Meet Eric Bishop

Hey everyone,

We have a guest today. So please be polite, listen carefully and try not to text while you're reading.

Meet Eric Bishop
Author of The Samaritan's Pistol (which just came out and which I highly recommend) and in general, a pretty good guy.  He answered the questions, anyway. :)

<>  If you could eat anything for breakfast, what would it be?

It depends on the morning. Usually I eat a bowl of Wheaties with some uncooked oats. If we have bananas that are still tart, I’ll slice some chunks for the top. They have to still be a bit green or it won’t happen. If uncooked oats are good enough for my horse, they might help me live longer than bacon for breakfast.  

<>  Do you prefer leather or cloth seats in cars? Why?

I’m a cloth guy. Leather is like sitting on an ice block during the winters in Northern Utah.

<>  If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? Who would you take with you?

My wife and kids and I would spend two weeks on a Grand Canyon float trip again. We did it in 2009, after I waited fifteen years to get a permit.

<>  What is the most interesting job you've ever had to this point?

I went to work on a dairy at fourteen. Each night my best friend, Wayne, and I would milk fifty or so cows. We were in charge of cleaning the equipment, monitoring the milk tank, the animal medical needs, feeding calves and dozens of other necessaries. The responsibilities placed on us, made me realize what I was capable of. The milk parlor smells, the sound of the cows hooves on the cement, the weight of the Folgers can of grain in my hands as I gave each cow it’s ration to bait them through their headstall visit my dreams over thirty years later.  

<>  Tell us about a strange writing habit that you have.

I critique lots of other writers, especially published authors. When I see something I would have written differently there’s this thing I call a “hypocrisy alarm.” A sledgehammer of a voice that says, “Okay Eric, you sanctimonious, self-serious writer, if you’re going to nitpick someone else’s words, you first must admit you did the same thing on a specific place in your novel!” There’s nothing like it to help me find my own mistakes.

<>  What is your favorite quote/saying about writing? What does it mean to you?

           

Mark Twain wrote, “The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter—it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” I could try and improve on this but would fail.

<>  What scene of this novel proved to be the most difficult for you to write?

When the protagonist, Jim, shoots his horse to end the animal’s suffering.

<>  What scene turned out exactly as you imagined it?

I love the scene when the elderly ranch hand, Brody, kills three gangsters in the barn. At the time I was working hard to show people a character through their actions. This scene shows readers exactly who Brody is.

<>  What aspect of your life has most influenced your writing?

I’m a total people person. I can be wiped out, not willing to do anything. To recharge my exhausted energy stores I’m sure I’ll have to sleep around the clock. Then I meet someone or an old friend stops by—and I can visit for hours. Tasks sap my energy, but interacting with people is my never ending energy source. My favorite part of writing is spending time with the characters that are combinations of people I know.

<>  Why should people read your book? What does it have to offer them?  (This is the part where you brag it up!)

Critics have called The Samaritan’s Pistol genre defying, and bending. While writing, I wanted to author a western that crossed into crime, thriller, inspiration, adventure and romance. I love when a reader tells me they caught the spiritual undertone or the complexities of the characters. I also love it when someone says they didn’t think they’d like my story, but then couldn’t put it down. I’m a reader and a writer and yearn for books that move fearlessly in unexpected directions.  

<>  If you could write a spin-off novel about a side character, who would you choose?

I actually have one planned. My publisher has asked me to finish The Samaritan’s Pistol trilogy. Then I’ll write a prequel centered on Brody, the elderly ranch hand. Why he came west as a teenager and has been hiding in Wyoming his entire life.

<>  Tell us why you love this story.

As my first novel, it’s reflective of my writing journey. The five years of writing and rewriting has been as fun as anything I’ve ever done, with the exception of the 2009 Grand Canyon float trip with my family!

So there you have it!

If you like thrillers, and maybe some western bad a**-ness thrown in, check out The Samaritan's Pistol by Eric Bishop.

And if you want to stalk Eric, which you should (every author longs for stalkers) here you go!

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ericbishopauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EricBishopWords

Website: www.eric-bishop.com

The Point When I Couldn't Look Away

I do apologize, but we’re going back into the realm of Pacific Rim today.  Again, not a review.  More like me trying to glean how this could have been a great story.

I’ll keep it short.

There is a woman in the story that desperately wants to be a pilot of the giant robots. The general (and pretty much her adopted father) won’t let her. The first time she gets the chance to pilot with our main character, they link their minds in the drift and we get to see why.

When she was a girl, one of the monsters attacked the city she lived in. Somewhere in Asia, can’t remember where exactly.  We enter the memory after she is alone and crying in the dusty streets, carrying one of her red shoes and wearing the other.

It’s kind of amazing how they make a giant monster invisible in the canyons of the city. The monster seems to be stalking this little girl, who screams and runs as fast as she can.  She makes a few turns and dives first into an alley then behind a dumpster.

The actress that played this little girl was amazing. She looked terrified—shaking and crying with a glimmer of hope in her eyes that the monster won’t find her.  Her gasping and holding onto her shoe had me squeezing my poor husband’s hand to death.  (Don’t worry, he can take it. I think.)

The tension in this scene was by far the best of the whole movie. And it didn't come until over half-way through.

Sure, there was plenty of suspense during the 2 ½ hours of fighting, but nothing like this—raw, emotional terror.

Right before the monster gets her, the general arrives in his robot and beats the crap out of the monster.  Her savior, and the reason she will do anything he asks of her.

And pretty much, she was the only person in the movie I cared about after that.  The general a little bit, because he was bad a**, but the main character didn't draw me in like this.

The thing is, he could have.  His brother died while their conscious’ were still linked. He felt his brother’s fear, pain and death.  If I’d gotten that, then I probably would have cared about him more. I may have been concerned when he went through the crack in the ocean floor.

Why? Because it was then personal. I understood why this girl wanted to fight so bad. Whereas the guy was a rock star, then lost it all, then went to the dumps and came back. Which we saw none of, by the way.

Okay, I’m rambling. But do you see my complaint? Dave Farland often talks about broadening and deepening your plot. Pacific Rim went broader (the world and aliens) when it would have benefited from going a little deeper, and not so wide.

I'm Pretty Sure it was Supposed to be Bad

Pacific Rim

Yes, the movie.

Some have called it Mecha vs. Monster porn.  I can see that. Others simply called it bad. I can see that too. The “live Anime” tag is pretty accurate as well.

I’m not going to review Pacific Rim, I’m going to rant about a few things.  Problems that I see in a lot of stories today, and especially in action movies.

Plot.  Oh for a plot!

Pacific Rim had a plethora of interesting hooks and gotchas:

There are huge monsters coming from a crack in the ocean floor, attacking major cities

Humans built giant robots to combat them

Because the interface with the robots is so intense, it takes two humans to pilot one robot

The two humans have to share a consciousness in what they call the drift

The monster attacks are becoming more frequent and more powerful

Our main character’s brother dies at the beginning of the movie—they were still linked

The main character pilots his heavily damaged robot by himself (supposedly not possible)

The governments shuts down the robots and starts to build a gigantic wall along the entire Pacific coast—both sides

There is an entire black market industry around the monster leftovers

We have a general who is dying and is the only other person to pilot a robot solo

There is a girl the general rescued years ago who desperately wants to be a pilot

There are pilots from different countries who have different experience as well as egos

We have brother and sister pilots, father son pilots

Two cracked scientists figure out part of what is going on, and they are willing to do whatever it takes to figure out the rest

The monsters are going to kill us all if these pilots don’t stop them

You see, there are a lot of interesting hooks in there, that could have taken awesome twists and turns. Just think about the repercussions alone of sharing a conscious with another person...

But NOOooo…

We get the very simple plot of “Monsters are going to destroy the world unless we beat them up a lot” glued together by pretty much what I typed above.  Given in just as much time.

My question is this…when will the movie-goers of the world rise up in retaliation and ask for 15 more minutes of plot and that much less CG action?  Focus, curse you!

The same is true in books, and most venues for stories.

My hope as both a writer and a reader is that this trend will change. It’s not just great action or a great voice or a quirky character that makes a story, it’s a balance between them all that gently leads the reader through the plot and delivers them at the end with a new perspective on some aspect of life.

Giant monsters vs. huge robots is cool, but if I don’t care about why they’re fighting or the people involved, then I’m going to change the station.

Although I do have to admit that Pacific Rim did wash away most of the girlie-ness that I accumulated over the two months before my wedding. So I guess it did it's job.

Reality...Bites?

I just spent a week in Florida for my honeymoon.

How we managed to pick the hottest, most humid week in seven years I’m not sure—just lucky, I guess.

Anyhow, we had a great time.

Disney World is made of imagination, adventure and wonder.  It feels magical (as it is supposed to) and even after hours in lines, kids are ready for more.  The adults, not so much sometimes.  The people working there do everything they can to make sure you are having the best time possible.

Let me focus on just one ride.  Star Tours.

Okay, yes, I’m a huge Star Wars geek, and my husband is a fan. They’ve recently redone the Star Tours ride, adding a 3-D aspect as well as having 54 different combinations of scenes that you could go through.

We went on it five times and didn’t even see half of the options for the combinations.

It was so much fun! My little geek heart soared, and if we’d had more time I would have gone another five times.

Another spot that made me giddy was The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  All I can say is awesome.  To see a place I’ve read about for years and years pretty much come alive was quite the experience. And to be surrounded by people who are talking about the shops, the jokes, the candy, the butter beer and the way to get into Dumbledor’s office (half of them in British accents) was a once in a lifetime experience.

So those were my geek out moments. I loved every minute of it.

However, on our last day we went to the Kennedy Space Center.  My husband is a huge science/math/space geek, and this was his one request for the trip.  I’d been there before, when I was about 12 years old, but didn’t remember much.

A few years ago they retired the Space Shuttle program.  In one of the buildings we learned about the last flight to upgrade the Hubble Telescope.  They talked a bunch about the program, the engineering and all of the missions. It was great.  The screen the movie had been playing on went black, then translucent, and right behind it they had the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

I walked into the same room as a Space Shuttle that had been off of the earth 33 times.

I started to cry.  It was overwhelming to think about all of the time, effort, engineering and money that had gotten us to this point.  The sheer though process of making a shuttle that could be reused was innovative and completely new.  There are more than 24,000 separate and unique (and numbered) tiles on the Atlantis that keep it from exploding when it comes back into the atmosphere. And the people at NASA did it along with help from companies all over the country, maybe even the world.

This was real. Not like Space Mountain (which I love), but real life ingenuity and tenacity.

My writer’s mind paused and asked, “So if this is the reaction you get from something real, why do you love stories so much? Why do they matter?”

I got stunk on the reason, and I still don’t have a great answer to the question. I’m thinking about it.

But I’d love to hear your opinion on the subject. Please leave a comment below. I'm seriously curious.

Up in the Air

Hey everyone,

Today we have a guest post by the lovely and talented Ann Marie Meyers, author of the new Middle Grade book Up in the Air.

Please be nice to her!

<>  If you could eat anything for breakfast, what would it be?

AMM: Fruit cake and strawberry ice cream.

<>  Do you prefer leather or cloth seats in cars? Why?

AMM: Cloth is definitely much softer and more comfortable.

<>  If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? Who would you take with you?

AMM:  I’d love go to Australia and take my daughter and husband with me. I’ve heard so much about the outback that I can’t wait to finally get there.

<>  What is the most interesting job you've ever had to this point?

AMM: I was a sales representative for the Trinidad and Tobago Tourist Board. I loved traveling and meeting so many interesting people.

<>  Tell us about a strange writing habit that you have.

AMM:  When I get stuck on how to write a scene, I’ll type in what I want to achieve, the tone I want to have and the mood I want to capture, then move on to something else. I’ll let my subconscious work on the problem and revisit my notes every once in a while until I’m satisfied with the outcome.

<>  What is your favorite quote/saying about writing? What does it mean to you?

AMM: “Writing is magic for those willing to follow their imagination to a region where anything is possible” by William Kotzwinkle (ET).

            To me, it means that our limitations are self-imposed, and that everything is possible once we let ourselves believe it. So too with writing. Whenever I get ‘stuck’ I know that it is only a question of time before I figure out the ‘solution’. I just let my imagination roam free.

           

<>  What scene of this novel proved to be the most difficult for you to write?

The hardest scene was Melody’s initial arrival into Chimeroan. I just couldn’t get it right. Either it was too fantastical or too concrete. It was only months before I finally submitted the manuscript to Jolly Fish Press, that I finally figured out what wasn’t working and fixed it.

<>  What scene turned out exactly as you imagined it?

AMM: The very last scene of the book (not the epilogue, which was added later).

<>  What aspect of your life has most influenced your writing?

AMM:  I guess I’ll have to say it’s the hundreds of fantasy and sci-fi books I read in my teens. I absolutely love the genre, and am drawn to some element of fantasy in most everything I write.  

¨      Why should people read your book? What does it have to offer them?  (This is the part where you brag it up!)

AMM: What child has never dreamed of flying, even if as a mere passing fancy? Who doesn’t wish that their dreams could come true; for life to be happy and go exactly the way they want?

Up In The Air will fill you with hope and remind you of the dreams you once had when life was filled with possibility. It’s a story about holding on to the things you truly want and never letting go. Up In The Air will take readers on an adventure to a magical land called Chimeroan, where a person’s dreams (deepest desires) come true. And yet… what is it that prevents us from pursuing our dreams?

Readers will follow the journey of the protagonist, Melody, whose dream is to fly away and be free. Yet when Melody gets the wings of her dreams, she realizes that this does not solve anything. Readers will stick with Melody as she encounters situations that help her face her fears and confront the reality of the accident that paralyzed her father and left her unscarred. They will rejoice in her newfound freedom, the one within, from which everything stems.  

<>  If you could write a spin-off novel about a side character, who would you choose?

AMM: I would choose Andrew, Melody’s friend from school, so we could see Chimeroan from another perspective.

<>  Tell us why you love this story.

AMM: I love Melody as a character. I admire her gumption, her desire to be tough and not let anyone hurt her. Yet, I also love her vulnerability, which is revealed during her stay on Chimeroan. Her fears resonate with me very strongly, especially since these very fears are what she needs to face in order for her to live her dream. And in the end, I rejoice with her newfound freedom.

I am enchanted by Melody’s journey. She has wings. She can soar with the birds. The freedom! The absolute joy of this!  Yet, this outward tangible joy does not bring her the peace she seeks. She needs to go within. Her journey reminds me of my own, those moments when I need to go within to find peace.

Also, the world of Chimeroan itself enchants me. Chimeroan not only has the ability to make everyone’s dreams (their deepest desire, not merely a whimsical fancy) come true, but has a way of revealing exactly what holds a person back from achieving what they truly want; and in doing so frees the person.

Check out Up in the Air today!

And stalk Ann Marie in these locations:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AnnMarieMeyersauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnMarie_Meyers
Website: http://www.annmarie-meyers.com/

The Dangers if Infodump

When I was in my college years, I loved epic fantasy. I also loved Tom Clancy novels. Pretty much anything under 300 pages was a short story, and I would have nothing to do with them.

I can’t believe I had “extra” time in college. Where is it now???

Anyway, at one point in my life I loved the big, thick, intricately plotted books that I now realize take years and years to write.  And way back when, I didn't mind the info dump.

Now I’m older and far less patient.  When too much information is thrust at me, instead of embracing it and soaking it in, I glean the top layer off and cast the rest off like yesterday’s socks.

Not that I usually mistakenly put on old socks…

I’ve mentioned a few times that I recently returned from a trip to Israel.  Well, when you go there, your tour group will be assigned an Israeli guide. I think it’s a law or something.  Ours was named Bassam, we called him Sam for short.  After all, uncultured American’s can’t possibly be asked to remember a guy’s name that’s different.

No, no, not a name. However, he gave us so much information that I’m pretty sure I’ve ejected more than 80% of it out the port on the back of my head.  One name (Bassam) I could totally handle.  But the 117 names for cities, people, regions, bodies of water, religions beliefs, rulers and a bunch of other things was WAY too much.

Granted, they did tell us to read some book before we went, which was a comprehensive (and quite dull) guide to the places we went to visit. If I had prepared maybe I wouldn’t have gotten so lost.

And it’s really easy to Google most of these places and get the  information that I’ve most certainly mixed up in my head. 

King Herod built the Dead Sea in the mountain region near the brother of Jordan and lived there until his college buddy Tiberius ruled the world from the  Mount of Olives and they had a party under the Dome of the Rock.

You see! That’s how my brain feels when someone does a huge info dump at the beginning of a book. It’s especially bad if all the names are similar. Herod, Heronian, Hades, Helvitica…you see. I’m already confusing myself.

I realize that most people who read big, fat books expect big, fat info dumps, but if you can incorporate it into the story in a sneaky but helpful manner, then do it. Please. For those of us with simple minds.

Besides, the story of Herod and Tiberius as college buddies is probably a pretty good story. (If they even lived at the same time. My brain is seriously overloaded.)

World Building

Some old guy at the very first Geek Fest (it was somewhere between a writer’s conference and a convention for fans—yes, there was some dressing up going on) I ever attended spewed forth a piece of advice that I will never forget.

A member of the audience, an aspiring writer I’m sure, asked the question, “Where do you get all your ideas for world building?”  If I recall correctly the old guy to whom the question was being asked had written some fairly epic fantasy novels.  So he had some experience at world building.

Well, instead of a long explanation from a scholar (which this man seemed to fancy himself), we got this bit of writing advise.  “Find something that sounds interesting and steal the Hell out of it.”

I’m pretty sure he wasn't just saying to look at the spot where the damned go in someone else’s world. Although I could be wrong, I don’t always get smart, old people jokes.  To me they’re just not funny.

However, this is good advice.  I’ve traveled a lot, but never before to the Middle East. I just returned from 9 days in Israel, and I have to say that the place is teeming with bits of world building to steal.

Seriously, think about it, first off, there have been multiple sets of people claiming this land for more generations than anyone can actually remember. Good thing for the Bible, right? So that particular conflict runs really deep.  And frankly, after driving through most of the country, I didn’t get the whole “bountiful, promised land” thing. The place is mostly a desert. I live in a desert. You have to work hard to get crops to grow and to get water where it should be.  So who came up with the land of plenty angle? And why are all these people so keen on keeping the land for themselves?

Good question. Make some answers and take your world building from there.

Let’s look at a different angle.  Jerusalem has been completely sacked like 8 times.(I didn’t Google, sorry, I’m on a plane, so that number could be off.)  What does that do to the land? Maybe the place itself is cursed, or blessed, or alive, or a crossroads to more than just trade routes, and all of the fighting is causing imbalances on a different plane or in a different part of the world.

We had an interesting discussion within our tour group. Basically, both the Palestinians and the Israelis (or maybe Jews and Muslims would be better to cite) believe that at the end of days, the other group will be wiped out by God because they are not worshiping the right thing or in the right way.  (It’s a long, long story that I’d rather not  go into here.)  But as we were discussing this, we thought about trying to negotiate a truce between the two peoples, and how fruitless that would be because both sides think that the other will eventually be gone. Why not start the annihilation now? Why wait?  There’s immediate conflict that can get both broader and deeper.

This is just a few ideas about world building.  If you can’t travel, view some documentaries and glean some ideas off of those. Take what you see and twist it. Steal the Hell out of it and make it your own.