Jerry D. Russell dot Com

I got this via my wife in email. Just another reminder of why even journalists and editors, who are trained to pack as much information into a headline as possible, should probably still ask the secretary to look over their copy before sending it to press.

I wish I had the list of publications that these were printed in.

Doesn’t anyone proof read anymore ???

THE YEAR’S BEST [actual] HEADLINES OF 2006:

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
[No, really?]

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers

[ That'll stop 'em!]

Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?
[Not if I wipe thoroughly!]

Panda Mating Fails; Vet erinarian Takes Over
[What a guy!! ]

Miners Refuse to Work after Death
[No-good-for-nothing lazy so-and-sos!]

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
[See if that works any better than a fair trial!]

War Dims Hope for Peace
[I can see where it might have that effect!]

If Strike Isn’t Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
[You think?]

Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
[Who would have thought!]

Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
[They may be on to something!]

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges !
[You mean there's something stronger than duct tape?]

Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
[he probably IS the battery charge!]

New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
[Weren't they fat enough?!]

Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
[That's what he gets for eating those beans!]

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
[Taste like chicken?]

Local High School Dropouts Cut In Half
[Chainsaw Massacre all over again!]

Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
[Boy, are they tall!]

And the winner is….

Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

Now. run out and get yourself a copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.

Hurry! Don’t let this happen to you!

Jerry Observations

You’ve created the perfect character, or so you thought. You’ve done your homework. You’ve given her a past, an outlook on life and you know what drives her. You’ve got her physiological details down so well that you can rattle off her height, weight, body type and exact location of any scars without referring back to your notes. But no matter what you try, when you’re writing her, she comes of as flat and a bit two dimensional.

I’m not talking about a character who keeps baffling you with trying to do her own thing. That is an entirely different (and very good) thing to have happen. This character follows along with what you tell her to do complacently. She blindly follows orders and emotes and interacts with characters like a low paid extra on a television serial. She’s got no soul.

In How to Write a Damned Good Novel James N Frey describes his method for getting to know your characters. His method is to write a journal entry. From the way I understood it, he was asking the character to introduce themselves and then tell their own story in their own way.

Not a bad thing at all… Too bad it doesn’t work for me. the rest of his advice is priceless, and I’m sure that method of character building works for other people, but it hasn’t for me. Read more…

Jerry Character Development, Writing Tips

This morning started pretty slowly. I got the word last night that my daughter had had her baby, Cecyllia Ann Hamilton. So I start today as a grandfather as well as everything that I was before. Life is interesting at times, to be sure.

I grabbed a copy of Straight Talk from the Editor, 18 Keys to a Rejection-Proof Submission from Amazon.com for a quick read over my morning Java. I found it to be quite informative, and would recommend it highly.

Read more…

Jerry Observations, Tools of the Trade

I stumbled across an article by Deanna mascle that I thinnk is worth reading, especially if you’re just starting out. Take a look here : Writing Style, Are You A Real Writer?

Happy writing!

Jerry Tools of the Trade, Writing Tips

At some point in your career as a writer you’ll be asked to write an article on the subject. What you do with that request is completely up to you, but be assured, the call or email will come eventually and you should be prepared for it.

Articles can be a very good thing. For one thing, they help pay the bills when you don’t have anything else coming in at the moment. They tend to be fairly quick and easy to get out to the editor, and rarely require a ton of rewrites. They can also give your readers and contemporaries a unique glimpse into what goes on in your mind.

Before you accept the request for an article however, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

Read more…

Jerry Nonfiction, Writing Tips