Author Archives: scottatirrell

The Slaying of the Bull– if anything, I have a pretty good title for the first book in the Tocharian Gospels Series, but what does it mean? Originally the book’s title was going to be The Lion’s Order, but as the story developed, so did the words that would encapsulate the book (and to avoidContinue reading “What’s in a title?”

As stated in my last post, I’ve set out on a new journey to retool as a writer. What a breath of fresh air it has been! My writing passion is returning, and that feeling of joy as I put words on the page is back. The ashes are stirring as something will be reborn.Continue reading “Bulls and Phoenix”

I’ve decided to take a step back and completely retool. The past few months have been an adventure full of dips, a few peaks, and lots of twists, and turns and I’ve become a bit motion sick from the roller-coaster. I’ve learned a lot, but I’ve been so focused on the now that I haven’tContinue reading “Time to retool”

What do you do when your writing passion is something no one wants to read? I wish I had the answer to this question because it would make a great post and give me a whole lot of relief, but unfortunately, I do not have the answer. It would be ideal if your writing alwaysContinue reading “Unconditional love of history”

Yesterday, I realized that The Slaying of the Bull‘s Amazon description had gotten a bit tropey. There was a heavy chosen one vibe, and apparently, that isn’t good. Admittedly, I hadn’t realized how much hatred there was for the chosen one until I read a few top-ten pet peeve lists from reviewers and then perusedContinue reading “RIP Chosen One?”

There are only so many ways to tell a story. As Christopher Booker’s book, The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, “succinctly” concludes (it is 736 pages and took 34 years to write), we only have seven basic plots to choose from- overcoming the monster; rags to riches; the quest, voyage and return; comedy;Continue reading “How to keep it fresh?”

The number 13 has a bad rap, but the more time I spend in the 13th century, the more I realize the complexity of the age, and the more I love it! It is not a period many are familiar with, but some profound things happened, and some exciting people made their impact. It’s aContinue reading “The power of 13”

The Power of the Heliodromus will be thick in history and backstory and refer to events from The Slaying of the Bull. How to keep all that interesting? It is the bane of any work, but it is even more difficult with a historically-focused book. I can tell you, I’m not there yet. As IContinue reading “Transferring a tell into a show”