Jami Gold's Blog: Jami Gold, Paranormal Author, page 38

Chronic Problems: Writing and Burnout

Last week I announced that my annual Blogiversary contest is now open for entries. Come July 12th, I’ll have been blogging for seven years. I have over 700 posts available here on my blog.

Not surprisingly, I’ve struggled with various forms of writing burnout over the years. Sometimes, post-NaNoWriMo, I need a fiction-writing break. Other times, when my story has ground to a halt, I need a break from that story while my subconscious/muse works through the block.

And yes, sometimes I’m burned...

7th Annual Blogiversary Contest — Prize: Me! Wait…er, What?

It’s that time of year again. My seven-year blogiversary is coming up on July 12th. Holy cow. Seven years? Really?

I think it’s now official that I’ve been blogging for forever. Or maybe after this past year’s health issues, it just feels that way. *smile*

Once again, I’m amazed I found that much to blog about, not just in the number of posts (over 700!) but the length of my posts. (I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve come up with a blog topic and said, “Oh, this one will be shor...

The Hero’s Arc: What’s Your Journey?

In storytelling, we often talk about the arc of our hero—the path of change and improvement they follow while trying to reach their goals and satisfy their desires.

At the start of the story, something is holding them back from what they want. The something could be tangible, such as being imprisoned, or it could be psychological, such as being insecure—or any other wound, false belief, or fear. In many stories, both tangible and psychological somethings could be involved.

At the same time,...

How Can We Make Our Writing More Authentic? — Guest: Lizzie Shane

For many of us, the stories that sink deep inside our thoughts are those that resonate. That feel real. That say something honest about the world, relationships, or ourselves.

When I read, stories feel deeper or less shallow if I feel like I have an epiphany of understanding while reading. Usually, it’s triggered by an especially insightful line in the book, and I’ll find myself nodding along and shouting inside my head, “Yes! This!”

But to make our writing that insightful, that deep, that h...

How Can We Make Time Pass in Our Stories?

It’s time for another one of my guest posts as a Resident Writing Coach over at Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s Writers Helping Writers site. Previously, I shared encouragement for approaching a big revision, as well as advice on how to increase the stakes (the consequences for failure) in our story.

With this turn for another coaching article at WHW, I’m answering a question from a reader of the WHW blog. This time around, we’re talking about how to show (or gloss over) the passage of t...

Wonder Woman: The Essence of a Strong Female Character

We’ve had several conversations here over the years of what it means for a heroine to be a “strong female character.” Although on some level it seems like the answer should be obvious, articles continue to discuss the issue because we see so few successful portrayals of such characters—especially in movies.

Like many over the past week, I saw the Wonder Woman movie…and loved it. *smile* One of the many reasons I enjoyed the movie is because the Wonder Woman/Diana Prince character played by G...

Should We Follow the Advice to Write Every Day?

If we know other writers at all, chances are good that we’ve heard a lot of advice about how to write, how to edit, and how to publish our work. However, I’ve written before about how there’s not “one right way.”

There’s definitely not one right way to write. And my whole two-year-long series at Janice Hardy’s Fiction University was all about how there’s not one right way to self-publish.

So how does that “no one right way” truth apply to the most common piece of advice of all? Namely: Write...

Self Publishing? Where Should We Start?

Wow… Today marks my last monthly guest post over at Janice Hardy’s Fiction University for my series about Indie Publishing Paths.

My posts have highlighted some of the choices we have to make as self-published authors and also given us a few guidelines. After almost two years of guest posts in this series, it’s obvious that we’ve covered a lot of information about the choices that self-publishers have to make (far more than we usually realize).

In other words, it’d be normal to feel overwhel...

How to Strengthen Our Characters with Strong Writing

Readers can interpret our characters as being weak for many reasons. They might come across as passive, not acting on the plot or exhibiting agency. They might take foolish actions, being “too stupid to live.” Or they might lack a strong arc, showing how they’ve grown and bettered themselves.

Another way a character might seem weak might be surprising: A character can seem weak when we use weak sentences in our writing. Let me explain…

The words and sentence structures we use can act in a su...

How Should We Deal with Character Stereotypes?

Writing is often about finding the right balance. We have to balance sharing too much information (such as using info dumps) with confusing readers by neglecting to give context. We have to balance grammar rules with voice. Etc., etc.

Part of the reason we face the issue of finding the right balance so frequently is that stories require us to include elements that—on the surface—we’d think should be avoided at all costs. For example, clichés, tropes, and stereotypes all seem like signs of la...