Month: April 2020

Silenced By The Dixie Mafia Part 1: The Buford Pusser Story

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The movie Walking Tall tells the Hollywood version of the real-life story of Sheriff Buford Pusser’s war with the Dixie Mafia. A two-hour film cannot possibly explain the entire story, nor can it relate the stories of all the secondary characters. Unfortunately, the story of murder, betrayal, and cover-ups didn’t end with the death of Sheriff Pusser. I will try to relate this massive tale to you, but it may take more than one post.

This blog post is a part of a series of stories about the Dixie Mafia. Make sure to subscribe to Synova’s True Crime Newsletter so you don’t miss out on any of the stories.

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1967:

 The Dixie Mafia was known as the State Line Mob and was led by Carl Douglas “Towhead” White. White was in prison when his lover, Louise Hathcock, pulled a gun on Sherriff Pusser and was killed. Upon hearing the news, White called his friend Kirksey Nix, Jr and ordered the hit on Sherriff Pusser and his wife, Pauline.

August 12, 1967:

 Sherriff Pusser received a disturbance call in the wee hours before dawn. Pauline Pusser decided to ride along with her husband as she had done on many occasions. The pair drove out to New Hope Road to check it out. The disturbance was a ruse to ambush the young sheriff and his wife.

 Pusser passed the New Hope Methodist church looking for the reported disturbance but continued driving when he found the place quiet. A black Cadillac pulled out from behind the church and followed the sheriff with its lights off. As the two cars reached a narrow bridge, the Cadillac flashed on its headlights and came racing up beside the officer’s car.

 The Cadillac’s passenger opened fire, hitting Pauline in the head. The sheriff ducked and stepped on the gas. The engine roared to life, and the car lurched ahead of the assassins. He sped up the road a couple of miles until he was sure he had lost his tail, and then pulled over to check on Pauline. Moments later, the assassins again found their mark, and gunshots rang out, hitting Sherriff Pusser in the face and jaw blowing it apart. Somehow the sheriff would survive the attack, but Pauline was killed.

 At first, Pusser declared he knew who was responsible and named Towhead White, George McGann, Gary McDaniel, and Kirksey Nix. After 18 days in the hospital and a dozen surgeries to repair his face, Pusser declared he couldn’t tell who had shot him.

Was it the trauma that caused his amnesia, or was the hard-nosed police officer going to exact his revenge?

Time would witness the deaths of three of the conspirators, but Kirksey Nix would remain on the loose. Legends would be told about the great Buford Pusser, but the story didn’t end with his death in a 1974 car wreck. Kirksey Nix continued and became the head of the Dixie Mafia. By 1987, Nix would be embroiled in another major hit.

Here is where the side stories start creeping into this case. The Dixie Mafia and the State Line Mob were prevalent in the area due to the payoffs of local officials and the coverups by local police departments. This corruption allowed the mob to rule without much interference. Although a few shady officers corrupted the police departments, other lawmen were threatened into silence. At this point in the story, I would like to interject one officer named Lieutenant Dan Anderson of the Harrison County Sherriff’s Department.

 Six weeks after the ambush of Sheriff Pusser on New Hope Rd, Lt. Dan Anderson’s son, Ronnie Anderson, was shot and killed. The case was immediately ruled as a suicide despite massive evidence to the contrary.

What happened to this 17-yr-old polio victim in leg braces? 

What kind of threat could he have been?

I will dive deeper into the case of Ronald Anderson next week and follow up with the murder of his father, Dan. Along the way, we will highlight the nationally publicized case of the slaying of Judge Sherry and his wife. All these bizarre murders are tied together with a delicate string. That string is the Dixie Mafia. Find out more next week when this cold case story continues.

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Five keys to writing your book

First, you must have a story to tell, and second, you must have an audience to tell it to. Without an audience, you end up with a book that won’t sell. Too many authors get caught in the trap of writing for the art’s sake, but they don’t study the market to find out what the people want to read. While everyone should write something they’re interested in, You have to make the difficult decision are you going to write for yourself, or are you going to write for the market?

Next, your book needs a specific genre. So many authors say their writing can’t be categorized. It’s a common rookie mistake. If your book cannot be categorized, it can’t be sold. If you look up a book on Amazon or in a physical bookstore, it has a genre. It’s how all books are categorized and sold.

Books do not sprout wings and fly around the bookstore changing genres. To successfully sell your work, you must label it in a specific genre. The next issue ties into the genre. You must know the rules of your genre. Of course, some rules can be broken, but every genre has a basic set of guidelines that all books must follow. Make sure to research your genre and get a good feel of these guidelines before you publish your book.

The fifth item on this list would be in the form of a question. Do you have a complete book? Does your idea have enough information to fill an entire book? If your story isn’t complete in its narrative, then perhaps you can interview other people for nonfiction, or for fiction writers, maybe you should create more characters. Sometimes you have plenty of characters, but not enough conflict to fill out an entire storyline.

When reading over your work, make sure the story is complete in itself. Even if the book is going to be part of a series, the reader needs a feeling of fulfillment. The story should be complete and could stand on its own if the reader doesn’t buy the next book.

These are five essential elements all writers need to look at before publishing their book. If you’d like more tips and tricks about the business of writing, check out Synova’s Simply Biz Facebook group

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Can a local writer build a big enough audience to attract Hollywood? I did.

Can you publish independently and build a large platform that attracts the attention of a traditional publishing house? I did.

Can an indie author make six figures a year? Yes!

This go-to guide will show you how I built a business so large that a publishing house came to me and offered to buy reprint rights to three of my books. I got the chance to tell them “no” for one of the books. I made too much money.

Have you ever been able to send a rejection letter to a publishing house? It’s a lot of fun. Trust me.

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What’s the Point?

Why are you wanting to write a book? What’s your objective? What is your goal for this project? These are some questions you need to address before you start writing your book. 

If you have a clear outcome in mind when you start, you will find the book is easier to write and will require fewer rewrites.

Here are a few examples of why people write books:

  • – To inspire others

To educate

To leave a legacy

To Generate Leads for your business

Make money

To entertain

Even if you’ve already started writing your book, stop and figure out your “WHY” before you go any further. 

#authorcoachingforbusyentrepreneurs #authorcoaching

If you enjoy this content don’t forget to sign up for Synova’s Simply Biz Newsletter and get your copy of her Free Guide: Overcoming Writer’s Block.

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If you’d like even more help with your writing business, Synova has recently launched a course for aspiring writers.

Author Biz 101:

This course will focus on helping aspiring writers develop their craft and show them how to build a business from their writing.

For more information check out Synova’s store page HERE

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Writing An Award-Winning Book Title

A terrible title can destroy your book and keep you from reaching the world with your words. The title is like a reader’s first impression right behind the book cover. So, how do you come up with a title that will propel your book toward success? 

I have a simple strategy that I teach the writers taking my course. Today I will share it with you all. 

Step #1: Find the top five best-selling authors in your genre and study them. 

What were the author’s last three book titles? Look for keywords that seem to resonate with the readers. While searching through these fifteen books you will notice patterns that might fit with your book. Keep in mind to take note of both the title and the subtitle of each book. 

Step #2: KISS

Remember that old saying, “keep it simple sweetie?” I say to “Keep it Short Sweetie.” Short book titles with no more than 3-5 words seem to work the best. You can make up the difference using a subtitle if necessary. 

Step #3: Start a list of possible book titles

Create a list of possible titles and then compare them to the best selling titles of your targeted authors. How do they compare? Are they longer or shorter? Did you use some of the same keywords? 

Step #4: Test it

After you get your list down to two or three possible titles, send them out to a test group and see which title gets the best response. 

I know this sounds strange, but don’t forget to make sure your title truly resonates with your book’s topic and purpose. Sometimes in the race to find the perfect, compelling title authors forget that their title must convey a message to the reader first and foremost. 

If you enjoy this content don’t forget to sign up for Synova’s Simply Biz Newsletter and get your copy of her Free Guide: Overcoming Writer’s Block.

Join Synova’s Newsletter here

If you’d like even more help with your writing business, Synova has recently launched a course for aspiring writer’s.

Empowering Aspiring Writer’s:

This course will focus on helping aspiring writers develop their craft and show them how to build a business from their writing.

For more information check out Synova’s store page HERE

For more free tips about writing check out Synova’s Simply Biz Facebook Group

JOIN SYNOVA’S SIMPLY BIZ FACEBOOK GROUP HERE

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The Six Basic Human Needs and How They Can Help Your Writing

Motivational guru, Tony Robbins, has established the six basic human needs and how they relate to our behavior. They are certainty, variety, significance, connection, growth, and contribution. So, how do these human needs relate to your writing? 

Too many writers spend years creating their books only to find they won’t sell. It could be because of their unappealing book covers, or their lack of marketing skills, but sometimes there’s another, sneakier reason.

Flat, perfect characters don’t hold the reader’s attention. Psychology tells us that humans are attracted to people who are like themselves. No, there aren’t going to be identical people, but there needs to be something about the person that can be relatable. 

When a book’s character lacks depth, it’s hard for complicated humans to relate. No one is utterly beautiful, amazingly successful, and has no problems. Your characters shouldn’t live this way either.

Every human’s basic instinct is to gain pleasure and to avoid pain. Does your character behave this way? If not, maybe you should re-think your story. Now, I know what you’re thinking. I’m writing non-fiction, so this doesn’t apply to me. Wrong! It definitely applies to a non-fiction writer. If you are writing a biography, a memoir, or a self-help book, you need to dive into the reasons behind the actions of your main character. 

When I was writing the biography of an ex-gangster, I didn’t merely relate his activities in sequential order. I tried to dive in deeper and discover the reasoning behind his actions. Sidney did most of his criminal activities in an attempt to seek the pleasures of fast cars and fast women. Growing up in poverty, he wanted notoriety and significance. As a child, he noticed all the local mobsters had the respect and admiration he craved. 

So, let’s take each one of these human needs and dive in deeper.

#1. Certainty:

Everyone needs to feel certain that they will be able to avoid pain and gain pleasure. They want to feel a sense of security and find it comforting. If a person is poverty-stricken and has no hope of finding food, they may steal it to feed themselves and their children. They avoided the pain of starvation and gained the pleasure of feeding their children. They may even not eat anything. I know this is a simplistic example but think about your characters now. 

Is the need for certainty met in your character’s life? Yes or no? How does this affect his or her behavior? 

#2. Variety:

After all that jazz about certainty, humans also need variety. If everything was exactly the same every day, humans go stir crazy. Although we need certainty, we must also have a good dose of variety to spice things up a bit.

What variety do you provide in your storyline? How does this help your character? Remember, variety isn’t always a positive thing. Sometimes it can come in the form of a bad situation. 

#3. Significance:

Everyone needs to feel special and appreciated for their uniqueness and importance. Like the other five human needs, this can come in the form of a negative or a positive. Tony gives an example of a street kid mugging a citizen. That thug may have never had anything in his life. He probably felt insignificant whether he would admit it or not. But, at that moment, when he was holding the gun at the victim’s head, he was significant. He was all-powerful, and this filled a psychological need, although in a very negative way. 

How is your character getting this need fulfilled? Are they achieving it negatively or positively?

#4. Connection/Love:

Although we need to feel unique and significant, humans aren’t happy if they don’t also feel connected and loved by others. Again, humans can get this need fulfilled in good ways and bad. Why do battered women go back to their abusers? A lot of the time, it’s because they need to feel connected, and they don’t have the ability or mindset to find that connection elsewhere. 

How is your character connected to others? Do they feel isolated and alone? If so, how does that affect their behavior?

#5. Growth:

Every human grows physically, but unfortunately, it seems many don’t grow emotionally. This problem is the cause of much of the office politics, drama, and chaos in the workplace. Everyone must grow emotionally and physically. When reading a book, we expect the character to be a different version of themselves at the end of the book. Notice I said different, not better. There was a reason for it. While we want the heroes to grow and become better, we simultaneously want to see the antagonist deteriorate. Although sometimes, the antagonist is so likable, we find ourselves rooting for the bad guy. In this case, we hope he or she finds help and becomes better through the process. 

#6. Contribution:

Every human has a deep desire to leave his or her mark on the world. We want to be significant and make the world a better place. Parents want to leave a better world for their children. People who give back to their community find a deeper meaning to life and seem to have a purpose and drive. What is your character doing to give back? How is he or she contributing to the betterment of society? If he isn’t, how does this affect him? Is he bitter? Is she depressed? 

Conclusion:

When writing, dive deeper, and answer each of these questions for all of your characters. If you do, you will find your writing will have more depth. You will have happier readers and more book sales. 

If you enjoy this content don’t forget to sign up for Synova’s Simply Biz Newsletter and get your copy of her Free Guide: Overcoming Writer’s Block.

Join Synova’s Newsletter here

If you’d like even more help with your writing business, Synova has recently launched a course for aspiring writer’s.

Empowering Aspiring Writer’s:

This course will focus on helping aspiring writers develop their craft and show them how to build a business from their writing.

For more information check out Synova’s store page HERE

For more free tips about writing check out Synova’s Simply Biz Facebook Group

JOIN SYNOVA’S SIMPLY BIZ FACEBOOK GROUP HERE

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