EValMo Meeting Today

I  received a notice on Twitter this morning that there was to be an author's gathering at the Tempe Library for the followers of the EValMo writer's group. I thought I would go but then decided against it.  Three published authors discussed their experiences with the group who met there this afternoon.

I am not entering the NaNoWriMo event this year since I first began my novel about Alexander the Great in that effort several years ago.  I am still in the process of rewriting not only the first part of the novel but also embarking upon the second part.  However, until I get a good computer with the correct word processing equipment it is foolish for me to continue to spin my thoughts.  So occasionally, just for the heck of it, I use this blog to throw some ideas about.

I even set up a separate blog to try to see if I could use it for the continuation of the novel.  I bandy ideas around so much in my head, and often think it would be good to set them down in writing just so that they refresh my memory.  I forget many things very quickly if I don't put it in writing.  I listened to some old tapes of mine that I used to record when listening to France 2 and surprise!  I remembered stuff that has long been forgotten but is very important to keep in mind about even broadcasting across the sea.

So on occasion, I may decide to write an idea either here or in the second blog about the novel.  Since I read the excerpt from the book that the Nobel prize winner from China wrote, I began to think about how graphic I should be in writing some of the major battle scenes.  I tend to think that too much detail can be overkill yet when it comes to making people want to read the book, one has to have some emotional hook.

One critic suggested that the first sentence is the hook.  I frankly do not place that much emphasis on first sentences myself...But right now,I am not so sure that the birth of a child is the way the first chapter should go after all...I thought of using the time Philip killed one of his young recruits to the army, but that is a gimmick though real that might turn people off more than turn people on. 

I did write that story this past year though and will have to refresh my memory on it.  Philip was a hard, cruel man...which is reminding me of something else that happened recently to me...I had had a vision of him as I had known him when he was a young man, and Alexander was a child...Philip is extraordinarily cruel in ways that are more than frightening.  However, not long after seeing Philip I saw an image of my mom and dad, and noticed my dad in particular...it dawned on me today the relationship between the image of Philip and that of my dad...in both cases, I knew each one instantly...not hard of course, but nobody would believe it about Philip but would easily believe it of my dad...interesting, isn't it, at how people are when reacting to truth...