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Juicy Details from Paranormal Privateers – What’s It Like?

Quizzes, Questions

Juicy Details! How do I begin Paranormal Privateers?  With the hook!

Here is my actual first line hook and the rest of the first paragraph:

Dirac sighed with relief when the US flag came down and the surrender flag went up on the mast of the titanic luxury yacht. He didn’t mind firing rounds from his AK-47 over their heads, but he hated killing people. He knew they were only infidels, but they were still people.

The reader learns: 1) a US yacht is surrendering; 2) the pirate’s name is Dirac; 3) He’s ready to use his AK-47 on them; 4) The pirate considers the US citizens infidels.

More questions leap to mind immediately. Don’t you want to read the next paragraph? This whole scene is here: Imagine You’re a Privateer:

So I wrote the whole chapter pretty quickly. It’s a lot like performing magic: you lead the reader to expect one thing and then you make the opposite happen. I begin with the readers learning about zombie invincibility–and then put them in a seemingly impossible situation to escape.

Sometimes I lead you to expect a big fight and then all the villains escape. Sometimes I lead the reader to expect another adventure just like the last one–and have the heroes rescued by someone else.

Then just as you think you have the pattern of the chapter adventures established, I change all the rules of the game and add completely new and different villains.

Oh, I love writing!

By the way, the book is on sale for 60% off right here! Don’t delay–the sale is only until August 11th. Click now!

More Juicy New Details from Paranormal Privateers

It’s not all lollipops and roses. Aside from the light-hearted chapters about the Somali pirates, I have a worldwide epidemic–affecting zombies only.

Heck, let me give you the table of contents. And the chapter icons.

About Paranormal Privateers
Chapter 2 icon

Acknowledgments. 5

Foreword. 7

About Paranormal Privateers
Chapter 3 icon

Chapter 1 – Somalia. 10 (See above for icon)

Chapter 2 – Haradhere … 25

Chapter 3 – Crimea. 37

Chapter 4 icon
Chapter 4 icon

Chapter 4 – Midley ………… 60

Chapter 5 – London … 73

Chapter 6 icon
Chapter 6 icon

Chapter 6 – Tumen River ………… 100

Chapter 7 icon
Chapter 7 icon

Chapter 7 – Myonggan … 131

Chapter 8 icon
Chapter 8 icon

Chapter 8 – Kimch’aek … 160

Advent Day 19
Chapter 9 icon of Paranormal Privateers

Chapter 9 – Washington DC. 193

Chapter 10 icon
Chapter 10 icon

Chapter 10 – Gary ………… 220

Your Fourth Literary Gift
Chapter 11 icon
Juicy Details
Chapter icon for Chapter 11.

Chapter 11 – Gulf of Mexico … 228


Chapter 12 icon Juicy Details
Chapter 12 icon

Chapter 12 – Earth Orbit   ………… 244

Chapter 13 – Area 52 ………… 264

Chapter 13 icon 
Juicy Details
Chapter 13 icon

Meet My Aliens
Juicy Details
Chapter 14 icon
A foxcat listens to the radio
Chap 14 icon
Chapter 15
Juicy Details
Chapter 15

Chapter 14 – Peoria … 279

Chapter 15 – International Space Station ………… 290

Writing Paranormal Privateers First Draft
Juicy Details
Chapter 16 icon
Chapter 16 icon – London – Click to find out what happens!

Chapter 16 – London ………… 301

Chapter 17 icon
Chapter 17 icon

Chapter 17 – Westminster ………… 319

Juicy Details
Epilogue icon
Epilogue icon

Epilogue     329

I

Why Chapter Icons? Juicy Details

First of all, I like them. I had my artist give hints to each chapter in them. So they’re like an Easter Egg within the book.

Second of all, I paid for them. They were part of my illustration contract. So I might as well share them in this blog post.

Thirdly, I’ve never shared some of them before. So they’re part of my juicy details for you in this post.

More to come!

Cool and Juicy Details

Quizzes, Questions
Try out my audiobook.

Here’s some news about my audiobook version of Paranormal Privateers: Did you know you can get a free sample Paranormal Privateers,  by clicking here?

And you can get a free code from me by clicking here?

Finally, you can get an autographed copy of the book from me, with free shipping, at less than Amazon, by clicking here.

Now some science fiction story fuel in the following article:

Continue reading Juicy Details from Paranormal Privateers – What’s It Like?
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Your Best Summer Science Fiction Fuel

Four Crazy Book Ideas by Author Andy Zach

Your Best Summer Science Fiction Fuel – Let me give you the best articles I’ve found for sparking science fiction story ideas. Let m know your idea and I’ll give you a free book!

Ready? Let’s go!

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST for short) looked further into the past than ever before. And they found galaxies. This was only half a billion years after the Big Bang. How could they form so quickly?

Aside from the mystery, how would I use this for fiction? I’d have a super intelligence forming these galaxies for its purposes. How would you use this new science fact for science fiction? Tell me and get a free book. Click here.

Your Best Summer Science Fiction Fuel – Part 2

Imagine soaring through interstellar space faster than light. That’s what this video makes me think. How about you? Tell me.

If you can’t think of anything to say, just click and join my newsletter and you’ll get free audiobooks.

This’d make a great cover for that book or short story:

What’s Next in Your Best Summer Science Fiction Fuel?

How about this story?

Here we have the world’s most detailed and best preserved skeleton of a trilobite. They’re very common fossils from 300 million years ago. But usually the soft parts don’t get preserved. This time they did.

I can think of several ideas from this article:

  1. Someone found some trilobites and is breeding them on their private property.
  2. A person got a time machine and went back to this time period and picked up so.
  3. The trilobites developed an advanced civilization and traveled ahead in time to our day.

What are your ideas?

More Story Fuel Coming Up!

I already have a zombie turkey apocalypse series. How about a squirrel apocalypse?

This tickles my funny bone: squirrels causing the downfall of civilization. I can think of dozens of scenarios, including leveraging my zombie world that begins below:

Best Science Stories Zombie Turkeys Gift
Science Stories
Your Best Summer Science Fiction Fuel
Get your Zombie Turkeys here. You get a bushel of laughter with each book.

How would you handle this? Get your book now, right here. You can also email me at [email protected] or you can write a comment on this blog.

Why do I give books away? Ideas are the most important resource a writer can have. Who knows if your idea will give me a great novel?

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Here’s a Good Plot from author Andy Zach–and You

Free Plotting Lessons Second

Here’s a Good Plot from author Andy Zach–and You

“Wait! What do you mean? I just clicked here.”

I mean I have a ‘Developing Your Plot’ class I’m giving this month and I’ll share it with you. Here’s slide 1, below.

Good Plot – The Cast of Characters

 

First, there’s me, the teacher character,  Andy Zach. If you’re not familiar with my biography on this site, you can go to Amazon or to Goodreads and find out about me and my books.

Good Plot slide 1

Then there’s you, one of many student characters. What have you written? Are you writing? What will you write? Please share you plot/novel/work ideas with me and the class by commenting below.

Comment here! I’ll send you my powerpoint class. Or email me at [email protected]

You MUST comment to participate in this class–or I’ll send the zombie turkeys after you!

That’s my big turkey stick. The carrot is, I will give a free ebook of Zombie Turkeys to one of the commenters!

Start commenting – NOW!

Good Plot – Lessons – Where Will You go with Your Idea?

Plotting class slide 2
Good Plot

You’ve got your great idea for your novel. What’s next?

Authors fall into a spectrum of two approaches. First, there are plotters, who plan out the plot of their book and then write to that plan.

Then there are ‘pantsers’, those who sit on their pants and type away until a book emerges–or not.

Then there are endless variations between the two. I’m firmly in the first group. If you want to learn the pantser approach, find another author! I can’t even imagine how I’d write that way, and I’ve got a good imagination.

Let’s take my first novel, Zombie Turkeys. I created a chapter outline of the book on my first day of writing it during NaNoMo in November 2015.

Free Plotting Lessons
Good Plot
Click on the Zombie Turkeys book cover to hear Andy read a free excerpt.

Read my Zombie Turkeys chapter outline:

Continue reading Here’s a Good Plot from author Andy Zach–and You