Down for the Count

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Well, I'm out of commission for a couple of days because of an elbow injury. Doc said take it easy on the computer for now so I'll be able to delve in and give my 30 days of crazy writing in November for NaNoWriMo.

Fingers crossed it'll be 100% working by then. Just one week to go.

This year, I plan to write through every day, even if I finish my NaNo novel. Markaza and M both need to be finished, too.

So, we shall see.

Anyway, I invite you to check out some of my archived posts during my couple of days out!

Here are some of the most popular ones according to my stat meter:

Dialogue Exercises - A short series with fifteen dialogue exercises to flex your muscles. Three on each link.
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5

Punctuation Series - All about how to use various punctuation, according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition.
Dashing Dashes and How to Use Them
The Period
Comma Part 1
Comma Part 2
Comma Part 3
Parentheses, Brackets, Braces, and Slashes

Choosing a Viewpoint - Pros and Cons of different viewpoints.

lOOk at YoUr xXx series - How to maintain a cohesive online presence.
bLog
wEbSitE
fAceBoOk
tWitTeR
bUsiNeSS CaRd - This one also has a link to a handy PDF you can download and keep.

Your First 100 Words

Enjoy picking through the fun :)

Which ones do you like best?

I'll be back to give you some more tomorrow. Unless some of those authors impacted by the blogger blackout decide to take me up on my offer :)

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Dialogue - Keeping it Fresh

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm talking with you about dialogue again. I started writing this post yesterday, but life took over and killed it. Ha! Great how that works, isn't it? But! The kids go back to school soon, so things around the blog will settle down as they were before. Anyway, today we're gonna talk about keeping your dialogue fresh for readability and comprehension. I'll also give you a little exercise to do afterward. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Let's start with things you shouldn't do.

• Make every line of dialogue begin the same way.
• Break several lines of dialogue in a row with an action.
• Confuse your dialogue tags with action tags.
• Make everyone sound the same.

In keeping your writing fresh, you want to use dialogue, action, and dialect in a way that keeps them harmonious.

Example time!

Shouldn't do:
Pat elbowed her way through the crowd. "Can you believe how many people are here?"
I grabbed her hand before leaning toward her ear. "It's always like this on Friday night!"
Lucy made her way to us and joined the circle. "I'm so excited to be here! I can't believe our parents let us come."
I put my free hand on her shoulder. "This is once in a lifetime, kid."
Music pumped through the speakers, and my insides rattled.

Better:
Pat elbowed her way through the crowd. "Can you believe how many people are here?"
"It's always—" someone jostled me, and I grabbed Pat's hand to lean toward her ear "—like this on Friday night!"
Lucy made her way to us. "I'm so excited to be here, y'all! I can't believe our parents let us come." Her eyes sparkled.
"This is once in a lifetime, kid," I said.
Music pumped through the speakers, and my insides rattled.

Frequent name restatement is often necessary when there are several people in a discussion. Watch your pronouns. Let's look at one more example; then I'll turn you loose with an exercise.

Shouldn't do:
"I wanted to go to the store with Mommy," Lisa whined.
Her father's mouth turned down. He said, "You didn't want to stay with me?"
She crossed her arms and shook her head.
"I thought maybe we could play your favorite," he said, pulling out Chutes and Ladders.
She clapped her hands and said, "Yay! Yes, Daddy. I want to play."
"But you wanted to go to the store with Mommy," he teased.
"I was just kidding," she said.
He roared with laughter.

Better:
"I wanted to go to the store with Mommy." Lisa threw her tiny figure face-down on the couch.
Her father frowned. "You don't want to stay with me?"
She rolled over, crossed her arms, and shook her head.
"I thought maybe we could play your favorite," he said.
When Lisa saw the Chutes and Ladders game in his hands, she clapped. "Yay! Yes, Daddy. I wanna play."
"But you wanted to go to the store with Mommy."
"I was just kidding."
He roared with laughter.

Not only is the second passage easier to read, it's correctly punctuated. Remember to ditch the dialogue tag when giving the character an action. If you use a dialogue tag, there should be no action. Change it up so it doesn't get stale. No one wants to read: he said, she said, he said, he said, she said over and over again.

Time for your exercises!

#1:
Write a few quick paragraphs of dialogue with four characters: Paul, Mike, Anna, and Frank. Start each sentence the same way, pay no attention to punctuation, and no attention to pronoun usage.

Use the tips above and this post to correct your writing. Feel free to send it to me if you want someone to check it.

#2:
Using the ideas above, craft one line of dialogue for each of the following:

1. Starts with an action, ends with dialogue.
2. Uses a dialogue tag at the beginning.
3. Uses a dialogue tag at the end.
4. Break the dialogue with an action.
5. Stars with dialogue, ends with action.
6. No dialogue tag; no action tag.
7. Interrupted speech (remember your em-dash!)
8. Trailing off of speech (don't forget the ellipsis!)
9. Starts with action, then has dialogue, then another action

You may feel free to post your attempts in the comments below.

What do you think? Helpful?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Friday Funday

Happy Friday, everyone! The weekend is almost upon us and I figured I'd give you a few things to do in your downtime that will help your writing skills. Just a little weekend fun to keep your writerly brain engaged and on target for the workweek ahead. I know you don't really want to think about Monday, but it behooves us all to be prepared. I'll begin by giving you the name of the exercise, and then move on to how you can accomplish it (and maybe have some fun, too). Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going.

Exercise #1: Dialogue Dissection
Grab a friend or family member and chat with them. Be sure you have a recorder of some kind running (voice notes on an iPhone work great for this). Give yourself ten to fifteen minutes then shut the recording device off. End the conversation and move to a room where you can be alone. Play back the recording and recall what each of you were doing as you spoke. Mentally add commas and periods where you think they belong. Listen to it again. Pay attention to the words used, pronunciation, and inflection. Think about how you might write the conversation out. If you feel so inclined, you may do so; but, this is more of an exercise to get your brain thinking about dialogue in general.

Exercise #2: Title Trivia
Sit down with a friend or family member and grab a couple of sheets of paper or 3.5"x5" index cards. Cut them into pieces and have everyone write one word on each piece. Fold them up and throw them into a bowl. Take turns picking out two pieces and sticking them together. Pretend it's the title of a book and come up with a synopsis to support it. This is all verbal, so no need to write anything down (unless you hit upon the next great novel idea!).

Exercise #3: What's That Word?
This, again, is a two or more person game. Grab a sheet of paper and write down a sentence with at least ten words in it. Exchange with others. Now, try and come up with as many words as possible in place of the ones written. Whoever has the most variations (accurate ones) wins! Don't cheat and use a thesaurus! I find chocolate is a great motivator as a prize for this game.

Exercise #4: Acting Gone Awry
Take a character from one of your favorite novels and pretend to be them for the day. Respond to other people the way you think the character would, do things you think they would do, and really try to walk in their shoes. Take little notes as you go if you want. At the end of the day, reflect on your actions and try to flesh out the character in your head. Were there circumstances that made you wonder about the character's personality or how they would react or did it all flow very naturally? What part of the book let you know that? Use this knowledge the next time you're building your own characters (or when writing scenes of discovery).

Exercise #5: Cover Collection Craziness
Go online and take a look at other books in your genre. Save images of the covers. Print out a quick copy on regular paper or pull them up in a photo editing program. Make notes about what you like and don't like about each one. If you wanna get crazy, cut them up and glue together a whole new cover with some of the elements. Kids love this one.

These are just a few games you can play with your friends or family members to help you become a better writer. An added bonus is: You get to spend time with your loved ones while sharpening your skills!

Which one of these sounds the most fun to you?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Dialogue Traps to Avoid and How to Fix Them

Happy Monday, everyone! I do hope you all had a fabulous weekend and are raring to go for the week ahead. Today, I'd like to talk a little bit about dialogue traps many authors fall into and how you can pull yourself from the quagmire of quicksand that's sucking you down. These are things I find in many of the books I edit, and the author usually does a little head slap once I point out what's going wrong. Grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going! Be sure and check out the link to some dialogue exercises near the end of this post.

One of my most popular posts, He Said, She Said, Who Said What?, goes into ways to keep the local vernacular true to the characters. It uses extremes, but I did it to make a point.

Let's expand upon that and talk about how to keep the speech true to humans.

In I, Zombie, I used dialogue to help pull the reader into the culture. Some people enjoyed it, some didn't. However, it's true to the location and that's what I was after. Bronya, book one of the Mystic series, is also set in Southern Louisiana, but I chose not to use the local dialect. I both loved and hated that aspect of the book, but it's a choice an author has to make.

Note what I said there: Choice. It's up to you how your characters will speak, but the key to doing anything well is consistency. I know, there's that word yet again! Remember when I talked about creating a style guide for your novel? If your characters are gonna talk a certain way, be sure you're consistent. Your style guide will help you (and your editor) do that.

Now, a few things to keep in mind when characters are speaking to one another:

• You don't always have to use a dialogue tag (said, mumbled, asked, answered, etc...), an action tag (Sabrina put her feet up on the couch, Luke took a long drink of his coffee, Pig plopped his big, round bottom down, etc...) will work as well.
• There's no need to name the character the one speaking is talking to unless: There are more than two characters in the room and he/she is speaking to someone out of the group specifically, or there's no action tag like: Pig looked at Sabrina.
• When a character uses another character's name in speech, it sounds like a lecture or like one is lording their superiority over the other. Think about how you speak and when you use someone's name.
• We speak in contractions unless we're speaking formally (old English, Historically, etc...). Use them. It'll help. Remember to practice writing in contractions everywhere, not just in your novels. If a character doesn't use contractions, be consistent and don't ever use them. One day, you'll thank me. *wink*
• Watching the rename will help with pronouns. Time for an example! 

If we know Pig and Luke are having a discussion, it might go like this: 
Pig looked at Luke. "So, you're saying I didn't need to sit?"
He answered, "That's exactly what I'm saying."
His tail uncurled and his ears drooped. "I thought I was being good."
This is wrong, wrong, wrong. It creates a pronoun problem. Either you have to rename Pig (which gets irritating to readers if it's done too often) or remove Luke. We know who Pig is talking to because the scene has been set.

How about: 
Pig looked up. "So, you're saying I didn't need to sit?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
His tail uncurled and his ears drooped. "I thought I was being good."
Note that Pig was the last male named so the pronoun his is used correctly. There was no need to rename Pig or worry that we couldn't use the pronoun his after we named Luke.

Please, know your action tags and your dialogue tags. Here's a post that will help with that. Some get commas and others get periods. Be sure you're varying what you use. Dingle said, Pig said, Sabrina said, Luke said, Howey said, Dog said, gets redundant and boring after a while. If it's obvious who said it, leave it alone. If you must give a name, use an action tag now and then.

Are you ready to practice flexing your dialogue muscles? Here's the fifth post in a series with links to the previous four: Dialogue Exercises. There are fifteen practice scenarios for you to use. Have some fun, okay?

Did you know these loose rules? Do the examples above help at all?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Checklists for Novels - Part 3 of 3 - Scenes, Dialogue, Complexity, and Character

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Halfway through the week, we are. Wow, the volume of that cheer blew my hair back. Guess you're all looking forward to the three day weekend, huh? Well, I hope you all have a novel you're editing right now and can print these little checklists and make good use of them with your *ahem* time off. Today, you get checklists for scenes, dialogue, complexity (in one), and character (there are three of these). At the end, you'll find a link to a PDF you can download, print, keep, and share! All I ask is that you don't alter it in any way. Thanks! Let's get going!

Scenes

• Do your scenes ebb and flow well?
• Are the four basic happenings taking place?

1. Action - This is the objective of the scene.
2. Reaction - What the emotional state of the protagonist is.
3. More Action - What they do about it.
4. Deepening - This happens only in the most dramatic scenes.

• Do you have a great hook, intensity, and a good setup for the next scene?

Complexity

• What value are you supplying to your reader (values can be life lessons or new opinions)?
• Is there a sub-plot that could be added that would give your protagonist (or antagonist) more depth?
• How will any sub-plots assist you in changing the values of your character?

Dialogue

• Have you used a lot of he said, she said?
• Can you turn any of the dialogue tags into action tags?
• Are you using the proper dialect?
• Contractions. Do you use them?

Characters (this is broken out in the checklists)

• Full Name - First, middle, and last along with any other names they've had along the way.
• Location - Where they live, where they were born, if different, why it changed.
• Age - Includes birthday, zodiac sign, and recent celebrations.
• Physical Description - Height, weight, hair color, eye color, shoe size, skin color, manicure?, pedicure?, hair length, eyebrows (V shaped, bushy, pencil thin, etc...), identifying marks, for women: bra size.
• Mental Description - Self centered, egotistical, timid, brash, vengeful, etc...
• Reasons for Mental Description - What happened in life to make them that way.
• Friends - Other characters. Are they major? Minor? Plot changing?
• Relationships - Spouse, kids, parents - with names and nature of relationship.
• Goals - What their ultimate life goal is.
• Career - What they do or want to do.
• Skills - Any skills they may have.
• Magical Powers - For fantasy or paranormal. Can they shoot fire from their asses? Lightning bolts from their eyes? Levitate? See through peoples' clothing?
• Sexual Orientation - Straight, gay, bisexual, etc...
• Fun - What they do to let their hair down.

Here's the link to the full PDF that has tweaks and little boxes to put checks in: GIMMIE MY FREEBIE!

Enjoy and share!

Have these changed the way you look at your novels?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Dialogue Exercises - #5

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Oh, man, what a week it's been! Busy is always good for a writer though, so I can't complain. Is everyone ready for the weekend? I know I am! Before you take off and grab some R&R, do a dialogue exercise or two and flex your creative brain. You won't be sorry. Today is the last day of pumping brain iron. Next week, and the week after, we'll be going over something that will help you with a final exercise. I'm not gonna ruin it by giving it away now. Come on back Monday and see what's in store! Enough about that, grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

If you'd like to check out the first four posts, follow the links below:
Dialogue Exercises - #1
Dialogue Exercises - #2
Dialogue Exercises - #3
Dialogue Exercises - #4

There are fifteen exercises total, three on each day. Remember, each of these workouts calls for at least two pages of dialogue.

Exercise #13: Using dialogue to create sympathy.
Grab a protagonist and antagonist from one of your stories. Throw them into a setting and have them talk about their pasts. Show your reader why they should root for one over the other; or, make your reader feel a little sorry for your antagonist.

Exercise #14: Adding dialogue where you usually wouldn't to amp up the scene.
Put two characters on an island and have them make love. Write what you think they'd say if they were speaking while participating in the act. Use this to garner a deeper understanding of what your characters are feeling as they do something where speech isn't usually the order of the day, to set the scene, or as a surprise to wake your reader up and make them pay attention.

Exercise #15: Revealing obstacles through dialogue.
This time, use yourself. Think of a lofty goal you have and bring someone into the scene who never fails to tell you like it is. Open the scene with that person revealing an obstacle you can't overcome. Focus on your own feelings and how you'd react when you realize your dreams just went down the toilet. Use the rest of the scene to convey the goal to the reader and have them understand why it can't be accomplished no matter what.

I hope these exercises have been useful, and I hope you did at least one of the fifteen. The next ten days are gonna be awesome! Make sure you come on back and check it out. If you'd like these helpful tips delivered to your e-mail inbox every day, subscribe to my blog!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Dialogue Exercises - #4

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend planned. Just two more days to go now. That's two more days of dialogue exercises. If you want to rush the time along, try doing one or more of these today. Before you know it, it'll be Friday! Grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Again, I won't bore you by repeating myself. If you want to check out days one, two, and three, you can find them here:

Dialogue Exercises - #1
Dialogue Exercises - #2
Dialogue Exercises - #3

Remember, each of these exercises require at least two pages of dialogue.

Exercise #10: Remembering your senses when writing dialogue.
Take a place you've visited that's full of activity and bring it to mind. Put two characters in the midst of it all and have them talk about what's going on around them. Use all five senses as you write so your reader gets a good idea what the place is like. Sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Bring the venue to life on the page. Make one of them blind, if that helps.

Exercise #11: Using dialogue to bring about transformation.
Using the confrontation/response method, create dialogue in which one character gives the other a reason to change. Make it so the protagonist has to look deep within and see something they hadn't before. Your antagonist can be cruel or kind in their observations/opinions, but their words should bring about change.

Exercise #12: Setting tone/voice with dialogue.
Something is in the woods. A mom and daughter are camping, alone. Suddenly, mom feels like they're in danger. Using dialogue, set the tone of the scene. Be true to your characters and really bring forward their fear and Mom's protectiveness over her daughter.

I hope you'll give at least one of these a whirl today. You can't get better if you don't practice! Tomorrow is the last day of dialogue exercises. Next week, I'm going to begin a 10 day series on a very important topic relating to dialogue. Come back every day and see what you find!

Which one of these is your favorite?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Dialogue Exercises - #3

Happy Hump-Day, good people of the blogosphere! I hope the first half of your week has exceeded expectations and the second half looks promising! Today, we continue with our dialogue exercises! Three more tools to add to your belt to help you on your journey to greatness. Remember, over on INDIE Books Gone Wild, I give a writing class that goes through this and so much more! Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

You can find day one here.
And day two here.

Remember, each of these exercises calls for at least two pages of dialogue.

Exercise #7: Writing telephone dialogue.
Take two of your characters and make them interact over the phone. Stay in one POV. Write both sides of the conversation but omit all hellos and goodbyes. Use assumption to infer what the other character is doing while talking. Make it a heated conversation or put something big at stake. Now go back and write it from the other POV.

Exercise #8: Removing all saids from dialogue.
Write a conversation between two of your characters without using the word said. You may only use actions, thoughts, or observations.

Exercise #9: Killing direct addresses in dialogue.
Go through a passage you've written from above and take out all instances of direct address. Make it work through actions instead.

Example:
"John, did you see that UFO just now?" Marsha screamed.
"No, Marsha, I didn't. I was too busy looking at you."
"But, John, we're at an observatory!"
"I know, Marsha. I am observing," said John.

Change to:
"Did you see that UFO just now?" Marsha screamed.
"No, I didn't. I was too busy looking at you." John's face was slack and his eyes bored into her.
She felt her face get hot. "But we're at an observatory!"
"I know. I am observing."

See how much more natural that sounds?

I do hope you take the time to do at least one of the above exercises. Your manuscript will thank you for it later.

Have any of these worked out for you? Are you trying them?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Dialogue Exercises - #2

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today we continue on our journey through dialogue exercises. If you missed post #1, please go back and take a gander here. If not, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

I'm not going to bore you all to tears with a repeat of what I said yesterday. Let's just dive on into the exercises!

Every exercise below calls for at least two pages of dialogue.

Exercise 4: Using dialogue to set mood.
Just like you can use dialogue to set a scene, you can also use it to set a mood. Stick two of your characters in a setting that will enhance the mood and let them discuss what they're seeing or feeling in the moment. For fun, try using a setting you'd never expect to see in your novel and let the dialogue flow. Focus on emotion and try to set the mood with speech rather than scene.

Exercise 5: Adding dialogue to action scenes.
Pull up an action scene you've written where there's little to no dialogue. Read it a couple of times and think about your character as you do. Recall their personality, habits, and opinions. Add no less than sixteen lines of dialogue that convey a few of those habits and opinions. Let their personality shine as you write.

Exercise 6: Increase the suspense with dialogue.
Every character has opinions. Write a scene in which two characters are going head-to-head over action items they believe will garner the desired resolution of the journey. Make it heated but use it to move your story along. Create conflict over something one deems appropriate and the other says will get everyone killed. Decide on an outcome.

Again, I hope you put at least one of these in your pocket and give it a try today. Come on back tomorrow for three more!

What exercises do you use to improve your written dialogue skills?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo