#and yet i still persist and i will keep posting during the hiatus even if i never get a post over 200 notes

[allyriadayne]

My house strong gifset getting almost 5k notes is crazy because if I had posted it off season it would've gotten 60 notes max

[eugene-not-flynn]

cavalry

word count: 1414

summary: Eugene’s been kidnapped. a short New Dream Rescue!fic. 

Warnings: some elements of Eugene!whump, blood, injury, passing out, kidnapping, being tied to a chair, please let me know if I forgot anything.

A/N: first time writing for the tangled fandom, so of course this is nerve-wracking. But I’m also working on just getting back into the habit of writing after a few weeks of hiatus. So I wrote this fun little thing, mostly as a way to try out new characters and dynamics. Not meant to be Serious Fic. I haven’t read much in this fandom, so I dunno if kidnapped!Eugene is a trope in this fandom, but I think it probably is. If so, posting this in the name of the “two cakes” theory. Hope you all enjoy! Edited (loosely) by yours truly, so all mistakes are mine. 

...

Eugene blinks as he wakes up, squinting against the limited sunlight that filters through the tiny window at the top of the cell. Is it a cell? He’s not sure, though he wouldn’t know what else to call a small room with a single wooden door in front of him, surrounded by stone walls and a hard, unforgiving floor. He takes a breath, wincing slightly as the smell of mold and copper assaults his nostrils.

He should be used to it by now, he figures. How many days has he been here? At least three. Maybe more than that. The sunlight helps with keeping track of time, though he’d been in and out of consciousness a bit too much for Eugene to have any semblance of confidence about the passage of time.

He flexes his grip experimentally against the rope that anchors his wrists to the arms of the chair he’s in. There’s no give. They must have replaced the ropes while he’d been unconscious. Eugene sighs. So much for the slow progress he’d been making on stretching the ropes out.

He hangs his head and immediately regrets it as the room spins slightly. Eugene clenches his eyes shut against the slight roll in his stomach, and it’s not until he tastes something sharp and metallic that he realizes he bit his already-split lip. He spits the blood out to the side as it floods his mouth.

“Okay,” Eugene says slowly, “Plan B, then.”

Except he doesn’t have a plan B. He had been taken at least three days ago. He’d exhausted most of his usual escape routines, and the fact that they kept him tied to the chair, even during their… interrogations… meant that he was limited in his ability to use and manipulate the space around him like he usually did. There was no hiding-and-ambush, no jerry-rigging a lockpick set, and the stone walls and floor meant there was no digging-your-way-out escape either.

He can’t give up, though. The sunlight through the tiny window reminds him of Rapunzel. He wonders if she even knows that he’d been taken yet. He’d been out with the guard patrolling the northern border of their kingdom when he’d been taken in the night. They’d been half-way through a week-long venture. So it would take the guard at least three days to get back to Corona. If the guard hadn’t also been ambushed. And that didn’t even account for the fact that Eugene still didn’t have a clue where he was.

He’d managed to glean from his brief exchanges with the people who came into his cell to knock him around that they weren’t from Corona, and that they didn’t seem to have a personal grudge against Flynn Rider like Eugene had first assumed. With a few smart remarks and carefully placed questions, Eugene had learned that they knew enough about the crown to know who Rapunzel was, and her parents, and had taken Eugene in an effort to force the crown’s hand for… something.

It had been an oddly gratifying feeling for Eugene. Most of the other times he’d been targeted, it had been for Flynn Rider. Now he was wanted for being Eugene. He figures that maybe there was something kind of nice about that. In a morbid sort of way.

Or maybe it was the concussion talking.

A loud crash on the other side of the door startles Eugene out of his thoughts. There’s muffled shouting, doors opening and distant thuds. Eugene thinks maybe another prisoner tried to escape. He doesn’t know who else these people had taken, but he knows that he is not the only one they’re keeping. He’d been hearing the screams for the past three days.

Then a horse whinnies and he shouldn’t because hope like that is dangerous, but Eugene finds himself thinking it anyway. Max?

There’s a heavy thud against his door that rattles it against the hinges. A muffled voice yelling something. A feminine voice. Eugene’s heart lurches towards the sound but he doesn’t dare think the name. Because if it’s not, if it’s not her, Eugene thinks something might break inside of him.

The lock clicks and the door slams open and Eugene squints against the light, trying to make out the silhouette.

“Get them out of here, Atilla!”

For the first time, Eugene is grateful he’s sitting in a chair because he thinks that if he were standing, his knees might’ve given out on him. He’d recognize that voice anywhere. And the silhouette is familiar and of course—of course—she’s holding a frying pan.

“Sunshine,” Eugene greets, his voice sounding weak even to his own ears, “Gosh, it’s good to see you.”

He hears Rapunzel gasp slightly as she rushes into the cell. “Eugene!”

She’s moving faster than Eugene thinks is possible, but the back of his mind mentions the concussion again. He wonders, with a terrifying jolt, if this whole thing is some kind of elaborate hallucination. But then Rapunzel is cupping his face in her hands and the touch is real and solid and achingly gentle.  

Eugene sinks into it a little. He offers what he hopes is a reassuring smile. “Is this where I say you should see the other guy?”

Her green eyes—gosh but Eugene could stare into them forever—flit over his face, her brows pinching together in concern. Eugene thinks perhaps his attempts at a smile may have really looked more like a grimace. Her lips press into a thin line before she swallows.

“Pascal,” she says, who appears on her shoulder. Eugene blinks a few times. Where did he come from? “Think you can undo these ropes?”

“Frog, you’d have my undying gratitude.” Eugene flexes against them and tries not to grimace as the harsh texture rubs against already raw skin.

Pascal rushes down Rapunzel’s arm and inspects the bindings more closely, then shoots a look back to Rapunzel that Eugene cannot decipher. He almost wants to call it apologetic. Rapunzel frowns, but nods once. Eugene sees that spark of determination set into her eyes. She brushes her fingers softly through the strands of his hair that are into Eugene’s face.

“We’re getting you out of here, Eugene. Okay?” Before he can respond, Rapunzel glances over her shoulder and gives a sharp whistle. Maximus appears in the doorway and if a horse could look concerned, Eugene is pretty sure that’s how he’d describe the look on the steed’s face.

Eugene feels a laugh bubble up his chest. “You really brought the whole cavalry, didn’t you, Blondie?”

Rapunzel, evidently, doesn’t find the situation as funny as Eugene does. “Just hang on, Eugene. You’ll be okay.”

Eugene doesn’t really doubt that. Rapunzel is here. A part of him always felt like everything would be okay as long as she was there, with her relentless persistence and optimism.

“Eugene…” There’s a look in Rapunzel’s eyes—wide and soft and something else—that Eugene cannot decipher right now, but it does make him acutely aware that he just said his thoughts aloud.

Max and Pascal work together and manage to quickly undo the ropes around Eugene’s hands and feet. Rapunzel wraps Eugene’s arm around her shoulders and braces a hand carefully against the center of his chest. Eugene does his best to stifle the wince as it sends a sharp burst of pain through him.

“Sorry!” Rapunzel says, always closely attuned to how the people around her react, no matter how small the change.

“It’s okay,” Eugene assures her softly. “Just—ah.” He winces as Rapunzel helps him stand.

He takes a step forward and his knees immediately give out. Rapunzel catches him, and is really the only thing that keeps Eugene from pitching face-first into the floor. The room is tilting and spinning and it occurs to him that he probably won’t be able to walk out of here.

“Max,” Rapunzel says urgently. “Think you can carry Eugene?”

Max huffs a breath in affirmation. Rapunzel helps Eugene swing up into Max’s saddle, and Eugene is proud of himself that he only whimpers a little at the jolt of pain that floods his chest as his ribs are jostled in the process. He instinctively wraps an arm around himself as if he can physically hold his ribcage together.

“Rapunzel—” he grimaces.

“I’m right behind you, Eugene. We’ve got you.”

Eugene sees her soft smile and the determined set to her jaw before his vision tunnels and then goes dark.

[marshmallowgoop]

Goop Plays Kill la Kill the Game: IF (Ryuko Episodes 5-8)

It’s been a while.

Episode 5

Writing about these episodes has been a struggle. I wouldn’t be able to narrow down a single reason for my eight-month hiatus from IF’s story mode, but I can say that it’s difficult to talk about content that is overwhelmingly—and disappointingly—a rehash of scenes I’d already watched before.

Ryuko’s fifth episode especially feels like a game of “spot the difference.” Segments of Satsuki’s story are repeated with astonishingly minor changes, and while this has been an issue with earlier Ryuko episodes (1 and 3), by episode 5, it’s starting to feel very tedious.

I won’t deny that the slight alterations are charming—they very much are! Mako’s contribution to Ryuko and Senketsu’s fight against Nui, for example, is adorable:

Mako: My dad says, “When you’re outnumbered, get more weapons!” An eye for an eye, a blade for a blade!

However, such minimal additions feel like a dishearteningly poor use of the player’s time. If I hadn’t already questioned it before, these chapters really made me question the choice of a two-campaign story mode. 

It’s not that I don’t see the appeal of such a structure; there’s something fun in telling one side of a story and then changing the perception of that story by telling another side of it. Plus, with IF in particular, I think there was a goal—at least to some extent—of confounding players with Satsuki’s ending. I could see Ryuko’s campaign as a means of making the plot more interactive, which is of course fitting for a video game. By not spelling everything out right away, players are encouraged to unravel the mystery and put the pieces together. 

Satsuki: I had a bad dream....

But... there’s just too much overlap for me to feel that the two-campaign structure was the most effective storytelling decision. The choice perhaps makes more sense from a gaming standpoint; it’s easier to focus on one playable character rather than jump around between two. But I don’t know—perhaps it could have been fun to give players a feel for more of this game’s roster all at once. Maybe we could have played as the Elite Four or Ragyo or Nui, too.

Because from a story standpoint? One major letdown of Ryuko’s fifth episode is that actually fighting Nui completely lacks the power that the cutscene in Satsuki’s campaign has.

Sure, that scene certainly doesn’t have the impact of similar moments in the anime (episodes 18 and 21/22), but you can’t really expect it to, and it works well within the context of IF. Ryuko and Senketsu haven’t been through as much together, but Ryuko still keeps her temper under control to prevent a repeat of hurting Senketsu from it again, they burst into battle with “Before my body is dry” playing, and though the animations in the game can be stiff and limited, it’s still sweet. 

Ryuko: Won’t know ‘til I try! So let’s do this!

They sparkle! Their hearts are as one! They’re uniting to take down this threat.

But in Ryuko’s story? You just fight the fight. You miss out on Ryuko shit-talking Nui, you miss out on the song (seriously, was it just the struggling Steam port, or does “Before my body is dry” really not play during the fight?), and most importantly, the emotion I get from the cutscene is largely lost.

Don’t get me wrong—skipping a repetitive scene is appreciated. But at the same time, the omission makes me long for a single story mode. Players could have fought Nui with “Before my body is dry” playing and watched the Satsuki-story cutscene upon victory. That bit of “Satsuki’s” story already focuses so much on Ryuko that in some ways, it honestly feels more “Ryuko” than Ryuko’s story! Why not just have a unified story mode?

Ryuko’s episodes shine when they significantly differ from what players already witnessed in Satsuki’s campaign. The very beginning of episode 5 is charming because seeing Ryuko just wanting to smash things is legitimately amusing.

Ryuko: Oh! So, I just gotta smack ‘em all in the head.

But this could have easily fit into a single story that switched perspectives. And in fact, moving into episode 6...

Episode 6

It’s almost humorous that Satsuki’s story has purposeful omissions to “justify” the existence of Ryuko’s campaign. I am astounded at how Mako literally does not exist in the Satsuki equivalent of Ryuko’s sixth episode:

Seriously, what? This reminds me of Kingdom Hearts jokes about how it’s rude of Disney movies to totally edit out Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

But jokes aside, the Kingdom Hearts comparison actually has some real weight in regards to IF. In Kingdom Hearts, the Disney worlds are—at least, in my opinion—the most fun and engaging when they do more than simply rehash the films they’re based on with Sora, Donald, and Goofy added. In the same way, Ryuko’s campaign in IF is the most fun and engaging when it does more than simply rehash Satsuki’s campaign with Mako added.

And why was Mako even literally edited out of Satsuki’s cutscenes in the first place? It’s really a bigger discussion, but this choice only adds to my frustrations with how Kill la Kill handles Mako’s character. I’ve already written about my beef with the anime in that regard, but IF is even worse. Mako’s so inconsequential to the story (at least thus far) that she can be totally cut out and have absolutely nothing change. For goodness’ sake, she sleeps for a good chunk of her screentime!

Which... is actually an issue I have with the Grand Summoners crossover game, too....

Ryuko: She’s [Mako’s] already asleep!

But in any case, Mako’s presence in the IF story seems to be purely because she’s a popular character. It’s disappointing to me that Kazuki Nakashima couldn’t find more things for her to do.

And it’s sad that she’s literally edited out of Satsuki’s scenes. I really cannot get over that. What the what.

More to the actual content of Ryuko’s sixth episode, the first part is just old hash browns (plus Mako), but the second part is much more intriguing. I find it curious that Senketsu knows right away what the Primordial Life Fiber is, but Ryuko doesn’t. Does he have a connection with it that Ryuko lacks because her Life Fibers haven’t been awoken yet?

Senketsu: That... is what’s known as the Primordial Life Fiber.

Also, same, Mako, same. I also call Nui and Ragyo’s Primordial Life Fiber-y attacks in this game “meatballs.”

Mako: Ooooh! It looks like a big ol’ meatball!

I feel like my previous write-ups on IF already express a lot of what I could say regarding this episode, but I will again reiterate that the character interactions are charming. It’s nice to hear Ryuko laugh (even if in a taunting way), and the Elite Four are absolutely adorable.

Ryuko: Ha! Whatever. I’d like to see you try!

Houka: Oh, my God. Do they have to be so loud? Our enemies can hear us from a mile away.

And since this is a video game and all, in regards to the one fight in episode 6, it’s a bit of a pain; battling multiple enemies doesn’t make for the most enjoyable experience because of the camera and inability to properly lock on to targets. But IF excels in the little details. The dialogue when other characters join you for the fight is as amusing as always. 

There really should be subtitles, though. It’s super poor accessibility.

Episode 6 also briefly questions the nature of the world. Earlier episodes of Ryuko’s campaign had Senketsu—and Nui—note that something felt off about time. Here, Senketsu outright says that time in the Fiber Palace is “seems unstable,” and interestingly, the camera focuses on Ryuko when he wonders if it’s the location or “something else” that’s causing the abnormality.

Senketsu: The flow of time here seems unstable. Is this place causing it to happen...? Or... is something else triggering it....

It’s not in this episode, but given that Ragyo later describes Ryuko as “the singularity,” perhaps she is the one messing up the world.

I think Ryuko sums up my thoughts, though.

Ryuko: I don’t get what’s goin’ on.

Of course, probably the most notable aspect of episode 6 is the ending, and while I could see right through what was happening, I have to admit that Ryuko going at Mako with the Scissor Blades is a stellar finish.

Ryuko: I still gotta get revenge for my dad.

Senketsu: What are you doing, Ryuko?!

Episode 7

However...

Ryuko: Oh, blow it out yer ass... Nui Harime!

I got some issues with this.

For those who have been Kill la Kill-ing for as long as I have, you might remember that there was a flood of Mako-is-Nui theories immediately after the show’s finale. Amusingly, character designer Sushio outright denied the idea in a Tweet, and a Studio Trigger panel at Anime Expo 2014 (6th post from the top) also shot the notion down.

aranbeik: is it [the Mako-is-Nui theory] true????

Sushio: It is no relationship at all

But fake Makos actually ain’t absent from Kill la Kill. In the official Drama CDs that came packaged with Japanese releases of the anime, there are two instances of fake Makos. The first happens in CD 1, where Maiko Ogure impersonates Mako for a huge portion of the runtime. The second happens in CD 4, where—“funnily” enough—Nui herself impersonates Mako after Ryuko has her heart brutally ripped out of her chest by her own mother.

And here’s my issue with IF’s portrayal: in both of these Drama CD cases, Ryuko is fooled. Mako isn’t Mako for tons of the first CD, and Ryuko doesn’t notice. And, in the Nui situation, it’s Senketsu who has to tell her that the “Mako” before them is not actually Mako. Which goes completely counter to what IF does!

It’s not that I’m against Ryuko recognizing a fraud, but her inability to in the Drama CDs lends insight into her character that I find fitting. Ryuko fails to identify the fake Makos in the CDs because Ryuko initially closes her heart off to the girl—something she outright admits in episode 22 (and which the English dub makes particularly prominent).

Ryuko: Yeah, you [Mako] too! You’re like the most persistent chick I ever met! You didn’t care if I pushed you away! You kept coming back and coming back like a yo-yo!

However, after ripping Junketsu from her body, Ryuko becomes far more open, and it’d be really powerful for her to correctly identify a fake Mako then. It’d show how their relationship has grown and become stronger.

In IF, Mako and Ryuko have hardly had the development they undergo in the anime, and further, Ryuko’s explanation for how she knew it was Nui doesn’t make a lick of sense!

Nui-Mako: How’d you know it was me?

Ryuko: Easy! After Mako wakes up, she’s always got drool on her face.

As Ryuko seemed to have already deduced that “Mako” was Nui before even looking at her, how in the world does this work?

Episode 7 has more questionable character writing for Ryuko later on, too. I’ve already written at great lengths about how I find her attitude regarding murder totally OOC, but Nui’s death scene also has such a strange line regarding Ryuko’s feelings towards Satsuki:

Nui: Guess who ordered me to take the Rending Scissors from your daddy! Give up? It was Satsuki!

Ryuko: If she did, she musta had a good reason for it.

As sweet as the sentiment is, and as much as I understand that it’s there to point out how not even Nui can tear apart Ryuko and Satsuki’s bond, it leaves me totally baffled. Satsuki must have had a good reason to issue the order that killed her father, and Ryuko’s chill with that? At this point in the story, the kind of unwavering faith in Satsuki that Ryuko displays here is completely unearned. I could see Ryuko at the end of the anime feeling this way, but IF Ryuko? Not at all! She barely knows Satsuki!

But for all my gripes regarding the storyline, we Kill la Kill fans are starving. (Well, at least I am, anyway.) Even if Ryuko’s words to Nui make no sense, it is something I would have liked the anime to explore more, and the character interactions here are undeniably sweet. I love Ryuko and Senketsu’s banter and how it shows how comfortable and in tune with each other they are. I love Ryuko’s silly dialogue to Satsuki and how Satsuki smiles at it, telling us that even the “ice-cold” Student Council President can’t help but get a bit soft at this dorky shounen protagonist.

Ryuko: I hate family drama. But I said I’d save Satsuki, sooo...

Senketsu: I had a feeling you’d say that.

Ryuko: Looks like you’re having a really shitty day, Satsuki!

The battle that finishes up this episode, with “Blumenkranz” playing in the background and the Elite Four and Satsuki joining the fight with cute dialogue, is a joy, too. There are a lot of little details that I really appreciate.

(I also realized this time around that you can stop Ragyo’s Instant Kill and didn’t get obliterated by Shinra-Kouketsu like I did in Satsuki’s story.) 

Ragyo: Your sins shall be purged along with your pathetic body!

Episode 8

But in regards to the plot of IF, Ryuko’s eighth episode finally starts dropping some more answers. As the ending of Satsuki’s story had implied, the world is outright said here to be her dream, created from Junketsu:

Ragyo: Junketsu took your [Satsuki’s] dreams and made them tangible. That is the distorted world we see now.

However, I still can’t say I get it. When Satsuki wakes up at the end of her story, it’s the start of episode 1 of the anime. She hasn’t come into contact with Junketsu yet, so how has this distorted world even been created in the first place? I guess Life Fibers can just mess with time?

I’m also kinda amused that the world is said to be what Satsuki wants to happen, yet she describes it as a “bad dream” when she wakes up.

But the big “new” information is Ragyo’s assertion that Ryuko is “the singularity”:

Ragyo: I knew it. You were the singularity, Ryuko Matoi.

As Ragyo explains, she could have taken over this fake world (and perhaps merged it with the real one, judging by her comment in Satsuki’s story about how such a world “can even be spun into a single yarn with the Primordial Life Fiber”), but Ryuko got in the way:

Ragyo: Since my Life Fibers are much more powerful than Junketsu’s, I could’ve taken this planet over. Then, I could’ve enslaved humanity and begun the process of turning it... into a Cocoon Sphere. Yes, I could’ve. If it wasn’t for your existence, Ryuko Matoi.

Now, there have been hints that something’s up with Ryuko all throughout IF, but I can’t say I really know what to make of it. Senketsu remarks that Ryuko’s oddly strong in the first episode of her campaign, Ragyo adds to this and suggests that Ryuko’s affecting the Primordial Life Fiber in the same episode, and then, there also seems to be the implication that Ryuko is triggering the weird sense of time in her sixth episode. The final episode of Satsuki’s story seems to feature Ryuko absorbing Life Fibers, too.

It makes sense for Ryuko to affect Satsuki’s dream world, of course; Ryuko has Life Fibers in her, and she’s also the sister whom Satsuki is ultimately fighting for. I’ve seen theories that the Primordial Life Fiber takes on the shape of a baby to represent the baby sister Satsuki thought she’d lost (and at least in the English dub, Ryuko does refer to the baby as a “she,” further connecting the baby to the lost sister); so perhaps, even if Satsuki doesn’t recognize her connection to Ryuko, maybe the Life Fibers do. Ryuko has power in the dream world because, in a lot of ways, Ryuko is Satsuki’s dream. Maybe that’s the reason that Satsuki only gets flashes of scenes between her and Ryuko in the anime when the baby connects with her, too.

Who knows? I can only hope that episodes 9 and 10 will clear this story up.

I’ve obviously got a lot of questions, but I know this is basically the end. I’m not sure how much explanation to expect going forward, and I’m still wondering about things that don’t even necessarily (?) have to do with the dream world, too. Like, whatever was the point of that moment with Ragyo and one of Senketsu’s scraps? And what was bothering Shiro?

Shiro: There’s just one thing that bothers me...

I said in the beginning of this tl;dr report that I couldn’t pinpoint a single reason for my inability to write it for eight months. But maybe part of the reason is that it’s kind of nice to not know the ending. As long as I don’t play it, there’s still some official Kill la Kill content that I haven’t experienced yet, and it could be anything.

But at the same time, I don’t know how much longer I can go without seeing Senketsu-Kisaragi, so.

The thing—i.e., this monstrous essay—that was holding me back from playing through to the end is now complete! And I’m ready to finally finish this game.

Here’s to hoping that the finale is satisfying 🤞

[simplyjaeeex]

So just because I wanted to explain more what the exposing bloggers said about Hendall to really show you all how and why that PR was actually a pretty convincing one I’ll create this post:

So as you all know (unless you are a Haylor stan or just blind) Haylor was always a PR from beginning to end. I mean it was pretty obvious a n y w a y it wasn’t a good PR, at all and well 1Ds team couldn’t let another Haylor-like mishap happen, again. Now as you all know Kris (Kendall’s momager) never, never, misses a chance to further their wealth and relevancy even if it means manipulating her own children’s life. She is a master at it and well honestly I think she’s in a way addicted to it. Kendall was building her relevancy in the modeling world but she still needed more. So what better way then to link her to some super popular pop star 🌟 I mean y’all remember Kendall trying to get it with JB? It was all Kris’ mastermind. That didn’t happen though but that’s a whole other story and honestly idc too much bc JB is happily married to the one person who actually really does love him. Again I’m not getting into that. So who else was a very popular pop star at that time? None other than Mr. Styles, 1D was at it’s peak and it was a match made in PR heaven.

So why did it seem so believable and why was it much more successful than Haylor? Welllllll because they never confirmed it, ever. A huge hugely popular trick used. Anyone fish? Tease them about it and they’ll bite into it and you’ll hook them. That’s exactly what they did. They teased with little details and photos and insider exclusives (which is really code for their management or themselves) also known as sources.

11/2013 - Dinner @ Craig’s

Now let’s start with the location first: Craig’s. Literally that’s the restaurant celebrities go to, to get papped. If you don’t want to be papped on your very secretive date you don’t go to Craig’s. Anyway photos surfaced and boom rumors started and then the denying began, the teasing. A “source” denied and said they were “just friends”, K tweeted that she was single and H denied yet teased about it and hook line and sinker, you bit into it and now they got you.

1/2014 - Ski trip

A ski trip in which a “source” said that they were very couple-y and flirty with one another. Now tell me who could possibly be so close that they would know how they acted with one another? Anyway. Ski trip aside they “break up” the next month bc of conflicting schedules or some bs like that and blah blah blah 🙄

12/2015- The Yatch

Conveniently this “vacation date/reunion of lovers” happened right after K had been hospitalized for exhaustion. (Cough rehab cough) and well H was still dealing with his very much speculating sexuality rumors and the release of the new album amid Zayns departure and the hiatus. Perfect timing for both participants and tada! Dinner and Yatch, both very very common PR stunts. Show me a celebrity couple who hasn’t done a Yatch PR stunt? Or a beach one? It’s like a must do for PRs. Yet again a source came out saying that they have something going on for a while (teasing you yet again and trapping you). No one questioned why K was hospitalized and well H continued to be relevant and clearly not gay.

1/2016

Big sis Koko comes to the call as she teases everyone once again about the potential of Hendall being real. Let’s not forget Ellen who also teased all by saying how sweet they are and how she likes them both together. End of Jan had them both attend Jeff’s party, which they did not arrive or leave together. The Kardashian/Jenners are pretty good friends with the Azoffs so it’s no wonder they would be invited and well Harry as you know is buds with the guy and his stepdad was there as well.

4/2016

Shopping photo arises. No knowledge of where or when. Oddly enough yet it still gets your attention. News outlets legit say “If it’s Harry and Kendall ..” still very much keeping the mystery and teasing you by not confirming but still intriguing you. K was battling rumors of her supposed relationship with Clarkson around that time too coincidentally. Once again a source comes forward stating how much K likes H but aren’t committed bc well he’s your typical rockstar. Pushing the whole Womanizer rockstar image hm? How original.

9/2016

K and Clarkson rumors persist, so K&H are allegedly spotted having dinner. Where a source states how happy and beaming K looked. Allegedly.

4/2017

H teases by saying some of his songs were inspired by a recent relationship. Using the word She, speculations continue and the intrigue is once again there and obviously he’s straight bc he wrote songs about a she.

5/2019

Met Gala: they reunite and are one of the last two to leave. Well obviously, Harry was a host. They were seen leaving minutes apart but not together. They partied at the same after party and left together. K’s manager never rests and neither does H’s.

12/2019

Then we have the Late Late Show and the silly game of eat your guts or spill your guts. In which H refused to answer what songs were about K and in which many said both were very flirty and at ease with one another.

2/2020

The Brits. Pretty hard to not notice either with their very vibrant attires. But alas not much was really taken out of that

Then finally we have the really odd and out of place interaction during COVID-19. K with her rumored beau in a purple car while H rides his motorcycle. Like why? That just made zero sense honestly. Anyway we all know H needed proof that he was in LA well bc all the rumors going around and well K just needed to stay relevant. Still weird af.

So here’s the thing about this PR unlike other PRs, H &’ K actually became really good friends, like genuinely. They get along pretty well. So any stunt made wasn’t unbearable to them as it would have been if they’d been stuck with someone else. They’re comfortable with each other (as friends) making their interactions seem genuine. The LLS was just them being friends, the reason Harry decidedly ate cod sperm (don’t forget the whole to spit or swallow thing) wasn’t because he didn’t want to admit what songs were about K but bc none of the songs are about K. I mean how embarrassing would that be if he actually said that? In the Met Gala it was two friends being friends and having fun. The Yatch PDA was clearly staged and weird, I mean wtf was up with H’s fascination with her feet? Anyway there’s more in between the timelines but most of it were just alleged information given by sources ie: K throwing H a Bday gig or their supposed dinner date in which the source states K was beaming. Again no proof (photo or video) yet a source comes out once again teasing and keeping the mystery of it all keeping you in the edge wondering if it is or isn’t.

And that my lovelies is the reality of Hendall, so go forth with what you want with this. Believe don’t believe, up to you. The proof is out there.

[snowbellewells]

Self-Promo Sunday: “A Private Revolution”

On the eve of Revolution, when it seems his whole world is falling down around him, nobleman Killian Jones is given a wonderful reason to keep fighting for his life...

 { I first began writing this fic more than two years ago, during a summer hiatus event. The prompt was simply “French Revolution”. At the time, I just put together what struck me for a quick one shot, and though it’s short and dubious in its historical accuracy, I have a friend who loved it and kept asking for a sequel. Once I finally posted Part Two, I thought ‘Okay, now I’m really done with this.’ But then @kmomof4 actually made the above fic banner art for it for my birthday in August, and I just couldn’t really ignore the request for after such a lovely gesture! ;)  In honor of her birthday this week, there will be a new addition coming on Tuesday, since a suitable plot idea has at long last taken shape. So, for my Self-Promo Sunday contribution this week, here is the story as it stands so far. Enjoy! }

** Also on AO3: Part One and Part Two and on ff.net **

“A Private Revolution”

Part One

The knock at the door was so soft he almost did not hear it, and Lord Killian Jones tilted his head to listen curiously, unsure if the faint noise had been there at all or if he had imagined someone coming to him in his solitary moment of loneliness and ruin. Yet though the knocking sound was not repeated, he could hear a quiet scuffle as he listened closely, as if someone shy or hesitant to disturb were shuffling their feet just outside his chambers – and with that, the young nobleman felt quiet sure he knew who was waiting for admittance.

“Enter,” he called out, pushing confident assurance into his voice, despite the sensation of everything being unmoored, crumbling, trembling at the brink of downfall. He could not let his fear or his uncertainty show – his family name, his noble line must be upheld, regardless of his own personal doubt. It would not do to have some disloyal servant see him quaking in his shoes and to spread that news to the crass, militant rabble in the streets. Though if this was the person he expected, she would never dream of doing any such thing.

The door swung inward by slight degrees, until a flawless, pale and heart-shaped face was revealed, muted only by the glowing halo of flaxen curls piled out of the way atop this angel’s head, with tendrils escaping here and there to trail along her neck and shoulders enticingly. The huge door, ornate with whorls and loops of hand wrought carving and adding to the opulent white and gold leaf décor of his personal apartments could not hold a candle to this chambermaid with simple and quiet dignity. It had always been so, ever since their childhood on the estate together when they had laughed and played happily, much less aware of the difference in their stations. Her mother had been his mother’s favored ladies’ maid, and Emma Swan had been on this estate in his family’s employ since birth. It mattered little however that she was a mere housekeeper and assistant to the cook; he had always been in awe of her beauty, the way sunlight caught her hair and lit it aflame, or how the sparkling humor in her verdant green eyes could bring a smile and laughter to his lips no matter what had befallen him. He was tempted even now – as he had been countless times before – to touch an escaped curl of her luxurious mane and twirl it around his finger, to know what those soft strands would feel like against his skin.

“Emma,” was all he said aloud, giving a slight nod and beckoning her forward with crooked fingers. “Come in, please.”

She curtsied as she had been taught, and moved forward, graceful tread sinking into the plush carpet. Though he had tried as often as he could for years to convince her that such formality was unnecessary, she persisted for some unfathomable reason that remained beyond his grasp. His mother had been dead nearly a decade now – to the fever – even if her loss still ached in his breast, his father had already fled the country as Killian himself had been cautioned and advised to do, and his older brother Liam fought for the crown somewhere, surely trying to protect and keep the peace in the midst of a frightening Revolution. Killian has received no word of his elder sibling, his hero, in nearly two months’ time, and the horror and panic at the thought of what might have befallen Liam threatened to climb up his throat and choke him whenever he dwelt upon it too long…

“Milord,” Emma’s quiet voice – so unique, demure and respectful, but also husky, low, undeniably sensual – interrupted the thoughts that had begun to overwhelm him, and he clenched his fists against his thighs, hoping that his childhood friend, now servant to a decrepit manor falling around both their ears, would not see that he had begun to shake when she continued speaking. “Beg pardon, Monsieur, but do you not mean to depart for the country? It is no longer safe for you here, Sire.”

His eyes darted up sharply in order to search hers, their icy blue piercing her; he could tell by the way her perfectly shaped pink lips parted on a startled gasp. “You are the one who should leave, Mademoiselle,” he remarked, irked once again that she still refused to drop her guard and address him as someone she actually knew. He cast his eyes back down to study his fine trousers and the elaborate buckles on his shoes – all silly affectations of his class that seemed so pointless now – unable to meet her guileless eyes any longer. “Flee from here, tell no one from whence you came, blend with the oncoming mob and seek their protection from your oppressors. Why do you stay?”

Trembling herself, as if she could barely stand to be so bold, Emma drew closer to him than she had allowed herself since they were fourteen, since before his mother’s death and the weight of his position had fully fallen upon his shoulders, when they had been spinning under the open sky in a sunlit field of wildflowers until they had tumbled dizzily to the ground and in a moment of reckless abandon he had pulled her to his side, brushed her hair from her flushed face, leaned over her and kissed her. It had never been repeated, but in unguarded moments Killian could sense that neither of them had forgotten that one perfect kiss. This was one such time; it was clear in Emma’s open, pleading gaze as she tentatively reached forward and put her delicate fingers beneath his chin, tilting his face up to meet hers.

“Don’t you know, K- Killian?” she whispered, stumbling momentarily over his given name, a familiarity she also had not allowed herself in years. “It is you who keeps me here. You cannot remain to make yourself a sacrifice to these fiends. Mon Dieu! I could not bear it if -”

She broke off suddenly, wrenching her gaze away with a heaving breath, and withdrawing her gentle touch. But Killian pushed forward, emboldened for the first time in what felt like ages. Resolved in an instant, he took her hand in his, his face still burning pleasantly from her touch. The thought that she lingered for him, that she would not abandon him even for her own safety and a life of freedom, shook Killian to his core. ‘Even after all this time,’ he realized, so stunned it nearly stole his breath, ‘she still feels as I do.’ He might not have been willing to flee for the sake of his own hide, but for her he would go to the end of the world itself.

Bringing the back of her hand up to his mouth, Killian placed a fervent kiss to her soft, creamy skin. “Then upon my word, we leave at once. Emma,” he savored her name on his tongue like fine wine, “it will be as you wish.”

And so, that night, when the violent mob with their torches breached the gates of his chateau, Lord Killian Jones and Emma Swan had already vanished, disappearing as one into the night.

Tagging a few who may enjoy (if they haven’t already seen it): @kmomof4 @searchingwardrobes @let-it-raines @effulgentcolors @jennjenn615 @hollyethecurious @resident-of-storybrooke @laschatzi @winterbaby89 @linda8084 @thislassishooked @darkcolinodonorgasm @thisonesatellite @bmbbcs4evr @aloha-4-ever @angellifedeath @spartanguard @therooksshiningknight @ilovemesomekillianjones @whimsicallyenchantedrose

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

The Myspace-era bands keeping the internet's weirdest music genre alive

The internet can be a deeply unsettling place, especially when you stumble upon videos that you probably should've left alone. But, if you were like me in 2011, you sought out the weirdest of websites and the creepiest of pastas, then shared your intel with all your post-emo friends.

By 2016, I was surfing the internet for some quality spooky material during my college years when I stumbled across something called witch house.

SEE ALSO: Meet the man who makes music with vegetables

It was a musical genre most had pronounced dead — and yet was still surviving and thriving in the weirdest corners of the internet. Two major artists from the early days of witch house, known as White Ring and Ritualz, have been instrumental in helping keep the genre going.

"I really don't know if witch house was ever really alive honestly," Bryan Kurkimilis, one-third of White Ring admits. "It seems like it's always going to be in a perpetual adolescence when it came out 10 years ago, and it's kind of stuck there now."

Kurkimilis' White Ring started off back in 2006 as a duo featuring him and vocalist Kendra Malia. In 2011, the duo went on hiatus, and in 2016 Adina Viarengo joined the band to serve as the group's second vocalist. Now in 2018, with their debut album Gate of Grief finally complete, White Ring is back on track and very much determined to keep witch house relevant.

According to Vulture, witch house music was birthed during the late 2000s and early 2010s during the end of the Myspace era. But the genre's deep, dark electro-wave sound, and the occult imagery in its lyrics, fashion, and music videos have continued to draw fans in well past the genre's prime. 

Early witch house artists typically produced spooky tracks that sampled from '90s and '00s horror films and hip-hop records. They layered these samples with heavy bass riffs, lots of synth, and sometimes vocals. Visually and aesthetically, people in the community reflected this dark music by incorporating magic symbols, upside down crosses, and pentagrams into all black hip-hop clothing. 

Like many things created on the internet, witch house had a relatively short shelf life. The term itself appears to have come about in 2009. Travis Egedy (known as Pictureplane) used it in an interview to describe the music he and his friends were producing. 

"Mark our words, 2010 will be straight up witchy," Egedy wrote in Pitchfork. 

Travis Egedy in his warehouse/studio

Image: Denver Post via Getty Images

He wasn't wrong about 2010, but mainstream interest in witch house didn't last long. The genre tapered off in the early '10s when it was overshadowed by vaporwave, another internet-fueled genre of music.

"I think people are still looking and hoping for witch house bands that have gone away to find a way to come back," Adina Viarengo of White Ring said. "I feel like there's a really devoted base that wants more of this kind of stuff. There's a need for it right now."

The demand for this type of music is something that drives artists like JC Lobo of Ritualz to continue to producing tracks. He started his career on Myspace in late 2009 with just a computer, and to this day Lobo continues to make music that is influenced by this largely forgotten era of music. He released a Ritualz album titled Doom earlier this year.

"It's really different now because witch house isn't as visual anymore because everyone's been a part of the scene for a while," Lobo explained in a phone call. "But the music is different. It's definitely a lot more techno and ravey compared to its earlier hip-hop sound."

"I'm not really a part of the scene anymore," Lobo said. "But when I'm on tour, I play witch house songs and all of the kids from the community come out and listen along."

Lobo posing for the camera.

Image: Courtesy of JC Lobo / Taken by Francisco Mendez

"Witch house was innovative," Lobo said. "It was new and dark, which was really important because it had been a long time since that kind of music was appealing to a large audience."

What made witch house such a strange phenomenon was its purposeful obscurity. Witch house musicians hid. When I accidentally stumbled upon the genre after listening to a witch house remix of a Charli XCX song by BLVCK CEILING, I was happy to know there were a ton of artists and tracks out there — even if they were hiding their names behind band names made up of random symbols.

While BLVCK CEILING was my own personal introduction to the genre, other artists from the community have made their mark on the scene, some even as early as the Myspace era. A few notable artists from the community include GR†LLGR†LL (pronounced GrillGrill), oOoOO, and Salem.

Artist names featuring crosses and inscrutable symbols are typical. For someone outside of the scene, it's a challenge to find specific tracks or musicians. While Ritualz hid behind the logo "†‡†," White Ring had an all-white Myspace page that required the user to highlight the entire page to see text about new tracks and announcements.

"I always think of it as having a punk spirit where everything is always a 'fuck you,'" Kurkimilis said. "It's like I'm gonna release a song, but I'm gonna do it in this weird way."

Having an immortal punk spirit is obviously cool and all, but the people who helped cultivate it eventually moved onto other projects. While White Ring and Ritualz are the only major figures to release full albums in recent years, other notable artists in the community find interesting ways to stay relevant.

Image: Nigel Ryan / Courtesy of white ring

Take witch house rapper Gvcci Hvcci (pronounced Goo-chee Hoo-chee), who was a major figure back in 2011. As one of the very few prominent women producing witch house tracks, Gvcci amassed a cult following.

In 2012, a post on crvckhouse, a Tumblr page dedicated to promoting witch house artists, claimed that Gvcci Hvcci had passed away. Lobo, who was apparently the last person to collaborate with the rapper, was the first to speak about the news, and confirmed her "death."

"Shortly after our track came out, people kept asking me where she was," Lobo said. "I eventually just started to say 'she's dead' because I was friends with her producer who said she closed all of her accounts and was going to stop releasing tracks." 

Prior to her "death," Kurkimilis says he actually had a brief interaction with the mysterious figure in 2011 over the phone. Around this time, rumors began to circulate that the pictures Gvcci Hvcci had used to promote herself were fake. Her entire identity was in question. 

"I know for sure it's an actual girl," Kurkimilis claims. "She was not the girl in the photos, because a friend of hers showed me a real picture of her. I know she's a real person."

After seemingly catfishing everyone in the community, Gvcci Hvcci had made a name for herself. Her infamy would continue to grow after her supposed "death."

Just two short years later, to everyone's shock, Gvcci Hvcci released a track titled "Bullet in the Head." The witch house community went into a frenzy. The rapper, who was now revealed to be alive, took advantage of the cultural moment. As the lyrics go, Gvcci was officially "back from the dead."

Had Gvcci Hvcci really faked her own death for recognition? The answer is murky. Some community members aren't convinced that the Gvcci Hvcci who returned is the same artist from 2011. 

"I just never denied anything and I was playing along with the myth of Gvcci Hvcci," Lobo admitted. "The producer found a different girl, or unreleased tracks, I'm not sure which. I didn't really keep up with the story but it's funny how people are still speculating years later." 

These days Gvcci Hvcci is relatively silent. An unfinished track titled "ttryan" which was released in January of this year serves as her most recent published work on Soundcloud. When we approached her on Facebook for a statement, the anonymous rapper responded with: "Guess what? Chicken butt," and sent a link to her Go Fund Me page. 

Gvcci Hvcci continuing to troll in 2018

Image: Mashable / Xavier Piedra

On the page, Gvcci Hvcci is asking for $2,500 to help produce and release her work-in-progress track, "Issa night." In the past six months, Gvcci Hvcci has raised $130 from three people of her $2,500. As of September 2018, there have been no updates on production of the new song.

Song titles hiding behind symbols and artists with mysterious personas are what makes witch house unique — and what's kept the genre fresh. 

When musicians like Gvcci Hvcci fake their deaths, or when artists like White Ring return from a years-long hiatus, it helps revitalize the community. Like any dedicated fanbase, lovers of the niche genre get excited when they hear news about their favorite artists, good or bad.

Without witch house, we wouldn't have mainstream artists like Charli XCX, Chvrches, and Grimes, who've attributed parts of their style and sound to this genre of music.

"It’s hip-hop for goths," Charli said during an interview with Self-titled magazine in 2012. "I like the whole scene – the cult imagery, the upside down crosses. I love witch house."

Charli XCX during the early days of her career in 2013.

Image: Caitlin Mogridge / Getty Images

Despite its age, witch house still has a place within our culture. While the dark aesthetic and sound might not appeal to everyone, witch house continues to persist, especially on the internet. In fact, Lobo's a firm believer that witch house marks a major chapter in the history of internet culture and music.

"I think witch house has amazing value as being one of the first generations of music born from the internet," Lobo said. "Before then you didn't have any dark or ambient music, so it was a really good balance for internet music genres like chillwave and vaporwave that had mainstream appeal."

The sound itself has shifted a bit over the past ten years, and whether or not it's a positive change is up for debate. Shifting from its hip-hop-inspired sound, witch house has become more clubby and electronic than ever. Lobo attributes this change to the need for faster music that people can dance to.

"I wish it would go back a bit to the days of droning sounds and anonymous artists," Lobo said. "It seems like a lot of people are trying to make it about dancing, and I notice that's a big focus for producers. But the appeal at first was to listen to this weird and dark ambient noise."

But why should anyone listen to this music in 2018? "I think its good to have a balance in your life especially with music," Lobo explained. "Listening to different music will help you understand different people and communities, so it's important you give it a chance and try a bit of everything."

Image: Courtesy of Ritualz / Taken by Daniela Quant

Like any genre of music, witch house has cultivated a community of followers who are dedicated to their favorite artists. Specifically within the witch house Reddit community, the page stays somewhat active as new artists create and share new tracks, or when, for example, White Ring makes an unexpected return.

"Once a genre is created, it can never really go away," Viarengo said. "I know there are pockets of people all over the world who are into witch house that are going to continue experimenting with it."

Lobo agrees and believes that witch house's hip-hop and electronic roots will allow it to evolve alongside these genres.

"I don't think it will ever get stuck," Lobo said. "Hip-hop and electronic music has been changing over the past 30 years, and witch house's sound will continue to be influenced by those two styles of music. Audience-wise it might get stuck, but it can get bigger still, it just need some more time."

With White Ring and Ritualz at the recent forefront of the witch house movement, the community and genre are still in good hands. While I wait for more tracks to feed my goth fantasies, I'll be casting spells to Gate of Grief and Doom on repeat.

WATCH: We made that scene from 'The Shining' a lot less scary with bad foley

[drrjsb]

On Scarlett Johansson’s Inside the Actors Studio Interview and Anti Bruce x Natasha Shippers

If you’re not a Brutasha/Brucenat/HulkWidow fan, please just keep scrolling. Polite has left the building.

Doesn’t this seem like deja vu? It took less than 24 hours before the usual suspects started up their sad propaganda machines again. This really is why we “can’t have nice things” or enjoy a rare moment of validation. I got testy late last night with a  person who seemed reasonable at first glance but dismissed almost every single thing that is canon in the films and twisted what was said in this week’s Inside the Actors Studio interview (s22.5) with Scarlett Johansson. It’s getting worse as the video is going around.

Let’s get something straight right off the bat. If Scarlett had meant FRIENDSHIP, she would have said “friendship”. What she said was "my character HAS this ONGOING RELATIONSHIP WITH MARK RUFFALO’S CHARACTER.” Scarlett brought this affirming description up while discussing the way her own emotions can intersect with her character’s during the acting process. As an example, she talked about the emotions she was feeling one day while filming during Infinity War and not knowing why she had a feeling of “devastation” come over her. She said, “It was something about this character that Mark plays [Bruce/Hulk], and this something that should feel so solid and then suddenly doesn’t.” She did not say that her feeling had anything to do with their romantic relationship. What she meant by “something” is ambiguous, but it’s pretty clear she was not talking about the romance itself. Notice Scarlett did not say they were “just friends” or “broken up” or refer to their romantic relationship in the PAST tense either.  In fact, she did not say anything negative about their romantic relationship at all.

I suspect the “something” has to do with the character arc for Bruce and Hulk that Mark has said will happen over the next three films--Ragnarok, Infinity War, and Avengers 4--and function like a Banner/Hulk solo storyline. Frankly, there are many “devastating” things in Bruce’s background to which Scarlett could feel a connection. The scene she is likely talking about filming is a Natasha and Bruce reunion, confirming they will meet face to face after being apart by as many as three years after Hulk/Bruce left presumably to protect everyone at the end of Age of Ultron. Bruce is going to be a changed man--something that was solid but is then not so solid perhaps. He and Hulk should be on an improved footing, but they will have possibly faced enslavement on Sakaar (and possibly stardom in the arena) and fighting the Fenris Wolf or the demon Surtur and we don’t know what else yet. Again, there is a lot of potential “devastation” for Scarlett to connect with. We’ve only had one still of Mark in character so far, and he’s looking pretty darn happy to see Thor. Come November 3rd, we’ll know more. Still, there is nothing here that would sink the romantic relationship; in fact, it’s likely to make the characters’ connections even stronger.

Scarlett then went on to talk about how her feeling of “devastation” mirrored what had been going on in her own life at the time. I took that to mean the breakup of her marriage, which considering her remarks disparaging monogamy, she may well have initiated. I’m only guessing. Scarlett is a private person. She doesn’t make clear how her life connected to anything specific in the film’s plot, so everything anyone says (me included) is speculative on this point.

Scarlett then repeats her point from earlier in the interview when she says that as an actor, it’s her privilege to be able to bring her own experiences and emotions to her work and be able to play with and examine them with the help of another actor, Mark in this case, who helped her work through and understand her feelings during this creative and cathartic process. Whatever happened in the film, it’s clear that working with Mark in their ongoing romantic screen relationship brought about a personal insight and understanding for her about her real life feelings. Again, there is nothing here to sink the ship.

Please don’t lose heart. The bottom line is these people who trash our CANON ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP are jealous and grasping at wisps of smoke that are not there. They like to make us feel bad, so they can conjure up hope for their NON-canon pairings. The best they can do is make things up and ignore, belittle, abuse, and try to erase everything they can. These people are the bullies kicking sand in our faces because we are a small community. They want us to believe their “alternative facts,” but we are onto them. They want to see Bruce and Natasha pushed into a “friend zone,” so she’ll apparently have a lot of free time to frolic instead with their favorite character in the middle of Infinity War. The odds of that happening are in the million to one range. Instead of celebrating some great male-female, BFF friendships (or a couple of murderous encounters), some want to keep throwing shade and spleen at us, the ship, the characters, the writers, and you name it. I used to feel really sorry for some of these people. I still empathize with people who are responsible enough to use the anti tags and don’t post demeaning things or erase characters or try to shove Bruce to the friend zone. I respect fans who stay in their own lane if they don’t want to join and enjoy our party.

The hate shippers tried these same tactics with Scarlett’s Entertainment Weekly interview from December of 2015 before Civil War came out. They attempted to make us lose hope back then and twisted or omitted parts to fit their desires and wishful thinking. They thought the Russos would “save Natasha.” They want what we have, so they lash out at us and our ship. Nevertheless, we persisted and in the bleakness that was Civil War were rewarded with reassurances both obvious (”We could sure use a Hulk.”) and subtle (the looks from Rhodey and the smiles from Nat when Bruce is mentioned, the color of her clothing, and her Hulk-Gem necklace). It’s been a long voyage since Avengers and Age of Ultron, but we’ve stuck to our course. There is no reason to feel discouraged now. Ignore the anti shippers. Let them choke on their broken dreams.

Do not let them discourage your joy and enthusiasm for what we Bruce x Natasha fans have to celebrate: A Romantic Relationship between two wonderful characters played by the two actors with the best chemistry in the whole darn MCU. Even the rest of the cast members root for Bruce x Natasha despite how poorly some of their own fans behave. This ship has withstood a three-year hiatus, but we now know for certain we will see them together again in Infinity War. Babe, this ship sails on!

[7goodangel]

I'm new here, sorry to bother, but why won't answer any paperfresh questions?

Warning: Long post so yeah... hence why the read more o-o

(From Blog Description)

(From FAQ)

But... I’m gonna add slightly more detail to this - cause then I can just link this exact ask/answer to my description for more detail. 

So yeah... It’s not really the full ‘ship’ that I dislike. I am... just... meh with this ship if we are just talking about it in general. 

However - what I don’t like was/is how people were so obsessed over it, so focused onto that specific ship that it caused these things (in this order):

Mischaracterization of Fresh and PJ - So yeah - first was this whole thing. At the beginning - it seemed like a fun, yet harmless ship. Both CQ and I saw few things on it, added our two cents, and just continued to observe the fun (at least for me - it just seemed like CQ was doing that too and she’s really chill). It even got to a point where I was trying to see how this ship would actually work. However - this ship kinda brought in a wave of misunderstanding. Which - I don’t know - I was okay with that for PJ since I knew/know that I’m not a popular blog or anyone important so it’s my own fault for not getting all of the info on PJ out there straight away. But for Fresh? I honestly felt like it was my own fault that people were not seeing him as the complex character he is. Gosh have you guys read MommaCQ By Alania? That, at this time, is the closest Fresh that is to the actual Fresh (ya know... without that whole parasite thing). I just felt horrible that Fresh was getting mischaracterized due to my character (who was also getting super misinterpreted). It felt like it was my fault for that whole thing - so I started to not like FreshPaper starting at the peak of all of that mess. Moving from an OTP to a ‘eh it’s okay!’. I am still dealing with this aftermath today. People are seriously getting shocked that Paper isn’t in a canon ship with Fresh. (Examples come from the Undertale AU Amino on quizzes others made on canon PJ [you guys rock for making those quizzes!]):

(still continuing from above)Yeah - these are actual responses to stuff in the quizzes. I also made a quiz in that Amino and majority of the people who have done it (8 at this time cause it’s brand new) did not have a score over 20 (top score is 124... by a user named Paperfresh which gosh that was funny to me! Kudos to you though!) 7 out of 8 couldn’t do it. People outside of Tumblr still think that Canon PJ is a nice, shy, and innocent little 17 year old. Which is far from the truth. Again - people need to understand the difference between AUs and Canon stories for OCs. And that plays a part into this whole thing. 

Tossing any other ships that are not ‘just for fun’ under the bus/Tossing other users under the bus due to shipsNow this was the second wave of stuff that happened, and this happened right after Christmas of last year. Ever since I said “Oh yeah - This character named Omni (by Cereusblue)? PJ likes them. They are in a canon ship.” And gosh... you know what? Those Freshpaper shippers started to slowly ramp up their headcanons on their ship and tried to make it fact. Try to hide that PJ is in a different relationship with Omni than being in a ‘relationship with Fresh’. Let me first say that at first - it seemed like people who followed me were cool with this. From people who hate FreshPaper to loving FreshPaper. They were all cool with the idea that PJ wasn’t going to be with Fresh. OK! Awesomesauce!But then, I saw people complaining to Cereusblue and Askinfresh (an amazing Fresh RPer) about this - even calling them out (which by the way - Askinfresh had nothing to do with this so...?) and tossing them under a metaphorical bus for why their ship now cannot be canon. (which by the way - at this point CQ and I have stressed out enough times that it just won’t happen!)And eventually - there was one user that I have now blocked due to this - but I am going to go into detail about this, that made me just shut down on the whole topic of FreshPaper together. They were the straw on the camel’s back. And it hit right during the time I was trying to finish up my Masters. (fabulous timing there.)But gosh ok this story is long so just a warning:~~~So - I don’t know how it exactly started - but someone mentioned to me that this user (who honestly I loved and respected their work even though it was mostly FreshPaper stuff [and let me go ahead and say no - it’s not the first person you thought of]) was talking about me not only behind my back, but in a different language entirely. And they just kept saying on occasion on how I was the one who ruined FreshPaper, how I didn’t had the “kindness of being a multishipper” and that I was too blinded by this new ship OmniPJ to even notice how amazing Freshpaper is!And just... while this was translated by Google Translate for me - someone later on confirmed that the translation was pretty close to what they said...I just... I guess I snapped? But I took my time to respond to this, had others read it so then I had less of a chance to offend anyone - cause I HATE HATE HATE making other’s feel bad. And I just wanted to explain my side of the story - especially since this wasn’t the first time they tossed me under like that. And after that? What did they do?Cut PJ out of their story, blamed me for their action on that, and just - continued to draw without seeming like it hurt them even though they kept stating ‘how much they were hurt to even think about PJ’. ...DudeI broke down.I extended my hiatus at that time to “TBD”IT HURT me so MUCH to know that someone was SAD, or ANGRY, or just... so frustrated that they go to my face and say “well then I’m removing your character from my story” and then proceeding to put the blame on me when in fact that wasn’t what I was saying at all. I even replied to that comment and after that - I broke down and cried. And I hate to sound like I was exaggerating on this but - any of my close friends would be able to verify that this happened. I went to a table that I haven’t crawled under within a year - and laid there with a blanket, crying, until I just felt numb. It... kinda showed me that I wasn’t ready for any form of hate on the internet - where you kinda need to have a think skin in order to brush off hate. And while generic hate I was able to brush off until that moment - that.. THAT to me was like this:For a whole month, I panicked. I talked to friends on what I should do. Even after soft blocking and fully blocking their blog - I kept going back. Translating questions with the number 7 in them or with PJ in them to make sure they were not still angry about it... which then spiraled me down. I was afraid... afraid that a whole section of people who could only read and speak that language would see me as the devil’s advocate. Yep - I took the bait. And honestly that whole part of me feeling bad for a month was on me. That was entirely my fault. But... I guess this was the first personal attack I had received in my life - so I didn’t know how to handle it.~~~But now? I know better. I have taken that experience and will use what I had learned from it in a similar situation in the future (if that ever happens). Just... know that you will not please everyone even if you try your dang hardest at that. That was me learning that fully in action. However - due to knowing that discussing FreshPaper was behind all of that - and I didn’t want anyone to feel like that EVER - That’s why I took a stand and just said “nope. I am not going to discuss this ship anymore. I will not like any art of this ship (but know I still do appreciate it  and some I bookmark cause it’s so good) but I just need to take this side and stand - not let any more confusion or miscommunication happen.”

And...well... that is the full story of how it became to be a topic I will not discuss again. It’s just do to all of these things piling up on one another until one thing just shattered me.

I honestly thought about deactivating back during that break down. I thought about keeping my blog up for archive reasons, and starting from scratch with a brand new username and not ever bring PJ back again. I thought about possibly only using Tumblr to stay connected with friends I made but never ever do another social media blog again. 

But eh - I decided to keep going! I’m kinda persistent! Or Determined!

Anyway - this was the LONG LONG L O N G explanation of why I don’t answer any FreshPaper Questions. Just... it was due to bad situations and circumstances that just piled up on me until I just couldn’t look at the word “FreshPaper’ in any positive light. 

BUT LET ME JUST SAY:

I am completely fine if you ship FreshPaper. 

It’s 100% ok! 

YOU ship what you WISH to ship! And being a multishipper - I see those Freshpaper ships as alternate timelines! All coexisting at the same time as the canon timeline. 

Just - I wanted you all to know where I am coming from with this ship... and know why I don’t really like it. And sadly - it’s not even about the characters - it’s about the bad experiences within the fandom for me. 

In the end, respect the canon stories that people made for their OCs - whether it’s for OTPs, NOTPs, and BROTPs,. Respect that people can see certain ships work and others not be able to work. 

Let that whole ‘ship war’ thing die already and let’s create an area where people can discuss ships without the fear to be ridiculed, to be driven to insanity, to be harmed physically or mentally about what they ship or not ship. 

And this has gone on long enough! ^^

If you read this far - thank you. And I hope that with seeing things from my perspective, it brought a new angle to this whole shipping thing. At least with the Freshpaper stuff o-oAgain - you can still ship Freshpaper! Go for it! You like it - draw it! Write it! Sing it! Just... make sure you respect those who don’t like it or can’t see why you ship it. And apply that mentality to any ship you have in any fandom! ^^

Hope you all have a fantastic day!

[newstfionline]

Headlines

A massive, intense heat wave is settling over the continental US (Wired) A perfect storm of crises is forming across the United States. Above our heads, a “heat dome” of high pressure could blast 80 percent of the continental US with temperatures over 90 degrees for the next few weeks. This coming in a summer when the Covid-19 lockdown has trapped people indoors, many without air-conditioning—and mass unemployment may mean that residents with AC units can’t afford to run them. A heat dome “is really just sort of a colloquial term for a persistent and/or strong high-pressure system that occurs during the warm season, with the end result being a lot of heat,” says climate scientist Daniel Swain of UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. That high-pressure air descends from above and gets compressed as it nears the ground. Think about how much more pressure you experience at sea level than at the top of a mountain—what you’re feeling is the weight of the atmosphere on your shoulders. As the air descends and gets compressed, it heats up. “So the same air that’s maybe 80 degrees a few thousand feet up, you bring that same air—without adding any extra energy to it—down to the surface in a high-pressure system and it could be 90, 95, 100 degrees,” says Swain. That heat can accumulate over days or weeks, turning the heat dome into a kind of self-perpetuating atmospheric cap over the landscape.

Comet streaking past Earth, providing spectacular show (AP) A newly discovered comet is streaking past Earth, providing a stunning nighttime show after buzzing the sun and expanding its tail. Comet Neowise—the brightest comet visible from the Northern Hemisphere in a quarter-century—swept within Mercury’s orbit a week ago. Its close proximity to the sun caused dust and gas to burn off its surface and create an even bigger debris tail. Now the comet is headed our way, with closest approach in two weeks. The comet will be visible across the Northern Hemisphere until mid-August, when it heads back toward the outer solar system. While it’s visible with the naked eye in dark skies with little or no light pollution, binoculars are needed to see the long tail, according to NASA.

As pandemic surges, older people alarm adult kids by living as they usually would (Washington Post) When the pandemic began, Darcy Scott worried most about her parents, who are in their 80s and among the most vulnerable to the coronavirus. To keep them safe, her brother drove them 27 hours from Kerrville, Tex., to Churchton, Md., where Scott and her husband were hunkered down. But after a couple of months, Texas started to open up and her parents wanted to go home. Scott’s brother drove them back, and since then, she has watched with growing dread as her parents have resumed many of their regular activities even as the infection rates there have climbed. “Mom went back to the gym, to aqua aerobics. Dad went out to pick up the recycling around town,” Scott said. “So there you go, we expended 11 weeks of our lives, and now our parents are wading around in a cesspool of germs.” The effects of covid-19 are most devastating for older people, with a 30 percent death rate among people over 85 in the United States who develop it. Many in that age group are sheltering in place and skipping social events in an effort to avoid the virus that causes the disease, and younger family members have often stayed away or gotten coronavirus tests before seeing them, to protect them. But others have taken a more relaxed attitude, engaging in behavior that fills their middle-aged children with terror, for both their parents’ health and their own. This can leave middle-aged people, many of whom may already be worried about their adult children going to protests or beach gatherings, feeling that they must also parent their parents.

Daily Virus Death Toll Rises in Some States (NYT) The daily number of deaths from the coronavirus has risen recently in some of the nation’s most populous states, leaving behind grieving families and signaling a possible end to months of declining death totals nationally. The seven-day death average in the United States reached 608 on Thursday, up from 471 earlier in July, but still a fraction of the more than 2,200 deaths the country averaged each day in mid-April, when the situation in the Northeast was at its worst.

Majority of public favors giving civilians the power to sue police officers for misconduct (Pew Research Center) Two-thirds of Americans say civilians need to have the power to sue police officers to hold them accountable for misconduct and excessive use of force, even if that makes officers’ jobs more difficult. While declining shares give police forces positive marks for using force appropriately, treating racial groups equally and holding officers accountable, there is little support for cuts in spending on local policing.

U.S. dependence on China for rare earth elements (South China Morning Post) As US-China relations hit new lows, Washington is redoubling efforts to address a major Achilles’ heel: its dependence on Beijing for rare earth elements—essential materials in various hi-tech products from smartphones and electric car batteries to Javelin missiles and F-35 fighter aircraft. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) recently introduced a bill to spur US production of critical minerals, among the latest of several before Congress amid rising concern that China could leverage its dominance in economic and political negotiations. “It’s making people in Washington wake up and say this is not sustainable,” said Martijn Rasser, a fellow at the Centre for a New American Security. “If China really is willing to restrict exports, we’re in for a rough ride over the next few years.”

U.S. Will Impose Tariffs on French Goods in Response to Tech Tax (NYT) The Trump administration on Friday said it would impose new tariffs on $1.3 billion worth of French goods, including cosmetics, soap and handbags, in retaliation for a French tax that largely hits American technology companies, escalating a trade dispute that threatens to further damage the global economy. The 25 percent tariffs will be delayed 180 days and take effect in January 2021, a hiatus meant to give both countries time to resolve their differences over a digital tax that will hit American tech companies. France has adopted a 3 percent tax on the revenues some companies earn from providing goods and services to French users over the internet, even if they do not have large physical presences in France, a measure that will target Facebook, Google, Amazon and others whose businesses focus on digital advertising and e-commerce.

Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel blazes a bloody trail in rise to power (Washington Post) MEXICO CITY—Before they allegedly tried to assassinate this city’s police chief, the foot soldiers of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartel already had left a bloody wake across the country. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel has killed judges, congressmen, dozens of police officers and thousands of civilians. Its fighters once shot down a military helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade. The cartel controls the movement of more than a third of all drugs consumed in the United States, U.S. officials say, and has expanded into Europe and Asia. And yet until last month, many here saw the rise of the cartel as an internal matter for the parties in an interminable drug war. Then the group sent three dozen men armed with military-grade weapons into one of the country’s most exclusive neighborhoods, authorities say, to kill the capital’s top security official. Omar García Harfuch was shot three times in the June 26 attack but survived. Three people were killed. Since then, several Mexican officials, including the governor of the western state of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, and the head of the country’s human rights commission, Rosario Piedra Ibarra, have said that they received death threats from the cartel. For now, at least, it appears that Mexico has arrived at a moment of reckoning, as the country’s elite look more closely at the new, more brazenly violent face of the country’s criminal underworld.

In Latin America, the pandemic brings new poverty (NYT) Not long ago, Colombia—and Latin America more broadly—were in the middle of a history-making transformation: The scourge of inequality was shrinking like never before. Over the past 20 years, millions of families had marched out of poverty in one of the most unequal regions on earth. The gap between rich and poor in Latin America fell to its lowest point on record. Now, the pandemic is threatening to reverse those gains like nothing else in recent history, economists say, potentially upending politics and entire societies for years to come​. The engines of upward mobility are failing, choked off by an economic shutdown that began in March and fell hardest on the working poor and vulnerable members of the middle class.

UK PM to tell firms to order staff back to workplaces—Daily Mail (Reuters) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will tell employers next week to start ordering staff back into their places of work, as long as it is safe to do so, in order to stem the coronavirus hit to the economy, the Daily Mail said. On Friday, Johnson said he thought it was time for people to start shifting away from working from home. “I want people to go back to work as carefully as possible,” he said in a question-and-answer session with members of the public. “It’s very important that people should be going back to work if they can, now. I think everybody’s taken the ‘stay at home if you can’ (advice). I think now we should say ‘go back to work if you can.’”

U.K. lifts travel restrictions for dozens of countries, but U.S. arrivals still require 14-day self isolation (Washington Post) The British government rolled back pandemic travel restrictions Friday on arrivals from 75 countries and British overseas territories—but visitors from the United States will still be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days. Under the new policy, first formulated last month, travelers entering Britain from dozens of countries, including former novel coronavirus hot spots, will no longer face a requirement to self-isolate. The lightened rules free up residents of Britain to travel to the countries in question, as they will not face a requirement to isolate upon return. Italy and Spain, once the epicenters of the pandemic in Europe, along with countries such as Japan and South Korea that pushed back their outbreaks early, are on the green list. But not all parts of the United Kingdom have adopted the exact same rules: Scotland will still require arrivals from Spain to self-quarantine for 14 days, while England, Wales and Northern Ireland will not.

Dozens of US Marines in Japan’s Okinawa get coronavirus (AP) Dozens of U.S. Marines at two bases on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa have been infected with the coronavirus in what is feared to be a massive outbreak, Okinawa’s governor said Saturday, demanding an adequate explanation from the U.S. military. Gov. Denny Tamaki said he could say only that a “few dozen” cases had been found recently because the U.S. military asked that the exact figure not be released. The outbreaks occurred at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is at the center of a relocation dispute, and Camp Hansen, Tamaki said. Local media, citing unnamed sources, said about 60 people had been infected.

Singapore ruling party holds on to supermajority, but with historic losses (Washington Post) After gambling on holding a vote in the midst of a pandemic and a recession, Singapore’s ruling party predictably won general elections—but with one of the smallest vote shares in the party’s history, and conceded a historic number of seats to the opposition. There was little doubt that the ruling People’s Action Party, which has been in power since 1959, would hold on to its supermajority. But its share of the popular vote fell to 61 percent, from 70 percent in 2015. The Workers’ Party, the main opposition, managed to wrangle more seats away from the ruling party, winning 10 out of 93 seats—the most ever held by opposition lawmakers. The results reflect a mounting challenge to the PAP’s dominance in the city-state and a growing desire for a plurality of voices in the legislature.

Long-Planned and Bigger Than Thought: Strike on Iran’s Nuclear Program (NYT) As Iran’s center for advanced nuclear centrifuges lies in charred ruins after an explosion, apparently engineered by Israel, the long-simmering conflict between the United States and Tehran appears to be escalating into a potentially dangerous phase likely to play out during the American presidential election campaign. New satellite photographs over the stricken facility at Natanz show far more extensive damage than was clear last week. Two intelligence officials, updated with the damage assessment for the Natanz site recently compiled by the United States and Israel, said it could take the Iranians up to two years to return their nuclear program to the place it was just before the explosion. Another major explosion hit the country early Friday morning, lighting up the sky in a wealthy area of Tehran. It was still unexplained—but appeared to come from the direction of a missile base. If it proves to have been another attack, it will further shake the Iranians by demonstrating, yet again, that even their best-guarded nuclear and missile facilities have been infiltrated. Officials familiar with the explosion at Natanz compared its complexity to the sophisticated Stuxnet cyberattack on Iranian nuclear facilities a decade ago, which had been planned for more than a year. In the case of last week’s episode, the primary theory is that an explosive device was planted in the heavily-guarded facility, perhaps near a gas line. But some experts have also floated the possibility that a cyberattack was used to trigger the gas supply.

Virus cases up sharply in Africa, India (AP) South Africa’s confirmed coronavirus cases have doubled in just two weeks to a quarter-million, and India on Saturday saw its biggest daily spike as its infections passed 800,000. The surging cases are raising sharp concerns about unequal treatment in the pandemic, as the wealthy hoard medical equipment and use private hospitals and the poor crowd into overwhelmed public facilities. Globally more than 12.5 million people have been infected by the virus and over 560,000 have died, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

[leisureninja-blog]

Hungry Mother 50k

Note: I’ve never blogged before but I thought it would be a good idea to have a place to post the adventures and exploits of my year off work (that starts today!). 

I wrote this a few months ago but figured I’d use it to keep the juices flowing and see how this Tumblr thing works...

Race Report Hungry Mother 50k, April 2018

10 miles of shimmery salt-soaked space and I’m wondering how long it would take me to cover that distance.  I was on a tour bus full of nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles, my wife and children and their grandparents, driving south along the west side of the Dead Sea looking across those miles at Jordan.  It was late December 2017 and I had my music in, flipping through race websites on my phone (yes, even here I had a great signal).  I’ve always been pretty serious about New Years resolutions and I was thinking through my objectives for the coming year.  It had been two and a half years since I’d run a race (Mountains to Sea Trail 50k in Durham, NC - 3rd Overall) and I knew it was time to commit again.  My unplanned hiatus had come about in the summer of 2015 when I’d herniated a disk in my neck.  Beyond a few weeks just after the injury I’d managed to keep trail running but never felt good enough to train.  

I’d been searching for just the right challenge and I’d found it - the Hungry Mother 50k at the eponymous state park in the far southwest corner of Virginia.  There were plenty of interesting trail races these days but I needed enough time to get ready and had a big work event in March to avoid.  The April 7th date had good prospects for cool weather and the race was small enough that I didn’t have to worry about rapidly filling signups, lotteries or waiting lists.  I’d also heard from my parents that this park was gorgeous so I jumped into the deep end once again.

I always enjoy organizing my training programs so I set to work there on the bus, scribbling in my notebook.  I’ve never been a high mileage runner - I run just four days a week - but I try to balance my training so that each day is pointed towards a specific training objective.  This time I decided to go with:

Tuesday - fast road run (8 miles)

Wednesday - treadmill climb (crank it up as high as it will go and power walk for an hour or two)

Thursday - couple times around the hilly Duke x-country course near my house (7 miles)

Saturday - long trail run (starting at 12 miles and building to 28 a couple weeks before the race)

This is about all my work schedule will allow so I get up early and try to be done before the kids are up.  It makes for a lot of dark runs during these winter months but it’s my stress relief.  I was also tilting towards training for the climbs as the race had 7,000 ft of elevation gain over it’s 31 mile distance (one 15.5 mile loop run twice).  Finally, I knew that to do well in this race I’d need to be running at least marathon distance each Saturday for the last 6 weeks of training so I plotted a pretty quick ramp.  

Time flies by these days and before I knew it it was race time.  I tapered for the last couple weeks and started watching the weather.  Now I was hoping for cool but, to my surprise, there was snow forecasted for race day.  I was intending to bring the family up from Durham but it looked to be a pretty nasty day.  In the end, my Dad drove down from northern VA with his RV and we camped at the Camp Burson RV campground right in the park.   The park has tons of camping options from cabins to yurts to regular camping but Camp Burson was particularly convenient as the race runs right through it (twice), making it convenient for friends/family to see the race.

I woke early on race morning and my Dad helped me get my gear together.   The forecast had turned for the better - the snow was coming over the mountains a little slower and was not expected to start until mid-afternoon.  The temperature was to be about 40 at the start and getting slowly colder throughout the morning.  I knew I’d be pushing pretty hard and decided to go with just a thick short-sleeve, long tights, a warm hat and gloves.  I was a bit worried about rain so I left my Adidas running hoodie with my Dad to hand off to me as needed.  For you gearheads out there, I ran in my Pearl Izumi M2’s, Nathan running belt with two 10oz. bottles for water and Heed and an 8oz. bottle of pre-mixed Perpetuem; and of course my Garmin Forerunner 235.  How could I go wrong?

The race volunteers and rangers were great, taking us through a concise set of rules and course warnings just before ‘go time’.  One last potty break and we were off with a big Whoop Holla!  The group went out pretty slow - I could immediately tell that this group had a deep respect for the big climbs ahead.  I fell into the fifth spot on the short stretch of road before we hit the single track, not knowing how many folks in front of me were 50k runners vs 25k runners as we had all started together.  One of the volunteers had joked earlier about the ‘Clyburn Thigh Burn’ and she was right.  Less than a mile from the start there were already steep sections where I was opting to power walk and conserve energy.  After several hundred feet of climbing I passed a runner as we were finally reaching Clyburn Ridge and then hit a very long fast downhill stretch.  I was impressed at how well groomed the trails were through this section and I was to learn that the whole race was like this.  Outside of some steep spots, the whole race was very runnable.  I’m used to lots of rocks and roots at home but these were perfect conditions for a race of this length.  

This first section was a little less than five miles and my Dad was waiting at the first staffed aid station.  He had never seen me race before (at least since high school x-country) and I got a big boost seeing his face when I came through in fourth place.  It was at this moment that I knew I wanted to dedicate my race to him, for getting out there with me on a nasty day (Go Dad!).  From here the trail ran right past where we had parked the RV and then hugged the edge of the gorgeous lake before going back into the woods on the east side of the park.  Even in the dreary weather, the park was beautiful and it helped to keep my mind off my body.  I was warmed up now and keeping myself just under my red line so I needed some distractions.

The trails on the east side of the lake were even nicer than before, with gentle but persistent dips and climbs following the topo lines of the foothills along the lake.  I came up on a fast woman runner and we started yo-yo’ing on these hills.  I would crank past her on the climbs and then she’d blow past me on the downhills.  We got to talking after the first couple times and I learned her name was Leah and that she was also from Durham (!).   Turns out we both train at Umstead State Park too.  She asked me which race I was in and I told her the 50k and it was only at this point that I realized that the two people now ahead of Leah and me were likely 25k runners, and while I still wasn’t sure, I thought maybe that put me in the front of the 50k crowd.  

The terrain was getting steadily steeper now and I wished Leah luck as I pulled past her (she would go on to finish third in the 25k and first among the women!).  I knew this steepening of the course meant that the beast was coming.  The dominant feature on this course is a steep 800ft climb up to the vista on top of Molly’s Knob.  This comes at roughly mile 10 on the first loop but then you have to do it again at mile 25.  It was this latter climb that had been stuck in my head for the last month so I tried to take it easy the first time through.  The last half mile of this out-and-back is quite steep and I was mostly power walking this, finding few opportunities to run.  The vista at the top uncovered a bird’s eye view of the park’s valleys filled with low lying clouds - the biggest view I was to get that day and pretty spectacular. Coming back down was a blast, the well groomed trails allowing me to really let loose and fly down.        

One of the nice advantages of a out-and-back trail section is that you get a good idea of who’s in front of you. The two guys that came down as I was going up were far enough ahead that I started to feel pretty confident I was leading the 50k race.   There was one more chunky climb before the end of the first loop and I was pretty thrilled to see my Dad again at the finish line area.  He was standing about 20 yards in front of the finish line with my next Perpetuem bottle and I stopped to talk to him for a few seconds and do the bottle swap.  The race volunteers were calling from the finish line saying ‘don’t stop yet!’, not realizing that I had another 15 miles to go!  After getting my stuff I came through and finished the first loop - I’m guessing around the 2:20 mark - and set off to do it again.  

I was still feeling strong through the Clyburn section and was really letting loose on the downhills - something my 43 year old knees don’t often allow me to do.  I knew nutrition was critical at this point in the race, having already burned through any glycogen stores I’d built up over a week of rest.  My stomach wasn’t super happy but I committed to downing the second 8oz. bottle of Perpetuem before the Clyburn Ridge aid station so that I could get my 3rd and final bottle there from my Dad to finish the race with.  This brought me right to the edge of indigestion but I think it paid off in the end with an extra 300 calories to burn.  

I’d never raced from the front before and I’ll tell you it’s a pretty nervous exercise.  While I’ve enjoyed the thrill of overtaking someone on occasion, I found myself looking over my shoulder on this second loop.  I knew Justin Gero was in the race and he had set the course record the year before at 4:59:48.  I figured it was only a matter of time until he came galloping past but I also knew this was my first real shot at topping the podium and my Dad was watching.  

The second time up Molly at mile 25’ish was pretty tough.  By the top, I found myself pushing my knees down with my hands as I climbed.   I hadn’t seen any runners since the the finish line but finally got my bearings as I saw Justin coming up as I was heading down.  We yelled encouragements to each other and did the fist bump as we passed.  While it’s hard to estimate, I think he was most of a mile behind me and I now finally started to taste the victory.  I opened it up even further on this steep downhill, knowing I’d be feeling it in my knees for weeks and knowing at the same time it would be worth it.

I finally got down to the paved area of the park but, within just a hundred yards of the finish line, the true masochism of this race director confronts you.  Within site of the finish, the trail takes a hard right and heads back up the Raider’s Run and Old Shawnee trails.  While I had prepared myself for Molly, this last section hit me like a sucker punch.  I was heading up hurting pretty bad but something possessed me to look at my watch to see how I was doing against the course record.  I was now officially 4:45 minutes into the race and realized that I had a remote shot at breaking Justin’s course record from the year before. I put the last little bit I had into these final climbs and then booked it back to the parking lot area.  I finished at 4:59:25, just 23 seconds ahead of the previous best.  I’d never been first in a race before and I felt that my hard work had really paid off!  

I want to thank the race organizers who put on a great post-race setup.   Food, a cold beer and some great prizes put an awesome finishing touch on the day.  I’ve run a fair number of races in the southeast over the years and I was really impressed with the beauty of the park, the convenient camping, the well groomed but challenging trails and a great group of volunteers. While this is a small race today, I expect this will become a premier race in the area within a couple of years - and I’m sure my course record won’t hold as the top tier runners discover it!

I also want to thank my Dad again for putting up with the bad weather and bringing the RV down for a warm and comfy place to crash after the race.  We had a great time together all weekend and this one is dedicated to him.

Kit Linton

[iprayunceasingly-blog]

Bishop Pineda’s resignation, what it means and what happens next

New Post has been published on https://pray-unceasingly.com/catholic-living/catholic-news/bishop-pinedas-resignation-what-it-means-and-what-happens-next/

Bishop Pineda’s resignation, what it means and what happens next

Washington D.C., Jul 20, 2018 / 06:00 pm (CNA).- The resignation of Bishop Juan José Pineda Fasquelle on Friday morning is the latest in a series of episcopal scandals breaking across the Church. He is accused of multiple counts of sexual and financial misconduct, and how his case is handled will be closely watched.

Pineda is alleged to have made repeated and unwanted sexual advances on seminarians. Other allegations include traveling on expensive holidays with “male companions” and even allowing a “companion” to reside in a purpose-built apartment using church resources. He is also accused of misappropriating more than $ 1 million in government funds intended for charitable projects.

As auxiliary bishop of the Honduran diocese of Tegucigalpa, Pineda was effectively in charge, acting in place of Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodriguez Maradiaga. Cardinal Maradiaga, himself the subject of allegations of financial impropriety, has been largely absent from his diocese over the last five years while serving as the head of the C9 Council of Cardinals, appointed by Pope Francis to look at overhauling the governance of the universal Church. More recently, the cardinal has been receiving treatment for cancer.

Many of the allegations have been publicly circulating since December of last year and have apparently been common knowledge in the diocese for longer. In a statement, Pineda claims he submitted his resignation “several months ago.” But the timing of its acceptance by Pope Francis, and the renewed scrutiny it brings to Cardinal Maradiaga, arrives in the middle of an unfolding series of sexual abuse allegations against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

The still-breaking McCarrick scandal itself comes as Pope Francis struggles to resolve the national crisis of sexual abuse and cover-ups by Chilean bishops, five of whom have now left office.

Many had hoped that Church was seeing an end to the litany of sexual abuse scandals which rocked it during the first ten years of the millennium. Instead, there seems to be a new generation of scandals, in which abuse of adults, especially seminarians, and financial impropriety are the main offenses.

But perhaps the most important difference between today’s scandals and those of the early 2000s is that they concern bishops and cardinals, not priests. The differences between how these cases are handled, and their impact on the Church, is considerable.

Following the clerical abuse scandals of the previous decade, new and robust procedures were instituted in many places, especially the United States. Following the adoption of the Dallas Charter in 2002, and changes to canon law under Pope Benedict XVI, the procedures for dealing with an accusation against a priest were clear.

Today, if an allegation of abuse is made against a priest, diocesan authorities are usually swift to act, often suspending the priest from his parish and publicly announcing the nature of the allegations so that other potential victims can come forward. A formal investigation is held and, if it concerns a serious crime, the results are sent to Rome where it is determined how to proceed.

Yet no such procedure exists, at the practical level, for handling accusations against a bishop.

Victims, especially seminarians, with a complaint to make against a bishop have little reason to hope action will be taken. A disturbingly common thread running through recent allegations has been the extent to which abusive behavior was widely known but never acted on by Church authorities.

A chilling culture of silence regarding allegations of sexual misconduct in the Church has been exposed. In addition to the well-attested fear and shame felt by victims, both accusers and authorities who should have helped them often keep silent for fear of scandal. The hesitation to “hurt the Church” by making allegations public has led in many places to a culture of winking tolerance of sexual misconduct by senior clerics. By allowing more victims to be hurt in the meantime, this silence leads to the eventual scandal being all the more grave.

The lessons of recent history indicate that high profile media attention is the only guarantee of a serious response to an allegation against a bishop.

In 2013, Cardinal Keith O’Brien resigned as Archbishop of St. Andrews & Edinburgh following allegations that he made repeated sexual advances on clergy and seminarians in the archdiocese. The complaint was presented by three priests and a former priest. While the allegations were formally made to the Apostolic Nuncio in London, which appears to be the closest thing there is to an existing procedure in the Church, the speed with which he left office was widely credited to the men informing the nuncio of their intention to speak to the national press.

The allegations against Bishop Juan Barros, whose appointment to a small Chilean diocese marked the beginning of the crisis in that country, were known in Rome at the time of his appointment, and, as local outcry mounted, Cardinal Séan O’Malley is said to have personally delivered a letter from victims to the pope.

Yet it was only the backlash to Pope Francis’ apparent dismissal of the victims, despite their persistence and credibility, during a papal visit to Chile which finally prompted action.

In the case of Cardinal McCarrick, his predatory behavior towards seminarians was apparently legendary. But despite what everyone seems to have known, no formal action (apart from the out-of-court settlements) was ever taken by Church authorities until an allegation was made by a former altar server in New York.

In the case of Bishop Pineda, despite the seriousness of the allegations and the considerable local scandal, it seems it was only the publicity arising from his close association with Cardinal Maradiaga which prompted Vatican action.

Pineda’s resignation provokes a series of further questions which will test the Holy See’s resolve in seeing episcopal allegations through to the end.

Other prominent accused bishops, like Cardinal McCarrick, have been past, or near to retirement age. Given his advanced age and removal from public ministry, there is little to compel Vatican authorities to take further action. Indelicately put, it is not unknown for the Vatican to simply delay action against elderly bishops, counting on death to precede a process. This will not be an option with Pineda.

In a statement released on Friday, Pineda declared “I continue as a son of the Church; I continue forward as consecrated [a bishop]; I continue as minister of the Church; I continue forward at the disposition of my superiors.” Aged only 58, an indefinite hiatus from active ministry is not likely to be seen as workable solution. Rome will have to decide how to bring the allegations against him to a resolution, possibly through a canonical trial, and how to formally punish him if necessary.

What form such sanctions could take, and following what process, remains unclear.

Despite creating a new legal mechanism for canonical trials for bishops, officials in Rome have indicated that Pope Francis has reserved all abuse complaints against bishops to himself, personally. There is no obvious pattern for dealing with these cases to follow, and what results can be expected are hard to predict. 

While there are understandable calls for abuser-clerics to be laicized, this very unlikely in the case of a bishop.

While laicization clearly expels a bishop from the hierarchy, it effectively ends any oversight church authorities have over him. Contrary to popular conception, a laicized bishop does not cease being a bishop, sacramentally speaking. Once conferred, sacraments like baptism, ordination, and episcopal consecration cannot be undone. If Pineda were laicized and he went on to seek ministry in unauthorized settings, sacraments he administered, including priestly ordinations, would still be valid. The potential damage and confusion which could be done by a rogue bishop, outside of church control, is enough to make laicization highly unlikely.

Bishop Emmanuel Milingo, for example stepped down from the leadership of a Zambian diocese in 1983, at the age of 53, after which time he illicitly but validly consecrated several married men as bishops. He was eventually laicized in 2009, but by that time he had been conducting unauthorized ministry for decades.

If the allegations against Pineda are proven, the most likely outcome is he would be removed from public ministry and assigned to live somewhere away from public view. There is some precedent for this course.

Perhaps the most likely example that could be followed is that of Kieran Conry, who was forced to resign as bishop of the English diocese of Arundel and Brighton at the age of 63 in 2013. Conry’s resignation was prompted by a string of inappropriate relationships with women, which were also common knowledge among the English hierarchy at the time of his appointment. Since then, he has been living in a church-owned house in southern England and out of public ministry. Cardinal O’Brien lived in similar conditions until his death in March of this year; while he resigned the “rights and privileges” of a cardinal, he was allowed to keep the title.

In the meantime, Pineda’s situation remains unclear.

There has been no formal announcement that he has been removed from public ministry – only his office as auxiliary of the diocese – and there has been no indication that he has left the diocese. How formally and transparently his situation is resolved will be telling.

Decisive and public action against Pineda seems called for, but it would set a standard against which other cases would be judged. It would also open the door to further questions about Cardinal Maradiaga’s complicity in, or at least awareness of Pineda’s actions.

Indeed, the great scandal, which remains unaddressed in all these cases – Pineda, McCarrick, Barros, O’Brien, Conry – is the extent to which other bishops were aware of the allegations against them and did nothing. Expressions of surprise, sorrow, and sympathy for the victims seem almost robotic at this point. Until such time as bishops who ignore misconduct among their peers are held to account for their effective complicity, there seems little hope that the cycle of scandals will be broken.

CNA Daily News – Americas

[harolddetective]

APB Email Archive Update

November 5, 2017

I want to start by thanking those of you that offered such kind words of encouragement and understanding during my bereavement hiatus from the APB emails. I apologize for not replying to your emails…I was overwhelmed by how many thoughtful messages I received, but please know that I appreciate you greatly and that helped immensely. I have been overwhelmed by how kind, caring, and understanding my followers are. Thank you!!!

Now, I am happy to announce that I am ready to get back to our regularly scheduled programming…and just in time for NaNoWriMo! I hope the time change allowed you to sneak an extra hour of writing time in, even if you aren’t participating in National Novel Writing Month.

CHARACTER: OLD SCHOOL BEAT COPS The LA Times ran an article yesterday on a pair of LAPD Officers that have been partners for an unbelievable twenty-nine years! The guys seem to be right out of a Joseph Wambaugh novel. Like any good marriage, the key to their resiliency is that they operate like a well tuned machine. Each partner has his own strengths (and I’m sure weaknesses as well) and they know which part to play and when. If you are writing a Cop/Buddy Story, you will enjoy this article.

WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK: LEVEL UP YOUR DIALOGUE I am a fan of both Reddit and Quora. If you’ve been living under a boulder of old AOL Installation CDs, they are websites every author should add to his or her research toolbox. While Reddit and Quora are quite different sites, they are both great places to learn about nearly any topic you can dream up. This week, I was reading the Quora thread: What one tip changed your writing forever? Christopher Kingery shared a tip for writing dialogue that is a must-read. It is so simple and it’s something that all of my favorite authors do…yet I never really thought about it. (Are you a Redditor or Quora User? Add me as a friend on Reddit and Quora!)

SOME OTHER COP’S BLOG: The Salty Sarge I discovered thesaltysarge.com blog this week and the post “Why Cops Retire Before You” is absolutely spot on. To gain even more insight into the lives of cops in the later stages or their careers, scroll through the comments at the bottom of the post. This is good background on the mentality of any Mentor type characters you might write about.

Good luck hitting your NaNoWriMo word counts and remember that any questions you have can be posted in the WRITERSDETECTIVE Q&A group on Facebook…even if you aren’t a NaNo’er. It’s a very supportive group and I try to answer your questions as quickly as I can.

October 3, 2017

Thank you for continuing to open my emails, even though it’s been awhile. I buried my best friend today. He was only 46. Last month, I lost my uncle. A few weeks before that, my beloved 12-year old German Shepherd passed away peacefully with his head resting on my foot. The month before that, my Mentor died in a car wreck.

Right now, I am grieving.

But I will get through this. I will be back to publishing my weekly APBs soon. Thank you for your understanding and support. In the meantime, keep writing and do not hesitate to email me with any crime-writing questions you think I can help you with.

Write well and love one another, Adam

June 17, 2017

First, thanks to those of you that offered your condolences regarding my mentor passing away. I really appreciate your kind thoughts. It’s another reminder that whatever time we get is luck and we should all tell our loved ones how we feel…often.

CHARACTER: FORENSIC ODONTOLOGIST Crime fighting Dentists. Wait-What? One of the more esoteric fields of Forensic Science is Forensic Odontology. Bitemark analysis can play an important role in cases ranging from Domestic Violence to Murder. If you are writing about a killer with a sexual deviance or one that uses torture, bitemarks might make an interesting literary device. I’m sure you can come up with all sorts of deeper symbology or an intense psychological profile with a biter as the perpetrator.

If you choose to go this route, the American Board of Forensic Odontology created a Bitemark Methodology Standards and Guidelines document that you may find incredibly helpful. This guide covers bitemark analytical methods, related terminology, collecting Bite Site evidence, collecting a suspect’s dentition, preferred formatting for the Odontologist’s analytical reports, exemplar comparison methods, the best practices for describing whether a suspect’s teeth could have made the bitemark in question, and even a sample layout of what the final investigative report should look like.

It’s easy to read and it’s only eleven pages long. I have no doubt you’ll be able to use this document to create believable dialog for your Forensic Odontologist, whether it’s explaining facts to an investigator or testifying as a witness in court. While you’re on the ABFO.org page, you might take a quick look at the Member Directory to see if any Members work near you. I’d be willing to bet any one of these Forensic Odontologists would be willing to talk shop to a writer interested in this fascinating niche.

WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK: DEAD BODY STUFF…BUT FUNNY A good friend of mine, who also happens to be a super smart and talented Psychologist that works with my agency, recommended the book I am reading this week:

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers* by Mary Roach.

I’m not sure if the Doc profiled me as being psychologically disturbed or that we share the same skewed sense of humor. Either way, it was a brilliant recommendation.

Just like cops, most crime writers seem to share a certain degree of gallows humor. If this describes you, you will LOVE this book. It is packed full of answers to your dead body questions, peppered with hilarious observations that make this a quick, funny, and useful reference tome that every serious crime writer should read.

If you need answers to serious plot quandaries, such as the stages of a body’s biological and chemical decomposition phases or the timelines associated with each…but you’d prefer it explained in a way that sounds like you’re listening to a friend telling stories over drinks (rather than a dry medical school textbook,) then this is the book for you.

Here’s a sample passage from the Stiff*: [Context: Mary is visiting the University of Tennessee’s Anthropological Research Facility in Knoxville where human decomposition is studied.] “So the gas builds up and the belly bloats. He explains that the small intestine has pretty much collapsed and sealed itself off…Though he allows, with some prodding, that a little bad air often does, in fact, slip out, and so, as a matter of record, it can be said that dead people fart. It needn’t be, but it can.”

Mary also writes about the mental techniques first-year medical students use to get over the natural tendency to get grossed out by their cadavers. Any character of yours that routinely attends or partakes in autopsies will have developed “objectification techniques” like what is mentioned in this book.

If the mere thought of dead bodies and decay gets you squeamish, you might want to reconsider my suggestion, but I really do think you should give it a try. There are ZERO gross pictures, so you don’t need to worry about seeing any gore.

I will be traveling through various parts of England and Scotland in the upcoming weeks. If you want to keep tabs on what I’m up to, follow me on Instagram: @writersdetctive (DISCLAIMER: It is entirely possible the photos will be nothing but the pubs, ales, and wee drams of whisky I find. So no promises that the photos will be any good.

June 12, 2017

It’s been a rough weekend. One of my mentors died in a car crash this weekend. He was incredibly sharp and an A-Type through-and-through. He always demanded the best work out of his detectives, but he also made sure we had fun on and off duty. I blame him for my love of Rum & Cokes. Regrettably, we lost touch after his retirement a few years ago. Rest in Peace.

If there is one writing-related thing I can share about this, its the way cops have a tendency to detach using an out-of-sight-out-of-mind coping mechanism. It’s not that we don’t care or that we aren’t thinking about our former Brothers and Sisters in Blue; we just spend our emotional effort on those that we are working with (and watching the backs of) currently. We are also notoriously bad at acknowledging and dealing with negative emotions, other than to lock them away for another day.

It starts at the beginning. When a Recruit is fired from the Police Academy, the Academy Class does not get to say goodbye. The Recruit is called to the office and that’s the last you see or hear of the Recruit. When the class comes back into the classroom after PT or a defensive tactics course, the fired Recruit’s belongings are gone and his name placard has been removed from his seat and pinned upside down to the wall at the back of the classroom (along with the name placards of other former classmates.)

The lesson is clear: You’re either in or out. The work still goes on. That persists through the rest of a cop’s career. There is a saying “SWAT-OR-NOT.” Many officers will be part of a SWAT team at some point in their career. SWAT is for the young and motivated. Which means there are a ton of former-SWAT operators full of “When I was on the Team…” war stories. SWAT-or-NOT means if you aren’t on the team now, you aren’t SWAT anymore (so shut it.) In or out. So when an officer retires from the Department, it can feel like going through an amicable divorce. Sure, we all say we’ll still be friends and keep in touch…but only your closest friends will actually follow through. It’s a weird and sad phenomena. So if your characters are “ex-cops” that have turned into a P.I., expect that they may be forgotten rather quickly no matter how awesome they were. In or out.

CHARACTER: THE SPOUSE There is no tougher rock than the spouse of a cop. “10 Tips for a Police Spouse” was written by the wife of an Australian Police Officer. Every single bullet point translates to police work anywhere in the world. This brief glimpse into a Police Family’s life is worth the read, as it may give you insight into an often overlooked character in your story. It may also offer you a chance to skew the way your detective character is viewed and/or add additional conflict and chaos to the detective’s life. Regardless of whether the cop catches the murderer or saves the kidnap victim, the spouse may be seeing that same cop as the absentee-parent or an aloof workaholic who fails to prioritize his or her marriage.

STORY: CASE COORDINATION? If your Detective is undercover as an arms dealer trying to lure in potential lone-wolf terrorists, how will s/he make sure the “clients” aren’t also undercover cops trying to run their own arms-dealing investigation? Or drug dealing? Or murder-for-hire? The answer is to have a deconfliction clearinghouse. RISS.net is exactly that. Each area of the U.S. has a RISS Clearinghouse. If I am on a surveillance (or some other sort of covert op, like buying drugs or guns), I will call my local clearinghouse and be “put on the war board” so any other police agencies working covert operations (that also call into the clearinghouse) will be made aware of what we’re doing. NOTE: In my own experience, Federal Agencies are notoriously HORRIBLE at notifying RISS of their operations. So if you want some part of your investigation to go awry or for Federal Feathers to get ruffled, this is a real-life way of it happening. The Feds definitely use RISS, they just tend to enter their info after the fact.

Each RISS affiliated Clearinghouse has it’s own name, often a bland acronym that we turn into a weird sounding word. For example, in California we have WSIN (Western States Information Network) which everyone pronounces as Whizzin’ and the Clearinghouse for the greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area is creatively named LAClear. Or how about MAGLOCLEN? Yep. Just like it sounds, Maglow-Clen. Sounds like the Glow in the Dark brother of Kylo Ren to me.

In addition to deconflicting covert operations in the field, RISS also deconflicts entire investigations. If I am working a homicide and I’ve identified a suspect or person of interest, I will call WSIN and run that suspect’s name in their database. If that name is a match for being related to another investigation (say a drug investigation), the Clearinghouse will put the detectives in contact with each other. Wouldn’t it be nice to know that your homicide suspect was also identified by the DEA as a member of a drug cartel? This is often how those investigative links are made.

The RISS Clearinghouses also offer other support as well, which are mentioned after the 3:28 minute mark in this video. If there is one thing I’ve discovered in government work, the more bland the title or description, the more important and bad-ass the work they actually do.

June 6, 2017

CHARACTER: NEW DETECTIVES Writers often ask me about how their characters can realistically become detectives in their stories. While federal agencies in the U.S. hire directly into investigator roles (usually called Special Agents), local police agencies almost always require officers to promote to the rank of detective after serving some years working the street in uniform. This week, I discovered a BBC story announcing Scotland Yard’s decision to hire Detective Trainees. The Met has a shortage of investigators, so the new hiring program is aimed at recruiting new hires directly into the detective ranks without requiring the trainees to work in uniform. While I don’t see this program becoming too likely in the U.S., it could certainly lead to some interesting crime stories and character bios.

THE BUSINESS SIDE OF WRITING: FEAR LESS (NOT FEARLESS) I have made reference to Tim Ferriss’ podcast before, but this week he sits down with Vince Vaughn. Vince talks about how his teenage job as a telemarketer helped him overcome any fear of asking for things from strangers. Some of the stories in this interview are hilarious, but I really appreciated the message of not being afraid to go beyond what you find comfortable to accomplish your goals. Writers being introverts maybe a stereotype, but I think most of us find it uncomfortable to make the Big Ask. This is especially true when it feels like a possible rejection will be too tortuous to endure. This interview speaks to that and I think you will enjoy it. I am contemplating running a contest based on an idea presented in this interview. Check out the interview and you may get a head start on the contest!

MOTIVE: WOMEN WHO KILL We tend to think of men as the killers in our society. A&E aired a special documentary focused on the phenomenon of women being more likely to kill family members than men. You can still catch the documentary on aetv.com, you just need to login using your TV provider’s account credentials. Just remember me when your next story idea sells to Lifetime TV.

May 27, 2017

CHARACTER: FOUR MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERS This isn’t my first link from an APB to K.M. Weiland’s writing website, helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com but this week’s post about a story’s Four Most Important Characters is fantastic. She writes about the roles the Protagonist, Antagonist, Reflection, and Love Interest should play in fulfilling their unique thematic roles and guiding your Protagonist toward (or away from) your story’s Thematic Truth. This is a must read for any author, regardless of genre. If you’re a fan of Poldark, you’ll really appreciate K.M.’s examples.

GENRE: DANGEROUS WORK One reason Detective Stories and Cop Shows are so popular is that the stakes are often life and death. Nothing will remind you more of those stakes than the Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks every Law Enforcement line-of-duty death. The FBI tracks officer deaths and assaults, through the Annual LEOKA Report. LEOKA is an acronym for Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted. LEOKA statistics are reported by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to the FBI as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program.

RESEARCH: ASK THE EXPERTS! Sue Coletta is an award winning crime fiction author; murder blogger; co-host of the monthly Partners In Crime #BlogTalkRadio; and host/founder of #ACrimeChat, the bi-weekly Twitter Q&A for crime writers. Both the Partners In Crime streaming audio program and #ACrimeChat Twitter Q&A are regular opportunities for you to ask a cadre of experienced cops and writers questions specific to your craft. I jump into the #ACrimeChat Q&A as often as I can. It’s always a fun set of questions that don’t always get the same answers from the experts. Search #ACrimeChat on Twitter to see past Questions and Answers. #ACrimeChat occurs every other Wednesday from 3pm-4pm EDT/12pm-1pm PST. Submit your questions by tweeting @SueColetta1. Don’t be shy; we’d love to have you join us!

WRITING: FOR YOURSELF In addition to my law enforcement career and helping authors and screenwriters through writersdetective.com, I also teach at the collegiate level. One of my favorite classes to teach is a Criminal Justice Ethics course that includes the topics of mindfulness and wholesight. I am far from becoming some kind of New Age hippy, but I believe practicing mindfulness and wholesight leads to being a better person and a happier life. One tool I love to accomplish this is The Five Minute Journal*. Writing in my journal is the one daily New Year’s Resolution I have kept since 1/1/2017, and I urge you to consider checking it out. I read the daily quote and write in my journal when I first wake up, which helps me frame my day as one of possibility. Then before bed, I reflect back on how my day went and what I took notice of as being amazing. Knowing that I will write about “Three Amazing Things That Happened” each day has given me reason to seek out the amazing little things daily. It takes me LESS than five minutes each day. For those of us who don’t make the time to meditate or keep a diary, The Five Minute Journal* is perfect for cultivating a few minutes of good thoughts at the beginning and end of your day.

May 21, 2017

COMMUNICATIONS: Every cop has a story for what led them to this career. A Commander I worked for shared his story, which was a simple one. When he was a kid, he happened upon some sort of emergency in his town. There were flashing lights, sirens, police cars everywhere, and a crime scene cordoned off. He remembered watching an officer arrive in a police car and then walk past him into the crime scene. As a kid, my Commander desperately wanted to know what was going on. It dawned on him that the uniformed officer knew what was going on. That was the seed that grew into a police career: Knowing What Was Going On. Despite newer technologies like cellphones and computers in the patrol cars, the primary communication tool is still the police radio. Thanks to modern technology, you can know what’s going on by listening in on police radio traffic from around the world for free, on your smartphone. While I don’t recommend filling your writing or dialogue with police radio codes and jargon, listening to the communications around where your story is set can be enlightening. Is your story set in an area where a dedicated dispatch center is responsible for tracking dozens of officers at a time, or is the dispatching handled by the one civilian employee back at the office who is also the records clerk? To listen in using iPhone/Apple iOS Devices: Download the free 5-0 Radio App in the App Store. For Android Devices: Download the free Scanner Radio App in the Google Play Store. If you navigate to your story’s location and don’t get much to listen to, navigate to “LAPD Aero and Special Unit Dispatch” (LAPD calls this frequency “Air / K9”) to hear the most serious emergencies in the City of Los Angeles in near realtime.

STORY: In March, I shared a link to the policeone.com website that several of you said was extremely helpful. I’ve got another one for you! Similar to PoliceOne is a website called LEO Affairs. (No, it’s not Ashley Madison for Cops.) In addition to having a ton of incredible dashcam/bodycam footage, you can be a fly on the wall in the Forums to learn how cops honestly feel about various topics and possibly get some insight to what is going on inside the agency you might be writing about.

DEATH [Squeamish Alert] If you only write Cozy Mysteries or get squeamish, feel free to skip these links. One writer asked “does a body decompose any faster/slower if it doesn’t have any blood in it?” My reply: “It could. It would also depend on how the body lost its blood. Putrefaction may be slowed if the bacteria doesn’t have a blood filled circulatory system to move through easily. That said, if the blood loss occurred due to a significant wound, that wound would also allow for outside insects and bacteria to enter the cadaver to speed up the decomp. Depending on how you want your story to go, you can speed up decomp by elevating the ambient temperature and have the cadaver exposed. If you want the decomp slowed, cooling the temp and having the cadaver unexposed to air and outside elements (buried, bundled in clothing/sleeping bag, etc.) may help.” To learn more, check out AboutForensics and ExploreForensics (both links to U.K. sites.)

May 14, 2017

CHARACTER: MOTHER’S DAY Imagine being a single-mom to five kids, attending college, and being a Baltimore City Police Officer during last year’s riots. Meet BPD Officer Karyn Crisafulli. If you’re looking for a real Mother’s Day Hero, she is definitely it. I hope she inspires you to go for your dreams!

PROPS: FLIR On Saturday morning (by that I mean 0230 in the morning), my helicopter pilot partner and I were called to search a remote area for a suspect that fled on foot from a vehicle pursuit after he crashed his car. I was operating the helicopter’s Forward-Looking-InfraRed (FLIR) and using it to look for heat sources ahead of where our canine team was searching. I spotted the suspect about fifty yards ahead of the canine team just as he began running away from the officers. I radioed the K9 Officer who released his German Shepherd partner from his leash. The bad guy tried fighting the canine and quickly became a bloody chew-toy. Once the dummy was in handcuffs, we landed the helicopter and delivered a First Aid kit for bandaging his wounds. Being able to visually “see” heat through a thermograph has been an invaluable tool for law enforcement. Which leads me to this week’s second link: Understanding the scientific principles of how FLIR works. Oh how far we’ve come since the Year 1800 and Sir Frederick William Herschel’s discovery of infrared! At the very least, your kids might enjoy the science project of using a prism and a handful of thermometers. To find out what I’m talking about, watch this YouTube video.

STORY: EXTRADITION When bad guys are on the run, they are usually wanted because an arrest warrant was issued demanding their arrest. So what happens when a wanted person is arrested in another state? This short video explains the process of Interstate Extradition.. I have personally traveled out of state for dozens of extraditions, usually bringing the defendant back via a commercial airliner. In this video, you’ll see that the process becomes a little more complicated with International Extraditions. As I mentioned in a previous APB regarding the FBI and Interpol, international extraditions involve partner nations that have agreed to reciprocity in a treaty.

May 6, 2017

SETTING: LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN Insight Crime is a great researching resource for crimes relating to Latin America, the Caribbean, and its ties to the US. Insight Crime is a foundation dedicated to the study of Organized Crime in those areas. Their website offers timely reporting and analysis on organized crime in the region. For adventurous bilingual students, they offer unpaid internships on a semester schedule.

PLOT: FBI and FISA Last week, FBI Director Comey testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the FBI oversight. I am sure you’re as sick of the news as I am, but this testimony is worth reviewing from a research perspective. Near the 2 hour 57 minute mark (scroll down to that clip), Dir. Comey offers a pretty concise explanation of Section 702 of FISA. For my research gluttons out there, here is NSA’s more detailed white paper on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702. (A big shout out to my Mom for sharing the C-SPAN coverage with all of us!) Most Detectives do not get involved in FISA “wire taps” when investigating homicides. However, all it takes is a terror motive and your Detective may get sucked into the shadowy world of the Intelligence Community. It’s important to understand that the FBI acts as both a criminal investigation agency and as a domestic intelligence agency. Generally, the FBI Special Agents in each office will be assigned to one or the other as a primary job duty. In smaller FBI RA’s (Resident Agency offices –think satellite offices in smaller communities), an agent assigned to IT (International Terrorism) or DT (Domestic Terrorism) may still be required to roll out to a bank robbery. It just won’t be their primary duty. As a Detective, I have personally worked with both sides of the FBI office. When you are working with the Intel side, you are generally dealing with classified information that will not be used in court. If it does make it to court, it’s gone through some heavy legal review and it’s usually years after the arrest.

WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK: “The Six Month Novel Writing Plan” Caitlin and Jacob Jans are the editors of Authors Publish Magazine, a free weekly email magazine for writers. Caitlin recently published “The Six Month Novel Writing Plan” and it’s available for free for a limited time. She offers some really practical advice for actually getting that novel finished (hint: writing time is not facebook time), edited, and published. If you find it worthwhile, consider giving it a review on Amazon.

April 29, 2017

Story: Dialogue – “Know Your Why” – Self Publishing Podcast Last year, the amazing folks at Sterling & Stone were crazy enough to feature me on an episode of their Self Publishing Podcast. (I’d like to offer a huge shout out and thank you to fellow Tribe Writer, Christine Niles, for making the podcast happen! Y’all are even nuttier for including me in the 2016 Year in Review episode.) On the podcast, I spoke about writing Interview & Interrogation dialogue and how “knowing the why” of each character will shape what is said…and [PUN ALERT] why it’s a cop out to use a suspect interrogation to summarize the investigation for the reader. So, what would a Detective actually say in an interview or interrogation? One of the most successful (and sometimes controversial) interview and interrogation methods is called The Reid Technique. This link to John E. Reid’s website includes some worthwhile presentations covering the stages of interview and interrogation. The Reid Investigator Tip page has a drop-down list of I&I questions that may help you craft dialog for your own interrogation scenes. If you pay attention to the way most Reid questions are formatted, you’ll notice that they are designed to elicit expository answers, not just a Yes/No response…which always help keep the dialogue and story moving!

PLOT: “All the pieces matter.” –Det. Lester Freamon, The Wire Your investigation is stalled. You can’t identify your victim, or maybe you only have part of a victim. Perhaps there is a signature to this killing and you want to see if any other homicide investigations have a similar trademark. ViCAP (the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) is an FBI administered database dedicated to accomplishing exactly that. It was created in the early 1980s, but has since morphed into a secure web-based database that all US law enforcement agencies can access. If your serial killer uses a specific technique or you are looking to identify a Jane/John Doe, then ViCAP is likely the database where the analytical linking to other homicide, kidnapping, or missing person cases will occur. Click here to see the Public’s version of current investigations currently seeking leads or information.

WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK*: “DRIVE: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us“ I know. “Writing is hard.” Many traditionally published authors argue that writing Is even harder once you’ve obtained that ever elusive “Publishing Contract.” This book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us* sheds light on the illogical human tendency to lose motivation whenever something that was implicitly rewarding (like writing for the love of it) becomes something you’re compensated for (a Big 5 Publishing contract perhaps.) This book is a interesting read and the author does a great job making the scientific evidence an easy read. It is definitely thought provoking. I am still in the middle of the book, so I will update you on whether there are any motivation hacks worth pursuing.

APB Email Archive Update syndicated from http://ift.tt/2k7p7z2

[shadowfollowweb]

APB Email Archive Update

November 5, 2017

I want to start by thanking those of you that offered such kind words of encouragement and understanding during my bereavement hiatus from the APB emails. I apologize for not replying to your emails...I was overwhelmed by how many thoughtful messages I received, but please know that I appreciate you greatly and that helped immensely. I have been overwhelmed by how kind, caring, and understanding my followers are. Thank you!!! Now, I am happy to announce that I am ready to get back to our regularly scheduled programming...and just in time for NaNoWriMo! I hope the time change allowed you to sneak an extra hour of writing time in, even if you aren't participating in National Novel Writing Month.

CHARACTER: OLD SCHOOL BEAT COPS The LA Times ran an article yesterday on a pair of LAPD Officers that have been partners for an unbelievable twenty-nine years! The guys seem to be right out of a Joseph Wambaugh novel. Like any good marriage, the key to their resiliency is that they operate like a well tuned machine. Each partner has his own strengths (and I'm sure weaknesses as well) and they know which part to play and when. If you are writing a Cop/Buddy Story, you will enjoy this article.

WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK: LEVEL UP YOUR DIALOGUE I am a fan of both Reddit and Quora. If you've been living under a boulder of old AOL Installation CDs, they are websites every author should add to his or her research toolbox. While Reddit and Quora are quite different sites, they are both great places to learn about nearly any topic you can dream up. This week, I was reading the Quora thread: What one tip changed your writing forever? Christopher Kingery shared a tip for writing dialogue that is a must-read. It is so simple and it's something that all of my favorite authors do...yet I never really thought about it. (Are you a Redditor or Quora User? Add me as a friend on Reddit and Quora!)

SOME OTHER COP'S BLOG: The Salty Sarge I discovered thesaltysarge.com blog this week and the post "Why Cops Retire Before You" is absolutely spot on. To gain even more insight into the lives of cops in the later stages or their careers, scroll through the comments at the bottom of the post. This is good background on the mentality of any Mentor type characters you might write about.

Good luck hitting your NaNoWriMo word counts and remember that any questions you have can be posted in the WRITERSDETECTIVE Q&A group on Facebook...even if you aren't a NaNo'er. It's a very supportive group and I try to answer your questions as quickly as I can.

October 3, 2017

Thank you for continuing to open my emails, even though it's been awhile. I buried my best friend today. He was only 46. Last month, I lost my uncle. A few weeks before that, my beloved 12-year old German Shepherd passed away peacefully with his head resting on my foot. The month before that, my Mentor died in a car wreck. Right now, I am grieving. But I will get through this. I will be back to publishing my weekly APBs soon. Thank you for your understanding and support. In the meantime, keep writing and do not hesitate to email me with any crime-writing questions you think I can help you with. Write well and love one another, Adam

June 17, 2017

First, thanks to those of you that offered your condolences regarding my mentor passing away. I really appreciate your kind thoughts. It's another reminder that whatever time we get is luck and we should all tell our loved ones how we feel...often.

CHARACTER: FORENSIC ODONTOLOGIST Crime fighting Dentists. Wait-What? One of the more esoteric fields of Forensic Science is Forensic Odontology. Bitemark analysis can play an important role in cases ranging from Domestic Violence to Murder. If you are writing about a killer with a sexual deviance or one that uses torture, bitemarks might make an interesting literary device. I'm sure you can come up with all sorts of deeper symbology or an intense psychological profile with a biter as the perpetrator. If you choose to go this route, the American Board of Forensic Odontology created a Bitemark Methodology Standards and Guidelines document that you may find incredibly helpful. This guide covers bitemark analytical methods, related terminology, collecting Bite Site evidence, collecting a suspect’s dentition, preferred formatting for the Odontologist’s analytical reports, exemplar comparison methods, the best practices for describing whether a suspect’s teeth could have made the bitemark in question, and even a sample layout of what the final investigative report should look like. It’s easy to read and it's only eleven pages long. I have no doubt you’ll be able to use this document to create believable dialog for your Forensic Odontologist, whether it's explaining facts to an investigator or testifying as a witness in court. While you’re on the ABFO.org page, you might take a quick look at the Member Directory to see if any Members work near you. I’d be willing to bet any one of these Forensic Odontologists would be willing to talk shop to a writer interested in this fascinating niche.

WHAT I'M READING THIS WEEK: DEAD BODY STUFF...BUT FUNNY A good friend of mine, who also happens to be a super smart and talented Psychologist that works with my agency, recommended the book I am reading this week: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers* by Mary Roach. I'm not sure if the Doc profiled me as being psychologically disturbed or that we share the same skewed sense of humor. Either way, it was a brilliant recommendation. Just like cops, most crime writers seem to share a certain degree of gallows humor. If this describes you, you will LOVE this book. It is packed full of answers to your dead body questions, peppered with hilarious observations that make this a quick, funny, and useful reference tome that every serious crime writer should read. If you need answers to serious plot quandaries, such as the stages of a body’s biological and chemical decomposition phases or the timelines associated with each...but you'd prefer it explained in a way that sounds like you're listening to a friend telling stories over drinks (rather than a dry medical school textbook,) then this is the book for you. Here’s a sample passage from the Stiff*: [Context: Mary is visiting the University of Tennessee's Anthropological Research Facility in Knoxville where human decomposition is studied.] “So the gas builds up and the belly bloats. He explains that the small intestine has pretty much collapsed and sealed itself off…Though he allows, with some prodding, that a little bad air often does, in fact, slip out, and so, as a matter of record, it can be said that dead people fart. It needn’t be, but it can.” Mary also writes about the mental techniques first-year medical students use to get over the natural tendency to get grossed out by their cadavers. Any character of yours that routinely attends or partakes in autopsies will have developed “objectification techniques” like what is mentioned in this book. If the mere thought of dead bodies and decay gets you squeamish, you might want to reconsider my suggestion, but I really do think you should give it a try. There are ZERO gross pictures, so you don’t need to worry about seeing any gore.

I will be traveling through various parts of England and Scotland in the upcoming weeks. If you want to keep tabs on what I'm up to, follow me on Instagram: @writersdetctive (DISCLAIMER: It is entirely possible the photos will be nothing but the pubs, ales, and wee drams of whisky I find. So no promises that the photos will be any good. ;)

June 12, 2017

It's been a rough weekend. One of my mentors died in a car crash this weekend. He was incredibly sharp and an A-Type through-and-through. He always demanded the best work out of his detectives, but he also made sure we had fun on and off duty. I blame him for my love of Rum & Cokes. Regrettably, we lost touch after his retirement a few years ago. Rest in Peace. If there is one writing-related thing I can share about this, its the way cops have a tendency to detach using an out-of-sight-out-of-mind coping mechanism. It's not that we don't care or that we aren't thinking about our former Brothers and Sisters in Blue; we just spend our emotional effort on those that we are working with (and watching the backs of) currently. We are also notoriously bad at acknowledging and dealing with negative emotions, other than to lock them away for another day. It starts at the beginning. When a Recruit is fired from the Police Academy, the Academy Class does not get to say goodbye. The Recruit is called to the office and that's the last you see or hear of the Recruit. When the class comes back into the classroom after PT or a defensive tactics course, the fired Recruit's belongings are gone and his name placard has been removed from his seat and pinned upside down to the wall at the back of the classroom (along with the name placards of other former classmates.) The lesson is clear: You're either in or out. The work still goes on. That persists through the rest of a cop's career. There is a saying "SWAT-OR-NOT." Many officers will be part of a SWAT team at some point in their career. SWAT is for the young and motivated. Which means there are a ton of former-SWAT operators full of "When I was on the Team..." war stories. SWAT-or-NOT means if you aren't on the team now, you aren't SWAT anymore (so shut it.) In or out. So when an officer retires from the Department, it can feel like going through an amicable divorce. Sure, we all say we'll still be friends and keep in touch...but only your closest friends will actually follow through. It's a weird and sad phenomena. So if your characters are "ex-cops" that have turned into a P.I., expect that they may be forgotten rather quickly no matter how awesome they were. In or out.

CHARACTER: THE SPOUSE There is no tougher rock than the spouse of a cop. "10 Tips for a Police Spouse" was written by the wife of an Australian Police Officer. Every single bullet point translates to police work anywhere in the world. This brief glimpse into a Police Family's life is worth the read, as it may give you insight into an often overlooked character in your story. It may also offer you a chance to skew the way your detective character is viewed and/or add additional conflict and chaos to the detective's life. Regardless of whether the cop catches the murderer or saves the kidnap victim, the spouse may be seeing that same cop as the absentee-parent or an aloof workaholic who fails to prioritize his or her marriage.

STORY: CASE COORDINATION? If your Detective is undercover as an arms dealer trying to lure in potential lone-wolf terrorists, how will s/he make sure the "clients" aren't also undercover cops trying to run their own arms-dealing investigation? Or drug dealing? Or murder-for-hire? The answer is to have a deconfliction clearinghouse. RISS.net is exactly that. Each area of the U.S. has a RISS Clearinghouse. If I am on a surveillance (or some other sort of covert op, like buying drugs or guns), I will call my local clearinghouse and be "put on the war board" so any other police agencies working covert operations (that also call into the clearinghouse) will be made aware of what we're doing. NOTE: In my own experience, Federal Agencies are notoriously HORRIBLE at notifying RISS of their operations. So if you want some part of your investigation to go awry or for Federal Feathers to get ruffled, this is a real-life way of it happening. The Feds definitely use RISS, they just tend to enter their info after the fact. Each RISS affiliated Clearinghouse has it's own name, often a bland acronym that we turn into a weird sounding word. For example, in California we have WSIN (Western States Information Network) which everyone pronounces as Whizzin' and the Clearinghouse for the greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area is creatively named LAClear. Or how about MAGLOCLEN? Yep. Just like it sounds, Maglow-Clen. Sounds like the Glow in the Dark brother of Kylo Ren to me. In addition to deconflicting covert operations in the field, RISS also deconflicts entire investigations. If I am working a homicide and I've identified a suspect or person of interest, I will call WSIN and run that suspect's name in their database. If that name is a match for being related to another investigation (say a drug investigation), the Clearinghouse will put the detectives in contact with each other. Wouldn't it be nice to know that your homicide suspect was also identified by the DEA as a member of a drug cartel? This is often how those investigative links are made. The RISS Clearinghouses also offer other support as well, which are mentioned after the 3:28 minute mark in this video. If there is one thing I've discovered in government work, the more bland the title or description, the more important and bad-ass the work they actually do.

June 6, 2017

CHARACTER: NEW DETECTIVES Writers often ask me about how their characters can realistically become detectives in their stories. While federal agencies in the U.S. hire directly into investigator roles (usually called Special Agents), local police agencies almost always require officers to promote to the rank of detective after serving some years working the street in uniform. This week, I discovered a BBC story announcing Scotland Yard's decision to hire Detective Trainees. The Met has a shortage of investigators, so the new hiring program is aimed at recruiting new hires directly into the detective ranks without requiring the trainees to work in uniform. While I don't see this program becoming too likely in the U.S., it could certainly lead to some interesting crime stories and character bios.

THE BUSINESS SIDE OF WRITING: FEAR LESS (NOT FEARLESS) I have made reference to Tim Ferriss' podcast before, but this week he sits down with Vince Vaughn. Vince talks about how his teenage job as a telemarketer helped him overcome any fear of asking for things from strangers. Some of the stories in this interview are hilarious, but I really appreciated the message of not being afraid to go beyond what you find comfortable to accomplish your goals. Writers being introverts maybe a stereotype, but I think most of us find it uncomfortable to make the Big Ask. This is especially true when it feels like a possible rejection will be too tortuous to endure. This interview speaks to that and I think you will enjoy it. I am contemplating running a contest based on an idea presented in this interview. Check out the interview and you may get a head start on the contest!

MOTIVE: WOMEN WHO KILL We tend to think of men as the killers in our society. A&E aired a special documentary focused on the phenomenon of women being more likely to kill family members than men. You can still catch the documentary on aetv.com, you just need to login using your TV provider's account credentials. Just remember me when your next story idea sells to Lifetime TV.

May 27, 2017

CHARACTER: FOUR MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERS This isn’t my first link from an APB to K.M. Weiland’s writing website, helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com but this week's post about a story's Four Most Important Characters is fantastic. She writes about the roles the Protagonist, Antagonist, Reflection, and Love Interest should play in fulfilling their unique thematic roles and guiding your Protagonist toward (or away from) your story’s Thematic Truth. This is a must read for any author, regardless of genre. If you’re a fan of Poldark, you’ll really appreciate K.M.’s examples.

GENRE: DANGEROUS WORK One reason Detective Stories and Cop Shows are so popular is that the stakes are often life and death. Nothing will remind you more of those stakes than the Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks every Law Enforcement line-of-duty death. The FBI tracks officer deaths and assaults, through the Annual LEOKA Report. LEOKA is an acronym for Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted. LEOKA statistics are reported by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to the FBI as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program.

RESEARCH: ASK THE EXPERTS! Sue Coletta is an award winning crime fiction author; murder blogger; co-host of the monthly Partners In Crime #BlogTalkRadio; and host/founder of #ACrimeChat, the bi-weekly Twitter Q&A for crime writers. Both the Partners In Crime streaming audio program and #ACrimeChat Twitter Q&A are regular opportunities for you to ask a cadre of experienced cops and writers questions specific to your craft. I jump into the #ACrimeChat Q&A as often as I can. It’s always a fun set of questions that don’t always get the same answers from the experts. Search #ACrimeChat on Twitter to see past Questions and Answers. #ACrimeChat occurs every other Wednesday from 3pm-4pm EDT/12pm-1pm PST. Submit your questions by tweeting @SueColetta1. Don’t be shy; we’d love to have you join us!

WRITING: FOR YOURSELF In addition to my law enforcement career and helping authors and screenwriters through writersdetective.com, I also teach at the collegiate level. One of my favorite classes to teach is a Criminal Justice Ethics course that includes the topics of mindfulness and wholesight. I am far from becoming some kind of New Age hippy, but I believe practicing mindfulness and wholesight leads to being a better person and a happier life. One tool I love to accomplish this is The Five Minute Journal*. Writing in my journal is the one daily New Year’s Resolution I have kept since 1/1/2017, and I urge you to consider checking it out. I read the daily quote and write in my journal when I first wake up, which helps me frame my day as one of possibility. Then before bed, I reflect back on how my day went and what I took notice of as being amazing. Knowing that I will write about “Three Amazing Things That Happened” each day has given me reason to seek out the amazing little things daily. It takes me LESS than five minutes each day. For those of us who don’t make the time to meditate or keep a diary, The Five Minute Journal* is perfect for cultivating a few minutes of good thoughts at the beginning and end of your day.

May 21, 2017

COMMUNICATIONS: Every cop has a story for what led them to this career. A Commander I worked for shared his story, which was a simple one. When he was a kid, he happened upon some sort of emergency in his town. There were flashing lights, sirens, police cars everywhere, and a crime scene cordoned off. He remembered watching an officer arrive in a police car and then walk past him into the crime scene. As a kid, my Commander desperately wanted to know what was going on. It dawned on him that the uniformed officer knew what was going on. That was the seed that grew into a police career: Knowing What Was Going On. Despite newer technologies like cellphones and computers in the patrol cars, the primary communication tool is still the police radio. Thanks to modern technology, you can know what's going on by listening in on police radio traffic from around the world for free, on your smartphone. While I don't recommend filling your writing or dialogue with police radio codes and jargon, listening to the communications around where your story is set can be enlightening. Is your story set in an area where a dedicated dispatch center is responsible for tracking dozens of officers at a time, or is the dispatching handled by the one civilian employee back at the office who is also the records clerk? To listen in using iPhone/Apple iOS Devices: Download the free 5-0 Radio App in the App Store. For Android Devices: Download the free Scanner Radio App in the Google Play Store. If you navigate to your story's location and don't get much to listen to, navigate to "LAPD Aero and Special Unit Dispatch" (LAPD calls this frequency "Air / K9") to hear the most serious emergencies in the City of Los Angeles in near realtime.

STORY: In March, I shared a link to the policeone.com website that several of you said was extremely helpful. I've got another one for you! Similar to PoliceOne is a website called LEO Affairs. (No, it's not Ashley Madison for Cops.) In addition to having a ton of incredible dashcam/bodycam footage, you can be a fly on the wall in the Forums to learn how cops honestly feel about various topics and possibly get some insight to what is going on inside the agency you might be writing about.

DEATH [Squeamish Alert] If you only write Cozy Mysteries or get squeamish, feel free to skip these links. One writer asked "does a body decompose any faster/slower if it doesn't have any blood in it?" My reply: "It could. It would also depend on how the body lost its blood. Putrefaction may be slowed if the bacteria doesn't have a blood filled circulatory system to move through easily. That said, if the blood loss occurred due to a significant wound, that wound would also allow for outside insects and bacteria to enter the cadaver to speed up the decomp. Depending on how you want your story to go, you can speed up decomp by elevating the ambient temperature and have the cadaver exposed. If you want the decomp slowed, cooling the temp and having the cadaver unexposed to air and outside elements (buried, bundled in clothing/sleeping bag, etc.) may help." To learn more, check out AboutForensics and ExploreForensics (both links to U.K. sites.)

May 14, 2017

CHARACTER: MOTHER'S DAY Imagine being a single-mom to five kids, attending college, and being a Baltimore City Police Officer during last year's riots. Meet BPD Officer Karyn Crisafulli. If you're looking for a real Mother's Day Hero, she is definitely it. I hope she inspires you to go for your dreams!

PROPS: FLIR On Saturday morning (by that I mean 0230 in the morning), my helicopter pilot partner and I were called to search a remote area for a suspect that fled on foot from a vehicle pursuit after he crashed his car. I was operating the helicopter's Forward-Looking-InfraRed (FLIR) and using it to look for heat sources ahead of where our canine team was searching. I spotted the suspect about fifty yards ahead of the canine team just as he began running away from the officers. I radioed the K9 Officer who released his German Shepherd partner from his leash. The bad guy tried fighting the canine and quickly became a bloody chew-toy. Once the dummy was in handcuffs, we landed the helicopter and delivered a First Aid kit for bandaging his wounds. Being able to visually "see" heat through a thermograph has been an invaluable tool for law enforcement. Which leads me to this week's second link: Understanding the scientific principles of how FLIR works. Oh how far we've come since the Year 1800 and Sir Frederick William Herschel's discovery of infrared! At the very least, your kids might enjoy the science project of using a prism and a handful of thermometers. To find out what I'm talking about, watch this YouTube video.

STORY: EXTRADITION When bad guys are on the run, they are usually wanted because an arrest warrant was issued demanding their arrest. So what happens when a wanted person is arrested in another state? This short video explains the process of Interstate Extradition.. I have personally traveled out of state for dozens of extraditions, usually bringing the defendant back via a commercial airliner. In this video, you'll see that the process becomes a little more complicated with International Extraditions. As I mentioned in a previous APB regarding the FBI and Interpol, international extraditions involve partner nations that have agreed to reciprocity in a treaty.

May 6, 2017

SETTING: LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN Insight Crime is a great researching resource for crimes relating to Latin America, the Caribbean, and its ties to the US. Insight Crime is a foundation dedicated to the study of Organized Crime in those areas. Their website offers timely reporting and analysis on organized crime in the region. For adventurous bilingual students, they offer unpaid internships on a semester schedule.

PLOT: FBI and FISA Last week, FBI Director Comey testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the FBI oversight. I am sure you’re as sick of the news as I am, but this testimony is worth reviewing from a research perspective. Near the 2 hour 57 minute mark (scroll down to that clip), Dir. Comey offers a pretty concise explanation of Section 702 of FISA. For my research gluttons out there, here is NSA’s more detailed white paper on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702. (A big shout out to my Mom for sharing the C-SPAN coverage with all of us!) Most Detectives do not get involved in FISA “wire taps” when investigating homicides. However, all it takes is a terror motive and your Detective may get sucked into the shadowy world of the Intelligence Community. It’s important to understand that the FBI acts as both a criminal investigation agency and as a domestic intelligence agency. Generally, the FBI Special Agents in each office will be assigned to one or the other as a primary job duty. In smaller FBI RA’s (Resident Agency offices –think satellite offices in smaller communities), an agent assigned to IT (International Terrorism) or DT (Domestic Terrorism) may still be required to roll out to a bank robbery. It just won’t be their primary duty. As a Detective, I have personally worked with both sides of the FBI office. When you are working with the Intel side, you are generally dealing with classified information that will not be used in court. If it does make it to court, it’s gone through some heavy legal review and it’s usually years after the arrest.

WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK: "The Six Month Novel Writing Plan" Caitlin and Jacob Jans are the editors of Authors Publish Magazine, a free weekly email magazine for writers. Caitlin recently published “The Six Month Novel Writing Plan” and it’s available for free for a limited time. She offers some really practical advice for actually getting that novel finished (hint: writing time is not facebook time), edited, and published. If you find it worthwhile, consider giving it a review on Amazon.

April 29, 2017

Story: Dialogue - "Know Your Why" - Self Publishing Podcast Last year, the amazing folks at Sterling & Stone were crazy enough to feature me on an episode of their Self Publishing Podcast. (I’d like to offer a huge shout out and thank you to fellow Tribe Writer, Christine Niles, for making the podcast happen! Y'all are even nuttier for including me in the 2016 Year in Review episode.) On the podcast, I spoke about writing Interview & Interrogation dialogue and how “knowing the why” of each character will shape what is said...and [PUN ALERT] why it’s a cop out to use a suspect interrogation to summarize the investigation for the reader. So, what would a Detective actually say in an interview or interrogation? One of the most successful (and sometimes controversial) interview and interrogation methods is called The Reid Technique. This link to John E. Reid’s website includes some worthwhile presentations covering the stages of interview and interrogation. The Reid Investigator Tip page has a drop-down list of I&I questions that may help you craft dialog for your own interrogation scenes. If you pay attention to the way most Reid questions are formatted, you’ll notice that they are designed to elicit expository answers, not just a Yes/No response...which always help keep the dialogue and story moving!

PLOT: “All the pieces matter.” –Det. Lester Freamon, The Wire Your investigation is stalled. You can’t identify your victim, or maybe you only have part of a victim. Perhaps there is a signature to this killing and you want to see if any other homicide investigations have a similar trademark. ViCAP (the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) is an FBI administered database dedicated to accomplishing exactly that. It was created in the early 1980s, but has since morphed into a secure web-based database that all US law enforcement agencies can access. If your serial killer uses a specific technique or you are looking to identify a Jane/John Doe, then ViCAP is likely the database where the analytical linking to other homicide, kidnapping, or missing person cases will occur. Click here to see the Public's version of current investigations currently seeking leads or information.

WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK*: "DRIVE: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" I know. "Writing is hard." Many traditionally published authors argue that writing Is even harder once you’ve obtained that ever elusive “Publishing Contract.” This book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us* sheds light on the illogical human tendency to lose motivation whenever something that was implicitly rewarding (like writing for the love of it) becomes something you’re compensated for (a Big 5 Publishing contract perhaps.) This book is a interesting read and the author does a great job making the scientific evidence an easy read. It is definitely thought provoking. I am still in the middle of the book, so I will update you on whether there are any motivation hacks worth pursuing. ;)

APB Email Archive Update published first on http://ift.tt/2pFdZxI

[snowbellewells]

“A Private Revolution”

by: @snowbellewells 

( I wrote this fic some time back, during a summer hiatus event. The prompt  was simply French Revolution.  At the time, I just put together what struck me, and though it’s  short and dubious in its historical accuracy, I have a friend who has asked for a sequel to it for some time.  She isn’t on Tumblr, but the sequel is nearly finished and only needs typed up now, so I thought I would post this here ahead of part two, and hope  some other shipmates might enjoy.)

        The knock at the door was so soft he almost did not hear it, and Lord Killian Jones tilted his head to listen curiously, unsure if the faint noise had been there at all or if he had imagined someone coming to him in his solitary moment of loneliness and ruin.  Yet though the knocking sound was not repeated, he could hear a quiet scuffle as he listened closely, as if someone shy or hesitant to disturb were shuffling their feet just outside his chambers – and with that, the young nobleman felt quiet sure he knew who was waiting for admittance.

        “Enter,” he called out, pushing confident assurance into his voice, despite the sensation of everything being unmoored, crumbling, trembling at the brink of downfall.  He could not let his fear or his uncertainty show – his family name, his noble line must be upheld, regardless of his own personal doubt.  It would not do to have some disloyal servant see him quaking in his shoes and to spread that news to the crass, militant rabble in the streets.  Though if this was the person he expected, she would never dream of doing any such thing.

        The door swung inward by slight degrees, until a flawless, pale and heart-shaped face was revealed, muted only by the glowing halo of flaxen curls piled out of the way atop this angel’s head, with tendrils escaping here and there to trail along her neck and shoulders enticingly.  The huge door, ornate with whorls and loops of hand wrought carving and adding to the opulent white and gold leaf décor of his personal apartments could not hold a candle to this chambermaid with simple and quiet dignity.  It had always been so, ever since their childhood on the estate together when they had laughed and played happily, much less aware of the difference in their stations.  Her mother had been his mother’s favored ladies’ maid, and Emma Swan had been on this estate in his family’s employ since birth.  It mattered little however that she was a mere housekeeper and assistant to the cook; he had always been in awe of her beauty, the way sunlight caught her hair and lit it aflame, or how the sparkling humor in her verdant green eyes could bring a smile and laughter to his lips no matter what had befallen him.  He was tempted even now – as he had been countless times before – to touch an escaped curl of her luxurious mane and twirl it around his finger, to know what those soft strands would feel like against his skin.

        “Emma,” was all he said aloud, giving a slight nod and beckoning her forward with crooked fingers.  “Come in, please.”

        She curtsied as she had been taught, and moved forward, graceful tread sinking into the plush carpet.  Though he had tried as often as he could for years to convince her that such formality was unnecessary, she persisted for some unfathomable reason that remained beyond his grasp.  His mother had been dead nearly a decade now – to the fever – even if her loss still ached in his breast, his father had already fled the country as Killian himself had been cautioned and advised to do, and his older brother Liam fought for the crown somewhere, surely trying to protect and keep the peace in the midst of a frightening Revolution.  Killian has received no word of his elder sibling, his hero, in nearly two months’ time, and the horror and panic at the thought of what might have befallen Liam threatened to climb up his throat and choke him whenever he dwelt upon it too long…

        “Milord,” Emma’s quiet voice – so unique, demure and respectful, but also husky, low, undeniably sensual – interrupted the thoughts that had begun to overwhelm him, and he clenched his fists against his thighs, hoping that his childhood friend, now servant to a decrepit manor falling around both their ears, would not see that he had begun to shake when she continued speaking.  “Beg pardon, Monsieur, but do you not mean to depart for the country?  It is no longer safe for you here, Sire.”

        His eyes darted up sharply in order to search hers, their icy blue piercing her; he could tell by the way her perfectly shaped pink lips parted on a startled gasp.  “You are the one who should leave, Mademoiselle,” he remarked, irked once again that she still refused to drop her guard and address him as someone she actually knew.  He cast his eyes back down to study his fine trousers and the elaborate buckles on his shoes – all silly affectations of his class that seemed so pointless now – unable to meet her guileless eyes any longer.  “Flee from here, tell no one from whence you came, blend with the oncoming mob and seek their protection from your oppressors.  Why do you stay?”

        Trembling herself, as if she could barely stand to be so bold, Emma drew closer to him than she had allowed herself since they were fourteen, since before his mother’s death and the weight of his position had fully fallen upon his shoulders, when they had been spinning under the open sky in a sunlit field of wildflowers until they had tumbled dizzily to the ground and in a moment of reckless abandon he had pulled her to his side, brushed her hair from her flushed face, leaned over her and kissed her.  It had never been repeated, but in unguarded moments Killian could sense that neither of them had forgotten that one perfect kiss.  This was one such time; it was clear in Emma’s open, pleading gaze as she tentatively reached forward and put her delicate fingers beneath his chin, tilting his face up to meet hers.

        “Don’t you know, K- Killian?” she whispered, stumbling momentarily over his given name, a familiarity she also had not allowed herself in years.  “It is you who keeps me here.  You cannot remain to make yourself a sacrifice to these fiends.  Mon Dieu!  I could not bear it if -”

        She broke off suddenly, wrenching her gaze away with a heaving breath, and withdrawing her gentle touch.  But Killian pushed forward, emboldened for the first time in what felt like ages.  Resolved in an instant, he took her hand in his, his face still burning pleasantly from her touch.  The thought that she lingered for him, that she would not abandon him even for her own safety and a life of freedom, shook Killian to his core. ‘Even after all this time,’ he realized, so stunned it nearly stole his breath, ‘she still feels as I do.’  He might not have been willing to flee for the sake of his own hide, but for her he would go to the end of the world itself.

        Bringing the back of her hand up to his mouth, Killian placed a fervent kiss to her soft, creamy skin.  “Then upon my word, we leave at once.  Emma,” he savored her name on his tongue like fine wine, “it will be as you wish.”

         And so, that night, when the violent mob with their torches breached the gates of his chateau, Lord Killian Jones and Emma Swan had already vanished, disappearing as one into the night.

Tagging a few lovelies who might enjoy: @kmomof4 @searchingwardrobes @hollyethecurious @laschatzi @spartanguard @therooksshiningknight @jennjenn615 @resident-of-storybrooke @teamhook @revanmeetra87 @gingerchangeling @vvbooklady1256 @aloha-4-ever @bmbbcs-4evr 

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APB Email Archive Update

November 5, 2017

I want to start by thanking those of you that offered such kind words of encouragement and understanding during my bereavement hiatus from the APB emails. I apologize for not replying to your emails…I was overwhelmed by how many thoughtful messages I received, but please know that I appreciate you greatly and that helped immensely. I have been overwhelmed by how kind, caring, and understanding my followers are. Thank you!!!

Now, I am happy to announce that I am ready to get back to our regularly scheduled programming…and just in time for NaNoWriMo! I hope the time change allowed you to sneak an extra hour of writing time in, even if you aren’t participating in National Novel Writing Month.

CHARACTER: OLD SCHOOL BEAT COPS The LA Times ran an article yesterday on a pair of LAPD Officers that have been partners for an unbelievable twenty-nine years! The guys seem to be right out of a Joseph Wambaugh novel. Like any good marriage, the key to their resiliency is that they operate like a well tuned machine. Each partner has his own strengths (and I’m sure weaknesses as well) and they know which part to play and when. If you are writing a Cop/Buddy Story, you will enjoy this article.

WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK: LEVEL UP YOUR DIALOGUE I am a fan of both Reddit and Quora. If you’ve been living under a boulder of old AOL Installation CDs, they are websites every author should add to his or her research toolbox. While Reddit and Quora are quite different sites, they are both great places to learn about nearly any topic you can dream up. This week, I was reading the Quora thread: What one tip changed your writing forever? Christopher Kingery shared a tip for writing dialogue that is a must-read. It is so simple and it’s something that all of my favorite authors do…yet I never really thought about it. (Are you a Redditor or Quora User? Add me as a friend on Reddit and Quora!)

SOME OTHER COP’S BLOG: The Salty Sarge I discovered thesaltysarge.com blog this week and the post “Why Cops Retire Before You” is absolutely spot on. To gain even more insight into the lives of cops in the later stages or their careers, scroll through the comments at the bottom of the post. This is good background on the mentality of any Mentor type characters you might write about.

Good luck hitting your NaNoWriMo word counts and remember that any questions you have can be posted in the WRITERSDETECTIVE Q&A group on Facebook…even if you aren’t a NaNo’er. It’s a very supportive group and I try to answer your questions as quickly as I can.

October 3, 2017

Thank you for continuing to open my emails, even though it’s been awhile. I buried my best friend today. He was only 46. Last month, I lost my uncle. A few weeks before that, my beloved 12-year old German Shepherd passed away peacefully with his head resting on my foot. The month before that, my Mentor died in a car wreck.

Right now, I am grieving.

But I will get through this. I will be back to publishing my weekly APBs soon. Thank you for your understanding and support. In the meantime, keep writing and do not hesitate to email me with any crime-writing questions you think I can help you with.

Write well and love one another, Adam

June 17, 2017

First, thanks to those of you that offered your condolences regarding my mentor passing away. I really appreciate your kind thoughts. It’s another reminder that whatever time we get is luck and we should all tell our loved ones how we feel…often.

CHARACTER: FORENSIC ODONTOLOGIST Crime fighting Dentists. Wait-What? One of the more esoteric fields of Forensic Science is Forensic Odontology. Bitemark analysis can play an important role in cases ranging from Domestic Violence to Murder. If you are writing about a killer with a sexual deviance or one that uses torture, bitemarks might make an interesting literary device. I’m sure you can come up with all sorts of deeper symbology or an intense psychological profile with a biter as the perpetrator.

If you choose to go this route, the American Board of Forensic Odontology created a Bitemark Methodology Standards and Guidelines document that you may find incredibly helpful. This guide covers bitemark analytical methods, related terminology, collecting Bite Site evidence, collecting a suspect’s dentition, preferred formatting for the Odontologist’s analytical reports, exemplar comparison methods, the best practices for describing whether a suspect’s teeth could have made the bitemark in question, and even a sample layout of what the final investigative report should look like.

It’s easy to read and it’s only eleven pages long. I have no doubt you’ll be able to use this document to create believable dialog for your Forensic Odontologist, whether it’s explaining facts to an investigator or testifying as a witness in court. While you’re on the ABFO.org page, you might take a quick look at the Member Directory to see if any Members work near you. I’d be willing to bet any one of these Forensic Odontologists would be willing to talk shop to a writer interested in this fascinating niche.

WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK: DEAD BODY STUFF…BUT FUNNY A good friend of mine, who also happens to be a super smart and talented Psychologist that works with my agency, recommended the book I am reading this week:

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers* by Mary Roach.

I’m not sure if the Doc profiled me as being psychologically disturbed or that we share the same skewed sense of humor. Either way, it was a brilliant recommendation.

Just like cops, most crime writers seem to share a certain degree of gallows humor. If this describes you, you will LOVE this book. It is packed full of answers to your dead body questions, peppered with hilarious observations that make this a quick, funny, and useful reference tome that every serious crime writer should read.

If you need answers to serious plot quandaries, such as the stages of a body’s biological and chemical decomposition phases or the timelines associated with each…but you’d prefer it explained in a way that sounds like you’re listening to a friend telling stories over drinks (rather than a dry medical school textbook,) then this is the book for you.

Here’s a sample passage from the Stiff*: [Context: Mary is visiting the University of Tennessee’s Anthropological Research Facility in Knoxville where human decomposition is studied.] “So the gas builds up and the belly bloats. He explains that the small intestine has pretty much collapsed and sealed itself off…Though he allows, with some prodding, that a little bad air often does, in fact, slip out, and so, as a matter of record, it can be said that dead people fart. It needn’t be, but it can.”

Mary also writes about the mental techniques first-year medical students use to get over the natural tendency to get grossed out by their cadavers. Any character of yours that routinely attends or partakes in autopsies will have developed “objectification techniques” like what is mentioned in this book.

If the mere thought of dead bodies and decay gets you squeamish, you might want to reconsider my suggestion, but I really do think you should give it a try. There are ZERO gross pictures, so you don’t need to worry about seeing any gore.

I will be traveling through various parts of England and Scotland in the upcoming weeks. If you want to keep tabs on what I’m up to, follow me on Instagram: @writersdetctive (DISCLAIMER: It is entirely possible the photos will be nothing but the pubs, ales, and wee drams of whisky I find. So no promises that the photos will be any good.

June 12, 2017

It’s been a rough weekend. One of my mentors died in a car crash this weekend. He was incredibly sharp and an A-Type through-and-through. He always demanded the best work out of his detectives, but he also made sure we had fun on and off duty. I blame him for my love of Rum & Cokes. Regrettably, we lost touch after his retirement a few years ago. Rest in Peace.

If there is one writing-related thing I can share about this, its the way cops have a tendency to detach using an out-of-sight-out-of-mind coping mechanism. It’s not that we don’t care or that we aren’t thinking about our former Brothers and Sisters in Blue; we just spend our emotional effort on those that we are working with (and watching the backs of) currently. We are also notoriously bad at acknowledging and dealing with negative emotions, other than to lock them away for another day.

It starts at the beginning. When a Recruit is fired from the Police Academy, the Academy Class does not get to say goodbye. The Recruit is called to the office and that’s the last you see or hear of the Recruit. When the class comes back into the classroom after PT or a defensive tactics course, the fired Recruit’s belongings are gone and his name placard has been removed from his seat and pinned upside down to the wall at the back of the classroom (along with the name placards of other former classmates.)

The lesson is clear: You’re either in or out. The work still goes on. That persists through the rest of a cop’s career. There is a saying “SWAT-OR-NOT.” Many officers will be part of a SWAT team at some point in their career. SWAT is for the young and motivated. Which means there are a ton of former-SWAT operators full of “When I was on the Team…” war stories. SWAT-or-NOT means if you aren’t on the team now, you aren’t SWAT anymore (so shut it.) In or out. So when an officer retires from the Department, it can feel like going through an amicable divorce. Sure, we all say we’ll still be friends and keep in touch…but only your closest friends will actually follow through. It’s a weird and sad phenomena. So if your characters are “ex-cops” that have turned into a P.I., expect that they may be forgotten rather quickly no matter how awesome they were. In or out.

CHARACTER: THE SPOUSE There is no tougher rock than the spouse of a cop. “10 Tips for a Police Spouse” was written by the wife of an Australian Police Officer. Every single bullet point translates to police work anywhere in the world. This brief glimpse into a Police Family’s life is worth the read, as it may give you insight into an often overlooked character in your story. It may also offer you a chance to skew the way your detective character is viewed and/or add additional conflict and chaos to the detective’s life. Regardless of whether the cop catches the murderer or saves the kidnap victim, the spouse may be seeing that same cop as the absentee-parent or an aloof workaholic who fails to prioritize his or her marriage.

STORY: CASE COORDINATION? If your Detective is undercover as an arms dealer trying to lure in potential lone-wolf terrorists, how will s/he make sure the “clients” aren’t also undercover cops trying to run their own arms-dealing investigation? Or drug dealing? Or murder-for-hire? The answer is to have a deconfliction clearinghouse. RISS.net is exactly that. Each area of the U.S. has a RISS Clearinghouse. If I am on a surveillance (or some other sort of covert op, like buying drugs or guns), I will call my local clearinghouse and be “put on the war board” so any other police agencies working covert operations (that also call into the clearinghouse) will be made aware of what we’re doing. NOTE: In my own experience, Federal Agencies are notoriously HORRIBLE at notifying RISS of their operations. So if you want some part of your investigation to go awry or for Federal Feathers to get ruffled, this is a real-life way of it happening. The Feds definitely use RISS, they just tend to enter their info after the fact.

Each RISS affiliated Clearinghouse has it’s own name, often a bland acronym that we turn into a weird sounding word. For example, in California we have WSIN (Western States Information Network) which everyone pronounces as Whizzin’ and the Clearinghouse for the greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area is creatively named LAClear. Or how about MAGLOCLEN? Yep. Just like it sounds, Maglow-Clen. Sounds like the Glow in the Dark brother of Kylo Ren to me.

In addition to deconflicting covert operations in the field, RISS also deconflicts entire investigations. If I am working a homicide and I’ve identified a suspect or person of interest, I will call WSIN and run that suspect’s name in their database. If that name is a match for being related to another investigation (say a drug investigation), the Clearinghouse will put the detectives in contact with each other. Wouldn’t it be nice to know that your homicide suspect was also identified by the DEA as a member of a drug cartel? This is often how those investigative links are made.

The RISS Clearinghouses also offer other support as well, which are mentioned after the 3:28 minute mark in this video. If there is one thing I’ve discovered in government work, the more bland the title or description, the more important and bad-ass the work they actually do.

June 6, 2017

CHARACTER: NEW DETECTIVES Writers often ask me about how their characters can realistically become detectives in their stories. While federal agencies in the U.S. hire directly into investigator roles (usually called Special Agents), local police agencies almost always require officers to promote to the rank of detective after serving some years working the street in uniform. This week, I discovered a BBC story announcing Scotland Yard’s decision to hire Detective Trainees. The Met has a shortage of investigators, so the new hiring program is aimed at recruiting new hires directly into the detective ranks without requiring the trainees to work in uniform. While I don’t see this program becoming too likely in the U.S., it could certainly lead to some interesting crime stories and character bios.

THE BUSINESS SIDE OF WRITING: FEAR LESS (NOT FEARLESS) I have made reference to Tim Ferriss’ podcast before, but this week he sits down with Vince Vaughn. Vince talks about how his teenage job as a telemarketer helped him overcome any fear of asking for things from strangers. Some of the stories in this interview are hilarious, but I really appreciated the message of not being afraid to go beyond what you find comfortable to accomplish your goals. Writers being introverts maybe a stereotype, but I think most of us find it uncomfortable to make the Big Ask. This is especially true when it feels like a possible rejection will be too tortuous to endure. This interview speaks to that and I think you will enjoy it. I am contemplating running a contest based on an idea presented in this interview. Check out the interview and you may get a head start on the contest!

MOTIVE: WOMEN WHO KILL We tend to think of men as the killers in our society. A&E aired a special documentary focused on the phenomenon of women being more likely to kill family members than men. You can still catch the documentary on aetv.com, you just need to login using your TV provider’s account credentials. Just remember me when your next story idea sells to Lifetime TV.

May 27, 2017

CHARACTER: FOUR MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERS This isn’t my first link from an APB to K.M. Weiland’s writing website, helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com but this week’s post about a story’s Four Most Important Characters is fantastic. She writes about the roles the Protagonist, Antagonist, Reflection, and Love Interest should play in fulfilling their unique thematic roles and guiding your Protagonist toward (or away from) your story’s Thematic Truth. This is a must read for any author, regardless of genre. If you’re a fan of Poldark, you’ll really appreciate K.M.’s examples.

GENRE: DANGEROUS WORK One reason Detective Stories and Cop Shows are so popular is that the stakes are often life and death. Nothing will remind you more of those stakes than the Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks every Law Enforcement line-of-duty death. The FBI tracks officer deaths and assaults, through the Annual LEOKA Report. LEOKA is an acronym for Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted. LEOKA statistics are reported by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to the FBI as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program.

RESEARCH: ASK THE EXPERTS! Sue Coletta is an award winning crime fiction author; murder blogger; co-host of the monthly Partners In Crime #BlogTalkRadio; and host/founder of #ACrimeChat, the bi-weekly Twitter Q&A for crime writers. Both the Partners In Crime streaming audio program and #ACrimeChat Twitter Q&A are regular opportunities for you to ask a cadre of experienced cops and writers questions specific to your craft. I jump into the #ACrimeChat Q&A as often as I can. It’s always a fun set of questions that don’t always get the same answers from the experts. Search #ACrimeChat on Twitter to see past Questions and Answers. #ACrimeChat occurs every other Wednesday from 3pm-4pm EDT/12pm-1pm PST. Submit your questions by tweeting @SueColetta1. Don’t be shy; we’d love to have you join us!

WRITING: FOR YOURSELF In addition to my law enforcement career and helping authors and screenwriters through writersdetective.com, I also teach at the collegiate level. One of my favorite classes to teach is a Criminal Justice Ethics course that includes the topics of mindfulness and wholesight. I am far from becoming some kind of New Age hippy, but I believe practicing mindfulness and wholesight leads to being a better person and a happier life. One tool I love to accomplish this is The Five Minute Journal*. Writing in my journal is the one daily New Year’s Resolution I have kept since 1/1/2017, and I urge you to consider checking it out. I read the daily quote and write in my journal when I first wake up, which helps me frame my day as one of possibility. Then before bed, I reflect back on how my day went and what I took notice of as being amazing. Knowing that I will write about “Three Amazing Things That Happened” each day has given me reason to seek out the amazing little things daily. It takes me LESS than five minutes each day. For those of us who don’t make the time to meditate or keep a diary, The Five Minute Journal* is perfect for cultivating a few minutes of good thoughts at the beginning and end of your day.

May 21, 2017

COMMUNICATIONS: Every cop has a story for what led them to this career. A Commander I worked for shared his story, which was a simple one. When he was a kid, he happened upon some sort of emergency in his town. There were flashing lights, sirens, police cars everywhere, and a crime scene cordoned off. He remembered watching an officer arrive in a police car and then walk past him into the crime scene. As a kid, my Commander desperately wanted to know what was going on. It dawned on him that the uniformed officer knew what was going on. That was the seed that grew into a police career: Knowing What Was Going On. Despite newer technologies like cellphones and computers in the patrol cars, the primary communication tool is still the police radio. Thanks to modern technology, you can know what’s going on by listening in on police radio traffic from around the world for free, on your smartphone. While I don’t recommend filling your writing or dialogue with police radio codes and jargon, listening to the communications around where your story is set can be enlightening. Is your story set in an area where a dedicated dispatch center is responsible for tracking dozens of officers at a time, or is the dispatching handled by the one civilian employee back at the office who is also the records clerk? To listen in using iPhone/Apple iOS Devices: Download the free 5-0 Radio App in the App Store. For Android Devices: Download the free Scanner Radio App in the Google Play Store. If you navigate to your story’s location and don’t get much to listen to, navigate to “LAPD Aero and Special Unit Dispatch” (LAPD calls this frequency “Air / K9”) to hear the most serious emergencies in the City of Los Angeles in near realtime.

STORY: In March, I shared a link to the policeone.com website that several of you said was extremely helpful. I’ve got another one for you! Similar to PoliceOne is a website called LEO Affairs. (No, it’s not Ashley Madison for Cops.) In addition to having a ton of incredible dashcam/bodycam footage, you can be a fly on the wall in the Forums to learn how cops honestly feel about various topics and possibly get some insight to what is going on inside the agency you might be writing about.

DEATH [Squeamish Alert] If you only write Cozy Mysteries or get squeamish, feel free to skip these links. One writer asked “does a body decompose any faster/slower if it doesn’t have any blood in it?” My reply: “It could. It would also depend on how the body lost its blood. Putrefaction may be slowed if the bacteria doesn’t have a blood filled circulatory system to move through easily. That said, if the blood loss occurred due to a significant wound, that wound would also allow for outside insects and bacteria to enter the cadaver to speed up the decomp. Depending on how you want your story to go, you can speed up decomp by elevating the ambient temperature and have the cadaver exposed. If you want the decomp slowed, cooling the temp and having the cadaver unexposed to air and outside elements (buried, bundled in clothing/sleeping bag, etc.) may help.” To learn more, check out AboutForensics and ExploreForensics (both links to U.K. sites.)

May 14, 2017

CHARACTER: MOTHER’S DAY Imagine being a single-mom to five kids, attending college, and being a Baltimore City Police Officer during last year’s riots. Meet BPD Officer Karyn Crisafulli. If you’re looking for a real Mother’s Day Hero, she is definitely it. I hope she inspires you to go for your dreams!

PROPS: FLIR On Saturday morning (by that I mean 0230 in the morning), my helicopter pilot partner and I were called to search a remote area for a suspect that fled on foot from a vehicle pursuit after he crashed his car. I was operating the helicopter’s Forward-Looking-InfraRed (FLIR) and using it to look for heat sources ahead of where our canine team was searching. I spotted the suspect about fifty yards ahead of the canine team just as he began running away from the officers. I radioed the K9 Officer who released his German Shepherd partner from his leash. The bad guy tried fighting the canine and quickly became a bloody chew-toy. Once the dummy was in handcuffs, we landed the helicopter and delivered a First Aid kit for bandaging his wounds. Being able to visually “see” heat through a thermograph has been an invaluable tool for law enforcement. Which leads me to this week’s second link: Understanding the scientific principles of how FLIR works. Oh how far we’ve come since the Year 1800 and Sir Frederick William Herschel’s discovery of infrared! At the very least, your kids might enjoy the science project of using a prism and a handful of thermometers. To find out what I’m talking about, watch this YouTube video.

STORY: EXTRADITION When bad guys are on the run, they are usually wanted because an arrest warrant was issued demanding their arrest. So what happens when a wanted person is arrested in another state? This short video explains the process of Interstate Extradition.. I have personally traveled out of state for dozens of extraditions, usually bringing the defendant back via a commercial airliner. In this video, you’ll see that the process becomes a little more complicated with International Extraditions. As I mentioned in a previous APB regarding the FBI and Interpol, international extraditions involve partner nations that have agreed to reciprocity in a treaty.

May 6, 2017

SETTING: LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN Insight Crime is a great researching resource for crimes relating to Latin America, the Caribbean, and its ties to the US. Insight Crime is a foundation dedicated to the study of Organized Crime in those areas. Their website offers timely reporting and analysis on organized crime in the region. For adventurous bilingual students, they offer unpaid internships on a semester schedule.

PLOT: FBI and FISA Last week, FBI Director Comey testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the FBI oversight. I am sure you’re as sick of the news as I am, but this testimony is worth reviewing from a research perspective. Near the 2 hour 57 minute mark (scroll down to that clip), Dir. Comey offers a pretty concise explanation of Section 702 of FISA. For my research gluttons out there, here is NSA’s more detailed white paper on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702. (A big shout out to my Mom for sharing the C-SPAN coverage with all of us!) Most Detectives do not get involved in FISA “wire taps” when investigating homicides. However, all it takes is a terror motive and your Detective may get sucked into the shadowy world of the Intelligence Community. It’s important to understand that the FBI acts as both a criminal investigation agency and as a domestic intelligence agency. Generally, the FBI Special Agents in each office will be assigned to one or the other as a primary job duty. In smaller FBI RA’s (Resident Agency offices –think satellite offices in smaller communities), an agent assigned to IT (International Terrorism) or DT (Domestic Terrorism) may still be required to roll out to a bank robbery. It just won’t be their primary duty. As a Detective, I have personally worked with both sides of the FBI office. When you are working with the Intel side, you are generally dealing with classified information that will not be used in court. If it does make it to court, it’s gone through some heavy legal review and it’s usually years after the arrest.

WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK: “The Six Month Novel Writing Plan” Caitlin and Jacob Jans are the editors of Authors Publish Magazine, a free weekly email magazine for writers. Caitlin recently published “The Six Month Novel Writing Plan” and it’s available for free for a limited time. She offers some really practical advice for actually getting that novel finished (hint: writing time is not facebook time), edited, and published. If you find it worthwhile, consider giving it a review on Amazon.

April 29, 2017

Story: Dialogue – “Know Your Why” – Self Publishing Podcast Last year, the amazing folks at Sterling & Stone were crazy enough to feature me on an episode of their Self Publishing Podcast. (I’d like to offer a huge shout out and thank you to fellow Tribe Writer, Christine Niles, for making the podcast happen! Y’all are even nuttier for including me in the 2016 Year in Review episode.) On the podcast, I spoke about writing Interview & Interrogation dialogue and how “knowing the why” of each character will shape what is said…and [PUN ALERT] why it’s a cop out to use a suspect interrogation to summarize the investigation for the reader. So, what would a Detective actually say in an interview or interrogation? One of the most successful (and sometimes controversial) interview and interrogation methods is called The Reid Technique. This link to John E. Reid’s website includes some worthwhile presentations covering the stages of interview and interrogation. The Reid Investigator Tip page has a drop-down list of I&I questions that may help you craft dialog for your own interrogation scenes. If you pay attention to the way most Reid questions are formatted, you’ll notice that they are designed to elicit expository answers, not just a Yes/No response…which always help keep the dialogue and story moving!

PLOT: “All the pieces matter.” –Det. Lester Freamon, The Wire Your investigation is stalled. You can’t identify your victim, or maybe you only have part of a victim. Perhaps there is a signature to this killing and you want to see if any other homicide investigations have a similar trademark. ViCAP (the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) is an FBI administered database dedicated to accomplishing exactly that. It was created in the early 1980s, but has since morphed into a secure web-based database that all US law enforcement agencies can access. If your serial killer uses a specific technique or you are looking to identify a Jane/John Doe, then ViCAP is likely the database where the analytical linking to other homicide, kidnapping, or missing person cases will occur. Click here to see the Public’s version of current investigations currently seeking leads or information.

WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK*: “DRIVE: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us“ I know. “Writing is hard.” Many traditionally published authors argue that writing Is even harder once you’ve obtained that ever elusive “Publishing Contract.” This book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us* sheds light on the illogical human tendency to lose motivation whenever something that was implicitly rewarding (like writing for the love of it) becomes something you’re compensated for (a Big 5 Publishing contract perhaps.) This book is a interesting read and the author does a great job making the scientific evidence an easy read. It is definitely thought provoking. I am still in the middle of the book, so I will update you on whether there are any motivation hacks worth pursuing.

APB Email Archive Update syndicated from detectiveserviceblog.wordpress.com

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APB Email Archive Update

November 5, 2017

I want to start by thanking those of you that offered such kind words of encouragement and understanding during my bereavement hiatus from the APB emails. I apologize for not replying to your emails...I was overwhelmed by how many thoughtful messages I received, but please know that I appreciate you greatly and that helped immensely. I have been overwhelmed by how kind, caring, and understanding my followers are. Thank you!!! Now, I am happy to announce that I am ready to get back to our regularly scheduled programming...and just in time for NaNoWriMo! I hope the time change allowed you to sneak an extra hour of writing time in, even if you aren't participating in National Novel Writing Month.

CHARACTER: OLD SCHOOL BEAT COPS The LA Times ran an article yesterday on a pair of LAPD Officers that have been partners for an unbelievable twenty-nine years! The guys seem to be right out of a Joseph Wambaugh novel. Like any good marriage, the key to their resiliency is that they operate like a well tuned machine. Each partner has his own strengths (and I'm sure weaknesses as well) and they know which part to play and when. If you are writing a Cop/Buddy Story, you will enjoy this article.

WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK: LEVEL UP YOUR DIALOGUE I am a fan of both Reddit and Quora. If you've been living under a boulder of old AOL Installation CDs, they are websites every author should add to his or her research toolbox. While Reddit and Quora are quite different sites, they are both great places to learn about nearly any topic you can dream up. This week, I was reading the Quora thread: What one tip changed your writing forever? Christopher Kingery shared a tip for writing dialogue that is a must-read. It is so simple and it's something that all of my favorite authors do...yet I never really thought about it. (Are you a Redditor or Quora User? Add me as a friend on Reddit and Quora!)

SOME OTHER COP'S BLOG: The Salty Sarge I discovered thesaltysarge.com blog this week and the post "Why Cops Retire Before You" is absolutely spot on. To gain even more insight into the lives of cops in the later stages or their careers, scroll through the comments at the bottom of the post. This is good background on the mentality of any Mentor type characters you might write about.

Good luck hitting your NaNoWriMo word counts and remember that any questions you have can be posted in the WRITERSDETECTIVE Q&A group on Facebook...even if you aren't a NaNo'er. It's a very supportive group and I try to answer your questions as quickly as I can.

October 3, 2017

Thank you for continuing to open my emails, even though it's been awhile. I buried my best friend today. He was only 46. Last month, I lost my uncle. A few weeks before that, my beloved 12-year old German Shepherd passed away peacefully with his head resting on my foot. The month before that, my Mentor died in a car wreck. Right now, I am grieving. But I will get through this. I will be back to publishing my weekly APBs soon. Thank you for your understanding and support. In the meantime, keep writing and do not hesitate to email me with any crime-writing questions you think I can help you with. Write well and love one another, Adam

June 17, 2017

First, thanks to those of you that offered your condolences regarding my mentor passing away. I really appreciate your kind thoughts. It's another reminder that whatever time we get is luck and we should all tell our loved ones how we feel...often.

CHARACTER: FORENSIC ODONTOLOGIST Crime fighting Dentists. Wait-What? One of the more esoteric fields of Forensic Science is Forensic Odontology. Bitemark analysis can play an important role in cases ranging from Domestic Violence to Murder. If you are writing about a killer with a sexual deviance or one that uses torture, bitemarks might make an interesting literary device. I'm sure you can come up with all sorts of deeper symbology or an intense psychological profile with a biter as the perpetrator. If you choose to go this route, the American Board of Forensic Odontology created a Bitemark Methodology Standards and Guidelines document that you may find incredibly helpful. This guide covers bitemark analytical methods, related terminology, collecting Bite Site evidence, collecting a suspect’s dentition, preferred formatting for the Odontologist’s analytical reports, exemplar comparison methods, the best practices for describing whether a suspect’s teeth could have made the bitemark in question, and even a sample layout of what the final investigative report should look like. It’s easy to read and it's only eleven pages long. I have no doubt you’ll be able to use this document to create believable dialog for your Forensic Odontologist, whether it's explaining facts to an investigator or testifying as a witness in court. While you’re on the ABFO.org page, you might take a quick look at the Member Directory to see if any Members work near you. I’d be willing to bet any one of these Forensic Odontologists would be willing to talk shop to a writer interested in this fascinating niche.

WHAT I'M READING THIS WEEK: DEAD BODY STUFF...BUT FUNNY A good friend of mine, who also happens to be a super smart and talented Psychologist that works with my agency, recommended the book I am reading this week: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers* by Mary Roach. I'm not sure if the Doc profiled me as being psychologically disturbed or that we share the same skewed sense of humor. Either way, it was a brilliant recommendation. Just like cops, most crime writers seem to share a certain degree of gallows humor. If this describes you, you will LOVE this book. It is packed full of answers to your dead body questions, peppered with hilarious observations that make this a quick, funny, and useful reference tome that every serious crime writer should read. If you need answers to serious plot quandaries, such as the stages of a body’s biological and chemical decomposition phases or the timelines associated with each...but you'd prefer it explained in a way that sounds like you're listening to a friend telling stories over drinks (rather than a dry medical school textbook,) then this is the book for you. Here’s a sample passage from the Stiff*: [Context: Mary is visiting the University of Tennessee's Anthropological Research Facility in Knoxville where human decomposition is studied.] “So the gas builds up and the belly bloats. He explains that the small intestine has pretty much collapsed and sealed itself off…Though he allows, with some prodding, that a little bad air often does, in fact, slip out, and so, as a matter of record, it can be said that dead people fart. It needn’t be, but it can.” Mary also writes about the mental techniques first-year medical students use to get over the natural tendency to get grossed out by their cadavers. Any character of yours that routinely attends or partakes in autopsies will have developed “objectification techniques” like what is mentioned in this book. If the mere thought of dead bodies and decay gets you squeamish, you might want to reconsider my suggestion, but I really do think you should give it a try. There are ZERO gross pictures, so you don’t need to worry about seeing any gore.

I will be traveling through various parts of England and Scotland in the upcoming weeks. If you want to keep tabs on what I'm up to, follow me on Instagram: @writersdetctive (DISCLAIMER: It is entirely possible the photos will be nothing but the pubs, ales, and wee drams of whisky I find. So no promises that the photos will be any good. ;)

June 12, 2017

It's been a rough weekend. One of my mentors died in a car crash this weekend. He was incredibly sharp and an A-Type through-and-through. He always demanded the best work out of his detectives, but he also made sure we had fun on and off duty. I blame him for my love of Rum & Cokes. Regrettably, we lost touch after his retirement a few years ago. Rest in Peace. If there is one writing-related thing I can share about this, its the way cops have a tendency to detach using an out-of-sight-out-of-mind coping mechanism. It's not that we don't care or that we aren't thinking about our former Brothers and Sisters in Blue; we just spend our emotional effort on those that we are working with (and watching the backs of) currently. We are also notoriously bad at acknowledging and dealing with negative emotions, other than to lock them away for another day. It starts at the beginning. When a Recruit is fired from the Police Academy, the Academy Class does not get to say goodbye. The Recruit is called to the office and that's the last you see or hear of the Recruit. When the class comes back into the classroom after PT or a defensive tactics course, the fired Recruit's belongings are gone and his name placard has been removed from his seat and pinned upside down to the wall at the back of the classroom (along with the name placards of other former classmates.) The lesson is clear: You're either in or out. The work still goes on. That persists through the rest of a cop's career. There is a saying "SWAT-OR-NOT." Many officers will be part of a SWAT team at some point in their career. SWAT is for the young and motivated. Which means there are a ton of former-SWAT operators full of "When I was on the Team..." war stories. SWAT-or-NOT means if you aren't on the team now, you aren't SWAT anymore (so shut it.) In or out. So when an officer retires from the Department, it can feel like going through an amicable divorce. Sure, we all say we'll still be friends and keep in touch...but only your closest friends will actually follow through. It's a weird and sad phenomena. So if your characters are "ex-cops" that have turned into a P.I., expect that they may be forgotten rather quickly no matter how awesome they were. In or out.

CHARACTER: THE SPOUSE There is no tougher rock than the spouse of a cop. "10 Tips for a Police Spouse" was written by the wife of an Australian Police Officer. Every single bullet point translates to police work anywhere in the world. This brief glimpse into a Police Family's life is worth the read, as it may give you insight into an often overlooked character in your story. It may also offer you a chance to skew the way your detective character is viewed and/or add additional conflict and chaos to the detective's life. Regardless of whether the cop catches the murderer or saves the kidnap victim, the spouse may be seeing that same cop as the absentee-parent or an aloof workaholic who fails to prioritize his or her marriage.

STORY: CASE COORDINATION? If your Detective is undercover as an arms dealer trying to lure in potential lone-wolf terrorists, how will s/he make sure the "clients" aren't also undercover cops trying to run their own arms-dealing investigation? Or drug dealing? Or murder-for-hire? The answer is to have a deconfliction clearinghouse. RISS.net is exactly that. Each area of the U.S. has a RISS Clearinghouse. If I am on a surveillance (or some other sort of covert op, like buying drugs or guns), I will call my local clearinghouse and be "put on the war board" so any other police agencies working covert operations (that also call into the clearinghouse) will be made aware of what we're doing. NOTE: In my own experience, Federal Agencies are notoriously HORRIBLE at notifying RISS of their operations. So if you want some part of your investigation to go awry or for Federal Feathers to get ruffled, this is a real-life way of it happening. The Feds definitely use RISS, they just tend to enter their info after the fact. Each RISS affiliated Clearinghouse has it's own name, often a bland acronym that we turn into a weird sounding word. For example, in California we have WSIN (Western States Information Network) which everyone pronounces as Whizzin' and the Clearinghouse for the greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area is creatively named LAClear. Or how about MAGLOCLEN? Yep. Just like it sounds, Maglow-Clen. Sounds like the Glow in the Dark brother of Kylo Ren to me. In addition to deconflicting covert operations in the field, RISS also deconflicts entire investigations. If I am working a homicide and I've identified a suspect or person of interest, I will call WSIN and run that suspect's name in their database. If that name is a match for being related to another investigation (say a drug investigation), the Clearinghouse will put the detectives in contact with each other. Wouldn't it be nice to know that your homicide suspect was also identified by the DEA as a member of a drug cartel? This is often how those investigative links are made. The RISS Clearinghouses also offer other support as well, which are mentioned after the 3:28 minute mark in this video. If there is one thing I've discovered in government work, the more bland the title or description, the more important and bad-ass the work they actually do.

June 6, 2017

CHARACTER: NEW DETECTIVES Writers often ask me about how their characters can realistically become detectives in their stories. While federal agencies in the U.S. hire directly into investigator roles (usually called Special Agents), local police agencies almost always require officers to promote to the rank of detective after serving some years working the street in uniform. This week, I discovered a BBC story announcing Scotland Yard's decision to hire Detective Trainees. The Met has a shortage of investigators, so the new hiring program is aimed at recruiting new hires directly into the detective ranks without requiring the trainees to work in uniform. While I don't see this program becoming too likely in the U.S., it could certainly lead to some interesting crime stories and character bios.

THE BUSINESS SIDE OF WRITING: FEAR LESS (NOT FEARLESS) I have made reference to Tim Ferriss' podcast before, but this week he sits down with Vince Vaughn. Vince talks about how his teenage job as a telemarketer helped him overcome any fear of asking for things from strangers. Some of the stories in this interview are hilarious, but I really appreciated the message of not being afraid to go beyond what you find comfortable to accomplish your goals. Writers being introverts maybe a stereotype, but I think most of us find it uncomfortable to make the Big Ask. This is especially true when it feels like a possible rejection will be too tortuous to endure. This interview speaks to that and I think you will enjoy it. I am contemplating running a contest based on an idea presented in this interview. Check out the interview and you may get a head start on the contest!

MOTIVE: WOMEN WHO KILL We tend to think of men as the killers in our society. A&E aired a special documentary focused on the phenomenon of women being more likely to kill family members than men. You can still catch the documentary on aetv.com, you just need to login using your TV provider's account credentials. Just remember me when your next story idea sells to Lifetime TV.

May 27, 2017

CHARACTER: FOUR MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERS This isn’t my first link from an APB to K.M. Weiland’s writing website, helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com but this week's post about a story's Four Most Important Characters is fantastic. She writes about the roles the Protagonist, Antagonist, Reflection, and Love Interest should play in fulfilling their unique thematic roles and guiding your Protagonist toward (or away from) your story’s Thematic Truth. This is a must read for any author, regardless of genre. If you’re a fan of Poldark, you’ll really appreciate K.M.’s examples.

GENRE: DANGEROUS WORK One reason Detective Stories and Cop Shows are so popular is that the stakes are often life and death. Nothing will remind you more of those stakes than the Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks every Law Enforcement line-of-duty death. The FBI tracks officer deaths and assaults, through the Annual LEOKA Report. LEOKA is an acronym for Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted. LEOKA statistics are reported by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to the FBI as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program.

RESEARCH: ASK THE EXPERTS! Sue Coletta is an award winning crime fiction author; murder blogger; co-host of the monthly Partners In Crime #BlogTalkRadio; and host/founder of #ACrimeChat, the bi-weekly Twitter Q&A for crime writers. Both the Partners In Crime streaming audio program and #ACrimeChat Twitter Q&A are regular opportunities for you to ask a cadre of experienced cops and writers questions specific to your craft. I jump into the #ACrimeChat Q&A as often as I can. It’s always a fun set of questions that don’t always get the same answers from the experts. Search #ACrimeChat on Twitter to see past Questions and Answers. #ACrimeChat occurs every other Wednesday from 3pm-4pm EDT/12pm-1pm PST. Submit your questions by tweeting @SueColetta1. Don’t be shy; we’d love to have you join us!

WRITING: FOR YOURSELF In addition to my law enforcement career and helping authors and screenwriters through writersdetective.com, I also teach at the collegiate level. One of my favorite classes to teach is a Criminal Justice Ethics course that includes the topics of mindfulness and wholesight. I am far from becoming some kind of New Age hippy, but I believe practicing mindfulness and wholesight leads to being a better person and a happier life. One tool I love to accomplish this is The Five Minute Journal*. Writing in my journal is the one daily New Year’s Resolution I have kept since 1/1/2017, and I urge you to consider checking it out. I read the daily quote and write in my journal when I first wake up, which helps me frame my day as one of possibility. Then before bed, I reflect back on how my day went and what I took notice of as being amazing. Knowing that I will write about “Three Amazing Things That Happened” each day has given me reason to seek out the amazing little things daily. It takes me LESS than five minutes each day. For those of us who don’t make the time to meditate or keep a diary, The Five Minute Journal* is perfect for cultivating a few minutes of good thoughts at the beginning and end of your day.

May 21, 2017

COMMUNICATIONS: Every cop has a story for what led them to this career. A Commander I worked for shared his story, which was a simple one. When he was a kid, he happened upon some sort of emergency in his town. There were flashing lights, sirens, police cars everywhere, and a crime scene cordoned off. He remembered watching an officer arrive in a police car and then walk past him into the crime scene. As a kid, my Commander desperately wanted to know what was going on. It dawned on him that the uniformed officer knew what was going on. That was the seed that grew into a police career: Knowing What Was Going On. Despite newer technologies like cellphones and computers in the patrol cars, the primary communication tool is still the police radio. Thanks to modern technology, you can know what's going on by listening in on police radio traffic from around the world for free, on your smartphone. While I don't recommend filling your writing or dialogue with police radio codes and jargon, listening to the communications around where your story is set can be enlightening. Is your story set in an area where a dedicated dispatch center is responsible for tracking dozens of officers at a time, or is the dispatching handled by the one civilian employee back at the office who is also the records clerk? To listen in using iPhone/Apple iOS Devices: Download the free 5-0 Radio App in the App Store. For Android Devices: Download the free Scanner Radio App in the Google Play Store. If you navigate to your story's location and don't get much to listen to, navigate to "LAPD Aero and Special Unit Dispatch" (LAPD calls this frequency "Air / K9") to hear the most serious emergencies in the City of Los Angeles in near realtime.

STORY: In March, I shared a link to the policeone.com website that several of you said was extremely helpful. I've got another one for you! Similar to PoliceOne is a website called LEO Affairs. (No, it's not Ashley Madison for Cops.) In addition to having a ton of incredible dashcam/bodycam footage, you can be a fly on the wall in the Forums to learn how cops honestly feel about various topics and possibly get some insight to what is going on inside the agency you might be writing about.

DEATH [Squeamish Alert] If you only write Cozy Mysteries or get squeamish, feel free to skip these links. One writer asked "does a body decompose any faster/slower if it doesn't have any blood in it?" My reply: "It could. It would also depend on how the body lost its blood. Putrefaction may be slowed if the bacteria doesn't have a blood filled circulatory system to move through easily. That said, if the blood loss occurred due to a significant wound, that wound would also allow for outside insects and bacteria to enter the cadaver to speed up the decomp. Depending on how you want your story to go, you can speed up decomp by elevating the ambient temperature and have the cadaver exposed. If you want the decomp slowed, cooling the temp and having the cadaver unexposed to air and outside elements (buried, bundled in clothing/sleeping bag, etc.) may help." To learn more, check out AboutForensics and ExploreForensics (both links to U.K. sites.)

May 14, 2017

CHARACTER: MOTHER'S DAY Imagine being a single-mom to five kids, attending college, and being a Baltimore City Police Officer during last year's riots. Meet BPD Officer Karyn Crisafulli. If you're looking for a real Mother's Day Hero, she is definitely it. I hope she inspires you to go for your dreams!

PROPS: FLIR On Saturday morning (by that I mean 0230 in the morning), my helicopter pilot partner and I were called to search a remote area for a suspect that fled on foot from a vehicle pursuit after he crashed his car. I was operating the helicopter's Forward-Looking-InfraRed (FLIR) and using it to look for heat sources ahead of where our canine team was searching. I spotted the suspect about fifty yards ahead of the canine team just as he began running away from the officers. I radioed the K9 Officer who released his German Shepherd partner from his leash. The bad guy tried fighting the canine and quickly became a bloody chew-toy. Once the dummy was in handcuffs, we landed the helicopter and delivered a First Aid kit for bandaging his wounds. Being able to visually "see" heat through a thermograph has been an invaluable tool for law enforcement. Which leads me to this week's second link: Understanding the scientific principles of how FLIR works. Oh how far we've come since the Year 1800 and Sir Frederick William Herschel's discovery of infrared! At the very least, your kids might enjoy the science project of using a prism and a handful of thermometers. To find out what I'm talking about, watch this YouTube video.

STORY: EXTRADITION When bad guys are on the run, they are usually wanted because an arrest warrant was issued demanding their arrest. So what happens when a wanted person is arrested in another state? This short video explains the process of Interstate Extradition.. I have personally traveled out of state for dozens of extraditions, usually bringing the defendant back via a commercial airliner. In this video, you'll see that the process becomes a little more complicated with International Extraditions. As I mentioned in a previous APB regarding the FBI and Interpol, international extraditions involve partner nations that have agreed to reciprocity in a treaty.

May 6, 2017

SETTING: LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN Insight Crime is a great researching resource for crimes relating to Latin America, the Caribbean, and its ties to the US. Insight Crime is a foundation dedicated to the study of Organized Crime in those areas. Their website offers timely reporting and analysis on organized crime in the region. For adventurous bilingual students, they offer unpaid internships on a semester schedule.

PLOT: FBI and FISA Last week, FBI Director Comey testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the FBI oversight. I am sure you’re as sick of the news as I am, but this testimony is worth reviewing from a research perspective. Near the 2 hour 57 minute mark (scroll down to that clip), Dir. Comey offers a pretty concise explanation of Section 702 of FISA. For my research gluttons out there, here is NSA’s more detailed white paper on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702. (A big shout out to my Mom for sharing the C-SPAN coverage with all of us!) Most Detectives do not get involved in FISA “wire taps” when investigating homicides. However, all it takes is a terror motive and your Detective may get sucked into the shadowy world of the Intelligence Community. It’s important to understand that the FBI acts as both a criminal investigation agency and as a domestic intelligence agency. Generally, the FBI Special Agents in each office will be assigned to one or the other as a primary job duty. In smaller FBI RA’s (Resident Agency offices –think satellite offices in smaller communities), an agent assigned to IT (International Terrorism) or DT (Domestic Terrorism) may still be required to roll out to a bank robbery. It just won’t be their primary duty. As a Detective, I have personally worked with both sides of the FBI office. When you are working with the Intel side, you are generally dealing with classified information that will not be used in court. If it does make it to court, it’s gone through some heavy legal review and it’s usually years after the arrest.

WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK: "The Six Month Novel Writing Plan" Caitlin and Jacob Jans are the editors of Authors Publish Magazine, a free weekly email magazine for writers. Caitlin recently published “The Six Month Novel Writing Plan” and it’s available for free for a limited time. She offers some really practical advice for actually getting that novel finished (hint: writing time is not facebook time), edited, and published. If you find it worthwhile, consider giving it a review on Amazon.

April 29, 2017

Story: Dialogue - "Know Your Why" - Self Publishing Podcast Last year, the amazing folks at Sterling & Stone were crazy enough to feature me on an episode of their Self Publishing Podcast. (I’d like to offer a huge shout out and thank you to fellow Tribe Writer, Christine Niles, for making the podcast happen! Y'all are even nuttier for including me in the 2016 Year in Review episode.) On the podcast, I spoke about writing Interview & Interrogation dialogue and how “knowing the why” of each character will shape what is said...and [PUN ALERT] why it’s a cop out to use a suspect interrogation to summarize the investigation for the reader. So, what would a Detective actually say in an interview or interrogation? One of the most successful (and sometimes controversial) interview and interrogation methods is called The Reid Technique. This link to John E. Reid’s website includes some worthwhile presentations covering the stages of interview and interrogation. The Reid Investigator Tip page has a drop-down list of I&I questions that may help you craft dialog for your own interrogation scenes. If you pay attention to the way most Reid questions are formatted, you’ll notice that they are designed to elicit expository answers, not just a Yes/No response...which always help keep the dialogue and story moving!

PLOT: “All the pieces matter.” –Det. Lester Freamon, The Wire Your investigation is stalled. You can’t identify your victim, or maybe you only have part of a victim. Perhaps there is a signature to this killing and you want to see if any other homicide investigations have a similar trademark. ViCAP (the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) is an FBI administered database dedicated to accomplishing exactly that. It was created in the early 1980s, but has since morphed into a secure web-based database that all US law enforcement agencies can access. If your serial killer uses a specific technique or you are looking to identify a Jane/John Doe, then ViCAP is likely the database where the analytical linking to other homicide, kidnapping, or missing person cases will occur. Click here to see the Public's version of current investigations currently seeking leads or information.

WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK*: "DRIVE: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" I know. "Writing is hard." Many traditionally published authors argue that writing Is even harder once you’ve obtained that ever elusive “Publishing Contract.” This book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us* sheds light on the illogical human tendency to lose motivation whenever something that was implicitly rewarding (like writing for the love of it) becomes something you’re compensated for (a Big 5 Publishing contract perhaps.) This book is a interesting read and the author does a great job making the scientific evidence an easy read. It is definitely thought provoking. I am still in the middle of the book, so I will update you on whether there are any motivation hacks worth pursuing. ;)

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