Margaret O'Donnel is the human name taken by an alien envoy on Earth to orchestrate a first contact. Circumstance brings her and a human named Lawrence Casey together, and plunges them into Earth's past to escape a band of mercenaries from her side of the universe sent to deliver her to her father's enemies. The time is eighteen seventy-five. The place is Wyoming. Our time travelers land in the middle of a range war between the mountain and valley ranchers. Taking sides sets in motion the future events that lead to the destruction of a third of Earth's population. Help is on the way with the...

The world as we know it is gone. Those who orchestrated the end of our existence never believed we would take their world with us. Like many of those who came before them, they underestimated the strength of purpose that gave birth to the American spirit. Hundreds of years later our descendants will rise from the depths to face a world that has mutated into something very different and very, very lethal.

This study guide takes you through the steps required to take your idea from thought to paper. It covers storyline and character development, subplots, emotional spikes and twist, and adding texture, detail and description. It describes the differences between writing a novel and a screenplay and talks about some tools required to market your work.

In this guide we will explore the method I've developed to bring a story to life, but first you have to have some idea of what story you want to tell. Stories can come from real life relating to an event that happened to you, to someone you know or to someone you don't know. They can relate to an historical event or they can come from your own imagination. Even fiction can use true events as a backdrop. James Mitchner, an American author, wrote historical fiction. He took real events and populated them with fictional characters. However the first thing we need to do is take it from thought to...

The Sentinel, an eight-foot tall, six hundred pound genetically engineered reconnaissance drone is left for dead by an interstellar spacecraft, in the mountains of Colorado. They will not be back. It's alive, and alone, on an alien world. Elizabeth Claywell is a blind, thirteen year old girl on vacation with her family in those same mountains. Elizabeth can sense things the rest of us can't and sometimes it takes a very special turn of events to allow the world to truly understand what it means... To Be Human.

Taking your idea from thought to paper can be a very difficult thing to do. Within this guide I will show you how to create a storyline, develop characters, and then turn it into a screenplay.