The Next Step

By Dennis Lantz

When I was younger I devoured books like dessert. I went to the library weekly and brought home as many as a dozen books each time. Some were quality. But even those featuring substandard work taught me valuable lessons about plot, character development, dialogue, word choice and much more. One minor theme in both of my stories is that we can learn from anyone and anything. We can learn from what someone says or from what they do, just as we can learn from what they do not say or leave undone. I acquired knowledge from good writing as well as poor.

I believe I was a more polished writer when I was younger because I read more, but I was far less disciplined. My mind wandered easily and my efforts displayed the lack of focus. I am relearning this craft with a superior sense of dedication. I have never done much the conventional way, but have always dreamed of bigger and better ideas. Now my dream is to join other notable authors who waited until their fourth or fifth decade of life to publish. Louis L’Amour, James Michener, Richard Adams. Certainly there were others. I will be next.

Now I am preparing to search for a literary agent. Most articles on the topic recommend the author establish an on-line presence so potential agents can catch a glimpse of their writing style and ability. Whether a blog, social media account or personal website, the agent can use this as a resource in their decision to take a more substantial look at what the author has queried. This is a beginning.

The query letter is another elemental part of the process and I am preparing some to send to suitable agents. My new Writer’s Digest Guide to Literary Agents arrived in the mail today and I will be using it as my guide for this process.

So, while these entries are fully intended to entertain, elucidate and benefit my reading friends, they are also a direct message to that one special agent (not the FBI kind) who will soon become part of my life.

I have a wide variety of interests. One of the first lessons I read about starting a blog was to find a niche and stick to it. That sounds boring. I read about one man who writes a dozen separate blogs on an equal number of topics, which isn't boring, but sounds extremely organized. I don’t wish to have a hundred blogs, but I may have that many topics. I could write of woodworking, wine making, board games, gardening, fruit trees, hunting, retail management, country living, politics, writing, primitive outdoor and survival skills, SMART goals, sports, atlatls, archaeology, wild edibles, social and personal development, history and so much more. I am not an expert in these ideas, but I have a deep interest in each of the topics.

Later in the week I will be posting the first chapter of Zander and the Magic Scepter. I have decided against using this as the serial story I mentioned in my first entry because it is already written and wouldn’t pose much of a challenge to post chapter by chapter. By posting the initial chapter I hope to show those potential agents how my writing style differs for fiction. I have an idea for the serial story and will start that with a future blog.

Here is the background on Zander and the Magic Scepter.

A few years ago, I had a hint of a memory that puzzled me. There wasn’t much to it, but it was detailed enough that I thought for certain it was an actual memory and not a dream. I asked many people if they could recall details of this memory, but no one was able to do so. I researched the scant parts I could remember on-line and discovered nothing. 

The question I asked was this: Have you ever heard of or seen a cartoon about a monkey wielding a magic scepter? 

When I was not more than nine or ten, or possibly even younger, I remember watching a cartoon movie whose main character was a monkey who did just that. I was at the Claverack picnic in Wysox (the annual meeting for the electric co-op that we belong to) and they always had a movie or two for the kids so they didn’t get bored with the humdrum of the business. This cartoon was incredibly vivid and well done for the time period… the late 1970’s I guess.

I can recall only a couple of scenes and none of the story. The monkey’s name was Alexander and he became a king or perhaps an emperor because he had a magic scepter. At some point he was swallowed by a dragon and he escaped by beating the scepter against its innards. I vaguely remember a stone city and a companion who was a chimpanzee. Perhaps the city and the companion were from a different movie. I cannot be certain.

As I wrote earlier, I don’t particularly like anthropomorphism. Talking animals are rather unbelievable. Since then I have read George Orwell’s Animal Farm and my views skewed slightly, but not enough to make me wish to write another story like Zander and the Magic Scepter.

I wrote the story for several reasons. The animal characters were included because that is how it was inside my mind. Human characters would have changed it significantly, I believe.
                                             

I started to write this up as a short story. I needed practice writing again, as I hadn’t done any in a long time and my abilities were much diminished. The more I wrote, the better the story became. 

I decided to throw in a bit of my libertarian beliefs just for fun.

As I said, I chose animals because of the cartoon, real or imagined. The scepter was integral to the tale, but I changed the dragon enough to have no worries about infringement. The characters and plot are entirely mine. If anyone remembers the original, please tell me. I continue to believe that it exists, though it would be nothing like what I have written.

The tale immediately became an exercise in non-political correctness. I didn’t want to call the animals by their common names. Instead I describe them in a very stereotypical manner, by their physical characteristics. I did that on purpose. 

Anyway, it may not be Orwell or Hemingway, but it is the first time I have completed something of this length and I am rather proud of that fact.

Let me know what you think of the first chapter.

Until then,

Read, Learn, Live