advice for writers

What Are You Looking for in an Agent?

May 17, 2012 Writing Stuff
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*Shh*  Be very, very quiet.  We’re hunting agents.  (Sorry, with that picture, I couldn’t resist the Bugs Bunny reference. *smile*) Many—if not most—writers want to find an agent at some point in their writing career.  Even in this age of self-publishing, writers still want agents to help them with foreign rights, career advice, access to tricky [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, agents, contracts, editing, genre, Jami Gold, paranormal author, self-publishing, social media, traditional publishing

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Does Every Scene Need a Goal?

May 8, 2012 Writing Stuff
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I love when I make my readers think.  Even better is when they turn around and make me think even deeper about an issue.  *smile* Yesterday, K.J. Pugh blogged about my last post (where I talked about cliffhangers and hooks) and brought up the issue of sequels I briefly mentioned.  No, we’re not talking about book [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, cause and effect, Dwight Swain, Jami Gold, Janice Hardy, page turning stories, paranormal author, scenes and sequels, tension

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Cliffhangers: Not Just for the End of a Book

May 3, 2012 Writing Stuff
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Pitches, queries, back cover copy, and full-length stories all have writing techniques in common.  For one thing, they all need a strong opening. We talk about that being a “hook,” something that grabs the reader and pulls them forward to the next line, paragraph, and page. A similar approach works within our stories too.  We might [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, Jami Gold, Janice Hardy, page turning stories, paranormal author, tension, Terri Brisbin, workshops

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Tips for Writing Back Cover Copy — Guest: Roz Morris

April 26, 2012 Writing Stuff
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I’m excited to share today’s guest post by author Roz Morris.  After ghostwriting many bestselling books, Roz recently self-published My Memories of a Future Life, her first novel under her own name. Roz’s decision to self-publish came about partly because this novel doesn’t fit into normal genre boxes.  However, even as a self-published author, she still [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, feedback, genre, guest blogs, Jami Gold, paranormal author, pitching, queries, Roz Morris, self-publishing, traditional publishing

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Why Does Feedback Hurt So Much?

April 24, 2012 Writing Stuff
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Several people I know are going through revisions right now based on feedback they received from beta readers, agents, or editors.  Every one of them is dealing with the “I suck” issue along with that. Yes, sometimes feedback can be a bit too mean or blunt, but that’s not the problem here.  No matter how [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, beta reader, critique partners/groups, feedback, Jami Gold, paranormal author, perfectionism, risk, self-doubt

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What Does “Writing Is Subjective” Mean?

April 19, 2012 Writing Stuff
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If you’ve sent out queries, you’ve probably received rejections.  They usually say things along the line of: “This is just my opinion and others may feel differently.” “Just because I wasn’t drawn in doesn’t mean others won’t love it.” “Publishing is a subjective business and another agent would be better suited to your work.” We can’t fault those who [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, agents, beta reader, branding, feedback, Jami Gold, listening to characters, muse, paranormal author, professionalism, queries

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What Stories *Won’t* You Write?

April 17, 2012 Writing Stuff
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In my last post, we talked about voice and how we tend to write the same types of characters, premises, and themes over and over.  That’s not a bad thing.  Those stories resonate with us as writers. Similarly, there are stories we would never write.  Stories might be so against our internal grain that if an idea along [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, branding, genre, Jami Gold, muse, paranormal author, premise, romance novels, strong characters, theme

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Do Your Stories Match Your Voice?

April 12, 2012 Writing Stuff
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I’ve been having a great conversation with Serena Yung in the comments of one of my posts about voice from a few weeks ago, so voice has been on my mind again this week.  When I found a fantastic article by author Julie Leto about voice and how it relates to our writing, I knew I had to [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, branding, emotional heart, Jami Gold, paranormal author, premise, theme, voice

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Ask Jami: How Do We Find Beta Readers?

April 5, 2012 Writing Stuff
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My post about combining comments from multiple beta readers in MS Word brought up a great question.  How do we get beta readers? In the comments, Amanda Byrne asked, “[A]ny hints on how you can scare up more beta readers? … [O]nly one of them gets back to me in a timely manner.” Then Aldrea [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, Ask Jami, beta reader, critique partners/groups, deadlines, feedback, Jami Gold, organized, paranormal author, professionalism, social media

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MS Word Trick: Combining Changes and Comments

April 3, 2012 Writing Stuff
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We all have weaknesses.  Some people want to deny their imperfections, but most of us do what we can to overcome them. Like many writers, one of my weaknesses is my inability to interpret my words the way a reader does.  That’s not unusual.  We know what we meant to say, so it’s easy to [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, beta reader, critique partners/groups, editing, feedback, Jami Gold, organized, paranormal author, perfectionism

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