T & A Has Gone Away

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T & A Has Gone Away by Meredith Cagen

I am a child of T.V. It was my friend, babysitter, educator and conduit to the world. It showed me what I should look like, what to wear, established my taste, opinions, wants and desires. T.V. influenced me more than my teachers, friends or family. I think only 22 minutes over the course of a half hour. I naturally allocate thought breaks, as if they were commercials. My role models were on T.V. the stars, actresses, politicians, newscasters, sports figures, models and celebrities that appeared regularly.

I am average: average height, brown hair, average built and average weight. The average size for a woman in the U.S. is size 14 and Americans are getting larger (according to the L.A. Times). Over the course of my multi-decade life, I have yet to see anyone on the tube or in movies that looks like me. Average size women are rarely shown on T.V, unless it is a news program, since average size people make news. Reality T.V. shows usually show beautiful looking thin people. Scripted television shows rarely show average size women, but show average looking women who are thin.

Despite claims that T.V. adds 10 lbs to a person’s body, people on T.V. are unnaturally thin. While flipping channels a model search show got my attention because I saw an average size girl contestant. Immediately, captivated by the show I started to sit down. Before my average butt hit the sofa cushion, the announcer stated that this contestant was a “plus size” model. Average size morphed into plus size.

The one constant for appearing in the media is skinniness. Check out any network, movie, magazine, or newspaper feature section. Normal and average is discouraged and ignored by mass media. It’s replaced with a “you can never be too thin” attitude. Trying to understand the public’s fascination and acceptance of skinny role models is frustrating. Aren’t curves on a woman part of femininity – or has T & A gone away.

Ample breasts and a round butt are desirable female physical attributes. Are those antiquated ideals of beauty replaced by skin & bones with curves becoming a thing of the past. The shrinking woman syndrome is a media darling.

A passive-aggressive approach to body images is presented today. Thin is in, and fat and average are not seen. Unless it is biggest loser fat, the best friend role fat, comedienne fat, character actress fat, talk show host fat or misunderstood emotionally damaged fat and average female bodies are seldom seen.

The significance is clear, life is better (if not perfect) if you are skinny. Healthy, natural and average are extraneous.

All the pressures that girls have to learn to handle, the message to be super thin is an unnecessary burden. Developing strong self esteem and a positive body image is challenging among young girls, some who sadly fall under the spell of super-thinness. This behavior can have tragic results.

I don’t have a platform I am trying to promote. I am not pushing any diet product or program. Americans spend about $35 billion a year on weight-loss products (according to CBS.com). My product is my book, Size Eight in a Size Zero World, ($19.95 on Amazon) which has struck a chord with the public. I’ve received a large number of letters appreciating the fun I poke at women who are a Size Zero and those who want to be. I let my audience know that the desire to be extremely thin is unimportant and ridiculous.

I wish I could end this article with a snappy upbeat solution. But there aren’t any quick fixes or easy answers. The public does not have to accept the proliferation of ultra skinny female media stars. It can reject those images and demand to see average. I will be waiting for that phone call.

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My article was written after receiving a heart touching email from one of my readers.

“Your book really hit me at my core. I suffered from anorexia for the last two years of my high school career. I only wish I had read this book earlier. It really made me see how unimportant it is to be extremely thin.” K.A.M.

Size Zero World
Size Zero World Ebook
www.sizezeroworld.com

Recipe for Writing a Great Horror Novel - Ends 12/3

Enter to win a copy of Joel M. Andre's The Black Chronicles: Cry of the Fallen.


Just comment on this post to enter. You must be a member of the NOR Newsletter / Fan Club and leave the first bit of your email address on the comment. USA Shipping Only! Contest ends 12/3/2010

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Recipe for Writing a Great Horror Novel

by Joel M. Andre

To begin this process, I’m going to be honest. I’m not Stephen King or Anne Rice. I’m not a Master of Horror, but I know what I like to read. That is the direction I am going with this post.

When I begin writing a Horror Novel, I take a look at the bigger picture. What do I want my readers to get from the book I write, and what will be expected from the tale? Those are important questions to help you determine the direction you will take your story. With this information in hand, you are ready to attack the story.

Always Know What Your Killer/Monster Will Be

It can be fun having your readers guess the identity of your killer, or fear about what exactly the monster you are unleashing really is. In fact, this can help to build a level of suspense in your book.

When you read some novels, you find that the “entity” changes way too much. In some cases it begins as a killer clown that turns out to be an alien spider. In Horror, this is your most important character, so deliver the character as brilliantly as possible. Oh, and for the record, I love It.

Suspense over Violence

Violence can increase the level of fear in a story. There is something eerie about watching a person being stabbed to death for instance. However, the new “Torture Porn” genre isn’t anything more than senseless gore. If you compare the film Saw to The Haunting (the black and white version, not the remake) you can see what I mean.

The Haunting never allowed for a murder to take place on screen. It took you just to the edge, and allowed your imagination to work on what happened. This was a movie that had you feel what was on screen, and never demanded you saw the violence. Saw on the other hand delivered graphic gore.

Readers want the pages to grip them, and leave them in suspense.

Description Is Vital

I’ve been hounded in the past for giving too much detail on scenery, but it is important. Your reader should be able to enter the image in your mind. The landscape and descriptions of people are vital to the story. Make people care about your characters, even the ones you are going to kill. People should feel some emotion at the point that a character dies.

Never Leave Too Much Open

In the Horror Genre, we want to leave a book open for the next one in a series. When your reader ends your book, they should feel like they got a complete story. In a series, you are able to continue the tale but each book should be like a separate installment.

If you look at, The Black Chronicles: Cry of the Fallen, you will get a full story, but the ending will lead the readers into the next book. There aren’t any loose ends that prevent the reader from getting the entire story, if they don’t want to read on. That is vital for any tale.

Finally, know where you need to end your book as well. Story content is more important than word count. While some people might freak if you’re a few hundred words shy of 60,000 – 80,000, don’t worry about it. It is better to get to the point, without boring the reader. We cut 8,000 words from the new book in an effort to make it flow smooth, and give the reader the best tale we could.

About the Author--

Joel M. Andre was born January 13, 1981. At a young age he was fascinated with the written word. It was at fourteen that Poe blew his mind, and Andre began to dabble with darker poetry.

Between the years of 1999 and 2007 Joel was featured in various poetry anthologies and publications. In 2008 he released his first collection, Pray the Rain Never Ends.

Knowing there was something deeper and darker inside of his soul, Joel decided to take a stab at commercialism. Releasing the dark tongue in cheek, A Death at the North Pole, created a dark world among the death of Kris Kringle. Ultimately providing a tale of redemption.

October of 2008 saw Joel release his second book, Kill 4 Me. A tale in which a woman is haunted by a vengeful spirit through text messages and instant messaging.

Taking some time off and doing a lot of soul searching, Joel took things in a new direction and dabbled in the Fantasy Genre with, The Pentacle of Light. The tale dealing with five major races battling for control of Earth, and the acceptance of their God.

Finally, after missing his detective Lauren Bruni, he released the book The Return in October 2009, this time moving the action from the North Pole and placing it in the small Arizona community he was raised in.

Andre’s latest book is The Black Chronicles: Cry of the Fallen about a dead man who seeks revenge on the woman that tormented him in peaceful Northern Arizona.

Currently, he resides in Chandler, AZ.

You can visit his website at www.joelmandre.com.

Blurb This! - Ends 11/19

Enter to win a copy of Forbidden the Stars!

To enter you must be a member of the NOR newsletter, leave the first bit of your email address on the post, and leave a meaningful comment. Contest Ends 11/19/2010

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Blurb This! by Valmore Daniels

One of the most difficult jobs a writer has to do is to summarize their hundred-thousand-or-more word novel into a few paragraphs. It is, however, one of the most essential marketing tools a writer or publisher has at their disposal. Whether you are promoting your novel to the world, or promoting to a prospective editor or agent, the paramount question on everyone’s mind when they first look at your book is: what is it about?

For a writer who has spent months or years developing their story, pruning all those intricate storylines and shearing all those complex characters into a short blurb can feel like you are stripping away all the important elements of your novel. Without a short description (or blurb) however, a writer is severely hampering their ability to attract new readers, editors, or agents to their material.

When creating a blurb, try to ensure it contains the following elements: protagonist(s), flaw, antagonist, conflict, battle, and teaser.

Breaking down the short description of Forbidden The Stars, the main elements are identified as follows:
At the end of the 21st century, a catastrophic accident in the asteroid belt has left two surveyors dead. There is no trace [CONFLICT] of their young son, Alex Manez [PROTAGONIST], or of the asteroid itself.

On the outer edge of the solar system, the first manned mission to Pluto, led by the youngest female astronaut in NASA history [PROTAGONIST], has led to an historic discovery: there is a marker left there by an alien race for humankind to find. We are not alone! [CONFLICT]

While studying the alien marker, it begins to react and, four hours later, the missing asteroid appears in a Plutonian orbit, along with young Alex Manez, who has developed some alarming side-effects [FLAW] from his exposure to the kinetic element they call Kinemet.

From the depths of a criminal empire based on Luna, an expatriate [ANTAGONIST] seizes the opportunity to wrest control of outer space, and takes swift action [BATTLE].

The secret to faster-than-light speed is up for grabs [CONFLICT], and the race for interstellar space is on! [TEASER]

About the Author

In true nomadic spirit, Valmore Daniels has lived on the coasts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans, and dozens of points in between. An insatiable thirst for new experiences has led him to work in several fields, including legal research, elderly care, oil & gas administration, web design, government service, human resources, and retail business management. His enthusiasm for travel is only surpassed by his passion for telling tall tales.

You can visit him at his Website,  Facebook and Twitter.

Forbidden The Stars is available at the following retailers:

Paperback: Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Barnes & Noble

eBook: Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Book Baddies by Charles Courtley

Enter to win a print copy of Wig Begone - To enter you must be a member of the NOR newsletter, leave the first bit of your email address on the post, and leave a meaningful comment. USA Shipping only. Author to ship prize. Contest Ends 11/12/2010

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Book Baddies by Charles Courtley

That’s what I would love to achieve - my character, “Flogger” Flaggett, joining the top ranks of baddies in books, such as Long John Silver (from Treasure Island), The Joker (from Batman) and Cruella De Vil (from 101 Dalmatians).

But is the villain in my story wicked, in an unique enough way, to make the grade? Only my readers can be the judges of that.

“Flogger” Flaggett, the man responsible for bringing my hero Charles Courtley to the brink of ruin, may be a judge - in fact, he’s the Lord Chief Justice of England - but that doesn’t stop him being a nasty piece of work.

Appointed when hanging in England still existed and long before the age of political correctness, Flogger earned his sobriquet as a result of campaigning vigorously for the return of both corporal and capital punishment.

Forbiddingly tall, the never-married judge will be found striding from his flat in Temple Gardens to the Law Courts every day ,wearing his customary uniform of black jacket and pin-striped trousers with a shiny black topper crowning his head. The fact that he looks remarkably like an undertaker worries him not at all.

A black eye-patch completes the sartorial ensemble - hiding his right eye, blinded in a hunting accident many years before.

Apart from drinking copious amounts of sherry, claret and port at his club, Flogger has no interests save for reading a salacious tabloid every day - his one concession to the world of the common man.

His true love is presiding in court, making both advocates and defendants tremble at the sound of his grating voice pronouncing judgement.

Yet there is one chink in his armour. As a practising barrister before he was appointed a judge, he defended a woman who was later sentenced to death. Deciding that she had no lawful defence to speak of, he declined to make a closing speech to the jury.

Secretly, that still troubles him and it is not something of which he likes to be reminded.

As Charles discovers to his cost!

AUTHOR BIO

Charles Courtley, (aka Robert Seymour) is a retired judge who lives on the English coast with his wife, Jane, of 38 years, and a small dog called Phoebe.

He is the author of Wig Begone, a tale of a young barrister’s triumphs and tragedies. As well as adapting his novel into a screenplay and writing a sequel, he contributes to legal newsletters and blogs.

Find him online at http://courtleyprocedures.wordpress.com.