Tag: writing excercises

Do you know how to write a Drabble?

Published on 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.

  1. 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.)
  2. The purpose is brevity, testing the author’s ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in a confined space.
  3. Keep characters to a minimum, one or two work best. More characters require more words.
  4. Avoid heavy prose. Waxing prosaic eats up the word count. 
  5. Stuck in the middle of a scene? Write a Drabble to bust through.
  6. A Drabble is still a story, and must have a beginning, middle and end.
  7. Make the reader think with a twist or surprise ending.
  8. 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

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Is this a better and faster way to write?

Published on by Jean M. Cogdell30 Comments

No, in fact it scares the beejesus out of me!

The very idea, writing something only to take a breath and have it vanish into thin air scares me spitless.

Writing is scary enough without writing with disappearing ink. And when I first began writing on the web that’s how it felt every time I sent a story out into the world-wide vast mysterious internet.

Now comes along a new app, “The Most Dangerous Writing App”.

This app is designed for you to write without stopping, without thinking and without giving in to writer’s block. If you stop typing for longer than seconds, all progress will be lost. You can set the timer for 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 minutes.

This means, no bathroom breaks. Take a pee break and a blank screen will greet you when you return. No breaks to sit back and argue with your protagonist. Because by the time the two of you resolve your differences, poof, the story is gone.

If you are fortunate enough to beat the timer the text remains and you can copy and paste the text into another document. 

Now I don’t know about y’all, but writing is hard enough without feeling as if I’m trying to outrun a high-speed train. No, for the love of God, I do not need an app that will delete my writing, should I stand, stretch or go make a cup of coffee. I forget to save things too often as it is.

The intention is a good idea, to enable the writer to shut down the inner editor and get into a state of flow. But we’ve all heard about good intentions.

Third try, and I beat the 5 minute timer!

My hands are shaking, my neck is locked at a weird angle and my eyes bloodshot. But I beat the SOB! Talk about pressure! Sheesh! After the tenth or so sentence, not much else makes sense. OMG, my eight year old grandson could write something more coherent that this gibberish. Nope, won’t be posting this anywhere. 

Bottom line, it’s clever. But I doubt it’s something I’ll use. If I want to challenge myself, I can set a timer and pretend. LOL

You can purchase the Flowstate app through Apple. 

Or if you’d like to try the app on your computer, here is a free version click the image below.

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Read what other people are saying.

My attempt to beat the “World’s Most Dangerous Writing App” by Peter Shankman

The Most Dangerous Writing App’ Is A Terrifying Productivity Tool  |  By

This writing app will delete your work if you stop typing by ABHIMANYU GHOSHAL

Okay, now your turn. 

Did you try it?

What did you think? Is this something you will try again?

Thanks for stopping by my blog. 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.

Do you love to travel?

Published on by Jean M. Cogdell10 Comments

I do!

Tell me, what is your favorite place to visit?

When I read Julia’s prompt week #179 I knew instantly what I wanted to write about, my favorite city, Paris!

The city of lights!

If you enjoy my little piece of flash, let me know.

SEE YOU IN PARIS

She snapped the box shut. That was the last of the decorations. This time next year, she’d drink French champagne, not eggnog. No cleaning up stray pine needles or broken fragments of glass ornaments in the carpet next Christmas.

Shouts and cheers erupted from the den. Lost in her thoughts, and in the drone of her vacuum, the football game faded into the background.

Paris. Better late than never. So what it took her fifty years. Just the thought of strolling the Seine arm-in-arm with Mark melted away twenty years. She expected to lose ten more when she saw the Eiffel tower.

eiffel tower TLC

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PS

Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise, I’ll be in Paris and London this Spring! Yay!

Look for me on Twitter @jeancogdell, Facebook at jean.cogdell and Amazon.com! And don’t forget, pay it forward with a click and share this post with your Twitter peeps and Facebook fans.

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Do you remember that first?

Published on by Jean M. Cogdell10 Comments

As the flames leapt skyward, I closed my eyes, took another sip and relaxed in your warm embrace. A full moon with a star filled sky ordered special for tonight matches the stars in your eyes. Sweet kisses that taste of strawberries, wine and sex. Firsts are wonderful. The first kiss, first touch, first embrace, first love.

I stood, wrapped the blanket around my breast and stared into the dying fire. Would the second time be wonderful? As the ashes reached toward the dawn, and the wind chilled my skin, I walked away, as the sweet taste of first lingered on my lips.

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Pixabay Images

As luck would have it, I killed two birds with one stone. LOL

This is my contribution to two blogs:

The Prompt, over at Mom Turned Mom Prompt – Week 89 “Fire”

and

Julia’s Place 100WCGU – Week #173 The prompt was… as the flames leapt skyward…

If you’d like to join in the fun, just click on the above links.

Leave a comment and tell me what you think. You can find me @jeancogdell on Twitter and jean.cogdell on Facebook!
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