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Old Geeky Greeks: Write Stories with Ancient Techniques

Blood tragedies.  Atonement.  Harry Potter.

I, Robot.  Ironman.  Hubris.

The 13^th Warrior.  The scariest woman in all literature.  The Hobbit.

Dudley Dooright.  5 Stages of the Hero . . . and the Monster.  Jurassic Park, in all its iterations.

What does this oddly-matched list have in common?

All have origins with the ancient Greeks and Romans.

The first writers developed techniques to influence their audiences.  Through an early look at what worked and what didn’t, they laid the foundation for writers today.  Many techniques of these old geeky Greeks are still in use, re-packaged as glittery infographics and Wham-Pow webinars, three-point seminars and exclusive insights to Buy Now!

Old Geeky Greeks: Write Stories with Ancient Techniques presents techniques such as the Blood Tragedy and dulce et utile in a clear, organized method for writers who want to write rather than invest hours getting three snippets of information.

Chapters in OGG cover understanding characters to the five stages that established the modern protagonist from the ancient hero.

Aristotle’s requirements for plot precede a survey of the oldest plot formula, the Blood (or Revenge) Tragedy.

Concepts such as in medias res and dulce et utile can help writers solve sticky problems and develop new ideas.

Old Geeky Greeks (and Romans) tried to understand the writing sense that emerged from the chaos.  They looked at successful plays and other story-telling methods to determine what influenced the audience.

Which characters were still talked about weeks and months after a performance?  Which play structures failed—and which were consistently winners?  Which ideas helped writers develop their celebrated writings?

Writers today are still searching for the answers to these questions.

The bright minds of Classical Antiquity first explored these questions, and their answers are applicable in the age of the internet, open-source software, special effects, and infographics.

Aristotle, Seneca, Plato, Horace, and many other ancient geeks have their ideas matched to Harry Potter, Avatar, Last of the Mohicans, and Shakespeare.

Whether we’re writing novels or plays, blogs or non-fiction, poems and songs, Old Geeky Greeks is a seminar in 28,000 words.

Available here

Christmas with Death, mystery with Isabella and Madoc

Christmas is for miracles, merriment, and murder.

An English country Christmas in 1919 should be a joyful celebration.  Isabella Newcombe, however, discovers only petty sniping and bitterness when she and her friends (Cecilia Arkwright and the brothers Madoc and Gawen Tarrant) are invited to Emberley.

Sir Reginald and the Malvaise family filled the grand house with friends, acquaintances, and business

associates.  With money tight, Isabella and her friends enjoy the rich meals, hot fires, and comfortable rooms.

Yet rumors of affaires and drug addiction as well as accusations of blackmail sour the holiday atmosphere.  And the invitation to the four friends was driven by an avid relish to hear about Cecilia’s upcoming divorce from her gaoled husband and the two deaths at Gawen Tarrant’s archaeological dig in October.

They plan to leave before New Year’s Eve, then Isabella and her fiancé Madoc discover the body of a fellow visitor, shot dead and left lying in an ice-skimmed pond.

With multiple motives and suspects, will Scotland Yard solve the crime before Isabella is the murderer’s next target?  Will an imperfect murder be impossible to solve?

A cozy mystery of 53,000 words, Christmas with Death is the second novel in the Into Death series.  

While it follows Digging into Death, it is not a sequel.  Each novel of the Into Death series is complete and not a cliff-hanger.  Readers, however, will have a richer experience should they read the first two novels in the series, as the primary characters repeat.

Available here