emotional heart

Why Is Storytelling Ability So Important?

April 30, 2013 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for Why Is Storytelling Ability So Important?

What makes some poorly written books fall flat on their face while others succeed despite their flaws? One common answer is “storytelling ability.” But what is storytelling? The concept can seem vague and immeasurable—rather like “voice.” A recent experience with two poorly written books gave me insight into how a deeply flawed story can still [...]

Pin It

Tagged as: advice for writers, cause and effect, emotional heart, Jami Gold, page turning stories, paranormal author, premise, story structure, tension, theme, writing contests

Click here to read more

Can Story Themes Help Pantsers Write?

February 19, 2013 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for Can Story Themes Help Pantsers Write?

My favorite blogger, Janice Hardy, had another great post last week. This time she talked about how writers can develop their theme. She shared three tips for understanding how themes work in our stories. One of her tips struck me—a confirmed pantser—as a great way to keep our pantsed stories on track. When we draft [...]

Pin It

Tagged as: advice for writers, emotional heart, Jami Gold, Janice Hardy, muse, paranormal author, plotter vs. pantser, theme

Click here to read more

Life Lessons from the “Epic Road Trip”

November 8, 2012 Random Musings
Thumbnail image for Life Lessons from the “Epic Road Trip”

Those of you who follow me on Twitter might have heard that my family and I took a two-week road trip a couple of months ago. And yes, it was “epic.” We traveled over 2100 miles on our way to visit four National Parks, two National Monuments, and one Tribal Park. Er, yeah. I had [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, emotional heart, happiness, Jami Gold, Jami is insane, life balance, listening to characters, muse, paranormal author

Click here to read more

NaNo Prep: Using Music to Get into a Writing Mood

October 23, 2012 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for NaNo Prep: Using Music to Get into a Writing Mood

Last time, we shared suggestions on how to kick our muse into gear. One of my favorite techniques is using music. With NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month—challenge yourself to write 50K words during November) fast approaching, now is the perfect time to revisit all the ways music can help our writing. On a day-to-day basis, music—er, [...]

Pin It

Tagged as: advice for writers, emotional heart, happiness, Jami Gold, listening to characters, muse, NaNoWriMo, paranormal author, tension

Click here to read more

3 Tips for Writing Heavy Emotional Scenes

June 26, 2012 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for 3 Tips for Writing Heavy Emotional Scenes

Yesterday, I tweeted a link to a great post by Sally Apokedak about not cheating the reader by skipping emotional scenes. Some writers struggle with heavy scenes. They’re uncomfortable with “invading” the privacy of their characters. They worry about creating laughably cheesy scenes. Or they think a scene that’s essential to the emotional journey is [...]

Pin It

Tagged as: advice for writers, Edittorrent, emotional heart, Harry Potter, Jami Gold, paranormal author, point of view, subtext

Click here to read more

How to Make the Most of a Scene

June 7, 2012 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for How to Make the Most of a Scene

This post originally ran several months ago at the Girls With Pens blog.  It’s one of my favorites because I’m always looking for checklists to make sure I’m not missing anything while editing and revising.  I hope you find it useful. Whether we plot our stories ahead of time or write by the seat of our [...]

Pin It

Tagged as: advice for writers, editing, emotional heart, Jami Gold, paranormal author, tension

Click here to read more

Do Your Stories Match Your Voice?

April 12, 2012 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for Do Your Stories Match Your Voice?

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 [...]

Pin It

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

Click here to read more

What If Our Story Idea Has Already Been Done?

March 22, 2012 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for What If Our Story Idea Has Already Been Done?

In my last post about Google search terms, I mentioned that we sometimes have lots of content around a search’s keywords and yet have never answered the question directly.  In that case, Google just gave us an idea for a blog post.  *smile* One search term that led people to my blog this past month was “What do [...]

Pin It

Tagged as: advice for writers, character archetypes, emotional heart, high-concept hooks, Jami Gold, paranormal author, premise, story seed, theme

Click here to read more

How to Squeeze the Most out of Scenes

December 6, 2011 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for How to Squeeze the Most out of Scenes

Whether we’re a plotter, pantser, or somewhere in between, we all eventually have to take the time and make our scenes the best they can be.  This week I have a guest post at the Girls With Pens blog on how to do that. (Edited to redirect link, as GWP has shut down.) We’re talking about how to make [...]

Pin It

Tagged as: advice for writers, blogging, editing, emotional heart, guest blogs, information dump, Jami Gold, paranormal author, tension

Click here to read more

Story Climax: The Whole Point — Guest: Victoria Mixon

November 15, 2011 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for Story Climax: The Whole Point — Guest: Victoria Mixon

I’m excited to share today’s guest post by editor A. Victoria Mixon with everyone.  Her new book The Art & Craft of Story: 2nd Practitioner’s Manual recently came out and is a great addition to our writing craft library. In fact, her blog tour posts have been excerpts from this book, so we can get [...]

Pin It

Tagged as: advice for writers, emotional heart, guest blogs, Jami Gold, paranormal author, premise, Victoria Mixon

Click here to read more

← Previous Entries