Balancing villains means adding the counterweight to your writing.

By David Ritchie

When writing fiction for young readers, you have to balance opposites. How? Create counterweights, so to speak, that keep characters and story in balance. This is why, in action stories, crafting the villain is so important. He’s the counterweight to the hero.

Here are two rules that work for me. 

1. Make the villain a strong opponent for the hero, or else the hero is no hero at all.

2. But meanwhile, give the villain a weakness to balance his strength. Then the hero can use that weakness against him.

Choosing the weakness is up to you. It could be pride, greed, ignorance, overconfidence, or inflexibility. Or … the villain’s very strength can be his weakness too. Every strength, you see, carries a weakness with it.

Here is how that idea worked for me, in Bigfoot and the Bear Invasion.

The villain, warlike General Bello Bear, believes that force is everything, might makes right, and violence conquers all. With one strong blow, he plans to rout his law-abiding opponents in Bigfoot’s forest, then enslave them, through a surprise attack. Up to a point, the bear is right. Brute force can accomplish a lot. But this view leaves him blind to something else.

A civilized, law-abiding society is strong too, because its people are used to working together. And together, they can turn back even the most brutal invader.

Yes, the bear is a powerful enemy. But his strength in warfare is also his undoing, because he thinks it is the only kind of strength. That is his big mistake … and Bigfoot knows how to use it against him.

I won’t spoil the story for you. Let’s just say that Bigfoot uses the weakness in the foe’s own strength to defeat him. The villain’s violence rebounds upon him, while Bigfoot need use only the smallest part of his own might.

See balance at work? A strong villain balances a strong hero. Meanwhile, a corresponding weakness balances — and ultimately annuls — the villain’s power. For another example of this principle at work, look at Boris Badenov, the comic villain in the old Bullwinklecartoons. A heartless killer, Boris is truly dangerous. He will stop at nothing to “keel moose and squirrel!” Yet his absurdly narrow outlook always brings him down, and makes him funny as well. In Boris, the ridiculous balances the evil. Result: a classic cartoon, still fun after 50 years.

So, create counterweights, both in your characters and in the story. That makes the story a story … and not just an anecdote.

One last note about General Bello Bear. He is modeled after a real person — a famous 20th-century leader whose career resembled the general’s own. See if you can guess who he was. Hint: look at the general’s jaw.

(David Ritchie posts from Southeast Asia. Author of the “Bigfoot Tales” series from Darakwon Press, he welcomes correspondence. Contact: kwriter@asia.com. Twitter: @EGhostwriter. This post originally appeared at “The Galloping Ghostwriter,” http://ggwriter.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/the-well-crafted-villain/)

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10 Day Book Club introduces guest bloggers. We encourage people to share their love of writing. Send your submission to guestblog@10daybookclub.com and include your contact information within the content. All submissions must be written by the author.

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10 Day Book Club, LLC is an online tool, which assists writers in preparing their manuscripts for publishing. The one-of-a-kind venue is simple for writers to use. All writing is submitted into a virtual book club and readers (including one professional reader) provide feedback for manuscript enhancement. Manuscripts go through the ‘litmus’ test for future publishing and sales.  Learn more at http://10daybookclub.com 

Disclaimer:

All writing shared in our guest blog is the opinion and message of the author and is not the opinion of 10 Day Book Club, LLC.

Love thrives on the pages inside. It is a short story.

By Linnea Larsen

The Pages Inside

She jumped out of her car and ran through the doors of a McDonald’s restaurant. She wasn’t starving. She wasn’t dying of thirst. She wasn’t desperate for a bathroom. She was late for work. She was in love.

“I’m so sorry…I’ll stay late if you need me to,” she said between breaths to the assistant manager as she ran back to the break room to deposit her purse and sweater.

“Just hurry,” was his response. She could tell he was irritated.

She rushed back to the front to get her assignment.

“Linda, I’m gonna have to write you up if you’re late again. This is the third time in two weeks. Drive-thru. First window. Take over for Chris. I’ll be right there to change out the drawer.”

“Okay, Randy, I’m really sorry. It won’t happen again.” She smiled as she turned and rushed again to the small cubby where she would be standing for the next eight hours as usual. Monday through Friday, eight to four. Minus breaks. She was fine with it. She didn’t really feel like interacting with too many people. She was hopelessly in love.

She took her first break at ten. She wasn’t hungry; she grabbed a cup of black coffee and went to her car. She dialed a number on her cell. “Hi, baby, how are you?” She spoke cheerfully, enthusiastically. She chatted with the person on the other end for a few minutes before saying, “I love you too. I’ll call again on my lunch break.”

She was back at the register in time for changeover from breakfast to lunch.

“What do you mean you don’t have any more Egg McMuffins!” screamed a stranger’s voice. She lifted the headset from her ears. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but it’s 10:40. Breakfast is over at 10:30.”

“That’s ridiculous! Forget it then,” as if to teach her a lesson. A car flew by but not so fast that she couldn’t see the gesture intended for her. She hated changeover; people could be so mean. If they could only feel what she was feeling. She was desperately in love.

Lunchtime passed quickly, two hours of vehicle after vehicle placing orders, handing her some cash, and driving up to the next window. She took her lunch break at one.

She grabbed a cheeseburger, fry, and Mr. Pibb and went to the break room to eat.

“Hey, Joni, Craig. How you guys doing?” she asked genuinely, smiling. Their responses were typical, routine, complaining. She listened and spoke “I’m so sorry’s,” and whatever encouraging words she thought might help.

With fifteen minutes still to go, she took a cigarette and lighter out of her purse and walked to an area outside where she wouldn’t bother, or be bothered by, anyone. She lit the cigarette and wiped a lone tear from her cheek before placing another call on her phone. Same number, like conversation, similar animated tone.

She was interrupted by Randy’s frantic voice, “Linda, can you clock back in? We’re getting swamped.” He stood halfway out the door. She nodded, sighed, said goodbye, snuffed out her cigarette, and rushed back in. She needed the job. She was sacrificially in love.

“Hey, you didn’t give me enough change! I gave you a twenty, not a ten. You trying to cheat me or something?”

She looked down at the bill she hadn’t put away yet. It was a twenty.

“I’m sorry, sir. Here you go.” He drove away shaking his head. She smiled but had to use a little more effort this time. She was tired and wanted to leave. She wanted to be with the love of her life. The rest of the day dragged by. As expected, Randy kept her late. She bought a super-sized Big Mac meal on her way out. It was his favorite.

She took the elevator to the third floor and walked down the corridor to room 322. She paused before entering. She wiped another lone tear, put on a great, big smile, and entered the room.

“Hi, baby! How you doing?”

“Hi, mom” was the reply from the weak, smiling lips of her eight-year old, dying son.

She was excruciatingly in love.

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Linnea Larsen

l.larsen6789@att.net

http://www.linneann.wordpress.com

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10 Day Book Club introduces guest bloggers. We encourage people to share their love of writing. Send your submission to guestblog@10daybookclub.com and include your contact information within the content. All submissions must be written by the author.

*****

10 Day Book Club, LLC is an online tool, which assists writers in preparing their manuscripts for publishing. The one-of-a-kind venue is simple for writers to use. All writing is submitted into a virtual book club and readers (including one professional reader) provide feedback for manuscript enhancement. Manuscripts go through the ‘litmus’ test for future publishing and sales.  Learn more at http://10daybookclub.com 

Disclaimer:

All writing shared in our guest blog is the opinion and message of the author and is not the opinion of 10 Day Book Club, LLC.

Burn baby burn! Your path to the publisher.

Get ready to join the dance. Getting your writing into the hands of a publisher is hard enough and if you choose to publish on your own writing – good luck! It is a tough market.

We offer a one-of-a-kind solution with virtual book clubs. Your manuscript is read by a professional reader while your work takes the readers’ litmus test. Readers from around the world have an opportunity to provide feedback on your writing before publishing. It is a great way to tell if you are truly touching your market.

We are excited to share your word AND send you down the burning path to publishing. A virtual book club is the hottest thing for the writer who is not afraid of the heat.

May 15 is the final day for June submissions. http://10daybookclub.com

Questions answered at bookclub@10daybookclub.com

Cultivate your writing – Gather seeds for planting later.

By Amaryllis Holloway -Turman

 

 The other day I was eating an orange. Normally, I would not have thought that would initiate any spark of inspiration. It seemed that this orange had a copious amount of seeds in each segment. I began to wonder how many trees I would have, if I took the time to plant these seeds. I could have the makings of an orchard. The thought was fleeting though, and I threw away the seeds and my future orchard. It is amazing that something so small would have so much potential.

 

Since my mind likes to wander, I then began to think of all small seed-like ideas, words, and phrases that I have every day. Just like the small orange seeds, they have great deal of potential.

 

If you are like me, after having a thought like that, you probably have said to yourself, “That was so profound, I will surely remember that the next time I am writing.”

 

However, when I specifically set aside time to sit down to write, my profound words escape me. I want to make an impact, but my words appear to be too trite, cliché, or boring.

 

At other times, I have serious writer’s block. All the distractions of the Internet and television do not help either. I convince myself that checking my favorite social media site will help stimulate inspiration. Hours later, I played games, conversed with friends, and have a sparkling, bright, clean sheet of paper.

 

In order to alleviate some of my writer’s block and improve lackluster prose, I have made a diligent effort to write down the words or phrases that come to me when I am involved in other activities. I bought packs of sticky notes and ink pens to place all around the house so that I can capture my thoughts quickly. Then I put these notes in the back of my journal with the care of a farmer that gathers seeds to be planted later.

 

By doing that, I can read my thoughts as inspiration when I decide that I want to try to write. Sometimes the phrases become the workings of a poem. Other times, the words can spark additional thoughts or images which lead to other creative works.

 

Just as every seed does not have to be planted today, every creative thought does not have to be made into a poem or short story immediately. We have to make sure that we are cultivating our efforts in the proper time and season. Only then we will be able to create literary works that we are proud to have in our portfolio.

 

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Seeds

It may sound like a riddle

How can I carry a tree in my hand?

These seeds are trees in infancy

In fall and winter, I find them

Carefully I place in a cool, dark drawer

Waiting for spring’s rain and sunshine

to germinate nature’s small but mighty gems

coaxing sprouts to take root

In time, the little one will grow to be mighty

Giving forth fruits that will start the cycle anew

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Guest Author Bio: Amaryllis Holloway – Turman a business professional who renewed her interest in creative writing after attending a Writing workshop in 2010. Since then, she has immersed herself in the literary world, become a member of the local Poetry Circle, and participated in many poetry readings in her area. In addition to writing, she also enjoys travelling with her husband, scrapbooking, and photography. Amaryllis has published a short book of poetry that is available for purchase on Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/amaryllisturman.

 

 

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10 Day Book Club introduces guest bloggers. We encourage people to share their love of writing. Send your submission to guestblog@10daybookclub.com and include your contact information within the content. All submissions must be written by the author.

 

*****

10 Day Book Club is a virtual tool, which prepares manuscripts for publishing. The one-of-a-kind venue is simple for writers to use. Learn more at http://10daybookclub.com 

 

Disclaimer:

All writing shared in our guest blog is the opinion and message of the author and is not the opinion of 10 Day Book Club, LLC.

Oh no! Not a Group Interview!!

By Robert W. Pollock, Ed. D., Author of ‘Teacher Interviews: How to Get Them & How to Get Hired!’

Imagine this; you read about a large district holding a job fair, and within the list of posted positions is one that perfectly fits you!  Wow, how great is this?  So, between the requirements identified by ad and what your research has discovered about the district, you tailor and update your resume to fit exactly what the district needs.  As you prepare for the promised interview, you sharpen up your answers with solid examples, put together a small interview portfolio, and gather your thoughts for the questions you anticipate will be asked.  In short, you are ready!  You are going to be an interview warrior!!

                Upon arrival you are greeted and asked to fill out a few information sheets and a district application for employment.  There must be 40 or 50 people milling about, but you are not concerned; who knows which positions they have in mind.  Besides, you studied and feel ready.  As you sit waiting for your interview, you are just trying to relax and stay calm.  Finally, a nicely dressed individual calls your name and invites you to come into an adjoining room for your interview.  As you enter the room, your heart sinks.  There in the room sit six other candidates who you had seen in the outer waiting area.  Count them!  Six!  All of you are going to interview at the same time?  Oh no; it’s the dreaded group interview!  Oh man; you were not prepared for this possibility.

                Of all the interview formats, I believe the group interview is the one that most often throws candidates into a tailspin.  Yet, that does not have to be the case.  In fact, if handled properly, it can actually be to your advantage.  Today’s blog is going to provide you with six can’t miss strategies to help you master that group interview.  You are going to feel better.  I promise.  Now, here they are in no particular order.

Establish a great first impression and professional image.  Upon entering, shake hands with every member of the team, have a great smile, and look them in the eye.  Do not even look at the other candidates; focus all your attention on the committee members.  If you have a pad, write down the last name of the lead interviewer and, if there are others, as many of the other committee members as possible.  When asked a question, use the interviewer’s name at some point.  Remember, it is always Dr., Mr. or Ms.  If someone was introduced as a Mrs., then use that as a preferred title.  Keep in mind that you are being evaluated against every other candidate from the moment you enter the room until the moment you leave.  Names will help establish personal connections others probably missed.

 

Watch your body language and posture.  It is easy to become distracted or assume relaxed postures when others are answering.  Avoid that possibility.  If you are sitting in chairs, both feet on the floor with your hands on top of a pad is a good base position.  Keep from slouching or leaning in your chair as that indicates disinterest.  When you leave, again shake everyone’s hand and, if you can remember their name, use it.

 

Don’t engage the other candidates at any time, or try to “one-up” an answer.  Direct all of your answers to the committee, and target the question asked, not the answer given by someone else.  What they said is immaterial.  It is the committee who must hear and recognize the value of what you have to say.  Treat the process as if it is only you and committee.

 

Maintain eye contact with the committee, and maintain your energy and enthusiasm throughout all of your interactions. Stay focused on the committee and not the competition.  Be sure to watch your facial expressions and body language as others are answering.  You do not want to give any indication that you agree or disagree with what others are saying.  A good way to handle this is to focus on your pad and occasionally write something.  What you write is immaterial as you are not going to use it anyway.  As you give your own answers, maintain energy, changes of pitch, and use your smile where appropriate.  Dry, deadpan answers go nowhere and that is certainly not what we had in mind.

 

Answer every question with as much precision as possible.  Use practical examples to demonstrate key points, and include quantitative information when possible.  Keep your answer targeted to the question.   Take care not to wander off topic and keep your answer under two minutes where possible.  With multiple candidates, precision is valued! When you frame an answer to any classroom practice question, try to include a good example of where and how you have, or would have, used that in real practice.  If you have previously implemented this practice to good effect and have quantitative evidence of its value, then add that information for a home run.  Most interviews ask questions on such things as lesson design, classroom management, and/or parent relations.  Pre-think some possible examples you might use with those questions and be ready.

 

Don’t panic if everyone gets the same question and the person in front of you says something similar to what you had in mind.  This is a common fear, and it is quite likely to happen if there are a number of candidates in the group.  As we said before, do not concern yourself with what others might have said.  You keep that smile plastered on your face and just go right out with the answer you had in mind.  You are going to separate yourself from the pack anyway when you provide that specific example and evidence of its success.  Let the others worry about your answer, you don’t worry about theirs.

So, very simply, those are the six strategies to make you the most formidable candidate at the group interview.  Now you can stop worrying and start preparing.  Book it! You will be the most feared candidate in the room. You can contact me, Robert Pollock, at advantapress1@aol.com. Purchase my book ‘Teacher Interviews: How to Get Them & How to Get Hired!’ at amazon.com View my blog at  interviewingadvice.wordpress.com

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10 Day Book Club introduces guest bloggers. We encourage people to share their love of writing. Send your submission to guestblog@10daybookclub.com and include your contact information within the content. All submissions must be written by the author.

*****

10 Day Book Club is a virtual tool, which prepares manuscripts for publishing. The one-of-a-kind venue is simple for writers to use. Learn more at http://10daybookclub.com 

 

Disclaimer:

All writing shared in our guest blog is the opinion and message of the author and is not the opinion of 10 Day Book Club, LLC.

Guest blogging slots open!

10 Day Book Club introduces guest bloggers. We encourage people to share their love of writing. Send your submission to guestblog@10daybookclub.com and include your contact information within the content.

All submissions must be written by the author. 400 – 600 words. Catchy titles and self promotion is perfect. 

Sample blogs are here and on http://10daybookclub.blogspot.com

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If you are a writer – 10 Day Book Club is an online tool, which prepares manuscripts for publishing. The one-of-a-kind venue is simple for writers to use. Learn more at http://10daybookclub.com 

 

Three Ways We Assist Authors Online

My name is Janis Friesler.  I am a retired teacher who with my former 8th grade student, David Schultz, started a business called  Assisting Authors Online, http://www.assistingauthors.com.. Here we help authors with their online presence. Our main focus is on our Amazon Book Launch Package that includes numerous services. In this post, I will touch on three services I recently expanded,  eBooks, Facebook Author Pages, and Pinterest.

I actually started my business by formatting eBooks for Smashwords.  Smashwords has a premium catalog that distributes eBooks to IPAD, Sony, Barnes and Noble, etc. through their premium catalog.  Recently Smashwords has not been distributing to Kindle, so I decided to format the books and put them on Kindle myself.  In studying many methods to do this, I found a way to format books first to the epub format that Apple. Sony, Barnes and Noble, and Google books use and then to Kindle.

This process is much more time consuming but the results are great.   They include a linked table of contents, images, page breaks, and Kindle navigation. They really look like books.  I even did a cookbook, Our Mother’s Recipes by Dorene Sager and Armin Feldman that turned out fantastic.  You can look inside the book to see what I mean: http://amzn.to/HXqTZc .  I put this on Kindle’s new program Kindle Direct Publishing Select and it is off to the races.  If you have an ebook, do yourself a favor and look into it.  If you don’t have an eBook, you can find me at janis@assistingauthors.com.

As most of you should know by now, Facebook has changed its format to a Timeline format with apps.  What this means is the main page has a cover image and is set up as a Timeline.  If you want more pages, they are connected to the main page through small buttons under the cover page which are linked to the pages( called apps).  I am a firm believer that every author should have an author’s page on Facebook.    There are so many things that can be done, such as a cover image of your books, an event banner, virtual tour schedule, your actual blog brought in as a page, a contest that shows up when people like your page, and your Pinterest Boards.

Your author pages can be as creative as your books.  Have a look at the pages I have redone in the new format, they have not been completed yet but you will get the idea:.

First is http://www.facebook.com/protectyourteens  Make sure you like the page so you can enter her contest. It is on the Welcome page.  She is giving away a Kindle Fire and two $50.00 Amazon gift certificates.  Our page is http://www.facebook.com/jfriesler.  ”Like” our page then go to the Welcome page to sign up for a free ebook, Promote Your Book on Amazon. Finally, ,http://www.facebook.com/trishsilverjewelry. Trish is an author and a dear friend.  She started making bracelets to raise money for her writing habit. I have a blog series started on our site to help you create your author page if you want to do it yourself.  We can always do your pages for you at a reasonable cost.  We optimize them to help sell your books as part of the deal.

Like Facebook, Pinterest is a fabulous site to promote books.  I have gotten more traffic from Pinterest in a much shorter time than other social media.  I have a blog up explaining how to use Pinterest for promoting books,  http://www.assistingauthors.com.

I invite you all to visit our site and take advantage of our free Books We Love page.  See you there.

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10 Day Book Club introduces guest bloggers. We encourage people to share their love of writing. Send your submission to guestblog@10daybookclub.com and include your contact information within the content. All submissions must be written by the author.

*****

10 Day Book Club is a virtual tool, which prepares manuscripts for publishing. The one-of-a-kind venue is simple for writers to use. Learn more at http://10daybookclub.com 

Disclaimer:

All writing shared in our guest blog is the opinion and message of the author and is not the opinion of 10 Day Book Club, LLC.