Charley Taylor:Raconteur

Hi to my visitors

2009-10-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

Welcome to all who have stopped by. Feel free to leave comments. The book is going well.

On the internet,
Charley

Still alive and the book is going great!

2009-04-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who have written wondering where I was. I am great and the book is coming along. I am on a tutorial about copywritng now as I need to borrow a couple of pieces of work to make my story plausible. I am loving this project. Peace to all!

Charley

The book is progressing well

2008-09-25T14:44:00.000-07:00

I have experienced an explosion of ideas and plot twists in the past few days.I may very well have enough material for two books now.The plot board is a great help to laying it out.The changing weather has brought with it alot of fresh ideas.I have been doing alot of research on the world history,music,movies,and books(!) in the year of 1984.This is where the story will begin.It has been fun going back in time and remembering those days and all that was going on in the world.It amazes me how much things have changed in such a short period of time.Even more fun bringing the story alive.Feel free to leave comments.

In Atlanta on the Internet,

Charley Taylor

1000 visitors????

2008-09-18T16:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks for stopping by.Leave comments.

C.T.

A "Shout Out" to Sumter South Carolina....

2008-09-17T16:23:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take a second to wish all my wonderful friends in Sumter South Carolina a warm and pleasant evening.Thank you for breaking away from The Judge Judy show to come visit me.It means so much to me these days....I tell ya, a summer in Atlanta can be so suspenseful sometimes.

In Atlanta on the internet,

Charley Taylor

Plot Board is coming to Life

2008-09-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

Greetings Earth-Creatures,

The book is coming along and my plot board is full, and taking shape.I have learned alot of things in the last few weeks about writing.I have also discovered quite a few other interesting blogs about the in's and out's of writing a novel.All of them have been very helpful.I am into my second reading of Stephen King's ON WRITING.Excellent read.I don't know about other writer's and how they assemble their story, but I know that lately I have researched more than I have spent time on writing.This weekend presented two very good writing sessions for me to put my research to the test in the way of a chapter outline and it amazes me how the story comes alive on the pages.The plot board has found an important place in my work area.Time for a ginger ale.Happy Reading.

A Racoon on Tour,

Charley Taylor

Building Character Resumes

2008-08-24T12:15:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last 2 weeks working on characters and their backgrounds.I am working hard and the story is moving in leaps and bounds.This is different from original approach.I have my story now,but it is up to the characters to bring it to life.

On the internet,

Charley Taylor

Hitting a milestone this week.....

2008-08-10T16:38:00.000-07:00

I have read 2500 books.The number seems so small but when I look at my ledger the pages flow with book titles of all genres.I started keeping a ledger when I turned 21.I just finished Stephen King's "On Writing" which seems appropriate.Mr. King is a big advocate on reading as well as writing.Just guessing I have read 15 other books of his and own a few of them in my personal library.I have a goal to read the entire Stephen King collection before I die and I am off to a good start.

Still working on character build-ups and will be introducing more soon.Enjoyed Birmingham this week.....there are alot of cozy places there for a writer to sit and create.

Back to the books....

Charley Taylor

Introducing The Headmaster

2008-08-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

The protagonist as part of the story will be joining a private school near his new home.The Headmaster of the school is quite a character.Known for being an outspoken man of keen intellect and a staunch defender of the First Amendment,Headmaster Paul will be "the moral lighthouse"for our dark and troubled young protagonist.The Headmaster considers himself quite the poet and has the reputation for reciting his latest work at any given time and place.The faculty and most of the students do admire and respect him but the poems have a tendency to set alot of eyes rolling.Here's one for you to indulge yourself with:

She is a Mere Figment of the Poet's Fancy

Her lips are like a lovely song that ripples as it flows

Her lips are twilight water

Her mouth is as sweet as a ripe fig

Her neck is like a stately tower

Her stockinged feet hold me in wonder

Her sweetness halting like sunny day

Her voice cuts like a knife

Her voice also is rich and vibrant like a cello

And I consider myself a lucky fellow

Please hold all applause until the end of the book..........

For those interested I am using pieces from the book:"Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases" by Greenville Kleiser

In Atlanta on the internet,

Charley Taylor

The Quest for Convincing Characters

2008-08-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

Creating rich,complex,multidimensional characters takes some time.I have my main protagonist,a group of antagonists,and many supporting characters that are going to enrich my story along the way .Some writers argue plot first but I say a story rich with unique characters can make just about any story a great story.I have spent a great amount of time on my characters and their individual quirks and their own seperate philosophies.The main protagonist has been in my head for a number of years but only came alive last year as I was working on another story.This character was the missing link to solving problems that were going to be coming up .He is the kind of person everybody has at one time or another wished they knew or had a friend like him.I call him a" 20th century New-Age Entrepreneur"....and his character is diverse enough that he can become the antagonist in yet another story if it comes along.....My characters are coming alive on the pages and it is very exciting to see them evolve.It is almost as if their lives are running parallel to mine.

One character in particular will have his own story come in print soon following the finish of this book.He will play a nominal role in this story but not hog up the spotlight.I am learning that he can enrich the story without giving away alot to the readers.It will be a very busy story at a a busy pace and each character will play a very important role to the development of the story.I am learning to let the characters grow on their own and not interfere with their development.They each have their own behaviors,core values,and own ways they will interact with each other.

I will be introducing some of the characters soon.For now,I am enjoying watching the characters writing themselves.........

In Atlanta on the internet,

Charley Taylor

Resource List for Chapter Three

2008-07-28T17:41:00.000-07:00

100 Ways to improve Your Writing

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary(will be used in every chapter)

Patents,Copyrights,and Trademarks for Dummies

The Art of Speedreading People

The Philosophy of the Moral Feelings

All I need to know I learned in Kindergarten

Journal of Forensic Sciences September 2007

How to Write Clearly:Rules and Exercises on English Composition

On the Internet,

Charley Taylor

To have a bear by the tail....

2008-07-26T18:20:00.000-07:00

This is a colorful expression that arose in America during the first half of the 19th century....To have a bear by the tail is obviously to be in a very bad situation....kinda like the other night when one of my characters woke me about 2:00 a.m. and asked me to get him a beer......chapter 3 resource notes tommorrow.

On the internet,

Charley Taylor

Developing a new character today....

2008-07-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

He is in the story and today he came very much alive to me and I have been writing at a feverish pace.Don't want to lose any thoughts or rhetoric that may come in his mind today.This character has come out of the shadows and I must say I am enjoying myself immensely!!!!! When a character starts to almost breath air it is a writer's nirvana.......

Writing some great artsy poems,

Charley Taylor

Negative anchoring is some pretty nasty stuff

2008-07-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

In regards to the beginning chapters of my book I am relying on anchoring or more specifically the power of negative anchoring.This comes from NLP or Neuro Linguistic Programming.Anchors are something we humans use everyday.The smell of baking bread may anchor good memories of your childhood summers at your grandparents house,or the smell of beer makes you sick reminding you of the time you had a few too many and vowed never to drink again( at least that brand of beer!)Anyway all ha-ha's aside we use anchors everyday both in a good way and a very negative way.You can develop a method to rid yourself of the negative anchors easy enough but let me impose a idea upon you.
Suppose the negative anchor was fueled by something so very traumatic that by the time the experts tried to help , they were viewed as a potential threat to your existence. The threat is so much that you would eliminate them with extreme prejudice to maintain your ever present existence....sound far-fetched?I don't believe so and my research backs that theory up also.Again,very nasty stuff.

Take yourself back to a place in time where your summer thoughts were getting a raise on your allowance,getting that cool swimsuit you have been eyeing at the store,and will your parents let you hook up the VCR in the gameroom/basement so you can have lots of late night movie parties with friends or by yourself.....remember the thoughts you had and how easily you were influenced by your surroundings and by the adults in your world.Can you remember how strong you felt about certain things or people or philosophies.Remember how you felt about a certain person you had a crush on and you were gonna love them forever plus infinity and you had a certain song.....

Now think 2 weeks or 2 months later when things were over. Maybe a certain new song reminded you of how they hurt or embarrassed you.Maybe you promised to never let it happen again and swore to make changes.Maybe even today you can still feel the way you did back then.That is anchoring....In a very negative way.We do it as adults but we are conditioned at a very young age. Again,fixable without having to call a professional but when you are a kid and you haven't lived much the dynamic can be strongly emphasized into something serious.

This is what our protagonist will be dealing with.Heavy loss and linking it to a song he hears at a very traumatic time in his life.His mentor will take note of this and use it to his advantage to solve some very large problems that he has acquired in the past couple of years.So we will have a Master manipulator who is an expert at the technology of NLP and a willing participant for him to program to his advantage.A young man whose thoughts should be on 10-speeds,Twinkies,and video games,but will be preoccupied with many other distractions and goals to accomplish.

I will be introducing our protagonist soon.........

On the internet,

Charley Taylor

A Riddle for you.....

2008-07-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

What does Anne Murray,Sun-tzu,Ralph Lauren,and Kit Kats all have in common?

I will tell you real soon......

Somewhere in Atlanta on the internet,

Charley Taylor

The Five Strangest Things I have researched so far..

2008-07-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

Authors have to research some of the strangest things for their books and I thought I would list my Top Five.( Be evermindful I have only started on the book)

1.The criteria for joining a private school.

2.The price of a kilo of cocaine in 1987.

3.Bird watcher sites.

4.Changing demographics and the growth of the Sun Belt

5.How to build a silencer

I can only imagine doing this kind of research before the internet came along.......

C.T.

My Flabber has been gasted.....

2008-07-18T14:17:00.000-07:00

Thank you Frankie Howerd,the late British comedian and word strategist......flabbergasted turns up in print for the first time in 1772 in the Annual Register.

Somewhere in Atlanta on the internet,

Charley Taylor

Hi to all my visitors.....

2008-07-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

My counter is starting to fill up and I wanted to welcome all who stop by.Please feel free to comment good or bad.I will be adding more stuff to the blog soon.I will of coarse be going into the story more and introducing characters as the story develops and giving you a full introduction to our protagonist just as soon as the copyrights are in place.I had no clue to the process that goes on behind the scenes in the making of a book. I am enjoying every step of the way and do want to share my adventures here with you all.

Thanks Again,

Charley Taylor

Found a 1st editon of Treasure by Clive Cussler...

2008-07-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

What a great find and a great feeling to run across something so valuable!If you don't read Clive Cussler,try him.My copy has a coffee stain on the front cover and I am still happy.The pages still have that stuck together, never opened and read kind of a feel to them......I feel like I am making history with it....stuck on a cart at a City Hall in the 3 for a dollar section...if these people only knew the major mistake they had made......I grabbed it off the cart,dropped my 35 cents in the slot, ran to my 2- door American-made car, and made a break for it before they realized what they had done-Gosh what a rush!I love this country.......only in America.

Champion Reader,

Charley Taylor

3 more notepads....

2008-07-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

4 pens
2 highlighters
6 non-copy disks(who the hell came up with this idea?)
2 foot stack of research copied off the internet
God only knows how much ginger-ale.......since my last supply usage check

C.T.

Found the technology I was looking for....

2008-07-13T16:04:00.000-07:00

In my last post I wrote about finding some mental technique that would be a catalyst for pain.Something that causes my protaganist to suffer and go into a negative state.Well I didn't have to go very far to find exactly what I was looking for.I wrote about it as "the song remembers when" theory.We can all remember key events in our life but those that are connected musically are the ones that really stand out.A family member dies and a certain song is playing on the radio......you hear the song a few months later and it takes you back to that moment in time....back to the moment and the pain too.Someone you care for tells you they are leaving and their new theme song is a certain song....chances are good that if you hear that song sometime in the future it will effect you in a negative way(or perhaps it makes you breathe a sigh of relief!)This is called negative anchoring.It comes from the technology of NLP.Neuro Linguistic Programming is its full name.Anchoring is one of several techniques that are used in NLP ,and anchoring can be used in a negative fashion also.Some experts consider NLP a controversial approach to therapy.The technology was created by Richard Badler and John Grinder in the 1970's and made very famous in the 1980's by Madman High-Energy Genius Tony Robbins.(love that guy...)So I have a technology that works for my protaganist now and despite some expert opinions I believe it to be a real technology that will get the results needed to drive our protaganist into the dismal state change he must assume when he takes on a new project for his Uncle.I will be taking the voice of an angel and turning her beautiful story style song into the soundtrack of a very focused and disturbed young man......

On the internet listening to an angel,

Charley Taylor

Google secret human experimentations.....

2008-07-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

Thought ya'll might find some interesting webpages to view on this subject.I did not find what I was looking for but it is worth mentioning.I am going to have to invent my own technology to meet the criteria of my story I do believe........based on the "song remembers when" theory.I am going to have to really do some research to make this piece of the story realistic.My protagonist will be traumatized continually at the sound of a certain song being played to the point that it is almost mind control.....such a lovely song to be the catalyst of human suffering.Sounds like a good creative workshop coming on!

Enjoy the raindrops if you are in Atlanta tonight,

Charley Taylor

A Horse is a horse....

2008-07-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

A horse is a horse of course of course, but a horse is not coarse,even when running on the course......(A horse is a horse of course of course, is borrowed from the theme song of The Mister Ed show)....I always get these 2 words mixed up on the spelling......time for some oats....(which are coarse) unless cooked ....

On the internet with too much free time,

Charley Taylor

Found a cool website.....

2008-07-09T14:08:00.000-07:00

Found a great website this afternoon in my research travels. www.bartleby.com "For the intellectually curious".....I like that phrase.Anyway a great place to relax, learn, and save on gas too!!

Charley

Good snacks for the writer......

2008-07-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

I was reading an excellent article about hackers and what kind of food they find nutritionally fortifying.Pop Tarts and Pizza Hut...supreme style.Interesting.....I thought why not write about what I like when I am writing.First off,"the mood defines the food".....when I am a dark area of my writing I do not crave sugar of any kind to eat.When I am researching dessert snacks are my favorite.I refer to the dark areas,(you writers out there know what I am talking about)that is when in a heavy suspense or crime story the writer starts to physically feel the pain the character is going through.Not a great time for a gourmet cupcake.I find that no matter my mood though ginger ale is always the perfect mix.I start writing well after noon time and sometimes into the middle of the night so breakfast foods are not on my list.My favorites are anything gourmet for researching,and while writing I enjoy potato skins,any variety of cheeses,and any variety of nachos and dips.Caffeine is my friend from a.m till 4:00.Anymore after 4:00 finds me in nightmares running from pimps and ducking police sharpshooters.....Ginger ale and kit kats are always in the larder......just a good balanced diet.

Happy Snacking,

Charley Taylor