QUOTH THE RAVEN “NEVERMORE.” OR DID HE? By Michael D. Rigg

"Once upon a midnight, dreary...."

Okay, you got me. Edgar Allan Poe’s fantastical Raven really said “Nevermore,” at least in the famous poem. Of course, the Raven and the nearly-napping-guy were figments of Poe’s fertile mind. He created them. So, if Poe quoted the Raven, the Raven must have said it.

But can we make the same assertion about actual historical figures? Did various people utter the pithy, wisdom-laden sayings attributed to them? Quoth the Raven, “Maybe, or maybe not.”

In grade school, many of us learned of George Washington’s commitment to honesty. When confronted by his father about chopping down a cherry tree, six-year-old George confessed his horrific, axe-wielding deed and declared, “I cannot tell a lie.”

’TIS THE SEASON. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE NOVEL OR MOVIE ABOUT BASEBALL? By A. Doubleplay, Guest Blogger

 

"If you build it, he will come."

Wow! It’s that time of year. Crisp fall breezes. A hint of buttered popcorn and roasted hot dogs wafting across the infield. The crack of a wooden bat sending a screaming line-drive toward the shortstop. Yes, that’s right, it’s baseball playoff time. The World Series is just around the corner.

What a game! It’s only been around in its current form for about 150 years. And baseball has been the subject of scores of novels and movies. Two come to mind: Shoeless Joe a 1980 novel by W. P. Kinsella, adapted to the big screen as Field of Dreams in 1989; and The Natural, a 1952 novel by Bernard Malamud, the basis for a movie of the same name in 1984. There are probably other baseball novels that were made into movies. 

SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL: A STORY ABOUT COPYRIGHT AND CHARCTER by Michael D. Rigg

"Excuse me, sir..."

On Saturday afternoon of this past Labor Day weekend, my wife and I strolled through the Charleston Town Center, a once-thriving indoor shopping mall, located, as the name implies, smack-dab in the middle of downtown in West Virginia’s capital city. Why we were there isn’t the subject of today’s blog. Today, I’ll talk about What, and Who, we found.   

At its height, the two-story mall offered patrons access to 130 stores, including Sears, J.C. Penney, and Macy’s. (A small third-story contains the mall’s food court.) Today, approximately 50 stores and restaurants remain. J.C. Penny stands as the lone anchor-store. Footsteps from a dwindling number of shoppers echo among the increasing square footage of drywall-covered storefronts. A change in ownership, and plans for strengthening the regional economy, bring hope for a brighter future.

STRENGTHEN YOUR SUBMISSIONS STRATEGY, PART 1 by Adele Gardner (writing mysteries as Max Jason Peterson)

No matter how you steel yourself, rejection after rejection takes a toll. It’s easy to lose confidence and feel your work isn’t good enough—when what’s really needed is to keep trying until you reach that one editor (or agent) who loves your work. Rather than feeling rejected, take heart by using statistics to bolster your stamina. As the author of over 475 published short stories, poems, art, & articles, and as literary executor for my father, I’ll share the system that inspires me to keep submitting, even to the tough markets—and helps me think about new strategies to build on strengths that might otherwise go unnoticed.

SITTING AND ROCKING BY THE SEASHORE by Maria Hudgins

I have recently returned from the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the hands-down best way to get “Sand in our Shorts.” The waves are reasonable-not too big, not too small. The sand is fine but not too fine. Dolphins, pelicans, and trawlers swim, fly, and motor by to keep you entertained. The sun sets behind you. Popular, but nowhere near as crowded as beaches elsewhere along the eastern seaboard. I’ve been going there every summer since Roosevelt was president. (Slight exaggeration)

CHARACTERS, CONFLICT, AND THE MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR® - (Part II) by Michael Rigg

 

Myers-Briggs (careerfitter.com)

Wow! How time flies when you have great blog posts to read every week! Seems like only yesterday when last we chatted. But it was eons ago—the beginning of June. We’re already in August!

My previous blog provided an overview of how I’ve come to understand the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^® (MBTI) and its use as a tool for developing characters and conflict in your stories. Feel free to take a couple of minutes to review it by clicking here.

In the meantime, here’s a quick refresher:

Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers developed the MBTI. According to Introduction to Type^®, published by CPP, Inc., the MBTI springs from the psychological type theory of personality developed by Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung to explain normal personality differences between healthy people.   

WHEN STRESSED, I THINK OF WATER by Adele Gardner (aka Max Jason Peterson)

Recently, I immersed myself in an editing project that required me to put nearly all personal pleasures and goals aside for about seven months. While the project is entirely worth it, both for the poems themselves and the chance to collaborate with my dear friend, at a certain point exhaustion overwhelmed me. My powers of concentration and patience waned, and panic prowled about all that I could not fulfill. Amid the stress, one simple thought kept me sane: the beach. When I get through this, I'll go to the beach.

"Virginia Beach" by Ravali Yan ravali, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

THE INFLUENCE OF BOOKS by Teresa Inge

Like many kids of my generation, I read the most popular children's books that introduced me to delightful new characters, historical events, and stories that would come to stand the test of time. From simple narrative and watercolor illustrations to expanding my world and imagination, many books of my childhood managed to invoke good reading habits and a lifelong passion for immersing myself in a good book. 

Some of those books included Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Are You My Mother? and Babar. Babar had an influence on my reading development and imagination due to his adventures of living in civilization and survival in the jungle. I’ve owned a Babar stuffed animal for many years.

CHARACTERS, CONFLICT, AND THE MYERS-BRIGS TYPE INDICATOR® by Michael Rigg

King Neptune
Virginia Beach Oceanfront

Writers, and readers, know the importance of characters. In Characters & Viewpoint, Orson Scott Card reminds writers of something we should know almost instinctively: “… readers want your characters to seem like real people. Whole and alive, believable and worth caring about. Readers want to get to know your characters as well as they know their own friends, their own family. As well as they know themselves.” 

But having characters worth caring about isn’t enough, is it? There has to be more to keep readers turning pages and saving their pennies to buy the next installment in your series about a serial-killer-turned-nun who runs a detective agency out of a convent. That something else is conflict. As James Scott Bell tells us in Conflict & Suspense, “Conflict has long been recognized as the engine of story. Without conflict there is no drama. Without drama, there is no interest. Without interest there is no reader. And no writing career.”