Plot Idea: What if you were dead and didn't know it?

Wouldn't it be weird if your body sort of died - but kept on going?  Your heart stopped beating and your lungs stopped working . . . about a month ago.

But you look the same and feel just fine.  No rigor mortis, pallor, post-mortem stench.  You eat, drink, and hit the bathroom like normal.  And no, you don't crave human flesh.

You only find out you're dead when you go in for your physical.  At first, you scoff as your breaks the news and shows you to instrument readouts. 

Then you justifiably freak out.

But then what?  How is this possible?  And most importantly . . . what are you?

Take the plot idea (with my blessing).  Run with it, if you wish.  If you ever turn it into a story/film/best-selling series, lemme know.  I'd like to see how it ends.



 

Copyright your stuff!

I know.  This seems obvious.

But you shouldn't wait on filling out copyrights on anything (of significance) that you write.  The link to the Library of Congress's copyright website is below:

https://eco.copyright.gov/eService_enu/start.swe?SWECmd=Start&SWEHo=eco.copyright.gov

Last I checked, standard copyright protection's still only a $35.00 hit to your credit card.  Pay attention to the instructions (different media have different sub-types of copyrights). 

And voila!  Some 3 - 7 months later, you'll get a copyright form from the U.S. government.  It's a good feeling to stack 'em up over the years.

This second link should help with any questions you might have: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/

Easy-peazy.

Writer Links

Hope they're of use.


Three Ways Marketing Fiction Differs from Marketing Nonfiction
http://goinswriter.com/fiction-marketing/

Poets Make Words (Contests-Fun-Friends-Prizes)
http://poetsmakewords.com/?page_id=149

Book Marketing 101 From An Author’s POV

http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=ee67504962a9b77099dcde650&id=a7205c9c07

How To Write Great Dialogue
http://writerswrite.co.za/writing-great-dialogue

The 5-Step Mission Statement (An Author Essential)
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2013/08/03/mission-statement/

Get Reviews for Your Self-Published Book
http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/08/get-reviews-for-your-self-published-book/

19 Book Cover Cliches
http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/19-book-cover-clichés

Writing Realistic Injuries
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~leiafee/ramblings/realistic_injuries.htm#intro

Should Fiction Authors Be Bloggers?
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2012/12/should-fiction-authors-be-bloggers/

How Procrastination Cost Me 72,800 Email Subscribers
http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/08/08/how-procrastination-cost-me-72800-email-subscribers/

The value of a decent threat

If there's going to be violence in your tale (whatever the genre), please consider if, when, and how to use threats.  It's common for one character to threaten another before an act of violence.  But sometimes, it's better to make an example of someone . . . then threaten the survivors. 

Either way, it can greatly help your story if you make something special. 

Unique. 

I would even suggest enclosing your threat in a sugar coating.  Making threats short and memorable (like Clint Eastwood's "Go ahead.  Make my day.") might not cut it.

I hope this advice was useful.

The link below is from Kill Bill.  It inspired me to write this post.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3TPmiAnkAs

Staying out of a hermetic "writer's bubble" is a real b*tch.  I want to just sit on my couch and type out page-after-page of the twisted prose.  But if I did that, no one'll ever read/hear my stuff.  Keeping that sad possibility in perspective forces my introverted self to ineract with the outside world . . . most of the time.