Tag: newrelease

Noise
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Noise

Red Pill or Blue?

The media is currently either throwing a tantrum or engaged in a celebration over the former president’s arraignment.

If you are like me and are focused on living in ‘your world’ and not in ‘this world of corruption, violence, and craziness, ’ you must find a way to detach.

I lead a writer’s group in my hometown.  I was asked why I write.  The answer is simple.  I like my world and characters more than those who seek to control us through emotional triggers and corrupt media who will print or say anything for clicks.

Journalism is dead and buried.  Whoever owns the most media controls the world.

I was disappointed when Stephen King weighed into the fray, tweeting, ‘Lock him up.’

Does Stephen have privileged information that we don’t have?  Is he friends with the DA?  Maybe he lives in the white house and tells Biden what to say.  That would explain the twisted way the country is currently being run.

As authors, the public, ‘our audience’ shouldn’t know which way we lean politically.  They should be totally clueless if we are pro-life or pro-choice.

They should know what kinds of stories you create, what you have done in the past, and your current WIP.

I cringe when I see want-to-be best sellers go off the deep end, regurgitating the talking points of the left or right-wing media.

It matters not who you vote for or which way you tilt.  You should know that what you believe to be true is probably not the entire story.  The media is incredibly Stalinist, and today’s youth think socialism can work if you just do it correctly.  That is akin to being ‘kind of pregnant.’ They either didn’t study history, or it wasn’t taught.

You have heard the phrase to live or die by the sword…Well, my friends, the media lives or dies by the lies they create.

I will get more clicks if I add the word black or white to describe a person.  I will do it.  Pissing people off is the way to get more readers.  Pissing people off also foments racism and violence by dehumanizing an entire race for what; clicks?  Who cares if someone gets hurt or is pushed in front of a subway because they are a different color?  You got more clicks!  People are irresponsible when it comes to the media.

I genuinely believe we are living in the matrix.

Six people are killed in Tennessee.  The president jokes about Jenny’s chocolate chip Ice Cream before giving a predictable speech about gun control.  Others pray for the trans person and not the people she killed. OMG, I misgendered the murderer! Who cares!  Three nine-year-old children were shot to death, and three 61-year-old people were also killed.  What the hell is wrong with people worried about the shooter’s pronouns?

Be respectable, and I will respect your right to identify as a toaster if you are an adult and that is what you want to do.  Be an asshole like that, turd, nope.  Not going to dignify her in any way.  She can rot in hell.

The answers to violence in the world are painfully obvious, but…the lobbyist purchased the elected officials to lie to you and me.  From the NRA to the teacher’s unions to the gaming industry, it’s about money.  Money and power trump the taxpayers every time.

Mental health is the problem!

If you are young and seeking a vocation, become a mental health expert.  The world, not just this country but the world, is in crisis.  I totally believe that video games are the gateway to insanity.  That and mind-altering drugs.

Hollywood is not excused; they are culpable too.

Those with the loudest voices live in gated communities and have never entered a Walmart.  Tell me, how much $16 a pint of ice cream is in your freezer?

I don’t listen to opinion shows.  Again, they don’t live in our world.

I live in our world but can escape, and so can you.

While I create the worlds, the characters, and the situations, you can come into my world by reading my latest novel ‘Earth’s Last Hope.’

Everything you would ever want in a novel, from aliens, affairs, sex with the president, and I destroy this world before I give you a happy ending.  Each page is rich with the story, so don’t skip to the end; it won’t make sense.  Start at the beginning and simply enjoy it.

Don’t start it late, or you will be up all night.  You will love the character as the pages turn, and the science fiction is not hard science fiction.

Trigger Warning: If two ladies loving each other bothers you, this story might not be for you.

-Best

Give it a review!  Reviews are critical to the process of success for authors.  My e-mail address is in the book so, write to me if you have any comments.

Who is your audience?
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Who is your audience?

At some point, the discovery writer (pantster) must decide who their audience is?

Plotters have the advantage of planning to create a story for a group of people.

For instance, if I were to write a picture book, my audience would be young children.

If I were to write a romance, ladies would be the audience. Sure, some men also appreciate Hallmark-type stories.

As an example, I wrote a story called Jupiter’s Song. I targeted science fiction buffs, however… It is really a coming-of-age story that belongs on the Hallmark Channel. Almost any ‘nerd’ will commiserate with Ralph.

A young child (nerd) finds that his interest in science puts him at odds with society. That makes him a target of bullies. How Ralph navigates the social world of ‘humanity’ is the focus of this short story which is available in our writer’s group anthology on my amazon author site.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Scott-Taylor/author/B0BQCX3SRH

Marketing your book is critical to the process.

From the inception of your idea, an author needs to remember who their audience is. Most YA is written in the first person.

Many subject matter experts (SMEs) tend to put what they know in their stories.

One writer I know wrote a novel where they put tons of information on bicycles in the narrative. The story has nothing to do with that subject other than one of the characters rides one as a hobby. Does it move the story along? Is technical information on different types a distraction? Does it help or hurt the story? Do we care about the brand and the specifics of the brand when it adds zero value to the story? The focus of the book is aliens.

No, that is where a content editor is worth what you pay for. Whoever they used failed at their job.

‘Predators and editors’ is another topic I will cover in the future.

Another author is an SME on guns. What they ‘show off’ in their narrative has nothing to do with the story, plot, or what will happen. Those are just two examples of what not to do.

I don’t think we can pinpoint who coined the phrase ‘Kill Your Darlings,’ but they are correct.

In the movie industry, there is something called the cutting room floor. What ends up there are parts of the movie that don’t move the show along. Killing your darlings are things that the author loves but either detract from the plot or don’t move the story along.

Earth’s Last Hope is a science fiction fantasy with a strong female lead.

Romantic involvement as the subplot introduces the reader to the protagonist. Advanced writers will recognize the negative arc before it turns positive. There is no muddy middle, and I would start this book early in the day, so you are not up all night.

As a side note, I completely destroy the Earth, kill off 8 billion people, and we have a happy ending. In fact, you will love the finish. Don’t spoil it by attempting to read the ending first, as you won’t get it.

Read it one page at a time, and just enjoy it.

From that description, who is my audience?

I will give you a hint. It is written for today. 2023

In our anthology, I have a story called The Star People. ‘The Star People’ is the introduction to Dr. S. Richards. The negative arc comes from her brokenness from her dysfunctional family life as a child. The story in the anthology is a PG version of those chapters in Earth’s Last Hope.

If you are a writer, author, or want-to-be, I am the Carrollton League of Writers Executive Director. We meet in person and on Zoom.

After the pandemic, we decided to keep Zoom. Streaming services such as Zoom allow us to reach speakers, authors, and other creative types from around the globe.

If you want to speak with our group, please drop me an e-mail.

Frequently we have authors join us to talk about their work, how they got there, and so on.

I had a thought as I was closing this blog. Isn’t it odd that the UFO they shot down in Roswell in 1947 was later claimed to be a balloon? Where is that guy with the wild hair that screams Aliens? It seems we have a history with UFOs and balloons.

Staylor823@gmail.com

-Best

Scott Taylor