmony house. A mysterious group called the Heritage Foundation also wants it. They are a group that has money and connections inside the government. The Heritage Foundation put political candidates into office and assassinate undesirable targets. They want the box to record secret meetings. The third group is Homeland Security who wants the echo box to help in the war on terror.

Recommendation

This novel is a techno-thriller. Eddies’ echo box is the McGuffin that everyone wants. Events proceed quickly after the situation is set up. I thought that some of the choices of the author made the novel difficult to follow in the beginning. Giving viewpoints to characters only to kill them off did not help the reader to identify the important characters. The author’s head hopping, even sentence by sentence, disorients the reader. Readers should know that this novel ends abruptly and leaves plot threads incomplete to be addressed in the next novel in the series. I think that the next novel will be better than this one.

Writing Progress Report for August 2018

This is my Writing Progress Report for August 2018.

The Confluence Conference 2018 was held at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport.

Writing Progress from July 2018

Typed chapters 23, 25, 29, and 31 of Assassin in New Marl City in July of 2018. The first draft is complete at 99981 words.

Completed a Query letter I used to find an agent for Assassin in New Marl City and submitted it to the Cleveland Writing Workshop on 07-14-18.

Edited Chapter One of Assassin in New Marl City and submitted it to the Cleveland Writing Workshop on 07-14-18.

Bought and used the editing program Pro Writing Aid to edit the first three chapters for my novel as part of a query submission planned for August 2018.

The stories Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to the Point, and LARP Film Noir has been submitted to magazines.

Statistics of magazine submissions for 2018 are; 0 different stories submitted a total of 0 times with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 0 rejections.

Events from July 2018

I attended the Cleveland Writing Workshop on July 14, 2018, at the Holiday Inn at 6001 Rockside Road Independence, Ohio. There were five presentations throughout the day. This year’s instructor, Brian A. Klems, critiqued the query letter that I submitted. Editor Ricki Schultz critiqued the first ten pages of my novel, Assassin in New Marl City. I pitched that novel to Agents Cyle Young and Gabrielle Piraino at the event.

The Cleveland Writing Workshop is run by Writing Day Workshops.

This is the link to the Cleveland writing workshop website.

https://clevelandwritingworkshop.com/

I attended the Confluence Conference on July 28, 2018, at the Airport Sheraton in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This is the link to the Pittsburgh Confluence website.

http://parsec-sff.org/confluence/

Writing Goals for August 2018

Type the edits for Assassin in New Marl City Chapters 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36 in August of 2018.

Complete a query for submission to Agent Cyle Young.

Edit Chapter One of Assassin in New Marl City and submit it to Pitch Wars on 08-28-18.

Complete a Query letter and a synopsis to be submitted to Pitch Wars on 08-28-18.

Edit Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of Assassin in New Marl City using comments from the Advanced Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio.

Polish and submit the stories Space-Dog Confession, White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short fiction magazines.

Submit Grognard to my writing group. Take the feedback and revise the story so it can be submitted to magazines again.

Submit Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, and LARP Film Noir to other short fiction magazines.

Edit Searcher of Riven.

Hire an editor for Searcher of Riven from Fiveer.

Edit Ruins of Yarnud.

Hire an editor for Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.

Planned Events for August 2018

Attend the Cleveland Inkubator at the Cleveland Public Library on August 4, 2018. It is sponsored by Literary Cleveland. It is a one-day writing conference.

This is the link to the Literary Cleveland website.

https://www.litcleveland.org/

Pitch Wars is a mentoring program contest where contestants submit a finished but unpublished novel to mentors. Each mentor picks one contestant to mentor for the program length. The submission is online on August 28, 2018. I plan to submit a query letter, a synopsis, a 35-word pitch, and the first chapter of my novel to the contest.

Purchase e-book covers for Searcher of Riven and Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.

Purchase an e-book cover for Assassin in New Marl City from Fiveer.

Put the novel, Assassin in New Marl City, into the writing program, Scrivener.

Links

Writing Progress Report for August 2018.

I wrote four blog posts for garydavidgillen.com including my writing progress report for July 2018 linked below.

Writing Progress Report for July 2018

Beginnings, Middles, & Ends by Nancy Kress

Beginnings, Middles, and Ends by Nancy Kress. A Book from the Elements of Fiction Writing Series published by Writers Digest

Introduction

This book is a how-to guide for common problems suffered by beginning writers. The author covers the ways writers develop problems and suggests ways to fix those problems. She noticed three main issues in her writing students work. The story drags at the beginning, the story flounders in the middle, or the resolution does not complete the story arc. She covers each of these cases and suggests solutions. Writing exercises follow each section of the book.

Summnary

Beginnings are covered first. The first scene is important to every story. The main character must be identified and established. It must show at least a hint of the conflict to come. It must set up a tone that follows throughout the whole story. The second scene can be one of three types. A backfill scene is one of expository background. A flashback scene goes back in time to illuminate the opening scene. The continuation of the storyline dramatizing whatever happens next to the viewpoint character. Do not be tempted to continuously revise the beginning of a story. The clarity of the ending will influence how the beginning starts, so better to have that ending before attempting a major revision.

Middles are next covered. The middle is everything after the introduction and before the climax. Three choices must be made by the writer to have a strong middle. Decide whose story the writing is about, the person who defines the book’s plot and its meaning. Decide the point of view character or characters. Then decide the throughline of the story, or what happens to the protagonist. The main character must also show four things in the middle of the story. The character must have a want, show the ability to change, a series of events push the character to change, and the character must switch to a new motivation.

Last is the ending. The climax must do four things. It must relate to the implicit promises raised at the beginning of the story, deliver emotion, deliver a level of emotion like the rest of the story, and be logical to the setup of the story. Everything after the climax must show the consequences of the climax and anything not addressed in the climax.

Recommendation

The definitions, examples, and exercises in this book were informative. I’m glad I read this book. It gives clear examples and solutions to a writer’s problems. One of the short stories referenced in the book was “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. I got a copy of the story and reading it helped illustrate the points made by the author of this book. This is the first book I have read of the eleven books I know of in the Elements of Writing Fiction Series. I intend to read more of them.

A Killer’s Mind by Mike Omer

A Killer’s Mind by Mike Omer

Zoe Bentley Mystery Book #1

Introduction

Zoe Bentley is a profiler working with the FBI at Quantico. She is new to the area having worked in Massachusetts on high-profile cases. She has a dark past. Tatum Gray is an FBI special agent forcibly transferred from the Los Angeles office for disciplinary reasons. Tatum gets assigned to the Strangling Undertaker case in Chicago and requests that Zoe help him with the case. They fight the serial killer, the Chicago Police, the BAU Chief, and each other. Can they set aside their differences to catch the killer?

Summary

The first chapter of the novel is from the perspective of an unnamed killer who will become known as the Strangling Undertaker. The novel is set in the summer of 2016. The lead character is Zoe Bentley who is from Maynard, Massachusetts. She earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and a JD from Harvard. She assisted in cases in Boston but has moved to Dale City, Virginia to help the FBI at Quantico. Unit Chief Mancuso is the head of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI who assigns Zoe a case about a Highway Serial Killer before Agent Tatum arrives at Quantico. They meet briefly before Mancuso sends Tatum to Chicago. Tatum’s life is complicated by caring for his recently widowed grandfather, Marvin, who lived with him in Los Angeles and came with him to Virginia.

Tatum leaves Marvin to watch his home and goes to Chicago. He works with Lieutenant Martinez of the Chicago PD and an ineffective profiler named Dr. Bernstein. Tatum requests that Mancuso send Zoe to help him. Zoe comes to Chicago and they investigate the case but their unorthodox methods alienate them from Lieutenant Martinez and he sends them away when they screw up. The reader learns Zoe’s backstory through flashback chapters set in Maynard in the fall of 1997 when she was a girl and a serial killer was operating in her hometown. Both cases intersect in unpredictable ways and resolve at the climax of the novel.

Conclusion

This novel is a tight thriller with enough surprises to keep the reader guessing. It’s almost like a written version of the television show Criminal Minds. If that intrigues you then I can recommend this novel to you. The television show is about the agents at the BAU investigating serial killer cases and that is what this novel does as well. The only weakness I can point out is about the points of view. The killer, Zoe, and Tatum are the main points of view and they work.

There are three other single chapter points of view that are not as successful. I can understand the viewpoint of a potential victim but I don’t want to get inside a character witness’s point of view. It doesn’t add to the narrative for me. Then there is one more point of view, follow me here. You know that scene at the beginning of Law and Order, the one where you know that the person doing whatever they are doing will stumble onto a murder victim. You know that scene, well that scene is a single chapter in this novel. It would have been better left unsaid. Other than that, this novel did what it set out to and did it well. I plan to follow Zoe Bentley on her next adventure for novel #2 IN THE DARKNESS due to be released on July 16, 2019.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of A Killer’s Mind by Mike Omer.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37647561-a-killer-s-mind

This is the link to my review of The Fourth Monkey by JD Barker, a similar book; combining mystery and thriller.

The Fourth Monkey by J. D. Barker

Writing Progress Report for July 2018

This is my Writing Progress Report July 2018.

My son started working for Grubhub on July fourth. He delivered a couple of orders that day. It’s been a great job for him.

Writing Progress from June 2018

I typed chapters 12, 15, 19, and 20 of Assassin in New Marl City in June of 2018.

The stories 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to the Point, and LARP Film Noir have been submitted to magazines.

Statistics of magazine submissions for 2018 are; 0 different stories submitted a total of 0 times with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 0 rejections.

Events from June 2018

I attended Killer Heat: A Mystery Writers Weekend on June 9th, 2018. It was sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Public Library. The location was the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the William N. Skirball writer’s center which is located at the branch on 1876 South Green Road South Euclid, Ohio 44121.

There was a keynote address, a presentation, three panels, and an interview.

The highlights were Megan Testa, MD a forensic psychiatrist taking us “Inside the Criminal Mind” and the interview with the keynote speaker, Laura DiSilverio.

Link to Cuyahoga County Public Library

Writing Goals for July 2018

Type the edits for Assassin in New Marl City Chapters 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36 in July of 2018.

Type Chapters 23, 25, 29, and 31 of Assassin in New Marl City in July of 2018.

Edit Chapter One of Assassin in New Marl City and submit to the Cleveland Writing Workshop on 07-14-18.

Edit Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 of Assassin in New Marl City using comments from the Advanced Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio.

Polish and submit the stories Space-Dog Confession, White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short fiction magazines.

Submit 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, and LARP Film Noir to other short fiction magazines.

Edit Searcher of Riven.

Hire an editor for Searcher of Riven from Fiveer.

Edit Ruins of Yarnud.

Hire an editor for Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.

Planned Events for July 2018

Attend the Cleveland Writing Workshop on July 14, 2018, at the Holiday Inn at 6001 Rockside Road Independence, Ohio. There are five presentations throughout the day. This year’s instructor, Brian A. Klems, will critique the query letter that I have submitted. Editor Ricki Schultz will critique the first ten pages of my novel, Assassin in New Marl City. I will pitch that novel to Agent Cyle Young at the event.

The Cleveland Writing Workshop is run by Writing Day Workshops.

Attend the Confluence Conference from July 27 to July 29, 2018, at the Airport Sheraton in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Link to Confluence website

Purchase e-book covers for Searcher of Riven and Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.

Purchase an e-book cover for Assassin in New Marl City from Fiveer.

Put the novel, Assassin in New Marl City, into the writing program, Scrivener.

Complete a Query letter to use to find an agent for Assassin in New Marl City and submit to the Cleveland Writing Workshop on 07-14-18.

Links

Writing Progress Report July 2018

I wrote three blog posts for garydavidgillen.com including my writing progress report for June 2018 linked below.

Writing Progress Report for June 2018