Shattered

Published on November 21, 2013 by Jean M. Cogdell4 Comments

The phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID and answered worry clouding my mind. No one or nothing could’ve prepared me for the sound of your voice nor the anger and hurt spilling forth. My heart shattered into a thousand pieces as I stood unmoving, letting the words pierce my soul. Some say time heals; I hope they’re right.

Tilted heart made of lots of jigsaw puzzle pieces

(Photo credit: Horia Varlan)

It’s been awhile, hope you enjoy my contribution to Lillie McFerrin’s

Five Sentence Fiction – Pieces

If you’d like to take a stab at a great writing exercise, click on her link and join in the fun.

Shattered thoughts (amnaam.wordpress.com)
i am writing (brownpaperbaggirl.com)
A Shattered Heart (pbhatz.wordpress.com)

Six dialogue tips to advance your story

Published on October 28, 2013 by Jean M. Cogdell2 Comments

Looking for a great writers website? Check out http://onewildword.com. If your inbox is like mine it’s bombarded with how-to emails every day. I don’t have time to read them all. Some I delete after a quick glance. Not so with One Wild Word. There is always a nugget worth my time. Here is one such blog. Thanks for the reminder Carly Sandifer. Enjoy!

Listen to your characters and use these six dialogue tips to advance your story.

Writing dialogue is more than just putting words in your characters’ mouths. Try listening to your characters and find out what they have to say to tell the story. By using this practice of listening, you may find unexpected meaning and your story may go in surprising but satisfying directions.Here are six tips for writing dialogue:Show instead of tell. Craft dialogue that shows feelings instead of specifically stating how the characters feel. Whenever you start to use the word “felt,” stop and see how you can show that emotion through dialogue instead of telling the reader how your character felt. This showing technique will put the reader squarely in the action.Advance the story’s meaning with descriptions of character movement and body language. Show how characters gesture, sit, stand or move around as they talk and how their body language mirrors inner emotions.Don’t let your characters directly answer each others’ questions. A more indirect approach hints at the story below the surface and adds depth.Show natural patterns of speech. People speak in rhythms and sometimes interrupt each other in conversation. Also, avoid speech that is too perfect or stilted. If you’re showing a range of emotions in dialogue, the speech patterns should match the emotion.Know your characters’ speech style. Set characters apart in the reader’s mind by using unique vocabulary and speech patterns.Make your dialogue fulfill multiple goals. Dialogue should advance the story and can do that by foreshadowing, creating suspense, and establishing the characters’ personalities.For more dialogue writing ideas, read my previous post, Seven tips for designing meaningful dialogue and Carol’s post, Dialogue tips I learned from reading Elmore Leonard.

via Listen to your characters and use these six dialogue tips to advance your story.

Pitfalls you might avoid

Published on August 30, 2013 by Jean M. Cogdell1 Comment

Did you know when you pay companies such as CreateSpace, Lulu and the like to produce your cover and/or interior, they retain the copyright to those designs, not you? I do now. That’s just one of the tidbits I learned today.
So if you’ve ever thought about self publishing your book. Hop over to Shewrites.com and read Be Smart not Taken… STACEY AARONSON‘s post is a must read. First time I’d heard of a Book Doctor. Great info and things to do and not do. Red Flags to watch for and huge to mistakes to avoid. This is one article that is definitely going in my cliff notes file.

Click here

Getting Creative

Published on August 28, 2013 by Jean M. Cogdell

Summer is almost over but you’d never know it here in Texas. The heat is still in the triple digits and I have the summer blues. My brain feels like it’s been cooked and turned to molasses. I must not be alone. Seems as if every other email today was regarding a must read book on how to get back to your writing muse. Well I’ve too many books, too little time now and did I mention it’s too damn hot.

Me, I’m all into short cuts. Easier the better. Now don’t go writing to me how nothing worthwhile in life is easy… Did I mention how hot it is here in Dallas?

Now where was I? Oh yeah. While I was reading yet another email, about another great book, I wondered if there might be an easier way to achieve the same results. Oh dear me, see my mind is mush. That was a terrible sentence. Anyway… the book this blogger ask me to consider was a book of prompts. So as my daughter is so fond of saying, I Googled it. And voila! I found quite a few.

But I’m not going to bombard you with them, it’s too damn hot. Here are a couple I liked and I found to be fun. Check them out. Creativity Games.net http://creativitygames.net/creative-writing-prompts, or http://stiobhard.tripod.com/html/javascript/words/writing_prompt_generator.html. Of course you could just Google Writing Prompt Generator and find a different one to your liking.

Here is the four word prompt I used from Creativity Games.net and the results. Have fun and find your Muse.

barrel
pyjamas
clown
decay

I slipped a coat on over my pyjamas and went outside. Some clown had left the barn door open. At the opening I wrinkled my nose at the stench of decay. No one had mucked the stalls in days. The smell grew worse as I neared a large barrel at the back of the barn.