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advice for writers

What Makes a Story’s Black Moment a Black Moment?

Black-and-white image of cemetery cross with text: What Creates a Black Moment?

The Black Moment is usually one of the most emotional sections of the story, so it can be difficult to pull together. If we read stories (or watch movies), we’ve seen this beat play out endless times, so we probably understand the plot point more than we may think. But let’s take a closer look and see if we can learn something new.

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December 16, 2014

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Ask Jami: How Can We Make a Story Believable?

Card hand of 4 aces with text: What Makes a Story Unbelievable?

As soon as immersion is broken for a reader, their suspension of disbelief is at risk, so we don’t want unbelievable aspects of our story to kick readers out of the story midway. When it comes to believability, issues could crop up within the plot, characters, or worldbuilding, and we have to find the right balance within each of those areas.

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December 11, 2014

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Are Multimedia Books a “Game Changer”?

Green light in a tunnel with text: Is Multimedia the Future of Books?

In any profession, we have to stay on top of industry changes, and publishing is no different. Recent stories have stated multimedia ebooks are the future of fiction, so it’s in our best interest to learn whether storytelling will evolve into multimedia ebooks as the primary medium.

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December 4, 2014

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NaNo Wrap-Up: How to Move Forward

NaNo Winner badge with text: Now What?

Whether we won NaNoWriMo or not, we survived November, and I want to take a moment to gasp—er, breathe. After everything that went wrong with my month, winning feels like a miracle. So let’s talk about how we can move forward from any draft, NaNo or not.

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December 2, 2014

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The Psychology of Emotions — Guest: Kassandra Lamb

Paper torn to reveal a drawn heart with text: The Psychology Behind Emotions

We usually want to keep the reader immersed in the story and keep readers’ interest by engaging their emotions. But when we understand the psychology driving emotions, we might be able to make those emotions more realistic or recognize when there’s a disconnect on a character’s emotional journey.

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November 18, 2014

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6 Steps to Researching a Story — Guest: Tracy L. Ward

Scientist mixing chemicals with text: 6 Steps to Research Our Story

No matter what genre we write, we’re likely to have to research something. If our stories take place within the real world, we might have to research events, settings, or diseases. If our stories take place outside the real world, we might have to research theories, ideas, or concepts. In other words, today’s post about how to research for writing projects will be relevant to most of us.

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November 11, 2014

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The Pros and Cons of Switching Genres — Guest: Summerita Rhayne

Child playing hopscotch with text: Should We Genre Hop?

We often choose which story to focus on by writing the idea that pesters us the most. That “squeaky wheel” path might lead us to hop genres without meaning to, and our brand is often tied to our genre. So should we ignore that idea? Learn some of the pros and cons we should keep in mind if we consider following our muse’s lead.

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November 6, 2014

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