story seed

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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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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What If Our Story Idea Has Already Been Done?

March 22, 2012 Writing Stuff
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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 [...]

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

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When Does Fan Fiction Cross an Ethical Line?

March 6, 2012 Random Musings
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Fan fiction, also known as fanfic, refers to stories written by fans about the characters, situations, or world of existing works created by others.  This definition sounds broad because the world of fanfic is broad. On some level, everything from Wicked, inspired by The Wizard of Oz, to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies could fall under the umbrella [...]

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Tagged as: authors, ethics, fan fiction, Jami Gold, Jami's rants, paranormal author, professionalism, story seed

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What Comes After a First Draft?

September 20, 2011 Writing Stuff
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Last week, we talked about how stories change from the initial story seed to the first draft.  Then it dawned on me that I’ve experienced that same evolution between a first draft and a finished draft, where so much changed that I hardly recognized the original story any more. For fun, I’ve used Microsoft Word’s Compare [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, editing, feedback, guest blogs, Jami Gold, paranormal author, perfectionism, story seed, theme

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Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

September 15, 2011 Writing Stuff
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Artists of every type find inspiration all around them, and writers are no exception.  Ideas might come in the form of a dream, a “what if” question, an overheard conversation, etc. Those are all fairly normal sources of inspiration.  Personally, I’ve been inspired by dreams, “what if”s, an 80′s music video, a mutation of another [...]

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Tagged as: feedback, Jami Gold, Jami is insane, listening to characters, muse, page turning stories, paranormal author, romance novels, story openings, story seed

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How Do You Stretch Yourself?

September 13, 2011 Writing Stuff
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With any job or activity, if we want to get better, we have to stretch ourselves.  Athletes strive to move faster or stronger.  Musicians aim to complete a harder, more intricate piece of music.  And writers… How do writers stretch themselves? We can collect feedback on our writing from beta readers, contest judges, and critique [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, beta reader, genre, grammar, Jami Gold, Jami is insane, muse, paranormal author, point of view, risk, story seed

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Interview with a…Muse – Guest: J.A. Paul

May 10, 2011 Random Musings
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“Hey, Jami, now that you have a bazillion things to do and no time to get it all done, what are you going to do?” “I’m going to Disneyland!” That’s right.  I threw up my hands and decided everything could wait a week while I head to Disneyland with the family.  Everything could wait but [...]

Tagged as: authors, genre, guest blogs, Interview with a Muse, J.A. Paul, Jami Gold, muse, paranormal author, self-publishing, story seed, Twitter, writers are insane

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When Is a Story Worth Writing? – Part Three

January 25, 2011 Writing Stuff
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If we don’t want to waste time writing a story that will never get anywhere, we have to make sure we’ll be able to complete it.  And guess what?  It’s not completed when we, as writers, think it is.  Going from seed idea to completion happens over two stages. So far, in Parts One and [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, editing, emotional heart, high-concept hooks, Jami Gold, page turning stories, paranormal author, story seed, strong characters, tension

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When Is a Story Worth Writing? – Part Two

January 20, 2011 Writing Stuff
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Writers are often overwhelmed with story ideas.  When I’m in the middle of difficult revisions, it’s normal for me to think of several other shiny ideas that I would much rather work on instead of doing yet another round of edits.  But not every idea is worthy of a story, so how do we decide [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, authors, emotional heart, feedback, genre, Jami Gold, love, muse, non-fiction, paranormal author, plotter vs. pantser, romance novels, story seed

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