In April, I participated in the A to Z challenge where each day (except Sundays) you post on a new topic following the letters of the alphabet. So April 1 was A, April 3 was B and so on.
This was my fourth year doing the challenge. The organizers of the challenge suggest you pick a theme for your writing. The first year I didn’t do a theme. The next year it was TV shows and then last year I did characters. This year I decided to write about antagonists.
Now I typically have certain days that I already have topics to write about so I decided to incorporate the theme of antagonists on those days too. So here was my posting schedule.
Monday – Parenting (with an antagonist twist – topics included bad boys, high school and the word NO)
Tuesday – Antagonist
Wednesday – Quote by an antagonist
Thursday – Writing (about antagonists – topics included evil, killers, witches and questions to ask your antagonist)
Friday – Antagonist AND my scheduled Featured Author (Any authors interested in being on my Friday Feature, contact me through the About Me section.)
Saturday – Antagonist
I know many people on the challenge write their posts throughout the month or even the day they are to post. But I picked my topic and planned out my posts beginning in February. I had them all done by the end of March. It was nice not to have to write any blogs in April, which is a very busy month for me. If I left my writing to the day of (or day before), I would probably have ended by the letter F like many of the others who signed up to participate.
Part of the challenge is also to visit other blogs. You never know when you will find a new favorite blogger. In past years, I have done better at this but this really has been a busy month. I did make it to some blogs and even some that were very interesting.
As always, I enjoyed the challenge and look forward to doing it again next year.
For any of you who have missed out on my blogs from the A to Z challenge, here is a recap of what I covered.
A is for Apocalypse
B is for Bad Boys (parenting)
C is for Cruella de Vil
D is for Darth Vader (Quote)
D is for To Die for Cake (Recipe)
E is for Evil (Writing)
F is for Freddy Kruger
G is for Gollum
H is for High School (parenting)
I is for Iron Monger
J is for Jafar (Quote)
K is for Killers (Writing)
L is for Loki
M is for Maleficent
N is for No (parenting)
O is for Oggie Boogie
P is for Professor Moriarty (Quote)
Q is for Questions (Writing)
R is for the Riddler
S is for Sauron
T is for Technology (parenting)
U is for Ursula
V is for Voldemort (Quote)
W is for Witches (writing)
X is for Xenomorph
Y is for Yondu
Z is for Zoom
On my normal blogging days, Monday – parenting and Thursday – writing/publishing, I will tie that day’s topic to antagonists but on the other days (Tuesday, Friday and Saturday), I will write about antagonists from movies, TVs or books. On Wednesdays, my Quote of the Week will be from an antagonist that matches the letter of the day. Enjoy.
The key is to ask open-ended questions so your character has to elaborate beyond a simple “yes” or “no.” So instead of asking, “Were you scared when you were kidnapped?” ask “What was going through your head at the moment you were grabbed?”
On my normal blogging days, Monday – parenting and Thursday – writing/publishing, I will tie that day’s topic to antagonists but on the other days (Tuesday, Friday and Saturday), I will write about antagonists from movies, TVs or books. On Wednesdays, my Quote of the Week will be from an antagonist that matches the letter of the day. Enjoy. 
In the MCU, Loki first appeared in Thor (2011) where he spends most of his time trying to prove his worth as a son to Odin and that he should be considered worthy to be the future ruler of Asgard. He was also the antagonist in Marvel’s The Avengers (2012) as he attempts to harness the Tesseract’s power to open a portal allowing for an alien invasion that will let him take over Earth. His latest appearance in the MCU is in Thor: The Dark World (2013) where he helps Thor before becoming fatally wounded. Of course, it is revealed at the end of The Dark World that Loki hasn’t died. He is set to be back for Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and IW’s untitled sequel (2019).
On my normal blogging days, Monday – parenting and Thursday – writing/publishing, I will tie that day’s topic to antagonists but on the other days (Tuesday, Friday and Saturday), I will write about antagonists from movies, TVs or books. On Wednesdays, my Quote of the Week will be from an antagonist that matches the letter of the day. Enjoy. 
From serial killers to mysterious deaths to killing out of jealousy or survival, murder or deaths are often part of the conflict of a novel. And what better way to have your antagonist instill fear than to kill off a few people. Or it could be your protagonist doing the killing to preserve his or her life or that of a loved one.
Into Another World 