Monday, September 28, 2015

The Danger of Historical Fiction (and Your Weekly Smashwords Coupon)

Swordsmaster is fantasy, NOT historical fiction. Boy, am I grateful for that! Sure, I still need to do tons of research so I get my reality anchors set (when you create a world, some of it needs to be like we’re used to, so that it will be easier for the reader to accept the fantastical parts.) I need to have trade, weaponry, agriculture, and cultural details that make sense from somewhere around the middle ages. If I don’t do that, then the magic I layer on top of it is a little more believable.
The REALITY I’ll try to simulate is in no way intended to be taken as what life was REALLY like in those times, but I have a feeling there will be some readers who will treat it as though it’s a bit of a history lesson. Education in America is not coming from schools so much; more and more; it is coming from our entertainment. Games, movies, television, music, books – this is the way the masses seem to get their details about many things.
How many of you know that Sarah Palin didn’t say “I can see Russia from my house!” That was Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live two days after Sarah Palin answered a question in an interview by saying “They’re our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.” Do they really sound like the same thing?
I was listening to an author on NPR talking about a book he wrote about the tail end of the Reagan presidency, in which he has a host of characters in this HISTORICAL FICTION say things that there is no evidence they ever said, but, based on what we know, it makes sense that they MIGHT have said them.
Tell me – if you have a conversation with your spouse, and later you can’t remember exactly what they said, do you think it’s a good idea to make up what they said from what you know of them, or talk with them again?
When The Da Vinci Code hit popular culture, there were people who thought that everything in the book was true; yes, they were on the fringe of reality themselves, but there were many more who absorbed some of what was in the book almost as though it was a primer on Catholicism or the life of Jesus. Sure, it was fiction, but it was bolstered with HISTORY, which means some of it MUST be true, right?
That’s like relying on one of the checkout line tabloids for your facts. There is SOME truth in there, but it’s just there to make the rest seem credible (instead of INcredible.)
The internet is a wonderful thing; you can find out about anything you want with the touch of a button (after you enter your search terms, of course.) Just think of the power that gives you! Well, remember, with great power comes great responsibility. Figuring out what’s fact and what’s fiction out there on the web can be challenging, but it’s something you need to do if you want to live (and succeed) in the REAL world, if you want to be TRULY educated.
Even the NEWS is no longer just the facts (if it ever was); now there is so much opinion and tailoring the news to fit the desired NARRATIVE out there, it’s hard to know what the real story is. And the fact that the news is also dumbed down to include cute stories and fluff pieces (to keep the attention of what they must realize is the poorly educated public) means that even where people should be able to get the facts is lacking (what serious, possibly crucial piece of news did they choose to leave out so you could see that a cute panda was born?)
Think Responsibly.
Just saying…
<<<>>> 
My featured work this week is “Gladius” (more alien abductions and a minotaur who may not be as bull-headed as he appears) - here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/556125?ref=NoTimeToThink
Use coupon code MG28J to save 67% off the list price at check out on Smashwords (that’s right – only 99-cents!) The coupon is good through October 5th. Enjoy!
<<<>>> 
William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Endangered”) can be found in many places, including:
To connect with him, go to
“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink
His site on Wordpress: https://williammangieri.wordpress.com
His Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri
Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri
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Monday, September 21, 2015

So, What’s Going On with Swordsmaster? (and a Smashwords Coupon)

At this posting, Swordsmaster (my first REAL attempt at a novel, for those of you who are new to my blog, or who my blog is new to, or who… whatever) has just slogged across the 43,000 word mark, which right now seems to be about 2/3rds of the way through the rough draft.
Not where I had hoped to be at this point. When I set my goals for 2015 at the start of the year, I said I would write my first novel. In my mind I was thinking (yes, that’s where it happens), “Sure, I can finish a novel inside a year – 70,000 words is well within my weekly 3,000 word goal (the best I’ve done has been half of that quota, but that still makes the 70,000 words a possibility.
I started writing April 1st (I did have other things to do – there are still some short stories in my goals that needed to be written, and I had to decide which novel I was going to write), and I was pleased at first with the progress I was making, but a month or so into it, the difficulties a novel would present to me began to become a reality rather than just fear (writers have to deal with fear all the time – that just seems to be part of the territory. It keeps us from even starting to write, and shuts us down, too.)
For one thing, when I write short stories, they’re … short. It takes me maybe a week, at most a month to write the rough draft. That isn’t enough time to lose track of ideas, characters – the feel/voice of the individual story. I make a pass for obvious errors (technical and narrative), and then another pass with a fresh eye a couple of weeks later, and I’m done.
I knew a novel would be different – more like writing my Jimmy Delaney detective series, or my Herc Tom, Champion of the Empire (Cats of War) series. In each of those I go months between finishing one story and beginning the next, and I have to reread what came before so the latest story still has the same feel. I accumulate more and more notes about the “world” I’ve created for each, and as the “history” grows with each tale, it becomes more and more difficult to keep track of details and maintain consistency. But I’m able to do it (with effort), I reasoned, so how much harder could a novel be.
Ha.
Ha.
Ha.
I put a safeguard in place that I never use in writing short fiction – an actual OUTLINE. I’m taking far more extensive notes. I’m even drawing maps and layouts (the earldom, individual towns, and even some buildings.) But no matter how many details I think I’ve secured, there always turns out to be something I didn’t bother to keep track of now needs to be nailed down, and more and more notes appear in my margins reminding me to “make sure what I said about this in <<some>> other place.
The details are not the most difficult part – that falls to overall consistency, which this many words into the rough draft I’ve had to forgive and forget myself for. Part way through I decided that maybe I should be writing this as a YA (Young Adult) novel, and that impacted the tone of some of what I’ve written since. Then the fact that I’ve been at this now for over five months, stopping and starting again (to write a couple more short stories, or just because LIFE HAPPENS), results in a slightly different feel between sections, and even more difficulty remembering what came before. If I did not tell myself – “It’s okay, Bill – for now, just finish writing the story – you can go back and clean it up later”, I would never finish this draft.
It would be a powerful variation of that INTERNAL EDITOR problem that is the bane of all story-telling (you can’t write a word without telling yourself it’s not right and going back and fixing it and fixing it before a rough draft is even completed. You need that rough draft DONE so that the story will be there – THEN you can go back and clean it up (and try to avoid the infinite rewrite hazard.)
In previous postings (I’m not counting how many) I have already bemoaned the number of revisions/rewrites I believe this will result in. I’ve revised my plan to complete the first draft by end of summer (didn’t happen, obviously), and finish the novel by end of year (who was I kidding?), and changed it to a more reasonable FINISH THE ROUGH DRAFT BEFORE THE END OF 2015.  
A blogger for Creatspace wrote that his favorite part of writing is when he gets to rewrite. I hope he’s right, because I know I’m going to get to do A LOT of rewriting. We will see; I do have my doubts about it becoming my favorite thing...
I’m thinking I must sound like some sort of masochistic whiner (“Come on Bill, NO ONE is MAKING you write”.) I really am enjoying the ride – I’m just venting and fighting back frustration with the inherent effort I didn’t have the wisdom to realize would be involved. I had some idea of what I was up against, but the reality is tougher than I gave it credit, and I wonder (loudly) if I would have started had I truly realized it, or would instead have chosen to just stay in my short fiction comfort zone.
But I did make the novel choice, and come hell (yes, it can be) or high water (okay, I can float), I will not quit (I NEVER tip my king); I will finish this story.
Just saying…
<<<>>> 
My next ePublication (“You Cannot Question the Dead”) will be due out this Friday – like my writing page, or follow me on Facebook, or Twitter,  or this blog and you’ll receive notice when it’s out there.
<<<>>> 
My featured work this week is “Cat and Mouse” (My third Herc Tom, Champion of the Empire story, in which trouble at home and an unexpected visit from yet another enemy puts his whiskers in a twist) - here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/527214?ref=NoTimeToThink  
Use coupon code KL64T to save 67% off the list price at check out on Smashwords (that’s right – only 99-cents!) The coupon is good through September 28th. Enjoy!
<<<>>> 
William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Endangered”) can be found in many places, including:
To connect with him, go to
“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink
Or his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri

Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri
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Monday, September 14, 2015

Memory Issues (and a Smashwords Coupon)

Friday was the 14th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. Each year, we have official memorial services and specials to help us remember, but I’m not sure that many of us really do. (9-11 was one of those events that people consider seminal – everyone who was alive when those planes crashed usually remembers where they were and what they were doing at the time.)
Before 9-11 there were these people at war with us, except we didn’t know it. 9-11 woke us up to this, and for a time we were UNITED in opposition to those who would kill us. We had LEADERSHIP who understood that this was a war we needed to FIGHT, and that it was not going to be over quickly – this would be a generational conflict. We needed to stay strong and resolute and keep our eye on the ball.
Where is the ball?
We have a memory problem in the U.S. - or maybe it’s not memory, so much as a focus issue. We are the Attention Deficit Disorder nation. We are focused like a laser until we get distracted by something else. By Ferguson, or folders full of women, or American Idol, or Beyonce.
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
Almost four score years ago, this man by the name of Chamberlain made a deal with another man by the name of Hitler, who had been very clear about his intentions, and once they had an agreement the world burned.
Now we have a man named Obama who listens to the leaders of another evil regime being very obvious about their intentions (people who chant “Death to America!” are not having a Kumbaya moment with you), and thinks that he can make a deal with them, and for him the world won’t burn.
Learn from history or you’re doomed to repeat it.
Actually, you have to be able to listen to history before you can learn from it. But why listen to history – it’s so passé. And why listen to the 70% of your own citizens who are opposed to this deal? And why listen to the nation of Israel (that other country the Ayatollahs sing songs about)?
A nation founded by the survivors of The Holocaust, with a motto of NEVER AGAIN might be worth listening to. At least they don’t seem to have our memory issues.
There have been many murderous regimes throughout history that we could learn from. The sad thing is that you don’t have to remember some vague piece of history that no one alive has experienced. You don’t even have to go as far back as Hitler and the Holocaust to know what can happen here. You just have to remember fourteen years ago (when most of us were alive already) to understand the ideology we’re dealing with. And just listen to their latest chants to know their intentions.
Why should the 70% of us who did learn from history still be DOOMED to repeat it because someone else wasn’t paying attention in class? Doesn’t seem quite fair, does it?
Just saying…
<<<>>> 
My featured short story this week is “New Antiques” (Tim Crabtree takes time out of his daily harassment by the local bullies to wonder why his new neighbors have built a forty-foot pole in their backyard. Are they trying to get hit by lightning? If he only knew...) Here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/499431?ref=NoTimeToThink
Use coupon code YY92P to save 67% off the list price at check out on Smashwords (that’s right – only 99-cents!) The coupon is good through September 21st. Enjoy!
<<<>>> 
William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Endangered”) can be found in many places, including:
To connect with him, go to
“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink
Or his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri

Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri
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Monday, September 7, 2015

Culture of Instant Gratification (and a Smashwords Coupon)

Isn’t streaming wonderful – instead of having to be aware of and maintain a schedule, you can see almost anything anytime you want, as often as you want, instead of only in the instant. Or is this not such a good thing?
In the OLD DAYS, making dinner was a complicated and lengthy affair that required discipline and planning. With refrigeration and prepackaged food (I remember thinking of grabbing a burrito at 7-Eleven as instant gratification), and faster cooking technology, that became something you could do on the fly, and now about the only time anyone goes to that kind of effort is for a special occasion -like Thanksgiving dinner. And how many of us have the discipline to pull that off now?
I wonder how people who have not learned patience can learn to slave away at their craft and put in the hours necessary (20,000?) to become good at something? How long will it take them to get tired of trying to excel, instead choosing to move onto being mediocre at something else? The instant celebrity of our internet culture feeds this.
There is no overnight success – except the serendipity I have occasionally experienced, where everything comes together almost by accident and you look brilliant – for that one time, because you don’t have the discipline and practiced skill to be able to duplicate it.
Have we made too many things too easy? There’s something to be said for having to wait for something – it takes patience and discipline to develop patience and discipline.
Just saying…
<<<>>> 
My featured work this week is “Dempsey’s Debut” (alien abduction, boxing, gladiators, and big blue praying manti, anyone?) - here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/483438?ref=NoTimeToThink
Use coupon code PC82S to save 67% off the list price at check out on Smashwords (that’s right – only 99-cents!) The coupon is good through September 14th. Enjoy!
<<<>>> 
William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Endangered”) can be found in many places, including:
To connect with him, go to
“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink
Or his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri
Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, August 31, 2015

How Do I Use an Outline? (and a Smashwords Coupon)

Since everything I’ve written up until now has been short fiction, I felt no real need for an outline – oh, I would occasionally jot a couple of notes to remind myself where I was heading at a given time, but I rarely know how a story is going to end when I start it (and if it’s only going to take me a couple of weeks to write it, I could keep what passed for an outline in my head.
This spring, when I was trying to decide what I wanted to write for my first novel, I took the three ideas I had and created outlines for each. (from what I’ve heard, this was almost like trying to sell a book proposal to a publisher – except the publisher was me.) I became sold on writing Swordsmaster because there was so much more detail in the outline (to me this meant that I had a better idea of where the story was going.) The fact is, I also had more passion about the story, which was what helped beef up the outline.
Armed with this outline, I began writing.
Everything was okay at first, but part of my method is to let the story go where it wants, I had 4 major plot milestones that I knew would have to happen. The first was very close to the beginning, and so I was able to enter and exit that scene as planned, with little interference from my “creative process.”
Before I arrived at the second milestone, several unanticipated supporting cast members appeared, along with some sub-plots and events I had not considered at the beginning. But when I arrived at the second milestone, the basics were still intact, and again the story exited the scene pretty much as I expected it to.
And then things began to seriously diverge from what was planned. How things wound up happening changed as cool (and better) ideas grew from the continuously evolving story elements. Characters that didn’t even exist when I created the outline took on more significance; plot holes developed and needed to be filled in. I just passed the third milestone, and how I got there and left it was different enough from what I had mapped out that I hit a brick wall, and I couldn’t see over it for almost a week. My outline didn’t help me – I was trapped.
How did I get past the roadblock?
I re-outlined. It would appear (at least for me) that an outline is NOT set in stone; it is a living, breathing document – a tool to help me get from start to finish, but not the be-all, end-all that defines the story. It helps me to define (and redefine) my next objective, but it should never tie my muse down.
There were so many unknowns when I initially outlined – characters (who seem to have a will of their own), world-creation elements that impacted what could and couldn’t happen in the story, the needs of sub-plots, all gain traction and increase in impact the further I get into the story. I don’t think I could ever create an outline that this wouldn’t eventually happen to – at some point I will need to stop and reevaluate. Generally, my stories go where they want (where would the fun be in totally controlling the process?).
Other writers are probably more able to stick with their outline than I am. Maybe I could learn to hold myself to my initial roadmap.
Nope. It’s just not me.
Just saying…
<<<>>> 
My featured work this week is “Close Enough” (a little light romance while mining an asteroid and dealing with government incompetence) - here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/478156?ref=NoTimeToThink
Use coupon code ZP24S to save 50% off the list price at check out on smashwords (that’s right – only a buck!) The coupon is good through September 7th. Enjoy!
<<<>>> 
William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Endangered”) can be found in many places, including:
To connect with him, go to
“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink
Or his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri

Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri
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Monday, August 24, 2015

Why Am I Writing a Novel (and Giving You a Smashwords Coupon)?

For the last month this question has entered my mind repeatedly – in that small voice that most writers know (but don’t recognize until too late) as the early symptoms of writer’s block. The voices in your head that are whispering the story to you are talked over by the ones telling you “you don’t know what you’re doing”, “this will never work”, and “Fuhget about it.”
The main thing that is hamstringing progress on Swordsmaster is my knowledge that finishing the first draft won’t be anywhere near half the work. There will be reviews and revisions, and actual REWRITES (which I almost never do in my short stories – I do a couple of minor revisions, but that’s pretty much it.) I am so intimidated by the imagined quantity and scope of the work involved that I catch myself trying to make them unnecessary by writing the perfect thing NOW. This is impossible (and always will be) – I need to just write and worry about the revisions later. Stay in the moment. Let the story write itself now – clean it up later.
I started out my musical “career” on trumpet, and through a series of transitions wound up playing trombone. Funny thing was, when I went back to playing trumpet, there were advantages I had gained (a larger mouthpiece forces development of more control of your lip, for instance) that made me a better trumpet player. Different, trombone-inspired techniques came into my playing, like an artist working with oils carries different techniques with him that inform his switch to watercolors.
Everything we do in life comes into play in what we do after – that’s part of where the unique voice you see in an author’s work comes from. It’s augmented by role-playing that happens while working out dialog, where I even carry some of those personalities around with me in the real world until I’m done (just like when I used to act.)
So I will be forced to do rewrites, and by that learn to give more depth to my characters – more vibrance to my details. Find ways to stay on track when the work spans months instead of days. How will this impact my short-stories? It will improve my craft. It’s like a cross-pollination – if I do it right, I create a hybrid with the strengths of both.
Almost makes the process worth looking forward to.
Just saying…
<<<>>> 
I am prepping “Endangered” to be ePublished this Friday (August 28th) – Like and Follow my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter (see notes below) and you’ll see the notice when it goes live.
<<<>>> 
My featured work this week is “The Red Barrens” (Mabel is forced to play her part in terraforming a resistant planet with the same Agent Purple that killed her husband. But there are things that are worse than death - things that could drive her over The Edge and into The Barrens…) - here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/474160?ref=NoTimeToThink   
Use coupon code BE25C to save 67% off the list price at check out on smashwords (that’s right – only 99-cents!) The coupon is good through August 31st. Enjoy!
<<<>>> 
William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Reflections”) can be found in many places, including:
To connect with him, go to
“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink
Or his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri

Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, August 17, 2015

Oh. The Humanity. (And a Smashwords Coupon)

One of the interesting things about SCIENCE FICTION is that you can get people to think about concepts by placing them in a setting / situation far removed from “reality”. It helps us to understand what it means to be HUMAN. By distancing the reader from the material, they can see the truth that is normally hidden behind our own personal investment in real situations.
Sometimes it’s horribly heavy-handed, like the original Star Trek episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", where the tragic absurdity of racism is illustrated by two alien antagonists who are both half-black and half-white, but hate each other because it’s on opposite sides of their faces.
I’m currently watching Humans on AMC, which is ostensibly about Androids developing consciousness, but is doing a wonderful job of exploring not only what makes a human, but also death, abuse, slavery, dignity, life, love, understanding, debasement… it’s loaded. It isn’t just about how we might treat our machines, but how we treat our fellows.
The fact that something like this is still considered worthy of exploration is encouraging – the fact that we can be made to feel for other beings. Even those that WE’VE CREATED, shows that empathy has not been removed from our species yet. We are still HUMAN, and can see the humanity in others.
Sometimes we explore the ethical quandaries brought about by social or technological changes that are visible over the horizon. I remember growing up with a lot of stories involving clones, questioning the ethics of how they would be treated, whether they were people or property, and whether they should be created at all.
Soylent Green dealt with the notion of a society that devalued human life and encouraged suicide, as though killing yourself was a more acceptable way to behave than holding on to life (heck, Belgium removed the age restrictions on this last year.) At least that’s the way it was sold to the populace – no one ever bothered them with the profit-based side-effect of having all these bodies to use as a resource.
A frightening, disgusting concept, isn’t it – the notion that we would kill human beings and then use their bodies for profit? We should all be glad that this is only Science Fiction, and that nothing like this could happen in real life.
Except that it has, and it still is.
If you only get your news through the mainstream media, you may have no idea about a series of undercover investigative videos by The Center for Medical Progress, in which they expose a number of practices by Planned Parenthood that run the gamut of callous, disturbing, disgusting, unethical, immoral and illegal, but can be summarized as altering abortion techniques to optimize the harvesting of baby parts for sale.
If you think I’m overstating the human nature of aborted infants, that you are one of those people who believes this is just tissue, after all, I challenge you to watch the videos. Be warned - this is not for the faint of heart – even the portions where all that’s happening is people with no conscience and seeming to be HUMANITY DEFICIENT are discussing harvesting techniques over a glass of wine are a bit much to take, but there are also images of the END PRODUCT they are talking about, so be prepared.
You could not create a work of science fiction that would illustrate the horror and INHUMANITY of this more effectively.
An interesting side issue here is why the videos (six at this writing) have gotten far less coverage on network news shows than the death of Cecil the Lion. Do you suppose it is because how we treat animals is far more important than how we treat the human lives WE’VE CREATED?
It is good that we still care about other living creatures, but it seems that our priorities are a bit skewed.
Just saying…
<<<>>> 
My featured work this week is “The Wolves Will Come” (Old warrior Bear refuses to abandon his heart’s home, so instead he waits for his tribe’s enemies to find him - or will age and the wolves get to him first?) - here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/463511?ref=NoTimeToThink 
Use coupon code CM25R to save 67% off the list price at check out on smashwords (that’s right – only 99-cents!) The coupon is good through August 24th. Enjoy!
<<<>>> 
William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Reflections”) can be found in many places, including:
To connect with him, go to
“William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook (and LIKE and FOLLOW), at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink
Or his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri
Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri
Posted by at No comments:
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