writing – Page 78 – Jean's Writing

Quick Tips to Beat the Repetition Blues

Published on June 18, 2015June 18, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell6 Comments

Get Rid of Repetition: Pleonasms in Your Writing

Ple… what?

Oh, redundant. Duh. Do it all the often, all the time. LOL

Ryan, over at A Writer’s Path, sent out a good reminder and a great tip for those dreaded editing days. Thanks.

And for 50 more Redundant Phrases to Avoid by Suzanne Purkis, head over to Apoplectic Apostrophes.

I love comments, almost as much as I love clicks, so after you pass this on to your Facebook and Twitter pals tell me what you think.

If you’re not already, please follow me @jeancogdell on Twitter or jean.cogdell on Facebook!

Tips to Improve Your Odds

Published on June 17, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell7 Comments

Sorry, I’m running late this morning. The rain pounding against my windows convinced me to snuggle down for a lazy morning. My choice was to snuggle down and enjoy the morning storm or get up and check my email for another dreaded rejection notice. I pulled the cover over my head.

When I finally finished a long, lazy morning of coffee and toast, read the newspaper – cover to cover, I opened my email. And what a pleasant surprise!

Only great tips waited on me. Thanks everybody!

Low and behold, one of them was 9 Secrets for Publishing By Andrew Winch.

As a senior editor for Splickety Publishing Group, Mr. Winch explains the process he goes through when selecting a story. Focusing on submission tips-n-tricks as well as a few elements specific to flash fiction.

Seems as if there’s a lot more to submitting than “just follow the guidelines.”

For instance, Mr. Winch recommends, in Flash Fiction, as a guide– One character and one scene for every 300 words.

Hop over and read the entire article for inspiration and let’s make something happen.

write

I love comments, almost as much as I love clicks, so after you pass this on to your Facebook and Twitter pals tell me what you think.

If you’re not already, please follow me @jeancogdell on Twitter or jean.cogdell on Facebook!

Start Every Story With A Bang

Published on June 16, 2015June 15, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell

Are you stumped?

A scene too slow? Too much back story? Is it putting you to sleep?

Does your writing need a jump-start?

I’ll admit, I’m bad. As a reader, if the story doesn’t grab me I don’t keep reading.

And damn it, I confess, I’m also as bad as some writers who write too much back story.Sometimes I get fall into the telling trap instead of showing.

When this happens, I get stumped. So don’t feel like you’re all alone.

I recently read a couple of great posts on grabbing your reader and keeping their attention. If I can build momentum and keep my attention while writing then maybe just maybe I can keep a reader’s attention too.

So if your interested in some good writing tips to spice up your writing with action —

Begin with How to Start Your Novel By Chuck Sambuchino posted at Writers In The Storm Blog then —

click on over to Darcy Pattison’s Fiction Notes and read Find Your Novel Opening: Quickly, Efficiently–and with MORE Creativity next–

head over to Blake Synder’s Save The Cat Beat Sheets and learn how screen writing can improve your story.

I love comments, almost as much as I love clicks, so after you pass this on to your Facebook and Twitter pals tell me what you think.

If you’re not already, please follow me @jeancogdell on Twitter or jean.cogdell on Facebook!

Are you using Scrivener?

Published on June 13, 2015June 12, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell13 Comments

Maybe you’re still using MS Word?

If you’re interested in trying something different read —

Writers in the Storm blog posted a listing of the Top 10 Scrivener Features for Writers.

I use both. Each program does something different. For short stories I use MS Word but for longer pieces I love Scrivener.

I also recommend reading Writing a Novel with Scrivener by David Hewson, he makes it simple.

Also if you want to figure out how to use Scrivener to outline that novel. Check out this tutorial by Erin Bowman.

There are dozens of YouTube videos to help a writer, so go crazy.

I love comments, almost as much as I love clicks, so after you pass this on to your Facebook and Twitter pals tell me what you think. If you’re not already, please follow me @jeancogdell on Twitter or jean.cogdell on Facebook!