Want to Know How to Write Realistic Internal Dialogue?

September 3, 2015October 21, 2016 / Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 8 Comments

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As a writer, we want our characters to come across as credible and believable. Internal thoughts are part of bringing our characters to life. So, what is the correct way to write what characters are thinking?

Reasons to Use Internal Dialogue:

To make characters real to our readers.
Show vulnerability – to help connect readers to the character.
For dramatic effect – when you want to emphasize something important. Readers tend to remember emphasized moments.
To show the character’s motivation.

Courtesy of Quick & Dirty Tips

Ways to Show Internal Dialogue

Using the tag, “He thought.” I wish Stephen would leave well enough alone, she thought.
Italics: Why can’t Stephen leave well enough alone? Italics are my favored method to show internal dialogue.
Intermingling thoughts with narrative. Claire stared out the window. Why couldn’t Stephen be happy with the status quo? She didn’t have a clue what answer she’d give him this weekend.
Using quotations – for the most part, is not recommended, even single quotations. Because quotations denote dialogue, it can confuse to the reader.

Do you find one method preferable over another? Why?

I’d love to hear your comments. Talk to me. Tell me your story. And as always, you can follow me on Facebook at SheilaMGood, Pinterest, Bloglovin, Contently, and Twitter @cofcmom.

Courtesy of zazzle.com

Want more on Formatting Internal Dialogue? Check out Grammar Girl’s, Quick and dirty Tips.com

Tips for the Floundering Tweeter

August 15, 2015October 21, 2016 / Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / Leave a comment

Although, I’ve had a Twitter account for awhile now, I admit I’m not proficient in the use of Twitter. For one, it can be addictive and it’s hard for me to say anything in a 140 characters. I’ve been working on my Twitter presence and thanks to Kevan Lee at Buffer for his article, Twitter Tips for Beginners, I have a number of tips to share with those of you who, like me, are still floundering beginners or, just floundering.

Twitter Tips

Unless you don’t want to get anything else done -Don’t read every tweet. According to Kevan, “If you’re following 100 people, you could see 2,200 tweets per day.” I don’t have that kind of time.
Use Lists: This is something I’ve used for some time now. I currently have nine lists, from writing to politics.
Talk to people. If they tweet, re-tweet, mention, or favor a tweet – recognize them. Say something, after all, Twitter is about connecting with people. In the South, we call not responding – rude!
Use a scheduler. I use Buffer and have for a long time.
Make sure your profile is up to date, professional and says something real about who you are.
Follow as many as you want and more if you can. You follow me, I’m gonna follow you. And, by the way, you can find me on Twitter @cofcmom.
And, Thanks Kevan for this: No. 1 Rule of Tweeting: If you want everyone to see your tweet, don’t start it with an @ symbol. I didn’t have a clue.
You’re not going to be shunned or cut off from Twitter world if you repost a Tweet more than once. Go for it. It’s okay. You might pick up a follower or two.
Don’t forget the # hashtag, but don’t overdo it either. According to Kevan, when you use more than two #’s, engagement drops by 17%. Who knew you could # someone to death. Kevan has a whole article on the science of #hashtags. You can check it out here.

Here’s to Tweeting. I’ll see you on the Twitter playground. I’d love to hear your comments. Talk to me. Tell me your story. And as always, you can follow me on Facebook at SheilaMGood, Twitter @cofcmom, Tumblr, and Pinterest.

CAPTCHA, ReCAPTCHA, NoCAPTCHA, Please

June 24, 2015October 21, 2016 / Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 6 Comments

Okay, some days are meant for stories, others for delving into important writer issues, or spouting off an opinion. Today, is bitching day. I’m annoyed to hell with Google. I admire their tenacity in combating spam and abuse. As a blogger, I sincerely appreciate the effort, but please for the love of God, get rid of the reCAPTCHA. You know, the little rectangle box that asks you to prove you’re not a robot by asking you to fill in distorted words, or pictures. Seriously?

Photo courtesy of simonkewin.co.uk & Google

Photo courtesy of Google

Do any of the geniuses at Google understand America is turning gray?

According to Forbes, “The gray wave has arrived. Since 2000, the senior population has increased 29% compared to overall population growth of 12%. The percentage of Americans in the senior set has risen from 12.4% to 14.1%, and their share of the population is projected to climb to 19.3% by 2030.”

And, what happens as we age? We can’t see!

“Beginning in the early to mid-forties, most adults may start to experience problems with their ability to see clearly at close distances.” American Optometric Association.

Google

You’ve got to be kidding me!!! What in those genius minds made them think requiring a visually challenged and aging population to place distorted words and pictures into boxes to prove they were not robots!

If you believe CAPTCHAS protect you from spammers, perhaps. But it’s also frustrating the bejesus out of your visitors to your site. Don’t believe me? Tim Allen of Moz wrote a great post in 2013, Having a CAPTCHA is killing Your Conversion Rate.

Although, CAPTCHA was designed as a user friendly system, a study conducted by Standford University showed otherwise.

The study found, on average:

71% can’t agree! That’s huge. Think of that in terms of visitors to your site. In fact, according to Moz, CAPTCHA’s became such a problem for Ticketmaster, in 2013 they stopped using it and went to another system.

I don’t want spammers screwing up the Cow Pasture Chronicles, anymore than the fortune 500 corporations or Amazon. But, I don’t want my readers and visitors frustrated and, therefore, discouraged from returning either. I want my site to be many things; welcoming, warm, thought-provoking, humorous, a resource for other writers, and a place people want to return time and again. For me, Cow Pasture Chronicles shall remain CAPTCHA free.

Google, I am NOT a robot! And, by the way has any of this nonsense worked with China? Hmmm?

What do you think about reCAPTCHA’s? Do you hate them as much as I do? Have you ever given up and left a site because you couldn’t fill the damn thing out correctly?I’d love to hear from you. Talk to me. Tell me your story. You can follow me on Facebook at SheilaMGood and Twitter @cofcmom.

Is Your Social Media a Platform or Just another Tracking Tool?

June 22, 2013August 10, 2017 / Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago the news hit the fan. NSA has been tracking our emails. Or, so they said. Everyone became a little paranoid about what else was being tracked. Then today, I pick up the paper and read, Facebook says a bug in its system caused 6 million users contact information to be inadvertently exposed.”

This is nothing new, remember the Hoover files? If you don’t, one of my all time favorite books by Robert Ludlum, The Chancellor Manuscript, can fill you in. It’s an old book, but if you can find a copy, it is well worth the read.

I’m not here to get into a political discussion, spying by our government has been around a long time. I understand the argument – safety versus liberty, and, there in lies the rub.

As writers, we’ve all been encouraged to build and engage in a healthy social network. Open up a Twitter account, an Author Facebook Page, join LinkedIn, Pinterest, start a Blog, and network on a regular basis. The purpose is to exchange ideas, knowledge, and get to know others interested in the same things you are.

The more name recognition you have and people you know in the industry, the more mentors available to you. Writers of all genres, beta readers, editors, critique and writing groups, all are a part of the social media network to assist writers in improving their craft. Or, so they say.

For me, I find all social media to be time eating suckers. I sit down planning to spend fifteen minutes and waste a morning scrolling through other peoples dramas. True, I’ve met many talented people and made wonderful connections at times, but Twitter will eat your soul.

And Facebook? I’m not sure what has happened to that site. Lately, all I see are pictures of food, which make me hungry, pictures of pets, or other stupid things. I receive more requests from people asking for endorsements on LinkedIn than you can shake a stick at, and what the hell is candy crush? I don’t have a clue.

Technology is creating the surveillance state
By John R. Quain Personal Tech Published June 19, 2013, FoxNews.com

It isn’t the NSA you need to worry about. We’ve all had a hand in this via social media. Google, has lured us down the path as easily as the Pied Piper led children. We thought it was cool Google maps could show us a location, by satellite, right down to the house, until we learned it was our house. Or that, Google was supplying the government information, along with Verizon and the smart phones we can’t live without. Some call it security others marketing.

With every click of your button, the technology you love, track and register information about your habits likes and dislikes, online orders, and Apps. The books you download on your shiny new Kindle, including the words you highlight are a captured, categorized and tailored to market and advertise specifically to you. Their aim is to influence the way you shop, think, sway social values, and, yes vote. Think subliminal advertising on steroids.

They call it marketing, developing a platform and teach you how through SEO, keywords, Google analytics, etc. to reach the biggest audience. It sounds as if we may all have larger audience than we realized.

I didn’t like mama looking over my shoulder when I was growing up either. The least they can do is leave a comment. I don’t know about you, but I’m almost ready to go back to hardback books, paper billing, and old-fashioned pen and paper. What about you? What do you think?