Tag Archives: examples

Working with Reflexive Emotions

Posted on December 17, 2014 by Jodi

Yesterday morning I woke up tired, I’m not really a morning person to begin with but this was above and beyond your usual closet-variety tired.  This was the coming down with a cold, three nights of insomnia, sleep interrupted by … Continue reading →

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The Dark Night of the Soul

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Jodi

In the hero’s journey there is a point where the hero is fighting his last battle when all will seem lost.  He is pushed to his limits, he is tired, he already feels defeated and he wonders if it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Art of Writing, Concept Creation, Emotional Impact | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Transforming Awkward Thoughts into Useable Text

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Jodi

The writing powers that be are laughing at my humorous attempts at editing.  If you could see the notes in my manuscript you’d understand.  On each page there are notes pointing out sections of telling not showing, clunky dialogue, adverbs, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art of Writing, Editing and Revision, Language usage, Writer's Voice, Writing Exercise | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Grammar is Back! The ‘That, Which, or Who’ Debate

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Jodi

We had a long discussion about the word ‘that’ a while back, talking about all of its various uses and also where it might not be needed.   If you missed it, click here for the post:   That Dratted “That” Today … Continue reading →

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“Dialogue punctuation?” he asked, “But why?”

Posted on May 26, 2010 by Jodi

It is Wednesday and we are returning to Grammarland: the magical place of punctuation rules, tips on language usage, and other useful tools for writers.  Today we are reviewing correct dialogue punctuation. First, the anatomy a dialogue sentence: “You are … Continue reading →

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Adding Emphasis with the Exclamation Mark!

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Jodi

Ah, the overused exclamation mark.  It peppers our papers and blogs in a desperate attempt to inject emphasis, often needlessly.  It is used as additional insurance for a writer, making sure that emphatic statements are noticed.  The difference between an … Continue reading →

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The Ellipsis . . . Demystified

Posted on May 5, 2010 by Jodi

I most often I see the ellipsis (that’s the “. . .”) used as a way to add a dramatic pause in writing, especially in dialogue; or trailing at the end of a sentence to show an unfinished thought.  When … Continue reading →

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The Comma, Clarified.

Posted on April 28, 2010 by Jodi

I could spend a very long time to write in my own words what so many people have already written about comma usage.  In fact, I just spent an hour trying to do just that, which was far more than … Continue reading →

Posted in Editing and Revision, Grammarland | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Get your Dangling Participle out of my face!

Posted on April 14, 2010 by Jodi

Inspired by the humor of the Paraprosdokian phrases of last Friday’s post; today we will to cover the grammatical sin of the dangling participle. A participle is a verb that is used as an adjective.  We mostly see the present … Continue reading →

Posted in Grammarland, Humor | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments