"Today, I have some notes on quotes," Nancy says.

Uh, oh, look below. I forgot to add quotation marks in the following eight sentences. HELP! Where do they belong?

Please put in quotation marks, Nancy requests.

When adding a dialogue tag, don't make it too ridiculous, pleads Nancy.

You want to get your point across, yet keep it simple, Nancy suggests.

Don't forget the commas, Nancy screams, waving her hands wildly in the air.

Punctuation goes inside the quotation marks, Nancy instructs, reaching for her big, red pen.

You can wipe that smile off your face, Nancy laughs. This is really important.

Now, Nancy continues, replace requests, pleads, suggests, screams, and instructs, with the word: says.

That goes for the purple one, too, Nancy says. You can't laugh a statement or a question. Gotcha! Hahahaha!

Thoughts on a Tuesday

Hey there! Are you writing today?
I am, so I'll keep this short.
A very smart (and wealthy) man once told me, "Do what you love and the money will come." Well, I'm not sure about that, but I do know this: Write what you love and the words will come.

This is a Test of the Emergency Grammar System

No, it's not really a test, but it is pretty cool. Go to the link below to view a quick grammar quiz created by a university student. Read each sentence and answer CORRECT or INCORRECT.

EASY, PEASY. Give it a try.

Ready?

Set?

GO HERE!

Keep Your Plot Alive with Nancy's Fab Five

Where would a story be without plot? Plot is the story's organization. Sure, you know that a good plot starts with an exciting character, but it's what you make your character do that really makes your story soar!

1.  Choose a character and give him/her interesting character traits.
2.  Create a basic problem--the conflict.
3.  Add some mini problems to that problem. Think of the basic plot as snowflakes that just begin to coat the ground. There's not enough snow to be fun yet, is there? But once the layers build up, you're never bored. So, add to your basic problem, and give it those layers. Make the conflict difficult enough so that it's not solved easily. Have the plot nag your reader so your reader MUST find out what happens next.

4.  Climax. Keep adding layers to the problem until something big happens that changes everything for your character.

5.  Resolution. The problem is solved. HURRAY! The character has changed because of all he/she has gone through and the story comes to an end. PEACE OUT.