#AtoZChallenge – Page 6 – Jean's Writing

Do you know how to write a Drabble?

Published on April 5, 2016April 5, 2016 by Jean M. Cogdell27 Comments

D= Drabble

There were almost too many choices for this letter but I chose Drabble because it’s a fun. But it’s Drabble for today’s A-Z Challange.

Drabble

Here’s what I’ve learned over the past year from an amazing Web of Writing Bloggers about this strange word.

A Drabble is a short work of fiction of one hundred words in length. Exactly 100 words. Not 99 or 101. (Although, due to popularity, some writers/bloggers have expanded this for special challenges to various, specific word counts.)
The purpose is brevity, testing the author’s ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in a confined space.
Keep characters to a minimum, one or two work best. More characters require more words.
Avoid heavy prose. Waxing prosaic eats up the word count.
Stuck in the middle of a scene? Write a Drabble to bust through.
A Drabble is still a story, and must have a beginning, middle and end.
Make the reader think with a twist or surprise ending.
A joke is a good example of a Drabble. A good joke that is. You set the scene, something happens and then a surprise ending that gets a laugh from your audience.

Taking a subject, word or idea and writing in a quick sit down helps my brain work. Stories begin to take shape as do characters. It’s like meeting someone at a party, and all the way home all you can do is talk about that brief encounter.

Writing little bits of flash, that capture short moments of time is one of my favorite exercises. Sometimes the tiny paragraph of only 100 words is a diving board for a longer story but most of the time it’s just plain fun.

Give it a try. Check out many of the writing challenges, try fan fiction or just play with the process. You might be surprised at what you can accomplish with just 100 words.

Tell me, is this a new word for you?

Do you take part in 100-word challenges?

Talk to me, comments are now open.

You can find me on Twitter @jeancogdell, Facebook at jean.cogdelland Amazon.com, stop by and say hey! Please remember to click and share this post with your Twitter peeps and Facebook fans.

For more info on ways to get started, below are additional websites about writing and understanding Drabble.

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Plot Generator

How to Write a Drabble by Michael Brookes

What’s A Drabble? by Jake Bible

How to Write a Story in 100 Words by Melissa Grabowski

Drabble-writing prompt words at Wordnik

Is it time to cleanup your writing style?

Published on April 4, 2016 by Jean M. Cogdell25 Comments

C = Cleanup

Southerners have a propensity for talk. Ask them how they’re doing and you’ll get a vivid description of their last gallbladder attack. They then segue into Aunt Martha’s bad hip because even God can’t keep that woman off of a ladder. Before you can say, “Okay.” You will know more than you ever wanted about this lovely person, their family, their dog and be invited to stay for dinner. When all along you were expecting a simple, “Fine, thank you.”

Yeah, I like to talk. This can show up in my writing and blog. Which brings me back to the letter C and the A-Z Challange and what I’ve learned over the past year from an amazing Web of Writing Bloggers.

“Cleanup this mess.”

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As a child, this was one of my mom’s constant phrases. You’d think I’d atomically apply the concept to everything in my life especially my writing.

But, I didn’t. Not until I began to listen and learn from a Web of amazing Writers. Did I mention I hate housework?

Here are the things you guys taught me about cleaning up my blog and my writing style.

Use headings.
Keep paragraphs and sentences short and concise.
Use clean, crisp phrases. No extraneous adverbs or unnecessary descriptions. In other words, don’t waste the reader’s time.
Avoid dark, bright or garish colors. It distracts from your message and exhausts the reader.
Keep widgets, pictures to a minimum. Readers glance first read second.
Optimize website and book for mobile devices. Funky text, or images that blur when converted to eBooks or mobile devices will have a negative impact.
Remove unnecessary ads. If you use ads on your web, make sure they are related to your brand.
Don’t clutter up your sidebar with award badges. These are cool and a fun way to connect with other writers but put them on a separate page.
White space is your friend. Don’t crowd too much together on your website or in your book.
Watch out for Dead Links, these are frustrating to your readers.
Above the fold. When writing a story or post remember this newspaper term. If the first paragraph doesn’t grab, no one keeps reading.
Produce a friendly, easy to use (or read), and professional product.
Formating is important. Text should be formatted for easy scanning. This is true in eBooks as well as on blogs.

What do you think?

Could your website, eBook or story use a little sprucing up?

Talk to me, comments are now open.

You can find me on Twitter @jeancogdell, Facebook at jean.cogdell and Amazon.com, stop by and say hey! Please remember to click and share this post with your Twitter peeps and Facebook fans.

If you would like more tips on cleaning up chick out the links below.

Write Clearly and Concisely – IEEE Professional Communication Society

Writing Clear, Concise Sentences by Writer’s Handbook

Blog Design: Keep It Clutter-Free and User-Friendly by Jessica Knapp

Spring clean your blog. By Kristie Hill

11 Things to Remove from Your Website (Declutter Your Blog) By Gina Alyse

Good or bad, your book is judged by its cover

Published on April 2, 2016April 1, 2016 by Jean M. Cogdell26 Comments

B = Book Cover & Design

Unlike what we learned in kindergarten, books are judged by their covers.

Yes, the first impression of your book cover influences the reader.

Some people are natural at putting forward that just stepped off the runway look, even at the grocery store. And there’s me in the produce aisle in my fluffy slippers. Hey, they’re warm!

I’m not homeless, just a little absent-minded. The lady shopping next to me, in four-inch Jimmy Choo’s, might be a model or she might be a femme fatale. Hmm, I feel a plot coming on.

But, back to the A-Z Challange and what I’ve learned over the past year from an amazing Web of Writing Bloggers.

Backward Six (see #10 below)

If you want someone to pickup, or click on your book, the cover and design better grab. The book cover needs to pull at them, make them want to look inside or at the least, flip it over and read the back.

So although we are taught at a young age not to judge people by their looks, readers do judge a book by how it is presented.

12 things I learned from you guys about book cover and design:

Looks are important. Forget what your mama told you about the inside being the most important part. If no one is drawn to open the book, they won’t read the story.
A book cover must look good as a billboard or thumbnail and everything in-between.
Artwork doesn’t have to be expensive to be good.
Clean and eye-catching is better than cluttered.
Not artistically inclined there is usually someone who can help. The world is as close as my keyboard.
Research other book covers that are similar. Which ones worked and which ones didn’t.
Art, image, and photo software need not be expensive. There are some that are free.
A trendy book cover can work. (This I’m gonna need to remember in the future.)
The book cover should go for an emotional response, then the reader will react.
The eye reads a book cover from top left to bottom right, and across to the left again. (Backward 6.)
The book cover is mine, even if I hire a pro, it presents my hard work to the world so I better make sure I’m happy with the end results.
And last, but not least, I learned that I’m not going to get it right on the first, second or maybe even the third try. But that’s okay.

DIY: How to Design an Indie Book Cover By Alex Palmer

10 Tips for Effective Book Covers By: dmatriccino

5 Tips for a Successful Cover Design

Designing a Book Cover That Tells Christopher Lentz

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Let me know what you think about book and cover design.

Are you a DIY, or did you hire a pro, or do you fall somewhere in-between?

You can find me on Twitter @jeancogdell, Facebook at jean.cogdell and Amazon.com, stop by and say hey! Please remember to click and share this post with your Twitter peeps and Facebook fans.

A = Assembly Required to write a good story

Published on April 1, 2016April 1, 2016 by Jean M. Cogdell18 Comments

All I learned about writing from the village of bloggers.

That’s my theme for this A-Z Challenge.

Well, let’s be truthful. No way could I cover everything this amazing community has taught me since I began this journey. But I’m going to try.

A=Assembly Required

That’s the first thing I learned! Just like that bike at Christmas, or a bookcase from Ikea, or writing a book there is always some assembly required.

How many times have we groaned after seeing those dreaded words on a box?

Also, it pays to follow instructions.

Now if anyone knows me at all, they know I’m more of an eyeball-it type of person. Not a read instructions type of person.

I mean come on, with a good saw and hammer I can make anything fit. Who cares if I’ve got an extra screw or two left?

But I’ll admit writing is a bit different. And thanks to so many good writers and bloggers on the world-wide web, I’m getting better every day.

Yes, I’m still more of a pantster but I’m also learning how to structure my scenes better so that the bookcase won’t be lopsided. Nothing worse than having to shove a block under one edge to keep it upright.

So what did I learn about Assembly required, or in writer’s jargon, Structure required?

Assembling a story does not have to dismiss my spontaneity or pantster style of writing.
It’s okay to sit down and just write the first draft.
That structure can be as rigid or as flexible as I want. After all, I’m the author, this is a world of my creation.
Help is available at the end of my keyboard. Reach out and touch someone.
That I must assemble scenes, multiple story lines, and characters into a mosaic of that become the story.
Then let an editor tear it down because I left out a screw or two and then I must reassemble it all over again.