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Michael Loucks stories

PotomacBob ๐Ÿšซ

I'd just like to express appreciation for the way Michael Loucks formats the beginning of each chapter with information I find very useful.
He gives each chapter a title. I like chapter titles because, when I inevitably go to look for some particular part of a story, knowing the chapter title CAN help find what I'm looking for.
He also provides both a date for that chapter and the name of the community where it occurs. All too often, I find myself reading a story and want to know where and when that particular part of the story was occurring, and usually I cannot find it very quickly. Having it at the top of each chapter keeps me from having to look far.

Replies:   CB  Grey Wolf
CB ๐Ÿšซ

@PotomacBob

As a negative, he writes too much. He hogs all the good words and when I try to write I have a hard time finding them. I've found if I wake up at 4am, a few words have tricked back in and I can grab them before he begins his day, sucking the well dry again. Maybe there could be a quota like in crab fishing?

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son ๐Ÿšซ

@CB

ROLTFLMAO

Grey Wolf ๐Ÿšซ

@PotomacBob

Interesting point. I title each chapter, and use dates on each change of day, but while I used locations in the very, very early chapters, the remainder don't, and there are places where it perhaps matters.

Something to think about when revising, perhaps.

Replies:   Paladin_HGWT
Paladin_HGWT ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@Grey Wolf

while I used locations in the very, very early chapters, the remainder don't, and there are places where it perhaps matters.

I admit that I seem to have been unusual compared to my fellow soldiers. Most of my peers would go get drunk on weekends. I would travel to various senic or historic places. I too enjoyed a couple of "adult beverages" to compliment a meal. However, I prefered to remain sober, or at most get a light buzz.

When I read I prefer to know where the story takes place, and to be able to look up in an atlas, map book, or online, where aspects of the story occur. Louis L'Amour often provided maps in his books (On my "Bucket List" is to take a month to tour various locations described in some of his books. I have read that he had been to many places described in his books. That while he woul create fictional towns and ranches, mines, etc., the Geography is real). Louis L'Amour would observe a creek bed, or boulder, or similar terrain feature, and incorporate such into his stories.

So too I have toured battlefields in Europe, or those of the American Civil War, using books, or exerpts of books as a guide. Walking the Battelfield of Gettysburg gave me (and many others) a richer perspective of the battel fought there in 1863.

JRR Tolkein, Ann McAffery, and other fantasy writers have created not just a few maps, but atlases of their richly detailed worlds.

I am not nearly as skilled an author. However, I do include a "Header" of the Location, (local) Time, and Date. Asspects of these locations are important to many of the scenes (or are important to later scenes, and give readers an oportunity to anticipate future events). Time and location, and the actions of your oponents have a significant impact upon battles.

The acme of military skill is to have "Won the Battle Before the first shot is fired!" More often things are not so cut and dried, and combat is required to determine the outcome. Nonetheless, pre-battle actions, and the locations of nearby forces has dramatic impact upon a battle.

Using (most) of my Locations given in a heading, you could find it using Google Maps, or other similar sites. It's not neccesary, but it would provide a further perspective. My stories, even the fictional ones are intended to inform as well as to entertain. It may not be neccesary to know the location of a fictional Joint Special Operations unit, but if you do look at a map of Cannon AFB, you will notice that I have integrated my fictional units with units and locations there in 2018. Also, the flight time down to locations in the Mexican State of Chihuahua may be better understood. So too in my story set during WWII Fort Moultrie, SC, or Utah Beach, and Ste. Marie Eglise, and the movements of the 1st Bn 8th US Infantry are historical, even if the individuals of a particular platoon are fictional.

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