Gone Fishin'

Currently taking a break from TaleBait to work on other projects. Keep your lines tight.

A Morsel from Open Water

The "whatevers" were getting to me. I was seeing the child who adored me slowly turn into a teenager. I couldn't stop the process, but how could I keep my sanity? I began wearing my i-pod everywhere, retreating to the back-yard porch swing to read to the dog when my son came home from school, and then slowly shrugging my shoulders when he asked me what time dinner would be ready.

Some days he'd bounce on the old trampoline a few times before heading in the house to find his cellphone or blast Metallica, but most days he looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. Who reads to a dog?
Read the rest of this tale in Open Water
Reading to the Dog
by Texasrangersfan

Guidance for The Send Off

Stage I - Set up: Kaddy, an aging musician, sees a newspaper photo of his friend's [Tom's] death at a posh north Dallas wedding gig. He recalls their relationship in college.
Turning Point 1 - Opportunity. Add your installment now. 


Target ending: Kaddy, an aging musician, exorcises a deep guilt from his past when faced with the death of an old nemesis.

A Postmortem on Shards

As we approach the wrap up on Shards, Angler TomFrodo  wants to know what you were thinking as Marissa’s adventures in Shards evolved. Here are his questions:

What do you think the real goals were for the competing factions—Russian Mafia, Indian factor, and the CIA? How did the competition between the Indian and Russian counterfeiting rings lead to the conflict that involved Marissa?

Was there a reason why no one picked up on the Chinese element? Why was Dimitry targeting a Chinese economics expert and what would a reaction by the Chinese mean for Marissa?

Did anyone see Dimitry as having another bigger goal? TomFrodo planned for Dimitry to contaminate counterfeit money at a G-28 meeting where the world’s leaders would be stricken. With the money system in chaos, Dimitry would call in Blackraul to maintain order. That’s one way Dimitry could have thought on a larger scale. Did you have another idea?

No one picked up on the contracting firm Blackraul. Did the you dislike the use of a contracting villain? Would you have preferred using Blackraul in a different way?

Please add your comments.

Plot Practicum

Let’s learn more about plot development while we exercise our creativity. To give our stories more structure, I’ll provide guidance in “Skipper Says” based on Michael Hauge’s “Six Stage Plot Structure.” Hauge writes screenplays, but his method seems adaptable to tales on Hooks & Storylines. Here’s an overview of the plot plan:



 http://www.screenplaymastery.com/



Follow the trail of Shards

Stage I - Set up: Marissa returns home to find her apartment in shambles.
Turning Point #1 - James is injured in an encounter with the unknown intruder.
Stage II - New Situation: Marissa is wanted for murdering a Chinese Counsel.
Turning Point #2 - Change of Plans: Marissa walks back into her old life of espionage.
Stage III - Progress: The body count adds up.
Turning Point #3 - Point of No Return: Marissa is on her way to Mumbai to face Dmitri.
Stage IV - Complications & Higher Stakes: The action is building.
Turning Point #4 - Marissa is captured by Petrov and must work with him to defeat Dmitry.
Stage V - Final Push: Marissa connects with an old friend, Haroon.
Turning Point #5 - Climax: The body count rises.
Stage VI - write the aftermath now.

Target ending:  Marissa, an ex-CIA agent, gets revenge on Dmitry, the Russian Mafia leader who killed her former partner.