Category: Latest A to Z Post

Writing a Better Hook

Published on by Jean M. Cogdell3 Comments

Writing a good hook is not as easy as it may sound.

Every writer wants to grab the reader by the neck and squeeze.

I’m bad to read the first couple of pages and if I’m not hooked stop reading.

So it stands to reason, that first page or even that first paragraph is the most important part of the story.

Without a good hook, the reader moves on to another book.

H is for Hook

Want to write a great hook?

Keep reading…

Larry Brooks at the Storyfix explains how a writer should reach for a better hook.

Over at WritetoDone is a good article on writing a hook using visualization.

Write it Sideways gives 6 Ways to Hook Your Reader.

A few books that had me from page one…

Delirium (Delirium Series Book 1) [Kindle Edition] by Lauren Oliver,

Wool Omnibus Edition (Wool 1 – 5) (Silo series) [Kindle Edition] by Hugh Howey

The Memory Box [Kindle Edition] by Eva Lesko Natiello,

Outlander: A Novel (Outlander, Book 1) [Kindle Edition] by Diana Gabaldon

Share your favorite reads that grabbed you from the first page, or maybe a book that hooked you but didn’t live up to the promise.

Writing with Gerunds

Published on by Jean M. Cogdell1 Comment

G = Gerunds

Writers new and old sometimes stumble over writing with  Gerunds.

Do you know the correct way to write with Gerunds?

Not all of these “ing” Devils are bad. This is a writing tip worth repeating. A reminder that I make sure the “ing” action matches the rest of my sentence.

“Running home she flung open the front door.” Hmm… This needs work.

Want to rid your writing of a few of these scary little Gremlins?

Head over to The Kill Zone’s post titled Gerunds Be Gone, for examples for writers.

For additional help, you might want to check out editing software Grammarly , Ginger and ProWritingAid. I use all three.

Ready to go Gerund hunting?

Elmer hunting

Read the post over at Writing-World. com for more help.

Click the link for more details on the  A to Z Challenge

Talk to me, I love reading your comments.

Please head over and “like” my Facebook page at Facebook at jeanswriting . Or to connect with me, click the “write me” tab. Don’t forget you can follow me on StumbleUpon,  on Twitter @jeancogdell , and Amazon.com.

Please stop by and say “hey!”  I’ll leave a light on. 

 

 

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Put fear in your writing

Published on by Jean M. Cogdell5 Comments

Fearmongering

To deliberately arouse fear, awe or alarm.

Think of your story as a news broadcast. A news anchor peppers each story with fearmongering. Why? To get and keep you tuned in and watching. And let’s not forget the politicians or their ads.

Look at your WIP and find places to interject fear words.

Fear is a powerful emotion used to grab your reader’s attention. Go for the jugular.

Fearmongering keeps the pace tight and moving.

Below are just a few fear words. Listen to the news tonight and see how many you count in tonight’s breaking news.

English: Words associated with Fear
Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Agony, Assault, Backlash, Beating, Beware, Blood, Bomb, Catastrophe, Caution, Corpse, Crazy, Danger, dead, Devastating, Embarrass, Fail, Fired, Fool, Frantic, Hazardous, Horrific, Invasion, IRS, Jail, Lawsuit, Looming, Lurking, Meltdown, Mistake, Murder, Nightmare, Painful, Panic, Plague, Poison, Revenge, Risky, Scary, Scream, Shatter, Suck, Tailspin, Terror, Trap, Victim, Volatile, Warning, Wounded

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Want them to remember your writing?

Published on by Jean M. Cogdell2 Comments

Exaggeration

Want your readers to come back for more then…

Make your characters and scenes appear more. More of everything.

  • More common, or more important, more of what is true or usual.
  • Overstate the obvious, mundane, and ordinary until your words are extraordinary.

With the letter D, I explained how I to build characters, scenes and even sentences little by little.

Today I’m writing about the reverse.

Write every sentence, every paragraph with grand embellishment. Then cut the to make palatable.

Exaggerate your writing to the point of extreme and then pare it to almost the believable.

Why? Because…

  • The jokes you remember and retell are the most outlandish.
  • Hit TV shows that skirt the ridiculous.
  • We even remember terrible and the beautiful.
  • The unbelievable, outrageous, scary movies you watched years ago, still give you the creeps.
    • Can anyone say Psycho?

I still don’t like to shower unless I can see through the curtain.

Michael strutted in owning the place, six-feet of Cowboy oozing pure testosterone, his dark curls falling over to die for chocolate eyes that zeroed in on me flushed and sweating like a whore in church.  

Okay, that was a long, silly sentence, but I bet you could picture Michael. A handsome, cocky Devil. Whew, getting hot in here…

thankyou note card

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