Thursday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

NEVER TAKE ANY WORD FOR GRANTED

By: Margie Lawson

Do you watch NCIS?

I love giving my brain a weekly dose of NCIS. Millions of others love the show too. The stories are intriguing. The characters are deep and quirky. And Jethro Gibbs, aka Mark Harmon, has rules.

Gibbs has lots of rules. Over 50 rules.

I’m spinning-off Margie-Rules from Gibbs’ rules. My next fifteen (or fifty) blogs will feature a different Margie-Rule.

I appreciate the NCIS writers for their award-winning writing, and for giving Gibbs rules.

Gibbs’ Rule # 8: Never take anything for granted.

Today’s Blog: Margie-Rule #1: Never Take Any Word for Granted.

Writers like words. Writers like how words sound, how they look, how they roll. They select words for their connotations, their subliminal messages, their power. They choose words that fit their characters like “that ain’t no matter” fits Huck Finn.

Writers also play with word-play.

Snicker, snicker. That last sentence was a SHOW and TELL sentence. I played with words in my word-play sentence.

Yep. I’m playing with you.

I just talked to you. Talking to the reader is what I call Intentional Authorial Intrusion.

I’ll share an example of Harlan Coben playing with words, and playing with the reader, in an Intentional Authorial Intrusion.

Long Lost, Harlan Coben, NYT Bestseller

From Page 1:

Terese Collins. Imagery flooded in—her Class-B-felony bikini, that private island, the sun-kissed beach, her gaze that could melt teeth, her Class-B-felony bikini.

It’s worth mentioning the bikini twice.

Hear Harlan talking to you?

Harlan Coben shared two Humor Hits too.

• Gaze that could melt teeth
• It’s worth mentioning the bikini twice.

Now that we’ve had some fun, we’ll dig deeper into never taking any word for granted and we’ll have more fun.

These authors used just the right words to make their writing strong.

. . .

Read the full article HERE!

~*~

If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. Mythcreants » Costuming Your Characters http://ow.ly/yGQaV
2. Author, Jody Hedlund: Release Day Celebration and Giveaway! http://ow.ly/yGQhS
3. All Write - Fiction Advice: Why Rejection is a Good Thing http://ow.ly/yGQxj
4. Margie-Rule # 1: Never Take Any Word for Granted | Writers In The Storm Blog http://ow.ly/yGRh3
5. Story Structure: the Second Plot Point http://ow.ly/yGRMM
6. Is there such a thing as a good book trailer? http://ow.ly/yGRUg
7. The Writers Alley: When Writing Looks Different: Navigating a New Season in Your Writing Life http://ow.ly/yGRX8
8. The Craft of Writing – Kobo Writing Life http://ow.ly/yGSDL Writing Dialogue & Creating Tension
9. This Itch of Writing: Not just fluff: don't reject positive feedback http://ow.ly/yGTfK
10. When is FREE not free? Answer - when you do a Free book promotion. | Indies Unlimited http://ow.ly/yGUi9
11. Cookies and Layers | WRITERS HELPING WRITERSWRITERS HELPING WRITERS http://ow.ly/yGUY6
12. Hit the Ground Running! (Grabbing an Editor's/Reader's Attention With The First Line) | Romance University http://ow.ly/yGVr9
13. Description—How to Make Readers Fall In & Never Escape | Kristen Lamb's Blog http://ow.ly/yGVNp
14. Mind of the Character - Writerology: Psychology for Writers http://ow.ly/yGWCU
15. The Creative Penn Blog: Helping you write, publish and market your book | The Creative Penn http://ow.ly/yGXzy
16. Six Ways to Supercharge your Contests with Social Media | Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/yGXFE
17. What Kind of Self-Pub Are You? A Questionnaire and Tips for Maximizing Your Self-Pub Style  — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/yGXJ0

Happy writing and running, Kathy