information dump

What Soap Operas Can Teach Us about Writing

April 23, 2013 Writing Stuff
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I don’t watch soap operas, but a bizarre conversation tangent (in other words, a perfectly normal conversation for me) triggered my thoughts comparing soap operas to novels. On the surface, they seem very similar. They both have characters, tension, and conflict. However, the more I thought about it, the more I saw differences. And those [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, information dump, Jami Gold, page turning stories, paranormal author, setting and description, story openings, tension

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Four Tips for Fixing the Infamous “Info Dump”

December 27, 2012 Writing Stuff
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While I’m on holiday vacation this week, I’ll share a post from my early days of blogging. We’ve all heard of those eye-rolling, telling “information dumps,” yet at some point, we all have to get chunks of information across to the reader. My usual technique with world-building is to show, show, show, but sometimes that’s [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, editing, information dump, Jami Gold, page turning stories, paranormal author, tension

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Immersion Master Class with Margie Lawson: Part One — Guest: Melinda Collins

September 4, 2012 Writing Stuff
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Whoo boy, do I have a treat for you today. The lovely Melinda Collins recently returned from an Immersion Master Class with Margie Lawson, and she’s here today to share her experience. I’m playing this cool now, but it was a different story earlier. When I heard Melinda was going to a weekend-long writer’s retreat, [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, editing, feedback, guest blogs, information dump, Jami Gold, Margie Lawson, organized, paranormal author, story openings, The Bookshelf Muse, workshops

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Worldbuilding, Genres, and Reader Expectations

August 16, 2012 Writing Stuff
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After I agreed to do a guest post for my friend Melinda Collins, she suggested I write something about worldbuilding. Despite being a paranormal author who continually invents worlds slightly different from our own, I haven’t written many posts about that topic yet, so I sat down to brainstorm ideas. Okay, my beta readers have [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, feedback, genre, guest blogs, information dump, Jami Gold, Jami is insane, paranormal author, premise, setting and description

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Blogiversary Winners & a Gift for All

July 12, 2012 Writing Stuff
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Yay! I officially made it to the two-year mark on my blog. Two years of comments, questions, and debates. On my post announcing my Blogiversary Contest, we had enough comments to earn three winners! The worst part of the contest was picking the names. The worst, you say? No, that doesn’t mean I didn’t want anyone to [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, editing, information dump, Jami Gold, Janice Hardy, page turning stories, paranormal author

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Ask Jami: Editing Tips–Tightening Scenes

March 1, 2012 Writing Stuff
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In my post last week asking if we can have too much voice, some great questions came up in the comments.  I decided to turn them into “Ask Jami” blog posts rather than bury the answers in the comment string. Earlier, I shared ideas on how to use color-coding to check if we’re “overusing” a writing element. [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, Ask Jami, editing, information dump, Jami Gold, page turning stories, paranormal author, tension

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Pitch Prep: What Makes a Great First Page?

January 5, 2012 Writing Stuff
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It was a dark and stormy blog post.  *snicker* We’re continuing to prepare for the January 10-16th Pitch Your Shorts pitch session by tackling the issue of story openings.  (Check out Tuesday’s post for everything there is to know about pitching.) While the purpose of a pitch is to get a request, the purpose of a story’s [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, Edittorrent, feedback, information dump, Jami Gold, Janice Hardy, page turning stories, paranormal author, pitch session, story openings, tension

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How to Squeeze the Most out of Scenes

December 6, 2011 Writing Stuff
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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 [...]

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

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Religion in Novels: Terrific or Taboo? — Guest: Jody Hedlund

September 22, 2011 Writing Stuff
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I’m excited to share today’s guest post with you because in addition to being a lovely person, Jody Hedlund runs a fantastic blog for writers.  As if that wasn’t enough, she’s also graciously arranged for a book giveaway of her latest release, The Doctor’s Lady (see bottom of post for details). Jody writes historical romance stories that touch on [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, authors, genre, giveaway, guest blogs, information dump, Jami Gold, Jody Hedlund, paranormal author, professionalism, romance novels, social media

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The Green Lantern Movie: How *Not* to Plot a Story

July 5, 2011 Writing Stuff
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I recently saw the Green Lantern movie.  I know, I know.  The reviews were terrible, but I often enjoy turn-brain-off movies.  This fun-but-dumb superhero action flick definitely fit the bill. But the real entertainment came after the movie, as my family and I analyzed why this superhero movie failed compared to other recent titles.  Where did this [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, antagonist, information dump, Jami Gold, Janice Hardy, page turning stories, paranormal author, risk, story openings, tension

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