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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Ted Saves the World Blog Tour and Giveaway

Hello everyone - today I have the great privilege of participating in Bryan Cohen's blog tour for his new release, TED SAVES THE WORLD.  Bryan's graciously offered to impart some writing advice as well as tell you how you can WIN a $25 Amazon gift card (and it's really easy).  So read on!


A Learning Experience
By Bryan Cohen

In college, I had a playwriting teacher named Bill Svanoe who had an amazing piece of advice I've tried to follow when creating characters for my books. Bill was an avid movie and play watcher. What do I mean by this? I mean he went to see every single movie that came out in theaters. Every. Single. Movie.

While there are occasionally some good movies that come out in the cinema, more often than not, these flicks are utter crap. Why would Bill subject himself to such awful, putrid "entertainment?"

Have you ever heard the phrase you learn more from a failure than a success? Bill took this to heart and as a result he recommended that we watch as many (if not more) failures as we did successes. This went for reading as well.

In the most unsuccessful books I've read or movies I've watched, something I've picked up is that the supporting characters were completely forgettable. They don't have a voice and they don't stick out at all. I have tried to avoid this fate by basing the supporting characters in my book Ted Saves the World on either people I know or aspects of myself.

One of my favorite characters, Dhiraj, is based on a combination of my younger brother, who is an Internet marketer and sort of a "get rich quick" savant, my best friend from high school, who is also Indian, and nerdy as hell, like me! A lot of supporting characters I've read, have one or two quirks and that is the extent to which they are fleshed out. By giving my characters aspects from multiple people and drawing from my own experience, I hope to present a fully-rounded and well-developed character that readers can enjoy.

I'm very excited to make Ted Saves the World the beginning of a series of books, because it gives me even further time to flesh out these characters and give them one or multiple arcs. Even though I've learned about characters from very well-written books and movies, if it wasn't for Bill's advice, I might have never learned about the character pitfalls I've gleaned from observing the worst of the worst.

Description of Ted Saves the World (Available for just $0.99):

A possessed cheerleader. A cursed gang of criminals. Mysterious telekinetic powers. An angry ex-girlfriend in gym class? One second, sophomore in high school Ted endures his first breakup in his favorite place in town. The next, a mysterious blue light turns him into a worldwide superhero sensation for taking down a posse of grisly murderers. As his views on YouTube increase and his friend Dhiraj tries to capitalize on the marketing potential, his dangers increase as well when a presumed-dead cheerleader begins taking a personal interest. Can Ted survive his first week as a superhero in the public eye? This novella is the first taste in a series of full-length novels about the adventures of Ted Finley and Erica LaPlante. 

The book is also available on Barnes & Noble and Smashwords for $0.99.

Now, for the FREE stuff --

Bryan Cohen is giving away four $25 Amazon gift cards, one for each week of his month long blog tour. To enter, simply comment with your e-mail address (feel free to substitute @ with (at) or other tricks to stop spammers from getting it). Bryan will draw the four names at the end of the tour, picking one entrant at random from each week’s set of blog posts. Entries will be counted through Monday, August 15th, 2011. Enter on as many sites as you want, follow the tour at Build Creative Writing Ideas. If Ted reaches the Top 100 on Amazon at any point during the tour, a fifth $25 card will be added to the giveaway.

So there you go -- leave a comment with your well-wishes for Bryan and you may just be $25 richer in a couple of weeks. Oh, and while you're at it, buy the book.  ;)

29 comments:

Beth said...

Great writing advice, and I want to enter!
bethfred08(at)gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the post and the giveaway!
creature-in-night@hotmail.com

Kelly Hashway said...

Great post and giveaway. Please enter me.
khashway(at)hotmail(dot)com

Catherine Stine said...

Good luck with your novel, Bryan. That's an interesting way to learn: reading failed books and going to failed films to see what doesn't work. Never thought of that! Sure, I'll enter. My email:
kitsy84557 at gmail dot com

Katrina said...

Ooh, such fun! Lovely post, and what a FUN giveaway!

Congratulations, Bryan! Your book sounds like an enjoyable read. :)

Please enter me as well! silversong(at)juno(dot)com

Shell said...

Sounds fun! Can't wait to read it!

oreo_93 at hotmail dot com

donnas said...

Great post. Looking forward to reading the book.

bacchus76 at myself dot com

Llehn said...

I'd love to play please.

lesly7ch(at)yahoo(dot)com

Mary Preston said...

I appreciate the 'learn by your mistakes' creed or in this case other peoples mistakes. You learn where not to go wrong.

marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

Sounds like a great fun read. Can't wait to indulge.

(\___/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

therainhouse said...

Haha.. Ted Saves the World sounds like a hybrid of Jennifer's Body and Rage Carrie.

Will look out for Bryan's book.

Zoe

therainhouse17(at)gmail.com

therainhouse said...

Sorry, Jessie!

It's therainhouse17(at)gmail(dot)com

Zoe

TheGirlOnFire said...

Thanks for the advice!

thegirlonfire27 at gmail dot com

layen said...

Never thought of applying "learning from mistakes" to reading. That's definitely a good advice.

Thanks for holding the giveaway!

lincalc at gmail dot com

latishajean said...

Great post thank you so much for sharing can't wait to read the book!
tishajean@ charter.net

Vivien said...

This sounds very interesting!

Vivien
deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

Mami2jcn said...

Sounds like an interesting read.

mami2jcn at gmail dot com

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to Bryan! That hard work is paying off!
someluckydog at gmail dot com

Unknown said...

I'm adding your book to my TBR list. I think my son will, too.

Thanks for the giveaway!

anjibeane@comcast.net

Suz said...

Thanks for this amazing giveaway - I would love to win!

susanw28 (at) mindspring (dot) com

Sally A Wolf said...

Man all of these great blogs I am so jealous. sallyawolf@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the giveaway!

abbydillon16 AT yahoo DOT com

TheReadingOwl said...

This book sounds really interesting!
Thanks for the giveaway!

readingowling AT gmail DOT com

Krissie said...

Good luck with your tour and please enter me.
CalifKitties {at} Aol {dot} com

Anonymous said...

Very generous giveaway! Good luck with your blog tour!
Digicats {at} Sbcglobal {dot} Net

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great plot, thank you for this tour-I've been enjoying it! edysicecreamlover18@gmailDOTcom

Life's Simple Pleasures said...

Woo sounds wicked cool!

Thanks for the giveaway too.

reviewsbyabby at gmail dot com

Infuse said...

one of the criteria that makes a read work for me "fully-rounded and well-developed character that readers can enjoy." right on target...

Infuse said...

and to contact ") infuse at live dot ca

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