Podcasting: Information for Writers with Armand Rosamilia

Fiona - 
Welcome Armand Rosamilia a fellow Kindle Scout winner and pod caster extraordinaire! 

Armand, tell us a bit about your background and how you found your way to being an author. What genre do you enjoy writing?

Armand - 
I was born in New Jersey. My mother has always been a huge horror reader. She's still a huge Stephen King fan. At twelve, I began reading her Dean Koontz paperbacks and loved them. I couldn't get enough of reading, especially horror and fantasy. I started writing my own horrible stories as a kid and wrote an essay in school about becoming a writer when I grew up. I became a writer but the growing up part I'm still working on. 

I love writing in many genres. Horror is always going to be my favorite but I've written contemporary fiction, crime thrillers, paranormal thrillers, zombies, traditional horror and haunted house stories. I even ghostwrote a military romance and I've done erotica.

Fiona - 
And pod casting? Tell me about your show and how you got going.

Armand - 
I managed heavy metal bands in the mid-90's when I was still living in Jersey. No one you ever heard of, trust me. While doing it, I would get them to radio stations and interviews. A couple of times a DJ got me talking on the air because I had some good road stories to share. I guess I got the bug.

So then flash forward about 20 years. I meet Vern Shank, a local guy who was putting an AM station together. He asked me if I wanted to do a show on Friday nights with another author, and we could talk about writing and stuff.

I jumped at the chance and also got my way and had my own heavy metal music program right after, from 10 pm until midnight. It was a blast, especially when it went FM. The problem was the long drive to the station each week, and I have a problem driving at night, so it got dangerous for me. I had to quit but I still wanted to do the author interview thing because it was a lot of fun. So the podcast was born. Arm Cast: Dead Sexy Horror Podcast, which debuted 2 years ago July 4th weekend.

Fiona - 
Congratulations on your anniversary! 

If an author wanted to develop a pod cast, obviously they'd want to be professional about it. What kinds of equipment would they need to together on their own?

Armand - 
I went to the World Horror Convention in Portland a couple of years ago, right before I started the podcast. There was a panel about podcasting and one of the guests, Desmond Reddick, said not to worry about every little thing. Just start and tweak it in the beginning. It was sound advice. I didn't want to have to edit an hour show for five hours like some podcasters were talking about having to do. Not every word had to be perfect.

I spent about $100 on a mini-board with a mic and headphones from Amazon and ran it through a free program, Audacity. I bought a $39 program to record with and get everything to an mp3 file

Fiona -
I know that when I do interviews, I keep the time frame to precisely one hour - I find that produces the amount of in depth information I want to give to my readers. However, that one hour on one day turns into several hours of editing, formatting, and doing graphics and links on another. Can you break down your time for us? What kind of investment are we looking at here?

Armand -
I use one hour as a ballpark. Most people will listen to a podcast while working out, on the commute to work or cleaning the house. No more than an hour of their time. 

My edits are very, very small. I find the beginning where we started and then the end where we say goodbye and everything in between usually stays unless a call drops. I record via Skype or with a hand-held in person. My time investment is minimal because I'm so busy with my actual writing career. I also love the raw feel of the interviews with screwups and goofing around.

When I do my second podcast, Arm N Toof's Dead Time Podcast with co-host Mark Tufo, it's pretty much the same thing although Mark likes to annoy me so much with the closing because he knows it drives me nuts. He'll keep talking even though I need a 5 second break so I can find it on the tape later. Drives me nuts.

Fiona - 
The goofing around is always fun.

Where do you find your interviewees and what topics do you like to cover? Is it a fairly narrow range - do your listeners know about what they're going to be getting or do you like the surprise factor?

Armand - 
It relaxes the guests and makes for an interesting interview. We also go off on weird tangents about things unrelated to writing or film making or whatever the guest is involved in, too.

I interview people I find interesting. Not just horror authors. I have actors and actresses, filmmakers, pro-wrestling writers, musicians, comic book creators... anyone I think will be fun to interview. I let them know before we start we have no interview questions. At all. I do no more research on them once they are booked. I want to genuinely learn about them at the same time the listeners do. I think it is more organic that way.

Fiona - 
Pro-wrestling writers! I bet they have some stories!

How do you market yourself so people can find you?

Armand -
In the beginning, I only had Arm Cast Podcast and used a service called Libsyn to get the episodes out there. I promoted it hand in hand with my writing as part of my brand. Then, I met the guys from Project iRadio at a convention, and they were looking for established podcasts to add to their network. They had author Brian Keene's podcast as well as Three Guys With Beards, which is Jonathan Maberry, James A Moore and Christopher Golden. All big names in the horror field.

Not only did they want my podcast but wanted me to do a second one with another author. I asked Mark Tufo because I knew he'd be perfect for it. We started Arm N Toof almost a year ago.

Fiona -
Can you tell us a couple of the hurdles that you had to jump in the beginning. Maybe something about your learning curve that you can transect for those interested in following along? And piggy backing on that question are there any resources that you would suggest?

Armand - 
Getting listeners was the big hurdle at first. The guests were never a problem because I've been in the business for many years. I've been writing full-time for almost six years. Even though podcasting is a growing medium it still has a lot of growing to do. Getting listeners involved is a struggle at times. They'd rather be readers than listeners. The tide is slowly changing, though, which is a good thing.

I folded the podcasts into my brand, as I said. So I try to promote all of it together and anytime I can talk about either podcast I will. It is about promoting to new listeners and fans of the author you're interviewing. The goal is to capture their attention so they'll go back and listen to the old episodes and subscribe to the new ones each week.

Arm Cast Podcast has a new episode every Friday morning about 9am EST and Arm N Toof Podcast is every Wednesday about 9am EST. It is fun because many people will start sending messages if they're posted up late.

There are a few resources out there but I like to keep it simple. I use simple programs like Audacity and LAME as well as Pamela to capture the interview off of Skype. That's really it for programs. I've upgraded my headphones and mic, but that's about it.

Fiona -
It is a tradition that our guests here at ThrillWriting tell us the story behind their favorite scar. (Barring scar then your favorite harrowing story). Would you indulge us?

Armand - 
I have a small scar on my left thumb. Very faint unless you really look at it, but I notice it often. My brother is about 18 months younger than me, and we'd fight like cats and dogs. Really beat each other up. He once kicked me in the back of the head and messed up my bottom teeth. I've broken his arm and given him a few concussions. But this scar was from a fight we had over an argument about playing football in the street. He pushed me over a fence and there was a small strip of barbed wire still on it. Ripped my thumb up really bad. I passed out because I do that when I see blood. I guess I was about twelve years old. It might've even been the reason I started reading Dean Koontz books because we were punished all the time, and I was stuck in my parent's room with all of my mother's books.

Fiona - 
Thank you.

And now I give you the opportunity to touch on anything that you hoped I would ask you about, but didn't know enough to ask.

Armand -
Obviously you missed the burning question: why are you so damn sexy? Frankly, it's a curse. All of these genetic perfections came together in one person. It's almost not fair. Or you could've asked me about my preference: plain or peanut. The answer: Both

Fiona -

You have a new book out! Dying Days 6 

Continuing the Dying Days zombie series!

Darlene Bobich, the Zombie Killer, is on a mission to save her family. Can she succeed, even as more obstacles are thrown in her way: survivors bent on their own selfish needs, evolving zombies and the rotting world around her? 

Dying Days are truly upon us.

Fiona -  
Big thanks for stopping by!

Folks, if you want to get in touch with Armand -
his WEB SITE, his FACEBOOK page, his twitter handle is @ArmandAuthor. 


As always, a big thank you ThrillWriters and readers for stopping by. Thank you, too, for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you 

helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

Violence 101 and the Monkey Dance: Information for Writers with Rory Miller

Welcome, Rory! Let's start by telling us about your violent background and why you have the expertise to break the concept of violence down for writers.

Rory -

I'd been a martial artist since 1981, starting in judo when I was seventeen, and dabbling in anything I could find. At 21 I got a security job in a casino and after the first big fight - rolling around under a roulette table - I realized it wasn't anything like sparring. 

The first job that came through was with the Sheriff's Office working the Corrections division. For the next 17 years, (1991-2008) I was in jail. Working close custody, booking, mental health. Booking, especially got a lot of action. The arrestees were newly arrested, usually mad, often still high, sometimes not very well searched and when the cuffs come off there are two uniformed but unarmed corrections deputies right there. We all got pretty good at talking and de-escalation, but no matter how good you were, there were still fights. Housing was calmer, but the officer was dealing with 16-190 (alone for numbers up to 75, we had two officers watching the 190) people who mostly considered violence a perfectly legitimate way to solve problems. 

It was direct supervision, so you were in the modules with the inmates. That's the basic job. When we initially formed the CERT (Corrections Emergency Response Team) 

Fiona (Please note, I am a member of CERT - Community Emergency Response Team - If you've read my articles that include information about CERT, I do NOT do what Rory did - you couldn't pay me enough.)

Rory continues -  CERT transitioned over the next decade from a mostly unarmed riot control and cell extraction team to a full hostage rescue team. In 2002 (weird, normally I don't remember dates at all and the years are popping up this morning) I had a rough year. First body recovery with Search and Rescue. I blew a hole in someone with what was supposed to be a "less-lethal" shotgun round. Suicide of a friend. Knee surgery. Other stuff. My usually support system wasn't working. I'd go train MA and people would be fantasizing about things I wished I didn't experience. I started writing to get it out of my head. My first book was Meditations on Violence.

In 2008, I got a phone call asking if I was interested in a contract with ICITAP (International Criminal Investigative Training and Assistance Program) administered by the Department of Justice. Basically, if I wanted to join the team training the Iraqi Corrections Service. So I spent a year in Iraq seeing an even crazier bureaucracy, but I learned a lot. 

I kept writing, I wrote Force Decisions and outlined Facing Violence in Iraq. When I got home, I really didn't want to work for a bureaucracy again, so I started teaching seminars and writing. VAWG started as an on-line class for writers. Somewhere very early in my Corrections career, I started to really have trouble with fiction. If most entertainment is on some level about sex and violence, I found most authors (I read SF mostly growing up) sounded like they had never been in a fight and only had actual sex with a partner once. I agreed to do the online class for purely selfish reasons-- I want more fiction I like.

Fiona - 
In your experience, males and females fight differently. You talk about this in your book Violence for Writers. Can you help us to understand what you've observed over your decades of being in conflict situations? 

Rory - 
There's a lot of background that we need first because we don't have good language for this. And when we get to the gender stuff, there are the caveats. Some of it is biological, but some of it is very specific to our place and time. 

The first division I think is critical is social versus asocial. 

In social violence, your character (or the aggressor or whoever) is thinking of the other person as a person. 

In asocial violence, the other person is not a person. To a drowning person, if you are foolish enough to try to swim out and calm the drowner down, they will not see you as a person but as a potential floatation device. No matter how skilled your words, the sweetest, nicest person will climb on your head and drown you in their search for air. 

In social violence we fight, with asocial violence we hunt. The mindsets, skills and everything about the act of violence is completely different between fighting and hunting. But in our language, we try to group everything under fighting.

Social violence is about communication. When we are fighting, it is a form of communication. You are establishing status, or territory, or enforcing a rule.

This is where it starts crossing with the gender stuff. Never having been a woman, I'm not an expert on that, but I'm going to hit this a little from the trainer and the criminal point of view. We talked about drowners. That kind of scared-animal dynamic can come from other things, like bad drug reactions (fighting someone on PCP is quite an education) or emotional reactions. 

There two types of asocial are what I call resource and process. The resource predator wants something from you. Usually money for drugs today. But go back a few hundred years and that might have been food or money for food. And when you need to feed your kids, you don't take chances. Overwhelming force with maximum surprise. If you get hurt you can't feed your kids (or your addiction) tomorrow. The attacker does everything in his or her power to make sure the victim never gets a chance to fight back, so there is no fight. 

The process predator enjoys the act of violence. It's not about stuff, so you can't buy him off. He is seeing you as a toy, something to be played with and he can do to you whatever a seven-year-old boy can do to his sister's dolls.

So, gendering. Men and women approach social and asocial violence differently and they have different biological things going on as well as very different socialization.

Humans are a pretty broad spectrum of stimulus/response, so this will be a huge generalization; but, generally, men and women have very different adrenaline (that's shorthand for a bunch of hormones and neurotransmitters). If there is a threatening stimulus most men get a big spike of adrenaline immediately that tapers off quickly. Most women have a slow build up of adrenaline that never peaks as high, plateaus for a time and tapers off slowly. 

Experientially (and I write this from the guy's point of view), when I'm having a big argument with my wife, the subject comes up and I get mad, and she's being reasonable. My assumption is that she's being reasonable just to piss me off. I get madder and finally take a walk to cool off. I come back about 10-20 minutes later, realizing she was right all along, I need to apologize and about the time I start to say, "Honey, I'm so sorry..." I walk into a shit storm of fury and she can stay mad for hours. Maybe years. Breaking it down, she wasn't pretending to be reasonable to piss me off. She was being reasonable because the adrenaline hadn't hit her yet. Adrenaline was making me stupid (no one is smart when they are afraid or angry). When I calmed down, the coincides really well with where she hits her peak adrenaline. 

I got exposed to this idea from Tobi Beck's The Armored Rose

The Armored Rose is primarily a book about the difference between men and women when they meet a physical confrontation. The book focuses on the physical differences between tendons, hands, body ratio as well as the chemical differences in the endocrine system and how it effects the reactions both he and she have on the fighting field . . .The book has been used by the US Marshal’s service and the Australian Federal Police Academy for training officers for physical confrontations. 

I used this imformation in planning cell extractions (when you have to forcibly remove a combative inmate from a cell) with great success. It's also one of the reasons I liked working with female officers-- when I was too jacked up on adrenaline to think clearly, they could still think, plan, communicate, and use fine motor skills. 

It also explained something I'd seen in both martial arts and with officers. Frequently about 20 minutes after their first sparring session (and sometimes for years) women would have a tendency to tear up. Not quite crying, but something going on. We'd wonder about repressed memory and all that bullshit (those do exist but it wasn't the problem) it was just the adrenaline hitting after the effect. Guys eye's moisten too, but since the adrenaline tends to happen during the encounter, we don't tend to notice it. The adrenaline delay can be a superpower, especially if the woman can control the pace of the encounter.

Men and women in our culture are socialized to violence very differently. I think this is changing, but especially in my generation, fist fighting was just part of growing up a boy, roughhousing was "boys will be boys". By the time a man had reached adulthood, he not only had some experience with violence, but most of that experience was fun. And most women either had no experience or only the experience of being punished (spanked) as a child.
Most of Hollywood and the writerly community confuse fighting with violence.

Fiona - 
You coined a term called the "monkey dance." I recently had an experience where my husband and I had a huge misunderstanding. What he saw was me doing a monkey dance, and he stepped forward to end it like a good friend would. (I'll get you to explain that in your response.) However, I don't monkey dance. I wasn't posturing. Some stranger sexually touched my 15-year-old daughter, (Hubby didn't see it, I did) and I wasn't playing around I had a clear agenda. 

 Would you please explain monkey dances and males v. females. 

Rory - 
The Monkey Dance is ritualized male-on-male dominance fighting: 
     "What are you looking at?" 
     "Who the fuck is asking?" 
     "Oh you think you're bad?" 
     "Bad enough, mother fucker." 

• The body language, the approach, the physical contact can be a two-handed push, a finger poke to the chest, knocking a hat off... 
• The two handed push can be answered with the same and that can go on for a few reps, and then the big looping punch. 
• It's a pattern. It's predictable. Even highly trained people do it when they get triggered. 
• It is archetypal fighting, and it is incredibly inefficient. Designed not to hurt anyone seriously.

Women seem to be doing something similar more and more, but it is really hard to tell with things like youtube videos whether something is actually happening more, or just trending. A video with a million shares doesn't mean the event happened a million times.

When it gets to the fighting part, men and women are very different. Guys, generally, have internalized a bunch of rules on fighting. Women, generally, have only been taught not to fight and when that threshold is crossed they have no rules. Ask almost any cop or bouncer whether they would rather have a force incident with a man or woman and almost all of them are more afraid of women. Guys punch and wrestle, women gouge and bite and don't stop.

Fiona - 
A little more from my story. I wasn't interested in fighting the guy I was confronting. My goal was to cause a commotion to get a security guard involved so the pedifile could be arrested. I was making a scene - a BIG scene to get the professional help I needed. I'm sure it looked exactly like a monkey dance to my husband. But I had no intention of my "calling him out" turning into a fight. 

Would you list the basic stages of the monkey dance and what males do to save their friend.

Rory - 
1) Hard stare 
2) Verbal challenge 
3) Approach and posturing 
4) Contact 
5) Punch

Both males play, and they can stay in stages 2-3 for quite some time. The ideal result is for friends to pull them apart. It gives them both a face-saving exit without injury.

But this is not what a professional would do - You for example would never monkey dance.

Fiona -
Agreed.

Rory -
Monkey Dancing-- all fighting, really-- is incredibly stupid. It is inefficient. It is designed as communication. As a rule, pros go hands-on to stop something or to make something happen. If the person can be persuaded, there is no need to go hands on and if the person can't be persuaded, half-measures increase the risk of injury to everyone involved. 

The monkey dance is all about proving who is the bigger monkey. Professionals do get triggered sometimes, their egos do get involved, but the good ones eventually get over the need to prove themselves. If I'm not trying to prove myself and not trying to send a message, I don't have to follow the steps. If someone wants to monkey dance with me:

• I have the positional option-- I can leave. 
• I have the verbal option-- saying almost anything that's not on the monkey dance script defuses it. 
• I can apologize, ask a thoughtful question, almost anything.

Physical will only happen if I'm being paid. If I have to put someone in cuffs explosive movement anywhere in steps 1-4 will confuse and freeze him. 

The other difference between social and asocial is that the social violence patterns are scripted, which both means that they are predictable and departing from the script induces a freeze while the person in his or her social brain tries to catch up.

Fiona -
I find all of that such fabulous fodder for our plots. Thank you Rory. 

Rory Miller's book  Violence, a Writers Guide is one I quote from in my talks and encourage writers of all genres to read.

This book has a lot of information for writers that will help get into the heads of the characters and figure out how each individual character will apply their OODA loops (read about that HERE) 

I HIGHLY recommend that you read this book before you write violence into your plot.

This is Rory's BLOG.

A big thank you to Rory Miller for sharing his information.

As always, a big thank you ThrillWriters and readers for stopping by. Thank you, too, for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you 

helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

Now Your Character Can Play James Bond. Gadgets with Heather Weidner

Today, I am hosting Heather Weidner. Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby Doo and Nancy Drew. She is President of the Sisters in Crime, Central Virginia Chapter where I recently spoke on the subject of Violence in Writing. Heather’s short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series. Today, she's talking about gadgets that give your protagonist a little James Bond swagger.

Fiona - 

Gadgets! Fun! How did you get interested in the subject?

Heather - 
My sleuth in Secret Lives and Private Eyes is a thirty-something private investigator who has a knack for getting herself in and out of humorous situations, and she often uses what she has handy when she’s on a case. 

Here are some real gadgets that might just be useful. I’m wondering how many Fiona Quinn has.

Fiona - 

(I'll never tell.) 

Heather - 

Tile - is a tag that you can add to things to track where they are. If you’re within a certain radius, you can ring the tile locate it. You can also use the Internet to see the last place you had the item. 

This Camera Pen lets you capture video and audio discretely. You can also use it as an ink pen. 

Spy-Tronix has a variety of home and business-use hidden cameras. My favorites are the electrical box or the fake book with the hidden camera. 

If you’re worried about hidden cameras, this detector will allow you to sweep an area for wireless cameras and eavesdropping devices. 

Identity Stronghold sells RFID blocking wallets to prevent electronic pick-pocketing. 

Here is a sunscreen flask, for those who need a hidden secondary container on a sunny day. 

This aluminum Coke can has a hidden safe for your valuables. Just be careful not to recycle your treasures by accident. 

Pocket Stashes provide you with keyring options for hiding cash, change, or a lighter. 

There are lots of tactical purse options for those who carry concealed weapons. There are also quite a lot of coat, jacket, and vest choices for those who don’t want a purse. 

Pepper spray comes in a variety of sizes and styles. This is a model disguised as lipstick.

This one’s not available yet. It’s just a concept, but I did use the idea in a story. It’s called Undercover Colors. Users can put a finger with this nail polish in their glass to detect the presence of a date rape drug.

And don’t forget your smartphone. In addition to the communications and camera options, there are lots of apps for emergency air horns, compasses, flashlights, and GPS. And most have a way to track them if they’re missing. (Go to this blog article to read more about that)

Fiona - 

Very fun, Heather! I am a total gadget girl. I love this kind of stuff. Hey, can you take a second to tell us about your new book?
Heather - 
Secret Lives and Private Eyes

Secret Lives and Private Eyes is a fast-paced mystery that will appeal to readers who like a strong, female private investigator. 

Business has been slow for PI, Delanie Fitzgerald, but her luck seems to change when a tell-all author hires her to find rock star, Johnny Velvet. Could the singer whose life was purportedly cut short in a fiery car crash still be alive? And as if sifting through dead ends in a cold case isn’t bad enough, Chaz Wellington Smith, III, a loud-mouthed strip club owner, hires Delanie to uncover information on the mayor’s secret life. When the mayor is murdered, Chaz is the key suspect. Now Delanie must clear his name and figure out the connection between the two cases before another murder – probably her own – takes place.

Fiona - 
Visit Heather on her website

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Goodreads.

As always, a big thank you ThrillWriters and readers for stopping by. Thank you, too, for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you 
helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

Pivoting 180 and Looking Backwards: Writing Historical Fiction

Today, we are visiting with the wonderful Monte Dutton. If you missed his earlier article on writing sports themes in your plot go HERE. Now we're going to pivot 180 degrees and look backwards in time.

Fiona - 
So Monte, I've read your books that have a sports theme perhaps riff is better word. I was surprised to know that your newest manuscript is a step in a different direct. How did this new story call to you? Is it a complete change of genre?

Monte - 
Let's see. Let me try to remember how Cowboys Come Home came about. I'm a fan of Larry McMurtry. One of my favorites of his novels is Leaving Cheyenne, which is a 20th-century western. Cowboys Come Home has little to do with it, though it's set not too far away. I came up with the idea of writing the adventures of a couple war heroes returning to Texas after World War II. I'm fond of "closing of a man's frontiers" story. 

The story is based in a part of Texas with which I have some similarity. I first started this because I was encouraged to write a western. I first rejected it, but then I happened to take a long driving trip shortly afterwards, and I kind of daydreamed this story. I wrote a few chapters, and the potential publisher wasn't interested. I think it was looking for a more orthodox western. In other words, I think my story lacked sufficient sagebrush and tumbleweed. So I abandoned it, but the story was on my mind, and I put enough pieces of it together in my mind that I went back to it when my current crime novel, Forgive Us Our Trespasses, was going into the editing-proofreading-dickering-back-and-forth stage.

Fiona - 
Have you been to Texas?

Monte -
Yes. Many times. A part of my family settled in central Texas. I have a close friend in the town on which my Janus, Texas, is based. I spent a lot of time in Texas researching a non-fiction book called True to the Roots: Americana Music Revealed. Each year I emcee a town charity event in that town. I traveled to the DFW area for NASCAR races during the two decades I spent writing about auto racing for a living. As a boy, I went to livestock sales, rodeos and horse shows out there. The culture and heritage of Texas is prominent in me, even though I am a South Carolinian.

Fiona - 
And the tug about WWII?

Monte - 
I gradually became a war buff over the years. I majored in history (and political science) in college. I discovered that, no matter how much one reads, it's no substitute for looking at the lay of the land. First, I started going to Civil War battlefields. Lots of them are near NASCAR venues. Then I got curious about the American Revolution. Then I became interested in World War II. I haven't walked those battlefields, but I've done a lot of reading over the past, oh, five years. Cowboys Come Home begins at Peleliu in the Pacific, but the scene moves quickly to post-war Texas, where Ennis Middlebrooks and Harry Byerly come home hoping for peace but things don't work out that way.

Fiona -
I have an undergraduate degree in history degree; but to be honest, the thought of writing a historic fiction is daunting, especially when people from that era are around and someone could say, "Hey Gramps, is this right?" Did you feel brave starting the journey? What were some of your concerns?

Monte - 

I guess the difficulties are both big and little. I spent a lot of time as a boy talking with my father's uncle, who was stationed in the Pacific during the war. Imagination is involved, too. The book has a lot to do with the relief of war's sacrifice, both at home and among the soldiers (the major characters were Marines). There's an element of post-war corruption and profiteering. The folks back home are tired of rationing and repression. The soldiers are tired of military discipline. A certain desire to go wild hangs in the air. A lot of this involves me trying to put myself in their places. The little things are so much easier to research with the Internet at my disposal. I look up the various models of cars, the brands of beer popular and available, the history of roads and when a dam was built. The real town adapted in the story had a large training camp during the war, and I put some effort into what really went on. The corruption involved in parceling out that land is a major catalyst to the story. I'm not trying to conform with real history, but I'm trying to make a story that is plausible.

Fiona - 
What surprised you the most about the process of researching your book. And what road maps can you give other writers?

Monte -
This is my second trip back in time. My second novel, The Intangibles, was set in the South during the turbulent sixties. Though I wasn't as old as the characters there, I was alive and had many memories to draw upon. This is a greater leap. 

• I'd start out trying to gain a broad overview of the time. For instance, in the past few years, I've read biographies of FDR, Churchill, and MacArthur. They're not characters in my novel, but their stories gave me a feel for life in that time. 
• The next stage is to apply and envision the mood of the time. I have to feel like I know the characters so that I can have a firm grasp of what each would do in the pertinent circumstances.
• Study the language of the time. 
• Try to talk the way people talked. Watch old movies. Use words like "swell" and "scram" and cliches of the time. 

I just got my first one-star review of Forgive Us Our Trespasses. The reason was that the reader didn't like the foul language. I got it from overhearing the kids of today and monitoring their social media and the like. I don't feel comfortable trying to censor and tone down. I doubt many will quibble with the language of Cowboys Come Home. These characters are harsh in other ways. They don't waste time on their Twitter feeds. They waste time drinking liquor and chasing women. They brought home both the audacity and the fatalism of war. Live life to the fullest, for tomorrow may be your last!

Fiona - 
You mentioned physically visiting places - that's huge. I am a big proponent of experiential research. What are some resources that you've used and can recommend?

Monte - 
I'm a photographic person. To write this, I needed to know what it's like to sit on a horse and chat with your buddy while pondering the sunset. I needed to know what the banks of the Red River looked like. I needed to know what it was like to live in a house with a party line. I needed to look up the harsh weather conditions of the 1946 Cotton Bowl, which was played in ice and snow to a scoreless tie between LSU and Arkansas. I needed to know what high school cheerleaders wore in 1946. You can't recreate what it was like in 1946, but you can imagine by visiting places that haven't changed all that much. The Fort Worth Stockyards. An old Texas town with buildings that have been around since that time. An old school building, preserved for history. A lot of these experiences were just stored away and, what do you know? A need for them arose.

Fiona -
Can you talk about your genre change?

Monte - 

I feel as if, as a novelist, I'm flitting about, moving from one genre to another. Part of it is to find a niche. Another is that I'm not suited by nature to stay in one compartment. Writing a novel is both damned hard and damned rewarding. To do it effectively, which is my goal, I have to be absolutely in love with my story and characters. I love my characters. Writing about Riley Mansfield, the pot smoking songwriter of The Audacity of Dope, was fun. So were Chance Benford, the converted football coach of Crazy of Natural Causes, and Denny Frawley, the murderous politician of Forgive Us Our Trespassess. I get tired of all of them, though, by the time the tale is told. My curiosity takes me to something else. Ennis and Harry aren't much like anyone I've written about previously. I've really enjoyed getting to know them.

You can stay in touch with Monte through his
Web Page and Twitter.

As always, a big thank you ThrillWriters and readers for stopping by. Thank you, too, for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you 
helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

Can I Pour You a Cup of Tea? Rituals and Your Characters with Miriam Ruff

How do we humanize our characters? How can we make them three dimensional - someone we'd like to know and maybe even hang with? You can give them interesting hobbies, you can give them pets with great personalities . . . Have you considered giving them a ritual? In my writing, I often like to counterbalance volatile and physical with composed and mental.

In my Lynx series, Lexi Sobado's mentor taught her to meditate on phrases as a child. It was a daily ritual. And now here is a quick blip from a scene where she is using that ritual to help her get through a harrowing moment:

    Spyder pulled back on the yoke, easing the corporate jet up through the cloud bank. “John Quincy Adams said, ‘Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.’ I wish you to apply that quote to this moment and tell me your thoughts.”
    I peeked out from under my eyelids. I didn’t want to apply quotations; I simply wanted to survive the next five hours with Spyder piloting this Cessna. He was a competent pilot, but this was a blustery day and the turbulence severe. I was experiencing a big old helping of déjà vu from the last time I had been in a plane. It had crashed…
     “Come. I wish to hear what you have to say,” Spyder prompted.
     I licked the dry stickiness from my lips and tried to think past the drumbeat of my heart. My joints had locked and my muscles braced. I shoved my feet into the floor, pressed my back flat against my seat, and pulled the safety belt so tightly that it denied circulation. “The difficulty I am experiencing right now is fear of dying,” I finally managed; my voice not much above a whisper.

CUFF LYNX

I find it interesting when a character leans on ritual in times of crisis like a good friend. Or perhaps even as a means of forging friendships.

I thought today you all might enjoy meeting my friend Miriam

Ruff. Miriam is a ritual tea drinker. So let's explore that a little, see how she talks about her ritual; how her ritual appeals to all of the senses; how she uses it in her life. I find this intriguing in terms of character development. I'll be interested to hear in the comments section what your take away from this interview was and also if you have rituals in your life and/or use them in your writing.

Fiona - 
Welcome, Miriam. I'm wondering how you found your way to loving tea and the ceremonial way that you prepare it.

Miriam -
I really don't remember when I started avidly drinking tea - I know I was very young, six or seven I think. At that time most of what I liked about tea was the taste and the calm feeling it gave me.

It wasn't until I was grown and had the opportunity to drink "quality" tea - loose leaf tea from a specialty tea preparer or tea importer that I began to understand that there was more to tea than just taste.

I was in my thirties, I guess, when I began switching over to only imported teas and making a ritual of the process. There was care in the boiling of the water, the smell of the tea in the tin before it was brewed, the aroma as it was brewing, the "mouthfeel" as I sipped slowly, and the final enjoyment of the cup (a very large one, naturally). I began to read more about tea, ask questions, and was finally driven to my current favorite importer by a letter to the editor in the Washington Post. I cold-called the guy and got great information. Now I try to pass all that along - pay it forward, so to speak.

Fiona - 
Can you take us through your ritual step by step?

Miriam - 

1. Select the tea. First, whether I feel like black, green, oolong, or white, and second, which type of the category I've chosen appeals to me most at that time.
2. Put the kettle on to boil the water.
3. Place my tea of choice into a filter bag (my pot doesn't have its own infuser), measuring it out more by art than by science. It's generally considered best if you use one teaspoon for each person and then "one for the pot," but I adjust according to how fast I know the tea will brew. A bolder, larger leaf will take much longer to brew than a small leaf because of surface area.
4. I watch the kettle. Only black teas should be steeped with boiling water. You wouldn't believe how many people I've run into who say they hate green tea because it's so bitter. The problem is that they've been using boiling water, which pulls out all the bitter in a green tea, which is an un-oxidized tea. You should use about 195 degrees for a green tea, between 180-190 for an oolong, depending on if it's a black or a green oolong, and about 175 for a white tea. You can get a tea thermometer to test the water. I just have a sense of it now, so I don't bother.
5. Don't follow the instructions that say steep 3-5 minutes - way too strong!! I first waft the steam from the pot by my nose to get a hint of the aroma, which is also an indication of how much it's steeped. I start tasting a small amount at about one minute then every 30 seconds after that until it's done.
6. I should mention that I set aside a period every day to do this and make sure I'm not checking e-mails, looking at my phone, etc. Tea is a meditation, and it should be treated as such.
7. Then I set aside a half hour or so to drink a couple of cups, first rolling the brew around my tongue to taste it fully, then just enjoying the tea with my mind clear.

The tea in its triple-foil-lined package (a Darjeeling GFOP) and the accessories needed to make it.

Putting the filter with the tea into the pot to prepare for brewing.

Pouring the water over the tea in the pot to allow to brew. Water should always be poured OVER tea - tea should never be added to hot water or it won't steep properly.

There is an option for people who only want a small amount of tea at a time. I have a "tea duckie" that's good for infusing a single cup at a time. It has an infuser basket at the bottom that you fill with tea leaves. Then you pour the water over the duckie in the cup and let it steep until it's done. If people are interested in getting them, they can contact me on social media for information. 


Fiona -
You have a scientific background, I can see bits of that as you describe the art of creating a beautiful cup of tea.

Do you feel that balance, aesthetics and science in your preparation? Is that part of the appeal?

Miriam - 
I like to think of tea as the mixture of science with art to create a beautiful environment.

Yes, it is definitely part of the appeal. At first, I did everything by the book. Then I assessed where that didn't work and determined how to change those things. Now, especially when I'm introducing someone new to "good tea," I tell them the science of it but make sure to let them appreciate the aesthetics. When done properly, they're completely hooked by the experience, and I feel rewarded.

Fiona -
If I was writing you as a character, what kinds of thoughts would you engage in as you sip your cup? Are you being mindful and meditative? Do you allow your mind to free-roam and give you new ideas? Do you really really struggle to keep from checking your e-mail?

And thank you for introducing me to good tea.

Miriam - 
You're very welcome.

I really try to be mindful and meditative, but I find I do great thinking when I let my mind wander where it wants to go. I let the experience of relaxing with the tea fuel my thoughts and my creativity. I get really, really annoyed if the phone rings or if someone comes to the door, and I'm very good about not checking my mail while this is going on. I find I'm much more productive after a tea session than before.

Fiona -
How frequently is this a private ritual and when might you share this special time with others, or do you? How does that change things?

Miriam -
I make this my private ritual every day, but I do have times when I invite friends over for tea. I walk them through the process if they're not familiar with it, and if they already are, we try to steer the conversation toward positive things, thereby reinforcing that tea is a positive ritual. I even make tea when I'm tutoring for my students, so they can learn something new and share my appreciation. I find it is an excellent method of helping us communicate more easily.

Fiona - 
Do you feel a kinship if someone says they are a tea drinker? Do you then question them and put them on a tea drinking hierarchy -- for example I was drinking Yogi tea before you "fixed" me. Did you feel I was rehabilitatable? Do you just prefer to move on to other topics if people tell you they drink Lipton sweeeeeeeeet tea?

Miriam - 
Yes, I do feel a kinship, and I love to swap tea stories with people who already know about how to brew and drink good tea. And, yes, I'll admit I do put people in a sort of hierarchy. Funny story: I was at my boyfriend's a couple of weeks ago, and one of his roommates was reaching for the Lipton bag. "Hold on!" I told him, "we're about to make some real tea." Turns out he loves tea and really appreciated the good stuff when it came out. Now I do this routinely for the house.

And, yes, it's very gratifying to see my students pick up tea drinking habits. It's a lesson you can't learn from books, only from experience, and it's part of the way I show them that you can learn in many different ways.

Fiona -
After the tea ritual is over how do you feel and for how long does this feeling last? And piggybacking on that thought, what would disturb this feeling and how would that make you feel?

Miriam - 
It usually sets me up for several hours, and I may continue to drink small amounts of tea throughout the day to help boost the feeling. It's a tactile reminder of the meditative state. 

I get angry when something intrudes on my tea time, whether it's by myself or with other people. It's so important to my mental and emotional well-being to have that quality time, that I'm upset when it's disturbed. If that happens, though, I do try to repeat the process later in the day.

Fiona - 
Now we know how to agitate our tea drinking heroine.

Miriam -  
Yep.

Disturbing any meditative or ritualistic process is agitating, I'd say. The sense of fulfillment comes from the completion of the ritual.

Fiona - 
Do you find that rituals permeate your life? Do you have systems that help to maintain inner quietude like - like a certain place you put your keys and a certain way you hang your clothes? If yes: did the tea ceremony help create the idea of ritual or did your natural rituals (read as habits) bring you to the tea table? So which came first the chicken or the egg?

Miriam -
Yes, I have a lot of rituals, and that's both good and bad. Too many rituals, and rituals that disturb a normal life, are unhealthy. People with OCD, for example, have ritualized behaviors that can be quite detrimental. However, rituals of studying and working were what got me through college successfully and with an Honors degree. I believe my tea ceremony came out of my natural sense of a need for order (kind of like why I'm drawn to science), which was then combined with my need for something that would bring about emotional well-being. It is also something that allows me to be artistic, too, and in a way that fosters my writing.

Fiona - 
Have you found similar personalities in those whom you've met that are ritualistic tea drinkers (meditative practioners)? If yes, can you name some, knowing this is a generalization and not a precise categorization?

Miriam - 
I have met similar personalities, and I find that it's a common ground that allows us to get along well together right from the start. One of my mother's old friends from college is a tea drinker, and I often go to her house for afternoon tea. The brewing (which she leaves to me), the pouring, the refilling of the cups has become a joint pleasure. A lot of the people I know, though, are from the importing companies where I get my tea, so I can't say that I really "know" them, and we don't do tea except for discussions about certain cultivars while I'm ordering.

I've found, though, that some of my friends and students whom I've introduced to the practice are eager to repeat the ritual when we get together, and I even made tea the centerpiece of my friend's parrot's birthday party, although the bird abstained.

Fiona - 
Too funny. How could we learn more about tea and ritual?

Miriam -
I've actually written an e-book on brewing and drinking the perfect cup of tea, that will hopefully allow others to partake of the same pleasure that I have. It's called "Tea-sing Your Taste Buds," and its available in the Products section of my website: www.bumbershootwriting.com.

The guide has a lot of resources for people who want to follow up on where to buy tea, how to choose it, etc. I'm also absolutely willing to talk with anyone interested in discussing the topic. They can just e-mail me, and I guarantee I'll respond.

Fiona - 
At Thrillwriting we traditionally ask about your favorite scar.

Miriam - 
Define scar.

Fiona - 
It's for you to define.

Miriam - 
I'd have to say disappointment, probably, that some of the people I've introduced to tea have drunk it and said, "That's nice." Ouch, that hurt. It's like a writer being told their story is "fine." Fine. What does that mean other than you couldn't care less one way or the other?

Fiona - 
What have you written recently?

Miriam - 

I have a couple of stories that came out recently. "Shades of Black" is the most recent one, and it's a little bit different from most of the pieces I write in that it's a contemporary psychological horror story - I tend to prefer science fiction and related genres. I also have another story called "Inmish Taka" that will be coming out once the cover art is completed, and it's set in the same universe as "The Coup," which is also on my website

Fiona - 
How can we stay in touch?

Miriam - 
I'm on Facebook at facebook.com/bumbershootwriting and Twitter at @ruffmiriam.

Bumbershoot, Inc.
A full-service writing and editing company.
Thank you so much for visiting and sharing Miriam.

As always, a big thank you ThrillWriters and readers for stopping by. Thank you, too, for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

How Can Military OODA LOOPS Help Your Readers Understand Your Character?

Writing (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When I'm editing for clients, I often find myself putting in the comments: Help me follow this by using an O.O.D.A. loop. For those of you unfamiliar with this concept, let me explain.

The term O.O.D.A. loop was coined in the 1950’s by Colonel John Boyd. Colonel Boyd was an F-86 pilot and commander of a fighter group toward the end the Korean War, trying to train fighter pilots to be more effective. 


O.O.D.A. stands for:

Observe 
Orient 
Decide 
Act


I'm going to show you his diagram of an OODA loop, but please don't get overwhelmed. It's a great diagram that you might want to scroll back up and look at after you read the article - or just look at the second simplified graphic and call it a day.


Okay, first I'm going to overwhelm you:

Full diagram originally drawn by John Boyd for his briefings on military strategy, fighter pilot strategy, etc (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Let's look at that in terms of plot rather than in terms of shooting people out of the sky - 

• OBSERVE - you write what is happening around the character.
• unfolding circumstances
• unfolding interaction with environment
• outside information
• ORIENT - This is the most important step in the concept. Here you must consider aspects of the character that would shape how they observe a situation. If you have several characters in a scene, each will have their own way of perceiving and thus deciding and acting. If you have a group, the orientation is the place where the conflict lies. No two people will ever have the same orientation. See? Important.
• genetic heritage 
• cultural tradition
• previous experiences
• education
• gender
• mental health (and so forth)
• DECIDE - 
• this is either a cognizant decision OR it can be reflexive. (The baby is falling the mom's hand shoots out, and she's caught the baby in the blink of an eye.) 
• this is the time to walk the reader through the thought process - how did they decide to A over B? 
• Was it a hard decision? 
• What stood in their way? 
• What was their most important tool in making that decision? Morality? Greed? Survival?  
• ACT

Why is it called a loop? Once the character has cycled through these four steps, then the environment is changed. Their actions have changed things, and they and their fellow characters will be moving through the loop again and again and again.

Here it is simplified:

Wow - that seems incredibly simple. BUT now fill in the blanks
What about that scene would your character observe - what would catch your characters attention amidst what they are doing. Example: a robbery suspect-

• An artist might remark of his facial features. His brow is furrowed. It looks like he's in pain. He probably needs money for a fix. Gives him her money.
• A physical therapist might take in his gait. He has a limp. He can't chase her. She runs.
• A soldier might be watching the guy's hands. He's not touching his shirt. He probably doesn't have a weapon. Dives in to tackle him.

How did your character align themselves with the information, what did they cognate?

What did they decide to do about it? Think hard - what in their life experience, age, cultural, temperament, current health, current relationships, and so forth, might impact this moment?

Humans go through this loop thousands of times in a day. If you lay them out in your writing, the progression makes more sense to the reader. 

Example:
Barbara went on a date last night with the guy whom she thinks is THE guy.

Barbara is called to reception at work. There is a bouquet of beautiful flowers waiting for her there. She smiles. She feels excited and happy. She beams as she walks back to her cubicle, grinning and blushing, accepting the comments from her colleagues about how lovely the flowers are. Yup this could be THE guy, and he obviously feels the magic too. She gets to her desk and puts the flowers down, picks out the card and sits, giving the envelop a kiss before opening it. Ruh roh! It's not from the guy she thought it was from. It's from some creeper who just won't leave her alone, and the card says. "You looked beautiful last night." She grabs the flowers and throws them in her trash.

She has a new observation. It changes her orientation. She makes a different decision. Which leads to a very different action.

If you are practicing show-don't-tell, then putting your characters into situations that show your reader walking through this loop, especially explaining their orientation (back story), you will help your readers to understand your characters so much better. 

I hope you found this article helpful.

As always, a big thank you ThrillWriters and readers for stopping by. Thank you, too, for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

An Alpha Male Character in Retirement: Info for Writers with Retired Chief of Police, Scott Silverii

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You have the perfect-for-your-plot character planned for your WIP. It's an alpha male in retirement. Maybe a soldier. Perhaps a cop, or fireman, or any other career that attracts a certain kind of "I'll stand against evil/bad things" type of guy.

I'm talking about males here. Yes, there are alpha women - you can find lots of articles about them on my blog - just check the archives. But today, I'm going to focus alpha males in retirement.

To this end, I am visiting with ThrillWriting friend, Scott Silverii. No, he would never call himself an alpha-male. He's an extremely humble guy and that might feel like bragging to him, so I'm going to call him that, and I do have a graduate psych degree, and he does meet all of the qualifications. So you can trust me here, I picked the right guy for this interview.

Fiona - 

Scott, today, we're talking about alpha males in retirement.

Scott -
Sure - from an outsider's perspective - Ready.

Fiona-

(See? Humble. Note that for your character - this is a quality I see in good-guy alpha males. And I guess, I should have included that in the article descriptors. If you're writing a bad guy alpha - braggadocio and megalomania would replace humble.)

Scott, I know several writers who are working on plots that include protagonists who have retired from jobs that are high adrenaline and also have a hierarchical structure in place -- the police, the military. And now these men have retired from that line of work.

Scott -
It's funny, but now that I've retired from that life, I notice so many more books with "retired" protags having left an adrenaline-fueled occupation.

Fiona - 

Can you talk about the transition?

Scott - 
I'd once feared leaving law enforcement, but as I began to see the possibilities for a life on the other side, the dread gave way to optimism. I retired in August 2015, and have experienced a bit of stress that was associated with leaving the structure of command and the constant camaraderie with other alphas.

Fiona - 
And adrenaline? - Do you seek that out in other areas? Do they have adrenaline junkie clubs?

Scott - 
Oh goodness, I do and don't miss the adrenaline moments - a total double-edged sword. 

I don't miss the slow build up to a crisis event that culminates with just seconds of action (sometimes terror - Ha!!). I do miss being the go-to guy when the poop hits the fan. I thrived on the stress and potential for danger. Not that I was a risk taker, but I enjoyed removing the risk as much as possible and executing a sound operational plan.

Fiona - 
In your doctoral thesis, you wrote about the sheep dog mentality (for more about sheep dogs go to THIS TW blog article. For more about Scott's thesis and book go to THIS TW blog article) where the alphas -- or sheep dogs-- think of themselves as "other" In your experience with friends and colleagues, does this continue after you leave the job? If yes, how does one cope? If no, how does one integrate?

Scott - 
The Sheepdog mentality is something that I've been able to witness from a distance. While it's vital for cops and 1st responders to have a winning mindset and also understand that often times society doesn't fully understand how difficult it is to remain in the social margin, I also think it's counterproductive for law enforcement to adopt a separatist ethos. 

I mean, I see young officers' not even in the basic academy yet who are posting and getting tatted about being the protector and about civilian sheep. they've not even investigated a garden hose theft yet, and already they've assumed this us versus them ideology - it too is a double - edge sword.

How to reintegrate? Working with writers has been my anchor back to society. I meet and work with people who are just as intense and willing to take risk as I am - most just don't carry the weapons. Sharing my experiences and knowledge of over nearly 26 years also helps me to ease into the "white picket fence" life. 

I'm not 100% percent cozy yet, but I believe that once you've had your eyes ripped wide open to life's realities, they can never filly rest or blink at what goes on around you

Fiona - 
I'm thinking about soldiers now - I've read many of them wishing they were back in the fight, not for the fights sake but to support their fellow soldiers. They feel like when they are out being civilians they have left the burden to someone else. Is this something you've seen in the police world as well? Some guilt?

Scott - 
Good point. It's a form of Survivor's Guilt. You see the cops shot and attacked across this country and you hurt. I mean crying tears of sadness and guilt about "leaving" them on the street. 

As a Chief and Commander in various divisions since 1992, I've always carried the burden of concern and guilt for everyone. I still stare at every traffic stop I pass, just in case the officer needs help. Yes, the bonds of this fraternity don't stop when the pay check stops, but I fully understand that it's no longer my job, but protecting others will always be my duty.

Fiona - 

How often do you see things happen and feel compelled into reflexive action and then think, wow - that's not my responsibility anymore? And the follow up question - what could you see that would make you jump in and at what level would you jump in? A phone call? A take down?

Scott - 
Funniest examples are traffic violations. I was never a traffic cop, but now that I'm in a personal vehicle, I see all the reckless things people do and they continue doing them because they don't see a police unit. It's like I'm a ghost who gets to see the reality of life. If I saw a drunk driver, I'd make a 911 and follow from safe distance. If someone was injured I'd stop to render aid. If I saw a cop in a struggle, I'd flash my badge and join them in any situation. I'd also, always defend the innocent. Thankfully, I'm still commissioned as a retired officer and authorized to carry.

It wasn't the uniform that drove me to help others.

Fiona - 
I'm not going to ask you about your own personal EDC, (it's dangerous to let others know what you carry, folks, just like it's dangerous to announce you're going out of town on social media). But what are you aware of others carrying as part of their stay-safe strategy after years of being exposed to the worst? Do they have go-bags in their trunks?

Scott - 
Honestly, some still use the old stash the pistol in their wife's purse method. I know its crazy, but it's true. Retirement is about minimizing the clutter of life. That also includes your gear. Cops wear it strapped around their waist for the life of their career. I think most go back to the basics. A commission card / badge, weapon / magazines and handcuffs.

Emergency preparation once retired is more about reacting to your families needs. The tools to get you and them out of a fix. First aid kit, tools described above - not for enforcing the law, but protecting self and others.

Scott and his wife, Liliana Hart, together they make SilverHart.
I can't imagine that Liliana would let Scott
 slip a gun into her purse. Just sayin'

Fiona - 
Wait - they stash their gun in the wife's purse? She has to carry that weight and responsibility????

Scott - 
Ha! You've never heard about that?

Fiona -
Pshhh - Carry your own gun - I have my own stuff to carry.

So, this gives a whole new insight to the guy standing outside the dressing room while his wife tries on clothes. He wasn't being helpful - he just didn't want his gun to be out of sight.

Scott - 
True! But many a rookie has their wife carry in her purse. And the rookies also have more negligent discharges in bathrooms than on the firing range.

Fiona - 
Ha! Noted.

Why are you guys playing with your guns in the bathrooms?

Shhh. I don't really want to know.

You mentioned at the beginning of this interview that you've been reading a lot of plots that include retired alpha males. What are the things that make you scoff and say - that's not what happens! And conversely what has a writer gotten right about the nuances of an alpha in retirement that you thought, huh, that's pretty insightful.

Scott - 
One thing that's incorrect is that a retired alpha has the same access to resources as while they were active. The reality is that policing is an all or nothing fraternity. Once you leave, they may like you and hang out, but it's very clear you're no longer one of "them"

Fiona - 
That must hurt.

Scott - 

Yes, it does a bit, but you come to understand and expect it. If cops are honest, they/we had the same attitude while on the job when others left it.

What I see getting it right is the culture of the retired alpha - often solitude, inability or unwillingness to fit into the mainstream. But I love that despite it all, the retired book alpha still has a burning heart for service and a kick ass skill set

Fiona - 
Yes, I love that.

Scott -
Me too - can't beat experience

Fiona - 
So the alpha male retired. He's out of the fraternity. He doesn't fit in with society per se, describe a normal retirement day that might lead to an interesting plot line (just to put you on the spot) what would a retired military/police see that the normal public wouldn't and would they feel compelled to follow the bread crumbs or would they say f-this it's on someone else's shoulders. Not to group everyone into the same corner -- just maybe triggers that he had to act on.

Scott - The New Normal - It's funny, but after you've been in charge of others for you entire adult life, you still have the calling to command. So your kids become your Unit. That in and of itself is a story line. They refer to drill sergeants and have learned about pressure point control tactics, and even how to properly hold a knife in a fight. I can see the 12 year old in her cafeteria with the blade protected.

So the retired alpha plot involves the need to supervise and keep the new Unit safe. While we're at the movies or getting gas, the alpha's head is ALWAYS on a swivel. I see drug deals that are obvious to me because I worked undercover for 12 years. We don't voluntarily go into bad areas, but I witnessed two outside of a gym - probably steroids because they looked young, red and puffy - Ahhh - youth.

Unless it was something about to go down at my home, like a person casing the place with multiple pass-bys or bogus door knocks, I wouldn't get too jazzed up. the biggie is watching who interacts with our kids - mostly what adults are in their spheres of influence and why are they there.

Fiona -

Here's where I punt - What should I have asked you? What did you want writers to know about? 

p.s. Scott is a writer, too. Check out some of his titles:

Scott- 

I'd like writers to know that most of you do an amazing job getting it right. 

The truth is, they are under no obligation to "document" the police or military as a researcher or reporter. Yet, I've found no other documentor of the professions that take as much care to capture not only the procedures, but the nuances of alphas. I don't tell war stories, but because I love and respect the care writers give to their own stories and the people they reflect in their work, I'm always happy to share.

Fiona - 
Scott, you have a program to help writers write this kind of thing right. Can you tell me about your SWAT Academy? What can writers try on their own - whose brains can they pick. . .

Scott -
Thanks - in addition to the always accessible SilverHart Writers website featuring experts from police, fire, forensics, military and law, we're hosting the SWAT Academy in October 2016. 

The Suspense Writers Adventure Training (SWAT) is a writer's fantasy camp where they'll get to live the alpha-life they create. 

Drive high-speed police cruisers, raid drug dens, and become part of a SWAT tactical unit that searches for the fugitive, shoot weapons on the range, work actual crime scenes, and much more - also we have learning labs in between the field activities featuring the best in their fields to teach authors what to do with the awesome experiences they have. 

The best part is everyone actually lives, eats and trains on an actual law enforcement special operations complex. Even the instructors live on site. It's the only event like it in the world, and it's open for registration.

Fiona - 
How awesome is that? Very fun!

So here's some contact information:
FACEBOOK

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