Tag: Roswell

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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

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What the hell is going on?

To start this blog, let me first tell you that what you think is the truth is probably anything but.

As an author, I do my best not to be distracted by the news. Why?

First, the news is either broadcast through a lens of bias or is straight-out propaganda.

I like Bill Mahar, and I also like Ben Shapiro. Where have you been if you don’t know those names?

Bill is a classic liberal, and Ben is a traditional conservative. Both are intelligent people and worthy of your time.

Republicans and Democrats are dehumanized and marginalized by the media. If you have been brainwashed by the left, you won’t consider listening to a conservative. If, on the other hand, the right has bent your ear, you will dismiss anything you hear from the democrats.

It’s not enough to divide us along political ideologies. They need us divided along racial lines too.

Our current administration is going out of its way to curry favor with people who typically lean left by demonizing white males. I find what our leaders say offensive and, in the words of this generation, cray cray.

Bill went on Ben’s show. He clearly had based much of his ideology on talking points by the left.

I don’t think Ben shifted his opinions by anything Bill had to say. On the other hand, I moved some of my thoughts by what I heard. While both men are articulate and funny, I think Ben’s opinions are based on history and reality vs. what Bill heard on CNN.

The first lesson in life is,

Don’t believe everything that you hear.
Follow the money.
Just maybe you can judge a book by its cover.
Watch what someone does, and discount what they say until their actions match their values.

The world is a crazy place. Megalomaniacs with Nukes hold the entire world hostage. Weapons of mass destruction should be outlawed worldwide…period. I touch on this in my latest novel, Earth’s Last Hope.

If you wonder why there are so many shootings, you must follow where people get their input.

Hollywood
The Media
The gaming industry

Garbage in equals garbage out.

When we think of a time when the world, or at least this country (USA), was at its peak, Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver were what we watched. Shows with moral construct.

Acting up in school would get your butt warmed up rather nicely. It was both painful and humiliating. It should be.

Gun Reform is not the answer. Mental illness is.

We will never fix the problem. Both the entertainment industry and the gaming industry own too many lawmakers.

Until we clean up DC, the world is in peril. Money is the root of all evil. Money turns into power, and power is addictive as any drug that was ever conceived.

While Elon thinks occupying Mars is the answer, we must look past Mars. Read my novel for my thoughts on the subject.

My thoughts are my own; I am not for sale. My book is.

If you like it, please give it a review.

You can find it on Amazon and the E-version on Smashwords.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1327396

-Best

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Are We From Mars?

Are we mistaking climate change for evolution?

Stay tuned and be forewarned, I am a SciFi Author, and I think way outside the box.

I have studied Climate Change to some degree for years now. The first thing one must do is take politics out of the equation. Politics equals power and money. Corruption goes hand in hand with power plays, so one must remove the bias injected into the equation by discounting those with anything to gain.

When Greta came on the scene, the science she was parroting was faulty. You can make the graph say anything you want when you overlay data from different data sets. Hence the infamous hockey stick.

Politicians attempt to use harmful sound bites to steer the conversation, as people will more than likely click the headline that predicts the end of the world.

For the following few paragraphs, I want you to take a deep breath, sit back, and relax. I want you to clear your mind of the bullshit that has been spoon-fed to the world.

Again, I am a science fiction author. I think well outside the lines that those who educate us would like us to color in. I am not that person; I color outside the lines. I try to be the most argumentative person on the block if I think you’re wrong. Someone must stand up to the robots who want us all as slaves. I am that person.

There are solutions to the world’s difficulties that we may not look at because those resolutions are not inside the box. Those who own the media are controlled by oligarchs. Those people who got rich from screwing the little people. People like you and I, they want us to be smart enough to be useful idiots. When you are too old or damaged to be helpful, like a broken tool, they toss you in the dustbin. In this case, the dustbin is the end of the line in a disease-infested nursing home run by people who treat you like trash.

In my latest novel, Earth’s Last Hope, I weave into the tapestry of my story some primary hypotheses with fiction. The story is not heavy science and is more about us today and where we are headed if we don’t turn this ship around. To be clear, there are aliens, lusty ladies, space travel, Area 51, Roswell, and forbidden love. Before the main character’s arc goes positive, we live in the head of a person who is broken by her father and life.

You will love the main character and be impressed with the supporting cast.

There are many characters. Each plays an integral part in the story. As I wrote the book, I made notes of who was who, and for your enjoyment, I included that list of names. I know them each by heart. You might like to reference the ‘manifest’ in the back.

Many surprises, twists, and turns will keep you turning the pages.

If you want to know where the Earth is headed, look at Mars. If you have the ear of that climate change Greta person, tip her to this novel. Even she would like it.

What???

Yes, my friends, I have a pretty good idea based on a hypothesis that this planet will eventually go the way of Mars.

Someone will read my book or this blog, take the ideas, and claim them for themselves.

I can guarantee that plagiarism, theft of ideas, and so forth are rampant on the internet.

I have had novels stolen, translated into different languages, posted in other countries, and sold. I don’t make money. Someone else does.

I am going to address climate change…I will also tell you why this planet has headed the way of Mars.

Are you ready?

Are we going to be flooded by rising oceans?

Is the weather more intense because your grandfather drives a hummer?

No… We are in much more danger of humanity being snuffed out by lunatics who think you can win a war with Nukes. …

Again…look to Mars… Mars was once a blue planet. How can that be?

Are you scratching your head yet?

Do you want to know how that can be?

Here is a hint, if you want to know the future of Venus, look at the Earth.

If you have read this far and are intrigued, you could do me a solid and buy my book. I get a small cup of coffee for every book sold. Bezos makes the bulk of the money. With enough coffee, I can keep thinking outside the proverbial rectangle.

As a side note, Greta just released her latest book on climate change after talking to experts.

The mature adult Greta just got into a pissing contest with Andrew Tate. Pffft. I wonder why there are nukes in the world; I just can’t figure it out. SMH

The media will make Greta rich by hyping spooky stories about the sky falling. Her biased opinion invalidates any science she purports to consider relevant. They will make her rich because they like to push negative stories like Climate change to control the narrative. Chicken Little and Greta have lots in common. Too bad she never read the children’s book. Had she studied science from an unbiased source, not the IPCC, she might have tempered her scowl.

I think you will find my work of fiction much more entertaining than hers. Scientists will probably find my theories closer to the facts than charts and graphs based on screwed-up data.

We lose 90 tons of atmosphere every day thanks to the cosmic wind. That atmosphere contains thousands of gallons of water. Could the droughts, dried-up rivers, and even our Grand Canyon that look like the canals on Mars be signs of things to come? Could those spires of land poking out of lakes and different oceans be a precursor to the fact that we are losing water and not going to have sea level rise?

Do you really believe the White Cliffs of Dover rose from the depths of the abyss? Do you really think that the Grand Canyon pushed up from somewhere below?

Read my novel.

-Best

Scott

Earth’s Last Hope and/or The Hills We Climb

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Why Write…New Release

Why Write,

As I publish my latest novel, ‘Earth’s Last Hope’ people ask me, why?

That’s a head-scratcher.

I will couch this next paragraph with blunt honesty. Everyone thinks that they can write.

While you might have made it through high school English and college, that doesn’t mean you can write. It’s not impossible, but it takes practice. It takes more than just practice. It takes passion.

When I think back on all the hours I spent learning to paint or play the guitar, the passion drove me.

“Why?” That is the question that drove me.

Since I began my writing career, I have written over forty-five million words. Yes, that’s quantified.

Much like my early painting, I cringe when I look backward at my previous works.

‘That is how it should be.’

Some predators thought they could write. Since these predators can’t, they pose as SMEs in a facet of writing.

I know of nobody that doesn’t think their first novel isn’t going to be a New York Times Best Seller.

Reality is a sucky thing, but don’t stop dreaming. Dream big. Be real… Get beta readers that you trust.

These posers know that if you spend time writing a novel, you are so involved that you will spend money to make it big. While they laugh all the way to the bank, your hopes are what you got for your money.

I get that same ‘feeling’ when I purchase a lottery ticket. My dollars’ worth of entertainment is this. “What will I do with all that money when I win?”

Friends, that is the only reason to spend that dollar. If you paid attention in your statistics class, you understand that the house always wins. Stay out of gambling joints unless you have money to piss away.

Yes, I go to Vegas but have an ‘oh shit budget.’ The key is to realize that the ATM is not a slot machine.

When those wheels don’t end where I wanted,” Well, Shit.”

When the house wins….”Well, shit.”

Vegas is an atmosphere for entertainment. Not a retirement strategy.

Writing novels is not a retirement strategy; it is entertainment. Firstly, it is entertainment for the author. Secondly, it is a stepping stone toward being better at your craft. Thirdly and lastly, it is entertainment for your audience.

With those few words of wisdom, let me expound on my latest novel.

Earth’s last hope, in short, is this… Hope.

In this novel, I kill off 8 billion folks and destroy the planet, and …the story has a happy ending.

Please don’t spoil it for yourself and read the last chapter first; it won’t make sense.

For you writers, the characters had negative and positive arcs. The story has negative and positive arcs.

For you readers, it’s a page-turner.

The story is light sci-fi, a thriller, and a romance with a strong female lead.

I hope you read my book, give me feedback and if you like it, please go to the place you purchased it and leave a review.

Over a million books are put into the marketplace every year. Trust me, few of those books are worth the time to read.

The Star People is the backstory of the main character. I published a version of it in our league’s Anthology to whet the appetite of readers like yourself. In Earth’s Last Hope, those few chapters are included but modified to go along with the rating and theme of the book.

Some names changed, as did the rating. MA 14.

Thanks for reading the blog and for following me.

Follow me if you are interested in writing. I pick different topics and expound on them, cutting through the BS. Just free info from me to you.

Much Love -Scott

Earth’s Last Hope

The case of the misfit hand tool.

The following is my guess to what this company is searching for. Hope you enjoy the tale..

https://www.facebook.com/OldeCrowAntiquesPrimitives

After searching servers throughout the world, I came across a wiki leaks article dated from 1947.

It seems as though a man was found wondering aimlessly through the New Mexico desert. He had no memory of how he had gotten there but, was visibly agitated when a small lizard scurried by his feet, while talking to authorities.

He was brought to the local hospital for observation and treatment for dehydration and exposure. Days later, while he was getting his clothes back on, he noticed something in his pocket. Plucking it out revealed a strange looking device. Not knowing what it was or how it got there, he put it back into his pocket and made his way down to the cafeteria in the hospital.

Later he was greeted by a Doctor who used hypnosis to bring back memories, so they could find out who this guy was and where he belonged.

Once under hypnosis (so the story goes) he told of wild things, crazy things, he told about being taken from his car in the middle of the night and brought aboard some sort of craft. He was so visibly shaken by the retelling of the events that the therapist had to stop the session and awaken the man for fear of a seizure or other such malady.

The two met again and again, day after day; each time getting a little more information. The good Doctor was either putting the pieces of an extraordinary puzzle together or, the twisted mind of a seriously ill man. Either way he wanted to continue as this was by far the most interesting case that this doctor had ever dealt with.

As the sessions progressed, the man told of being on a table where these creatures which stood on two feet and looked somewhat like lizards, were bringing instruments over his body to “examine” him. At this instance with incredible lucidity the man looks at the “probes” and other devices and tells the creatures “Aw Hell No!” and with much surprise breaks the constraints on the table and escapes the examining room to find himself in a maze of corridors and hallways.

As the lizard people had much shorter legs than him and long since lost their ability to run on all fours; he was able to outrun them and for several hours lurked around the bowels of the ship. While in one room, he saw all sorts of gadgets and other meters and lights and what have you as well as strange looking shafts of light, emanating from the floor to the ceiling the light pulsed with a low droning noise coming from somewhere in the ship.

He told of watching their “people” adjusting a device that they called the Quantum entanglement regulator or QER. (The precursor to the flux capacitor I am sure.) When they adjusted the QER correctly the pulsed light coalesced into a nice steady rhythm. After the two “aliens” working on the QER left; our hero went up to the QER, grabbed the “tool” off of the table and “tweaked” the QER just a little bit, as to cause the pulses of light to flash more erratically; after which, he put the tool into his pocket and left the room.

As the tool that adjusts it is made from the same metal that the QER is made from, and at the same time, the tool and the device are a match both metallurgically as well as atomically. Any other device used to adjust the QER would result in immediate destruction of the device, or so they thought.

It was not long before our hero was discovered wandering the hallways and brought back to the examining room. Once there, they wiped his memory of the events and deposited him in the middle of the desert, many miles from where they took him from.

As the aliens were really not familiar with the concept of clothing, they also did not know about pockets. Had they known, they might have searched him before they sent him back to the planets surface.

After the doctor awakens his patient he asked him about the tool. With little more than a blank look, the abductee reaches into his pocket and retrieves the tool, and hands it to the doctor.

While there is nothing visibly exceptional about the tool the good doctor laughs and tells the guy that it looks like a really poorly designed nutcracker, and hands it back to our hero. Our good doctor was now convinced that the mans’ time in the desert had left him lost in episodes of delirium and there was little more that he could do other than to get the paper to see if they could help discover who this guy really is.

News of the person found in the desert reached the media of the day, and it was not long after that before he was reunited with his loved ones. The tool ended up in the back of a junk drawer where it sat, collecting dust, until the man’s death several years later. His children then had an estate sale and the tool was sold with the “lot” of the contents of the junk drawer.

Meanwhile, when the aliens tried to leave orbit, they discovered that their Quantum Entanglement hyper drive was not “regulated” correctly and immediately dispatched a crew to regulate it. When the tool to do so could not be found they were forced to stay on our planet much longer than they had planned for. A brash decision was made to attempt to regulate the QER with something other than the correct tool, and in July of 1947, as a result of that decision, there was a crash of one alien craft inhabited by “lizard people” in Roswell…

Somewhere in a dungeon at Write Patterson Air Force base lies the remains of the craft which our people have tried for years to reverse engineer. So far the only technology that they could replicate is fiber optics and Velcro, and some claim the laser, but I tend to think we did that one.

The QER is still out of sync and because of the signals that it is emanating, had to be put several stories under ground to keep the Russians from picking it up on their spy satellites.

If they only knew that in some small antique shop lives the key to unlimited power, space travel; not only at incredible speeds, but also time, they would be ecstatic! Yes the QEHD (Quantum Entanglement Hyper Drive) also allows for easy travel both forwards and backwards in time.

Can you imagine what would happen if General Wainright at the pentagon, were to read this story on the internet and find the key to power beyond his wildest dreams, and it lives in a small antique shop? He will never see it however; as security is so tight that no computer can ever be connected to the public internet, ergo he will never read about this on Facebook. All the unlimited power that this tool controls will be lost to all of mankind forever!

Another fun fact is about the aliens themselves. Unlike the media hype, several survived and have been working in the skunk-works programs at Write Patterson and Area 51. Our government did not force them into this; they found that after getting to know us, that we are not really all that bad. As the matter of fact, one of those aliens is a celebrity of sorts; you see him on TV, selling insurance. You just think that he is CGI…..

I would also be totally remiss if I did not entertain the other theory, that this is simply a poorly designed nut cracker, so poorly designed in fact, that few were made as the nuts and or shells escaped, putting people’s eyes out. The company abandoned the idea of making this model and this is the one, the prototype that survived going back into the crucible, to be made into something more useful, like pull tabs on beer cans.

The story, people and depictions in this “article” are a complete creation of an over active imagination, and should be looked at as “entertainment.” Or are they….? The Truth is out there, and, I Want to Believe…

Update: 10-14-14

Mystery solved!

Some time ago this picture was placed on Face Book by a company that sells antiques and other one off things. Nobody had a clue what this was or what it was used for. We guessed that it was a tool but for what. I frequent antique stores as this type of thing interest me.

While digging around I found something that looked very similar and on the handle was a tag describing it. This device was used to turn the flu in a stovepipe off or on, or adjust it as it would be hot. I still like my story better but alas, the truth is out there…

-Best to you and those that you care about.