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How to Make Characters Vulnerable to Readers

A turtle in the middle of a road with text: Are Your Characters Vulnerable?

Most tips for creating sympathetic characters point out that our characters need flaws. And that’s very true. But it can be a real trick to show flaws for characters who bottle up their emotions in an attempt to hide their weaknesses. While very common, that defense mechanism can leave very little for us, as authors, […]

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November 7, 2013

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Does Your Writing Have Rhythm?

Two drumsticks with text: Does Your Writing Have Rhythm?

We’re probably all familiar with the idea that poetry, music, and song lyrics can have rhythm. But prose writing—our normal, everyday writing with sentences and paragraphs rather than lines, stanzas, and verses—can have a rhythm too. I’d occasionally heard a rhythm in my head while reading stories but never paid much attention. Several years ago, when I […]

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November 5, 2013

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NaNo Prep: 4 Tips for Starting Our Story

"Trail Starts Here" sign with text: 4 Tips for Starting Our Story

Tomorrow, thousands of writers will start their novel for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I’m not in a good spot in my writing project schedule to participate this year (*pout*), but I’m cheering from the sidelines. (I’m Jami Gold if anyone wants to buddy me.) On this occasion, I wanted to bring together several tips […]

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October 31, 2013

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How Book Covers Appeal to Readers

Rainbow with text: The Promise of a Book Cover

The Writers Helping Writers Amazing Race is still going strong, where an army of writers are trying to help as many other writers as we can in one week. One category where people can request help is an “Ask Anything” question. Ask anything related to writing and there’s bound to be someone among the Amazing […]

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October 24, 2013

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Help for Writers in the WHW Amazing Race!

Rusted out car in the desert with text: Need Help? Check Out Writers Helping Writers

Remember when I mentioned last week that The Bookshelf Muse had become Writers Helping Writers? And how the phenomenal Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi behind the site had two new books coming out this week: The Positive Trait Thesaurus and The Negative Trait Thesaurus? And how they were going to have a great kickoff for […]

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October 22, 2013

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Does Fast Drafting Create Editing Nightmares?

Metal letters jumbled together with text: Does Fast Drafting Create Editing Nightmares?

Last week, we discussed how we can plan our story and avoid writing a “hot mess.” With NaNoWriMo almost upon us, now is the time to think about basic planning for plot and character arcs so we end up with a coherent story. But what about the writing quality itself? NaNo writing—where we have the pressure […]

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October 17, 2013

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Writer Resource: Writers Helping Writers

The logo for Writers Helping Writers with text: Introducing the New...

Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I’m always on the lookout for great writing resources. Over three years ago, I discovered one of the best: The Bookshelf Muse, written by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. They’re also the genius duo behind The Emotion Thesaurus. If you’re not familiar with The Bookshelf Muse […]

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October 15, 2013

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NaNo Prep: Do You Know What to Plan in Advance?

Leftover scraps of many posters with text: Don't End Up with a "Hot Mess" after NaNo

Do you smell it? The crisp air, the fallen leaves? (Unless you’re Down Under.) It’s almost time for NaNoWriMo, when thousands of writers will try to cram 50,000 words into a 30-day deadline. Unfortunately, I won’t be doing NaNo this year, as I’m not in the right spot with any of my writing projects to […]

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October 10, 2013

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Showing vs. Telling: When Is Telling Okay?

Woman whispering into another woman's ear with text: When Is Telling Okay?

We’ve probably all heard the advice to “show don’t tell” more times than we can count. Like most advice, it’s worded as an absolute, making it seem as though telling is never okay.

Once we’re experienced, we know that’s not true. Some telling is absolutely okay, and in certain cases, is preferable to showing.

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October 8, 2013

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