Saturday 15 February 2014

The complete guide to themes in the April A to Z blogging Challenge (Sort of)

In my last and very comprehensive guide to the April A to Z Challenge I sort of mentioned themes, and said that of course the main theme was the Alphabet itself which I am sure is true. Well it is how I have always seen it really. But of course there is always much talk of themes within the overall progression through the alphabet and whether to use them or not and what is a good theme in the first place.



Well much of this will depend on the nature of your blog, mine is a bit mad so my theme for the A to Z is also a little mad, it is what the punters would expect (that’s readers not folk in boats in Cambridge). But everyone has a different blog and different reasons to blog, if you are an Author then it is maybe a chance to entice a few new readers with little glimpses of your treasured publications. And artists may use it to show their work with pride and joy hoping folk will go Gosh I must buy that right now . . .  But you could use anything you like for a theme, rocks, fish, people, rabbits, chickens, inventions, history, geography, fairy tales (I did that last year it was great fun),  seagulls, more chickens, cars, guitars,  sea monsters, motor bikes, places, mechanical wonders of Victorian Europe, Mountains and mountaineers, space, aliens and even more huge monster chickens with pointy teeth.  So in reality almost as many things as your mind will allow you to conjure up, the world as they say is your oyster. 

Of course there is one small pitfall in this grand idea that can really throw some folk a lot, you see they can become too entrenched by the detail of their theme and after a great start working out their letters, they suddenly get to X or Z and think O MY GOD why did I decide on the theme of Popes. The thing is don’t panic the A to Z is like a shop window full of sweeties to entice folk into your blog so make a Pope up; plus some interesting facts about how the Grand Duke Ferdinand gave Pope Zilliphilius the Forth the last Unicorn in 1538 as a gift. Only the Pope thought is was food and they all had a great feast and all was well until it was discovered that Unicorns are rather poisonous and everyone sort of died and the whole affair was sweep under the carpet, so to speak by the Vatican. The saying sweep it under the carpet is also very silly, have you ever tried to sweep a roast Unicorn under a carpet it is not easy, even harder than a cat, and that leaves a fair sized lump in the carpet. . . . . . .  Hang on I got side tracked.

Ok well that is about it on themes but make sure you choose one you like and know it will get you from A to Z without too much difficulty and remember don’t get too detailed, your theme is a promotion effort, leave the bigger picture until after April when you can discuss the detailed rise of Pope Zilliphilius the Forth in 1533 leading to him meeting the Grand Duke Ferdinand, and their treaty of the following year in Rome, so that the dukes son could invade Holland without upsetting the church.  Yes your eyes are stating to glaze over, so I think you get the point……… No one needs the small print on the A to Z; short sweet easy reading is best….


And one last tip if you get bored or disheartened by your Theme half way through, either just go random and post about anything you fancy or try another theme for the rest of the alphabet or make up dodgy facts about nonexistent Popes , it is entirely up to you, you are your own boss in this matter. 

18 comments:

  1. I was going to do a theme about popes and/or chickens, but now it would just seem like I was copying you. So never mind. Thanks a lot! Jeez.

    Plus my theme is the same every year, things I have unsuccessfully tried to make money at. Eventually, I will have enough posts, maybe in a year or five, and my first book will have written itself.

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    1. That's how I started my blog it was the diary that turns into the book that becomes the block buster movie made by the nice Mr Steven Spielberg,. Only it sort of went wrong.

      Do feel free to do the A to Z of Popes what can go wrong. . . . The hate of millions of Catholics and Latin letters of complaint. Maybe chickens is a safer bet, but I think it has been done..... Have you thought about the A to Z of yourself, I dont think that has been done yet, You could call it The Flip Side A to Z.

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  2. You're right, the phrase "sweep it under the carpet" makes zero sense. So you're cleaning by sweeping and decide it's a good idea to, rather than take the extra step of using a dust pan and transferring it into the garbage, it would be better somehow to accumulate that filth under your rug?
    And why roast the Unicorn, don't we all know by now that you boil it first, then broil it? It's so easy to remember "boil then broil". It's how I eat my unicorn, it takes out the poison but leaves that psychedelic effect.

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    1. Those are useful tips Miss VonP I think you should consider . . . The A to Z of household tips and other useful things to know.

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  3. I found this a little enlightening as I usually write on impulse, so making a theme isn't easy for me. But you have made it a bit clearer for me to get a few ideas sorted out.

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    1. I write on impulse as well but for the A to Z . . I write on impulse a long way ahead, if that makes any sense. I wish you luck if you do, it is usually OK till the cat gets stuck in a tree and the car explodes then time runs out so much faster......

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  4. I'm looking forward to see what you do write in the challenge.
    Fellow Ambassador Yvonne.

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    1. It is a very modest attempt this year sort of Spike Milligan meets Ted Hughes; his daughter is a good friend as it happens and lives about 10 miles away, she is motorbike mad and goes rather fast.

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  5. Looking forward to reading your posts Rob. Still remember the Pineapple Pagoda.

    Incidentally, has the situation improved in the UK? Did it flood in your part of the country too?

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    1. Ah the Pineapple Pagoda did work out well, these things are never planned, well the blog post was not planned. The Pineapple Pagoda was rather well designed with the help of a little photo editing.

      We did not flood although they fields around us have. It is a beautiful sunny day today but the rivers are very high so anyone down stream will have problems for a couple of weeks yet. One part of England in the South has been under water since before Christmas, that is a long time to be flooded. We are not really used to this in Britain our weather in general is moderate, not too wet not too cold, not too sunny not too windy, just a bit of each most of the year.

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  6. I worked on my alphabet yesterday, Russian. I had not yet used the Cyrillic alphabet on embroidery machine, so during a system diagnostic troubleshooting session I had it speLL the word vodka in Russian. The machine stiLL makes a terrible noise so it is going to the repair shop tomorrow. In non-alphabetic things, I made a triple meat mixture of buffalo, turkey, and pork sausage yesterday for burgers (1.5 kg) and a birthday cake the day before. It was for the owner of the diner. So I wound up going to the diner twice this week but never ordered a meal, once to have cake and then to drop off a sample of my triple meat burger last night. I promised her that I would try to eat there three times neXt week. At the moment Cooper and I are almost napping, as it has been a rather insomnical night. I am mainly studying IBM mainframe stuff to help my son, so it has been rather interesting and a little bit new/different than previous computer things. Earlier this week he expressed an interest in learning about Arduinos so we will start playing with aLL my toys soon.

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    1. You do not do things by halves Mr ESB I can think of no one else who would put effort into making an embroidery machine write in Russian. Then study IBM mainframe computer stuff and make cakes and burgers to take to the diner. It is stuff like this that makes every human being unique . . . OK some more unique than others, I would hide and just eat cake and burgers until things got sorted. Talking of which I must away and eat stuff.........

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  7. I've got my words and plan to write flash fiction again, just trying to decide if I need any additional theme. In 2012 I did it in 10 by 10, maximum of 10 sentences, minimum of 100 words. Hmmmm...decisions, decisions...

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    1. Flash Fiction is good but popular, and sometimes some folk can get carried away with something that end up just a bit too long. I always think so many people are working through blogs quickly that you need to grab there attention super fast. Maybe if you kill every off in the first sentence and then work backwards with lots of drama and big explosions.... A = Atomic Bomb, B = Ballistic Missile and C = Crickey that was a loud bang. . . .

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    2. LOL! That was one reason I put the 10 x 10 limits on last time. Maybe I'll use that or some variation...

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    3. Sounds good to me . . . .

      I am still watching the list I will be joining soon if it gets a bit longer

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  8. Very helpful post. I was wickedly excited by my idea of audience participation but I have no audience per se and you can't count on them to participate but maybe next year.

    Your point that the theme should not be to restricting or overwhelming is a good one. I am a fly by the seat of my pants girl, which your blog seems to have a bit of that carefree whimsical feel, so maybe just enjoying what ever speaks to me for each letter is the way to go.

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    1. Audience participation can be great but you cant rely on the A to Z participants to help as they are rather focused on their A to Z. You need to have an active and reliable following even if it is only two or three (as I do) to keep that working effectively. As for themes their is always a way a tweaking words to suit the letter it just gets harder with a serious theme, which is why I always go for humour (or humor if you are not in Britain). Although that is kind of what my blog is about as well as being my diary.

      I am glad my little guide to themes was useful, there is also a more general guide to the A to Z which might help. . . . .

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