Storytelling | The Gypsy Storyteller.
Excerpt from The Leper Messiah:
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Obed climbed the hills to the threshing floor: he worried about the rains coming before the crops were brought in, but the village men were experienced and he could see that a comfortable winter with food in everyone’s’ bellies was upon them.
He also understood that King Saul and his men would take provisions that would deplete the storehouses. Jesse and his grandsons would join Saul against the Philistines, and the farmers’ fields would turn red with blood. War was coming.
The motive established, King Davids’ adventure begins…
A Writers Journey.
I want to give you a glimpse into my journey as a writer.
The writing of The Leper Messiah was a process that started long before David and his ancient world took hold of my imagination.
While my contemporaries were running off to University, I was running with the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. I was also getting bitten by a scorpion in the Negev desert, Israel.
Long before the scorpion sting, I felt a sharper sting – the thrill of storytelling.
My adoptive mother, Suzanne, introduced me to the likes of Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott, and Charles Dickens. These master storytellers made up my world and in time I would study them to learn the craft of writing.
The masters gave me a voice and I used it as a guide into the world of writing. They gave me a framework with which to learn from and a compass to guide me on my journey.
Even today I think of Robert Louis Stevenson as my kin, my older brother, if you will, allowing me to sail the seas and find treasure along the way.
Stevenson brings adventure to life.
Except from Treasure Island:
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Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest – yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
This sea shanty breathes life into Treasure Island and tells the reader that something special is about to take place. Adventure awaits!
Stevenson included a map in Treasure Island. He used it as a visual framework to drive his story forward, establish motive and give the reader both stability and the promise of adventure.
We have doctors and Squires, men of weight and establishment who lend credibility to the story and give the reader a level of comfort before they start off on their wild adventure.
Excerpt from Treasure Island:
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SQUIRE TRELAWNEY, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the island, and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted.
In Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson sends his characters on a mission that will alter their lives.
The Leper Messiah is at its core a coming of age tale set in the sleepy town of Bethlehem and its’ agrarian society. The towns’ fortunes rose or fell depending on how well the crops did each year.
David was born into a world that revolved around agriculture, yet this did not quench his thirst for adventure.
Robert