Jami Gold's Blog: Jami Gold, Paranormal Author, page 52

Ask Jami: Why Isn’t There One Right Way to Write?

When we’re young, the world feels like it’s made up of wrong answers and right answers. If we put the wrong answer on a test, our teacher is able to point to a specific reason—a fact—for why that answer is wrong. If we give the right answer, we get instant gratification with a gold star sticker or a higher grade.

So it’s understandable why we continue trying to figure out the right answer in the rest of our life when we get older. If we can figure out the “right” thing to say in an interview...

Discovering Our Writing Processes

I’ve been reading blog posts about writingfor about 7 years now (wow!), and there’s one thing that drives me crazier than anything else: advice implying that there’s only one right way to write(or do any part of the publishing process, really).

If we’ve been around the online writing world, we’ve seen us vs. them attitudes for many aspects of writing—plotting vs. pantsing, traditional publishing vs. self-publishing, etc. Heck, I’ve even seen the attitude that there’s only one right way for a...

What Are Our Readers’ “Must Click” Topics?

If wespend any time online or on social media,we’re likely to come across sites that use “click bait” headlines:

“This celebrity walked into a bar, and you’ll never believe what he did next!”
“Find out how you’ve been eating apples wrong your whole life!”
“Wait ’til you see how this puppy reacts to a new baby!”

No doubt sites use click-bait headlines because they work. They generate traffic, which in turn leads to ad-viewing clicks. I mean, I want to see that puppy video…even though I comple...

Self-Publishing? What’s Your Pricing Plan?

It’s time once again for my monthly guest post over at Janice Hardy’s Fiction University. We’ve been walking through the process of making choices for what path we want for our indie publishing career.

My series about Indie Publishing Paths at Fiction University has been highlighting some of the choices we have to make and giving us a few guidelines for figuring out how to make the best decisions for us.

We started off talkingabout knowing our goals.There’s no end to the conflicting advice o...

The Ultimate Gift Guide for Writers — 2015 Edition

Did everyone survive the big shopping days of Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday? Me? I’m a lazy bum and did most of my shopping online. No crowds for me.

Obviously, I’m not a shopaholic, so I usually need help knowing what gifts to buy for people. That means it’s time to start thinking about what we might want for writerly gifts this year. *smile*With that in mind, I updated my Ultimate Gift Guide for Writers, and I included lots of links because, once again…lazy bum.

If you’re a writer, this...

The Best Reason to Blog — 2015 Edition

Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S. The day we eat too much food, roll our eyes at the antics of our extended family, and think about all the things we’re grateful for. Or in my case, try not to let my pending NaNoWriMo loss dampen my enjoyment of the day. *sob*

(Yes, it’s true. There is absolutely no way for me to catch up on NaNoWriMo words unless someone has a Time Turner I can borrow. Anyone? No? I guess I just need to chill and accept my loss with grace. *sigh* It’s a good thing my goal t...

Using Grammar to Strengthen Our Voice — Guest: Julie Glover

gerund was.

Sure, my instinctive understanding—that “what sounds right” approach—was better than average. Good enough to be a technical writer and sometime-editor at any rate.

But I also understood that itwas best to know the rules before breaking them, so one of the first things I did after dec...

7 Tips for a Writing Partnership — Guest: Jennifer Hale

I know several authors who write with a partner. One of the writing partnerships I’m most familiar with is that of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, the team behind the Emotion Thesaurus and the new One Stop for Writers website.

But that’s non-fiction. Fiction writing with a partner is far different because tone, voice, character development, and story structure all play a part and must mesh well together for the story to work.

What if one author wants the story to go one way and the other...

Strengthening Our Observation Skills — Guest: Laurel Garver

We’re now past the halfway point in NaNoWriMo. Yay! (Or Boo! if you’re as behind on word count as I am.)I’m still plugging along, but I know I wouldn’t be nearly as successful without the help of my guest posters this month.

I’m excited for today’s post because it ties in so well with issues we’ve talked about before as far as showing and not telling. I’ve mentioned before that one of the things the Emotion Thesaurus book can help us with is to avoid “naming” emotions.

But Angela Ackerman an...

Story Research: Law, Lawyers, and the Justice System — Guest: Karen A. Wyle

One of the coolest aspects of being a reader (if you ask me) is the chance to live so many lives. As readers, we get to experience all types of characters, backgrounds, jobs, settings, etc. We’re not stuck with just one life.

A similar benefit applies to writers. As writers, we get to research and learn about anything we want. Depending on our genre, we might learn about rocket propulsion, the Australian outback, or modern blacksmiths.

Some writers might feel intimidated or frustrated by res...