Tag: Fiction
Mysterious Encounter: The Dark Abyss by L. M. Montes (Part I)
The flat landscape lay empty. My night vision goggles guided me through the black of night while I ran for my life. The only sound penetrating the silence was my own puffs of breath. My lungs burned with the inhalation of air and adrenaline combination. The fleeting flash of a shadow slid by in my periphery on the right then another on the left.
I stopped and swept the terrain in front of me then to the rear, but there was no movement. Then I cocked my head and crinkled my brows when the ground in front of me moved. I was standing still, so this shouldn’t have happened. It led down now into a dark abyss. I couldn’t see into the depths below, even with my night vision goggles donned. I turned around, facing behind me again, ran two steps, and skidded to a sliding skid then tumbled down a steep slope. Not thinking to check the rest of the ground me, I assumed the rest was flat. Now, I fell on my butt, skidding downward. I pushed backwards with my hands and feet, but all that did was delay the inevitable. I rolled onto my stomach, scrambling upward. In that moment four dark figures with spikes protruding from the circumference of their heads stood at the mouth of the hole.
Anger heated my insides, and I jammed my fist into the dirt. The result drove it in six inches, so I used the indentation as a hand-hold, stopping my fall. I repeated same action with my left boot. Now, as I stood, pasting myself to the side of the slope, I gazed up again at the rim of the hole. But the four dark figures were gone.
A light high in the sky moved toward me, gaining in strength. I tore off my night vision goggles and continued staring at it. Its source came into view. It was a bright, glowing orb. It stopped above the hole, sunk lower in the sky as though staring at me, then it lifted back into the atmosphere, and shot away.
The ground beneath me lifted, becoming flat once more. The quiet air around me was deafening. I sat up, donned the night vision goggles again, and swiveled my head in all directions but saw no one. I tore off the goggles and stood, breathing hard and heart pounding. Then a pinch in my left side snapped my hand up, covering where I felt it. I leaned to the left, staggered a couple steps, and slumped to my knees. Something slick and sticky oozed. Dizziness played with my vision. I peered down, and a dark liquid covered my hand. Something hard slammed into my back. I hit the ground face down. Then someone struck the side of my head and darkness took over.
To be continued
Story Tension
The Veil of Time
Tora Jasper arrives home in East Tawas, Michigan after a long drive from Norfolk, Virginia. Doing so reminds her of the tragedy that befell her parents a year ago, so she doesn’t want to stay too long. She wants to finish with her parents’ affairs and get back to Virginia. However, her friend and fate have different plans for her, so she stays…. for now. But, while going through her parents’ belongings, she uncovers a discovery that turns her world upside down.
In the meantime, she meets Kyle Stevens and John Cummings and discovers her connection to them goes beyond the here and now. Through them she soon discovers more clues that lead not only to more secrets about her family and herself but also to a whole other world and a quest to go with it. The journey won’t be easy. Her adversary, the Black Mamba, is there at every turn threatening her whole existence. It isn’t just him but the darkness he represents. She finds a calm in the darkness, and it scares her.
Will Kyle help her stay in the light and be the protector he claims to be, or will she succumb to the darkness? After all, he has his own secrets. At first, it goes well, but when Tora, Kyle, and John hit a snag, something goes very wrong. Soon they are in a race against time.
The Cross’s Key
The fate of Kyle Stevens hangs in the balance after blacking out in the Cave of Treasures and waking up to find himself in another realm and an historical event playing out in front of him. The horror brings him to his knees. Then an elusive and long forgotten relic from his past presents itself again, reminding him of unfinished business. Just when he thought life couldn’t get worse, memories he didn’t know he had, surface, along with a life or death quest he must undertake.
But the evil angel, Lord Ladonnis, has another plan for Kyle, one that could cost him his soul.
Kyle loves his teaching career and his life the way it is, but the more he ignores the quest, the closer Lord Ladonnis gets and the more his past and present collide.
Time Series
Out Now
For those of you who have seen and read my short stories I posted on this blog in the past, as you know, I deleted them off of here so I could put them all together into a collection and publish them. Well…..I published my collection of short stories. They came available on Amazon today February 9, 2024. The link is below.
However, I slightly changed some of the stories that had been on this blog. Plus, I added new short stories never published on this sight. I hope you check them out. Have fun reading.
This collection of short stories holds a mixture of fantasy, mystery, and intrigue, so dive into some mind-gripping strangeness that will leave you scratching your head and wondering. Find out what happens when you are never happy with what you have in The Moving Room. Be careful, you just might find out you’re someone else in Time’s Illusion. Have you ever seen eyes in a pool, and they’re following you? You will in Lights of Fantasy. Sometimes treasures are meant to stay hidden in Time’s Wind. Jump into these and other fantastical stories. Your fate awaits you.
Story Starters Part II
On July 15, 2020 I posted an article entitled Story Starters. In that article I talked mostly about the What If statement, and many examples were given. One example mentioned was: what if you stumble upon your parents who aren’t your parents but they look like them? In this article I would like to give you a variation of the What If statement.
Maybe the What If statements aren’t the way you come up with story ideas. That’s ok. We’re all different. Here’s another way you can do that without using the What If.
| Setting | Character | Action | Disaster |
| A Farm | Jeff (the owner) | He’s milking the cow | He receives word that his brother died. He has no brother… |
| A high school classroom | The teacher | She is teach a math class | She is arrested. |
| A park | Mr. John’s and his dog | He is walking his dog | A random woman accuses him of breaking into her house. |
You can see by reading the above examples, there’s much you can do with these general statements. The sky is the limit. But my point here is that the table above (and maybe you’d rather not use a table) is just one way of organizing your thoughts. The way each idea is stated is done in such a way that you can mix and match them. Instead of the teacher being arrested, Mr. John’s could get arrested in the park as he’s walking his dog. You see how this way is more versatile?
Feel free to use any and all ideas I present on this blog. Happy writing. Have fun.
Writing Advice and Pointers
There are those individuals out there who charge for the information they give out on writing. You know, pay a fee and you can get writing pointers and tips on how to write a book, etc… That’s all well and good if that is what they want to do. They have every right to do that. However, I don’t believe in doing that unless I am publishing a book on the subject. That is the only way I will charge for the writing tips and information I give out. LOL, I don’t want to write a book about that. I enjoy what I do here on this blog. My published books are fiction for the most part. I have a book of poems published as well.
That being said, if you have any questions at all about anything having to do with writing fiction, please ask me.
So…You Want to Write a Book
You want to write a book, but you don’t know where to start. First of all, the whole process from beginning to end will take a while. I’m not saying that to scare you away. I’m just being realistic. The upside to this is you will finish if you stick to it. Do not back down. Take a break, yes, but don’t get discouraged. The ideas and creativity will come and go. Jesus is my inspiration. Without Him my efforts are meh.
All that being said, what do you do first? Well, there are some things one must think about and decide on before sitting down at the computer to write. Those things come in the form of questions to answer first and/or things to think about. You will find them below.
- Do you want to write fiction or nonfiction?
- In what genre do you want to write? If you want to write fantasy, what type of fantasy? High/epic fantasy? Low fantasy? Magical realism? Sword and sorcery? Dark fantasy? Fables? Fairy tales? Superhero fiction? Be specific. If you want to write a romance, there are quite a few of those, too. I just decided to pick on fantasy at the moment.
- Who is your reader? Young adult? Children? Older adults? Adults?
- Why are you writing the book?
- Learn the three act structure of a book (fiction).
- Get to know your characters.
- Ask yourself ‘what if’ questions. This will help you with creating your story and give you something to build it around.
- Decide on the best time of day to write and write everyday.
- Explore ideas.
- Loosen up your writing and relax.
As you can see from this list, there is much to think about. Relax, take your time with it, and about all…have fun.
Other Words for ‘Walk’
There are times in our writing a story when we want to use another word for walk, especially if we want to depict a certain way the character is walking. If the character is angry, we don’t want them to walk away. Instead we might want them to walk away angry, but what words can we use to depict the action and at the same time convey the emotion the character is feeling. Simple, don’t use the word ‘walk’. Use something else. You will find a list of other words for walk along with the emotions they represent.
Angrily
stomp
tramp
careen
stalk
flounder
skulk
Relaxed/Sadness
stroll
saunter
amble
wander
meander
ramble
traipse
dally
Excited
skip
prance
with quick steps
trot
hasten
Confidence
parade
sashay
swank
flounce
stride
stalk
Story Strengthening
If you are a writer, whether you write fiction or nonfiction, learn about what adds strength to your writing. There is a difference between what strengthens your writing, the do’s and don’ts (which are finite), and what works for you (writing methods that work for you and are comfortable for you). Strengthening your writing means drawing your reader into your story, essay, research, etc., and keeping them there. You don’t want your readers to be half with you. I’ll pick on fictional writing here. See the list below.
DO’s/DON’TS:
- Create strong characters your readers can relate to (see numbers 11 and 12 below for more details).
- Be direct. By this I mean use action verbs not adverbs (see my posts from April 12, 2023 Adverbs and Your Writing, and from April 19, 2023 The Opposite Side of Adverb Usage for more information on this subject).
- Use the three act structure for fictional stories. Story Structure–Demystified by Larry Brooks will help you learn where to put in your story what you write. Trust me…you want to read this book.
- Be relevant. This means to make sure that what you put into your scenes has something to do with your story. There is nothing more boring than reading a book and being bored because what you’re reading has nothing to do with the story. Readers can figure out real quick when there’s information in a scene that doesn’t need to be there.
- Edit, edit, edit. Edit your book/story first, then give it to an editor to do the rest. Trust me, too many mistakes will cause the reader to put the book/story down, not finish it, and/or give you a bad review.
- Ensure your story has conflict. Conflict ensures the turning of pages.
- Setting. The one thing you don’t want your readers to do is ask, “Where are they”, or “What do the surroundings look like”. Be sure to include where the story is taking place and describe it. You want your readers to ‘see’ where the story is taking place.
- Don’t be predictable. Add some twists and turns, you know…unexpected story surprises. Have fun with this.
- Learn how to write dialogue. Yes, this can be messed up if not done correctly.
- Use of clichés. Don’t use them.
- Unrealistic characters. Creating credible characters who’s motives, actions, and backstories is important if you want your readers to relate to them.
- Unlikable characters. Your protagonists must be likable, and if they aren’t completely likeable, then they should be relatable. Create some kind of commonality through emotions or use of humanity. Here again, it’s about connecting your characters to your readers, so your readers will care about what happens to them (characters),whether it is the protagonist or villain.
Of course there are more, but this is a good ‘meat and potatoes’ list. Learn as you go.
WRITE TIME AND AGAIN 