Jami Gold's Blog: Jami Gold, Paranormal Author, page 21

Writer Flexibility: Trying New Things

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Even though I’ve studied story structure enough to teach workshops and offer beat sheets, I still love learning new perspectives. I still read blog posts, check out Twitter threads, and pick up books about beats, plots, and story structure, hoping to take away at least one new thing.

Once we’ve written more than one story, we often learn a “writer truth”:

The processes and techniques that worked on our last story might not work on our next...

Happy New Year! Get a Fresh Start

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Yay! We survived another year! I don’t know about you, but sometimes that goal feels rather iffy during the year, so yes, surviving is an accomplishment. *smile*

The New Year is a time of wrap-ups and resolutions. We might make a list of our favorite books or review our accomplishments of the previous year. Or we might think about what we can improve over the upcoming year.

I try to avoid making myself feel guilty by thinking of all the th...

What Is Writers Block (Really) and How Can We Beat It? — Guest: Lisa Bell

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At some point in our writing career, we’re likely to struggle with writing—or with feeling creative at all. We might stare unseeing at a blank page. Or we might just feel like we can’t focus on writing.

Whatever symptoms we experience, no one wants to suffer from Writer’s Block (TM). *grin* But there are debates over whether writer’s block is even a real thing. That uncertainty makes it difficult to figure out what causes our writer’s-bloc...

Merry Christmas! Time for Powerful Traditions

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How’d everyone do on getting ready for Christmas? I finished everything on Sunday—a day early!—believe it or not. *grin* (Only because I had to, as we were traveling yesterday.)

That might sound impressive, but in reality, my Christmas cards went out in yesterday’s mail, and I had to stay up until 2 a.m. on Saturday to finish my annual cookie-making extravaganza. But I love Christmas, so I can’t complain too much.

Speaking of my yearly epi...

Complex Story? Use a Crime Wall — Guest: Kitty The Retro-Writer

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When we’re drafting or editing our story, we usually have to keep track of many, many threads. Who knows what, who’s keeping secrets, where is everyone in each scene, etc., etc.

Add in all our research and the types of details that might later go into a story bible—like characters’ appearances, background, and setting information—and pulling the pieces of a story together can be a complicated job. The difficulty skyrockets if our story is...

5 Ways to Create Movie Magic in Your Writing — Guest: J. E. Martin

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Ever notice how some stories transport you more immersively into the story world? Or how some settings feel alive, like another character?

The fact is that some stories or styles of writing are better at creating movies in the minds’ of readers (unless we have aphantasia). As someone who loves becoming immersed in stories when I read, I wanted to learn more about how to reach that level in our writing.

Luckily, we have author coach J. E. M...

Want to Break Writing Rules? Gain Readers’ Trust

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Last time, I shared the guest post I wrote as a Resident Writing Coach for Angela and Becca’s Writers Helping Writers site. Over at their site, we ended up having a fantastic conversation in the comments about rule breaking and how to get away with coloring outside the lines. *grin*

I want to highlight and dig deeper into some of the issues we brought up. Just as there are risks to breaking rules, there’s risk in emphasizing them too much...

How Can We Get Away with Breaking Writing Rules?

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It’s time for another one of my guest posts over at Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s Writers Helping Writers site. As one of their Resident Writing Coaches, I’ve previously shared:

insights on how to approach an overwhelming revision how to increase the stakes (the consequences for failure) in our story 7 ways to indicate time passage in our stories (and 2 issues to watch out for) how to translate story beats to any genre how and why w...

The Ultimate Gift Guide for Writers — 2018 Edition

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How’s everyone doing on their shopping so far this year? Are you ahead because Black Friday and Cyber Monday came early? Or have you not started yet because this year’s calendar—with Christmas falling on a Tuesday—is tricking you into thinking there’s more time than there really is?

Uh… *raises hand to that second one* I haven’t quite gotten serious yet. Get on that, self. *grin*

Need ideas for writing-related gifts? Here's something for e...

The Ultimate Gift Guide for Writers ��� 2018 Edition

Here's the latest from Jami Gold, Paranormal Author :

How’s everyone doing on their shopping so far this year? Are you ahead because Black Friday and Cyber Monday came early? Or have you not started yet because this year’s calendar���with Christmas falling on a Tuesday���is tricking you into thinking there’s more time than there really is?

Uh… *raises hand to that second one* I haven’t quite gotten serious yet. Get on that, self. *grin*

Need ideas for writing-related gifts? Here's something f...