1977 Airplane Crash in Yosemite

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Toker Villain

Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
Apr 21, 2009 - 02:32pm PT
This thread is the chinese water troll.
luggi

Trad climber
Atwater, CA
Apr 21, 2009 - 03:14pm PT
Just for yuks...instead of Obama bucks for stimulus...maybe another crash..hoping all parachuted out ok..20 mile hike and everyone buys new cars and pays off their homes. Yosemite climbers and all lived very well for a short while after that as I recall...or don't. Was Carter president? Geez where is the home.....
Licky

Mountain climber
California
Topic Author's Reply - Apr 23, 2009 - 03:43am PT
Sidmo, if you scroll back you see many of my previous posts about this subject. The book will not be just about the climbers finding the dope or the plane's technical specifications or the DEA's investigation. It will be about it all. If the facts about the plane bore you, flip the pages. But for some it is very interesting. It actually is the reason why this event took place in the first place. Prior to this plane, they could not have attempted this route.

I wish I could post great news that the book has gone to the publisher, but the fact is that there is still a ton of info coming in. The DEA has finally concluded the sanitation of their files and will be sending them to me. There are a few loose ends that have to be cleaned up with regards to the drug organization. Our friend "His Badness" has helped to contribute to the fraying of those ends. When ever I recieve contradictory information I have to launch into a full scale investigation to either prove or disprove comments and statements. I refuse to publish a story that is filled with someone's stories unless they can be verified. I'm sure any reader would appreciate that.

So the fat lady hasn't sung yet.
Jaybro

Social climber
wuz real!
Apr 23, 2009 - 04:01am PT
Yeah, but consider, you can publish an account that contains 'a story that is filled with someone's stories" as part of the whole, if it is labeled as such; afterall, the legend (and how it came to be) is as big a story as whatever, actually, happened....

Meanwhile, We're not, any of us, getting any younger........
Licky

Mountain climber
California
Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2009 - 02:15am PT
Rox...I'd have to say your stories ought to fall into the...uh...stories chapter? Ya think? Good stuff though.
sidmo

Sport climber
general delivery
May 6, 2009 - 01:32pm PT
licky, i was referring to the book really - i know i can read the threads selectivly for content that interests me, but i fear that your adventure history will get bogged down early with mundane details - if you are writing for flying magazine (if it still exists, my dad was a pilot, and subscriber - he would have loved all the details you're threading, but if you market a book to pilots you're going to sell few books - or to climbers, or potheads, or any interest group)the trick is to write a narrative that informs without boring lay readers - the new yorker magazine does a great job of this - they publish articles about specific scientific subjects but make the stories human and interesting . . . and more important, readable - most people don't care as much about exactly what model plane it was as they would about what the dudes spent their money on - bring out details as the narrative flows, but avoid roadblocks of mundane minutiae.
Jim Wilcox

Boulder climber
Santa Barbara
May 6, 2009 - 02:07pm PT
Maybe Licky will do a Cliff notes version. Condensed versions are great for making the decisions for the reader on what they really need to know.
Reader's Digest can take a 300 page book and whittle it down to 20. Makes you appreciate how much time the original author wasted :)
sidmo

Sport climber
general delivery
May 6, 2009 - 02:15pm PT
more on details . . . i guess what i'm saying licky is that you seem to believe that readers will skip boring passages and read the later, more interesting chapters - my guess is that more people will simply set the book down - nothing ever killed a good story faster than technical details - unless your writing is so strong that a lay reader will follow the stuff they don't care about you're going to work hard on a book that will likely be rejected - herman melville did well interjecting minutiae in moby dick (there are chapters detailing the tools used in nineteenth century whaling) but he's also one of the greatest novelists that has ever lived - you'll need a publisher, who will want a compelling narrative - sure, you can self-publish, but how will you distribute without a publisher?
sidmo

Sport climber
general delivery
May 6, 2009 - 02:19pm PT
jim has a good point - a great book to work with is elements of style by strunk and white - it stresses the importance of writing economically - too much about tail numbers will bore readers who want to read a story - unless the book is to be an academic tome, like a textbook on a particular historical event written for a graduate level history class
Jim Wilcox

Boulder climber
Santa Barbara
May 6, 2009 - 04:18pm PT
We just need to remember that the crashing of the plane really is sorta of the epilogue to this story, a whole lot transpired over a huge length of time before that one, last fateful trip.
Reilly

Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
May 6, 2009 - 05:23pm PT
"Prior to this plane, they could not have attempted this route."

Seems to me a Beech 18 would have been perfect for this 'route'. Lots around back then and cheap. You
still see 'em but now they're hung with PW PT6's.
sidmo

Sport climber
general delivery
May 7, 2009 - 06:17pm PT
roxjox is right - remember this is an adventure story - you could even use flashbacks to show the preliminaries, after hooking the readers on some early action - the first sentence and paragraph need to inspire readers to keep reading - i'd think the set-up might be slow going, but interesting once you had the reader's curiousity piqued
Licky

Mountain climber
California
Topic Author's Reply - May 7, 2009 - 08:28pm PT
I appreciate everyone's thoughts and suggestions. So far I have
13 chapters. Each is a story all by itself, but they are obviously
all connected.

And don't worry, I'm not going to be spending too much time about
how much force was needed to shear a 1/2 bolt hardened to ....well,
I think you get my drift.
WBraun

climber
May 7, 2009 - 09:08pm PT
You should make the whole book only 13 chapters.

Heh heh heh, it'll freak em out .....
Chicken Skinner

Trad climber
Yosemite
May 7, 2009 - 09:21pm PT
Good one Werner!

Ken
Licky

Mountain climber
California
Topic Author's Reply - May 8, 2009 - 10:49am PT
Now Werner, THAT is the best suggestion yet. Thanks
sidmo

Sport climber
general delivery
May 8, 2009 - 09:34pm PT
is DG translated: a southern accent named dave+a (brand of razor blades), and if so, i'd love his email adress-or send him here
Licky

Mountain climber
California
Topic Author's Reply - May 15, 2009 - 12:42am PT
Just received my FOIA request results from the DEA. Amazing how
long they had these guys under the eyeball. Its also amazing how
many times they escaped detection or once detained, slipped out
of the grasp of the Feds.
johntp

Trad climber
socal
May 15, 2009 - 11:24pm PT
Dude! We will all be dead by the time you print this!
Licky

Mountain climber
California
Topic Author's Reply - May 16, 2009 - 04:16am PT
Had I published the book, the DEA's files would not have been
included. But then again, who wants facts?
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