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3 Fun Links 3 Writing Tips by Author Andy Zach

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3 Fun Links 3 Writing Tips

3 Fun Links 3 Writing Tips — Fun first! Here’s the first fun link:

Now for the first writing tip. What is it? Nothing less than the secret of writing success!


3 Fun Links 3 Writing Tips – Your Next Fun Link

3 Fun Links 3 Writing Tips – Your Next Writing Tip

Your Third Fun Link of 3 Fun Links 3 Writing Tips

3 Fun Links 3 Writing Tips -Your Last Writing Tip

And One More Fun Thing

3 Fun Links 3 Writing Tips
The Chapter 5 London chapter icon – what could it mean? Click and find out!

What could be more fun than the 3 Fun Links 3 Writing Tips you’ve already read?  How about an excerpt from Chapter 5 of Paranormal Privateers?

Here it comes!

Paranormal Privateers Chapter 5 – London

“What’s your situation, Lulu?” I asked.

“I’m using a cutting board as a shield. When the Taser hits it, I cut the wires with my katana.”

“Are they going to rush you? Where are you?”

“I don’t think so. One tried sneaking past me, and I bowled him down by throwing a mixer at him. I’m guarding the exit to the dinnerware room. They can’t leave past me, but I can’t advance. I can’t leave Sharon anyway. How long until you get here?”

“We’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”

“We’ll need about ten more minutes,” said General MacGregor, who was in charge of the backup forces.

“Good! Double backup! Lulu, hang on. We’re bringing in the heavies!” Diane said.

“What do you mean?” MacGregor asked.

“Let’s see if Tasers can stop zombie bulls!” Diane yelled.

“No! You can’t take bulls into Harrods!”

“You shouldn’t have Tasers or C-4 explosives in Crock-Pots in Harrods either!”

“It’s the appropriate response, General.” I tried to calm him.

“Like hell it is! You wait until our backup forces get there!” General MacGregor was losing it. I’d never heard him yell like that.

“There’s no way in hell I’ll leave my friends in danger, General!” Diane yelled back.

I’d never heard Diane swear like that.

“You hold off until we get there! That’s an order!”

Diane snatched off her headset as we pulled up to Harrods entrance on Basil Street. “Tell the general I lost my headset!” she shouted as she ran to open the lorry.

“Diane’s having a communicator problem right now,” I told the general.

“What kind of problem?” he barked.

“It seems to have fallen off her head.”

“Arrgh! Tell her I order her to not enter Harrods with her zombie bulls!”

Paranormal Privateers Chapter 5 – London – Part 2

“Will do, sir,” I said, knowing the orders would not affect her.

Diane, already astride her bull, Whip, led three others on Kevlar reins. “Here’s your bull, Durham, George. I also have Lulu’s bull, Toro, and Sharon’s, Wallstreet.”

“Can’t have too many, I suppose. General MacGregor orders you to not enter Harrods with the bulls, by the way.”

“Bull! He’s got to work through my superior officer, General Figeroa! I know my chain of command!”

“Why don’t you tell him that?” I held out her headset to her.

“I’d better not. He might get him to issue the order! It’s better to get forgiveness than ask permission! Let’s go!”

On Durham, I followed her and the other bulls through the sliding electric doors of the Basil Street Entrance.

“Uh-oh.” Diane perched on her one-ton bull, looking at the narrow, winding stairway to the next floor. “We’d better take the escalator.”

The store had been evacuated by this time. Each bull followed Diane up the escalator, brushing the handholds on each side with their huge chests.

Up one floor, two, then three. The moving stairs didn’t faze the bulls, who negotiated them as nimbly as gymnasts.

We left the escalator on the third floor and raced through the luggage department. The bulls’ horns snagged fine luxury calfskin bags. Festooned by fashion, we raced down a broad hall across the store toward the housewares department. We thundered through the Halcyon Gallery, the exhibit hall where Harrods displayed artworks. Expensive paintings rattled on walls as we rumbled past them, the bulls’ rush randomly depositing expensive leather goods everywhere.

We saw Lulu and Sharon crouching outside a doorway labeled Entertaining at Home. Lightning bolts flashed through the archway.

Whoa! I thought. That was no Taser. That was artificial lightning! It was entertaining, I supposed.

Paranormal Privateers Chapter 5 – London – Part 3

“I’ve brought your bulls! Jump on!” Diane yelled. She charged directly into the lightning.

Her sheer audacity saved her. The giant Taser’s first shot missed her, singeing the bull’s tail off. The pain drove the bull into an all-out sprint. The terrorists behind the Taser saw the two-thousand-pound bull ten feet from them and dove aside. The bull lowered his head and smashed the Taser with an explosion of sparks.

Diane put the bull into an emergency four-footed stop. He skidded, tearing up the carpeting with his hooves and knocking aside heavy, expensive Italian furniture, like Styrofoam blocks. Diane wrenched Whip’s head and body around to get back to the terrorists, but I picked up one by the nape of his neck and Lulu picked up the other.

“Where is your boss?” Diane asked.

He spoke something unintelligible in Arabic.

“That’s not really credible, that you worked as a clerk in Harrods and don’t speak English.” I shook him. I intended to shake until he changed to English.

Then Sharon said something in Arabic.

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Don’t turn me into a zombie!” he screamed, hanging from my hand.

“Our boss is defending his position in the Cook Shop, the next room over!” squealed the other one, held aloft by one of Lulu’s arms. Her other arm held her razor-sharp katana at his throat.

“We know where he is now. Follow me!” Diane reared her snorting bull and charged into the next room.

We followed while Lulu tied up the terrorists using zip ties.

Paranormal Privateers Chapter 5 – London – Part 4

The next room held beautiful displays of fine china in glass cases. There were also complete dining room settings of Wedgewood china and crystal. Unfortunately, the interior designers had not planned for four one-ton bulls charging through the store.

The bulls made the aisles of china accommodate their long horns by swinging their heads back and forth. The glass cases and their precious contents flew backward like KOed fighters. Glass and china alike dissolved into fragments, covering the floor in a random mosaic.

The heavy hardwood dining tables had no greater luck against the rampaging bulls’ torsos. Tables and chairs flipped over like cardboard. Oak and cherry splinters joined the glass puzzle pieces on the floor. Champagne flutes flew high into the air like little glass rockets. Sadly, they had no reentry vehicle. Vintage china plates soared like flying saucers and then landed and split into broken wedges like pie pieces.

People’s lives are more important than a few thousand dollars of dishes and furniture, I thought as Durham ran over the luxurious rubble.

Then a Crock-Pot zoomed at Diane and Whip from the far wall of the room. It exploded into fragments, shredding Diane and the bull. Covered in blood and stunned, Diane managed to shout at the assailant, “Now you’ve done it! Now, you’ve got me REALLY mad!”

Shaking their heads and spraying blood like two sprinklers, Diane and Whip charged down an aisle of Aga ovens toward their attacker. With a stupendous flash of light and heat, one of the large ovens exploded. The concussion knocked me off Durham, hurling us both back into the broken dining merchandise. I had a midair glimpse of seeing Sharon and Wallstreet flying through the air next to me in an oddly graceful ballet. Then everything went black.

How Do You Like My Links?

This excerpt will be on my Youtube channel soon!

 

Let me know what you think by clicking here or by adding a comment to this post.

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Get 3 Great Writing Tips from Author Andy Zach

Get 3 Great Writing Tips

Get 3 Great Writing Tips from Zombie Turkeys Author Andy Zach

Do you want to Get 3 Great Writing Tips from Zombie Turkeys Author Andy Zach? They’re coming!  But first, have a laugh, courtesy of Andy’s favorite, Weird Al Yankovich!

Get 3 Great Writing Tips – Your First Tip

Have you heard of the Three Act Story Structure? How about the nine plot points? It’s foundational to most movies and plays and books. First invented by Aristotle, this article delves into it:

There are many variations on this theme, but if you think about it, every story has a beginning, middle, and end. Your story usually climaxes after the middle, or at the end of the second act of the play, and then the results of the action happen.

Intermission in Get 3 Great Writing Tips

Will we be dominated by robots in the future? Comment on this post or drop me a line, after watching this video.

And now on to the next tip.

Get 3 Great Writing Tips – Your Second Tip

Now you’ve got some idea about story structure, tell me about your favorite characters. Tell me about either characters you’ve created or your favorite fictional characters of all time. Then tell me what motivated them. Character motivation is what the next tip is all about.

Next, a Squirrel of a Different Color

Get 3 Great Writing Tips
A malabar squirrel from India. Truly a squirrel of a different color. Links to another squirrel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get 3 Great Writing Tips – The Third and Final Tip

I thought about telling you more about plotting, like my previous post teaching plotting, or my second lesson about plotting. I found the next article is even better, revealing another technique. Have you ever used tension between characters to create interest in a story? Read all about how to do that. Let me know what you think of it!

Your Final Bit of Fun

I hope you’re a thrill lover! Here comes the thrill of your life, via this next video.

If you like my blog and don’t want to miss any posts, subscribe here! You’ll also get a free story.

If you’re already a newsletter subscriber, share with your friends. For each new subscriber you get, send me their email address and I’ll give you an extra chance to win a free book in my two monthly drawings.

My next free book drawing is September 2nd!

Get 3 Great Writing Tips

Andy Zach’s three novels in his Life After Life Chronicles, the comic paranormal animal zombie saga. Click to get one or all.

 

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3 Writing Tips You Don’t Want to Miss from author Andy Zach

Christmas Zombie Turkey Style

3 Writing Tips You Don’t Want to Miss from author Andy Zach

I used these 3 Writing Tips in each of my three comic paranormal animal urban fantasy books.

3 Writing Tips
Life After Life Chronicles available as a series! Click to get!

If you’re an author, you’ll want to know anything that’ll make your job easier. If you’re a reader, you may be curious to know how an author creates a book from nothing. Here’s the first tip!

3 Writing Tips: The First Tip – Plan Your Story

There are two types of writers: planners and pantsers, those who write from the seat of their pants. Regardless of how you get your first draft done, your final story needs structure the reader can follow. Here is one popular approach: the three-act story structure.


The Three Act Story dates from Aristotle who defined it for Greek plays. I think the key takeaways are first: make sure the reader knows and cares about the characters.  Second, the setting, place and time may be vague, but the threat or conflict should be interesting from the start, between the protagonist and his or her goal.

See my two previous blog posts for much more on plotting and story structure. The first link follows:

Free Plotting Lessons Here from author Andy Zach

And the next link is:

Free Plotting Lessons Second Lesson from Author Andy Zach

3 Writing Tips: The Second Tip – Pick the Best Point of View


The point of view is critical. First person point of view allows the reader to get into the main character’s head and read his or her thoughts.  But then the reader can’t know anyone else very well, except through what the character observes.

An author can flip from one character to another, but the transitions can be confusing for the reader. Pro-tip: confusing the reader is very bad, leading to reader loss, probably forever. So do the transitions clearly and well, or don’t switch.

A compromise is to use a limited third person point of view. This allows the reader to look over the shoulder of a character, even reading their emotions, but only see what that person sees. Then switching to another character is much easier.

The Third Tip – Have a Privacy Policy

Why does an author need a privacy policy? You don’t, if you never talk, or write to or communicate with fans. If you’re going to interact with fans of your books (highly recommended!), then you’ll need some rules of engagement. If you have a website and a mailing list, you must follow the European Privacy rules for European fans. These rules will likely spread worldwide.

If you don’t care about privacy violations and European litigation, just ignore this tip.

Your fun from the Internet is next

Let’s start with this cross between a cat and a bird of paradise:

I bring you the problems of being a shapeshifter . . .

Then there’s this simulation of a Martian overflight:

How do you like this next Henny Youngman gag?

And finally, let’s give this blog post a BIG finish!