Short story – Page 3 – Jean's Writing

Writers looking for writing inspiration?

Published on May 1, 2015June 20, 2017 by Jean M. Cogdell3 Comments

Do you have writers burnout?

Need a little writing help with a plot or character?

Check out these great generators to kick-start your writing.

Need to generate everything but the kitchen sink to get your story started.

Click on this Writing Exercises website that has it all from a Children’s Section, Plots, Towns,
Characters, First Line, Theme, Names, Dialog and more generators to get you started.

Writing Sci-Fi?

English: Icon for lists of science fiction authors — Wikipedia

You can find random generators for story concepts for everything Sci-Fi from monsters, the undead, silly spells, evil creatures, or humorous space aliens at the Seventh Sanctum

Generate an entire short story?

A romantic/fantasy blurb? This generator over at Plot Generator might be for you. There you can find inspiration for Pen Names, Letter writing and much more.

Problems with Blank Page?

Over at the Writers Plot Idea Generator you might like the Blank Page Eliminator, Plot Twist Generator or the Fun stuff.

Now you might be wondering where I found all these amazing Generators. I like to give credit where credit is due. I didn’t pick them out of thin air, or Google air. LOL

After surviving the A to Z Challenge left me with a bit of writers burnout and I needed to recharge. Scouring Amazon for something to read I found a short book and after reading it for free on Kindle Unlimited, I bought it for my library.

Nine Day Novel: Writing Fiction: How to Structure and Write Your Fiction Novel Faster (Fiction Writing Basics Book 1) by Steve Windsor

Now as a disclaimer, I haven’t yet put into practice Mr. Windsor’s technique, but there are some really good tips in this book. I hope you enjoy the websites and book as much as I did.

Happy writing.

Kindle Price:	$2.99
Kindle Unlimited:	Free

Keep your eye on the prize

Published on April 25, 2015April 25, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell8 Comments

`V = Vision`

OMG! Will I make it to Z?

Gotta keep Z in sight! See the end Jean! Yes, I talk to myself. Doesn’t everyone?

For without a vision the writer, the character and the plot will all perish. So no matter how foggy the road, keep moving.

Vision:

a vivid mental image;
- he had a vision of his own death
the ability to see;
He saw with his own eyes the on coming car
the perceptual experience of seeing;
- the runners emerged from the trees into his clear vision
- he had a visual sensation of intense light
the formation of a mental image of something that is not perceived as real and is not present to the senses;
- popular imagination created a world of demons
- imagination reveals what the world could be
a religious or mystical experience of a supernatural appearance;

Pinterest is a great tool to keep your vision ever-present at your fingertips.

Build a private Pinterest board just for your WIP to help your vision.

Add pictures of houses, towns, people, animals, tools, cars or anything that will help build the world of your story.

`Flash continued:`

A cloud of dust and a Ford pickup pulled to a stop about ten feet from where Rachel stood. Covered in so much red Texas dirt it was hard to tell the color. Her feet didn’t care. As far as they were concerned, this rusted hunk of bolts was a shiny long ass limo. She jogged up to the open passenger door.

“Thanks, Mister. I thought the buzzards would find me before anyone else did.” She said.

One foot on the running board, her hand on the arm rest, she stopped and stared.

“No problem, glad to help a lady in distress.” He answered.

Her heart hammered a warning, but she had no choice but to climb in with the handsome devil and his Colt 45.

I love comments, tell me what’s happening with you and if you’re not already, please follow @jeancogdell on Twitter!

Read for Free, well sort of…

Published on March 12, 2015June 3, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell2 Comments

I love to get something free and although Kindle Unlimited is $9.99 monthly the number of books borrowed makes the membership a bargain.

I’ve read a lot of wonderful books by Indie and established writers. Of course, also a few not so wonderful but I’m not going to go there. When I download one not to my taste, I just return the book after a few pages. No harm no foul.

Kindle Unlimited is beneficial to readers and writers. Molly Greene, author and blogger gives a great break down on Kindle Unlimited payouts. Although she contends it’s not a lot of dough, I’m impressed and glad to know I’m contributing to the success of writers when I read for free. You can read her blog post here.

I also wanted to share some great reads I’ve found through Kindle Unlimited.

And I rated with 5 stars.

Continue reading “Read for Free, well sort of…” →

Do you start stories with a nutgraf?

Published on March 1, 2015March 3, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell5 Comments

Nut what?

Sunday afternoon and I’m breezing through my emails. I need to pay bills, after all, it’s the first of the month. However, my inbox is overflowing. But we all know it’s more fun to read emails, than pay bills. Click, delete, click, read a little, click, read a good story, click… whoa.

Nut what? I continued reading IMITATION IS PART OF BEING A WRITER, by Jane Friedman. So intrigued, I clicked on the links she provided and kept right on reading. Love it when I discover new information that makes me a better writer. Thanks, Jane.

Nut…

Nutgraf is slang for the editorial heart of a story.

It tells the reader what the story is about and why the reader should care.

Next link I learned from Theo Pauline Nestor, who explains on her blog WRITING IS MY DRINK, not only what a nutgraf is but how to use a nutgraf “trick”. (Also spelled Nut Graf or Nut Graph).

Maybe you’re shaking your head, thinking, Jean, you didn’t know what a nutgraf was? Nope, I didn’t, but I do now and I’m excited to practice.