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Three Tips for Better Storytelling

May 2, 2013 Writing Stuff
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Last time, we talked about how good storytelling can salvage even a poorly written book. As I mentioned in that post, storytelling skill is different from writing skill. Many people have a hard time defining what makes good storytelling—and that makes it difficult for us to improve. Yet I’d argue that storytelling ability isn’t as [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, cause and effect, Jami Gold, page turning stories, paranormal author, premise, risk, story seed, story structure, theme

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Why Is Storytelling Ability So Important?

April 30, 2013 Writing Stuff
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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 [...]

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

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Introducing the Query/Blurb Exchange Club!

January 15, 2013 Writing Stuff
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The response to my request for help on my query in my last post was amazing. I really shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, we all know you are amazing, right? *smile* But the tremendous outpouring of offers to help also made me feel guilty. I’ve heard stories from others about how hard it can be [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, agents, beta reader, editing, feedback, Jami Gold, paranormal author, pitching, premise, queries, self-publishing

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Fan Fiction to Published Book: A Case Study

December 13, 2012 Writing Stuff
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Last time, we discussed the different options for publishing a story that had its genesis in fan fiction: name-change-only, reworking, and rewriting. Whether we believe there’s ever a “right” way to publish a story that began as fan fiction (fanfic), authors who completely rewrite their story should be recognized for at least making the attempt to avoid [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, ethics, fan fiction, guest blogs, Jami Gold, paranormal author, plagiarism, premise, professionalism, risk

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Can Writers Reuse Their Own Work?

December 11, 2012 Writing Stuff
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On the surface, this might seem like a clear-cut question. Unless we’ve turned the copyright over to another entity, it seems like we should be able to reuse our own work. However the issues surrounding what is sometimes termed “self-plagiarism” are more complicated than they might first appear. Many of us who blog will occasionally rerun [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, ethics, fan fiction, Jami Gold, paranormal author, plagiarism, premise, professionalism, risk

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NaNo Prep: What’s Your “Next Big Thing”?

October 25, 2012 Random Musings
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I don’t usually participate in blog tagging posts, but every once in a while, one comes along that fits in well with my blog. On Tuesday, Janice Hardy tagged me for The Next Big Thing Blog Hop. As NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month—write a 50K word novel during November) is all about writing “the next big [...]

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Tagged as: blogging, Jami Gold, Janice Hardy, NaNoWriMo, paranormal author, premise, romance novels, story seed

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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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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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

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Exploiting Our Brand: Is There a “Right” Way?

March 29, 2012 Random Musings
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Our brand is the impression others have of us.  So we all have a brand, whether we know it or not.  Hopefully, we’re building a brand that reflects who we really are, in a way that shows us at our best (however we each define “best”). Once we have a brand, we might wonder what [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, branding, fan fiction, genre, Jami Gold, paranormal author, premise, risk, social media

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