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advice for writers

Why Story Structure Matters

Inside view of top of clear dome's structure with text: Why Story Structure Matters

Story structure isn’t just about the “rules” of story beats. It lies at the core of our ability to tell a story. Let’s take a look at what that means.

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January 2, 2014

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Branding 101: Do You Have a Tagline?

Burlap canvas with an overlay of text, "imagination unlimited..."

Taglines are like the phrases on a movie poster: short, intriguing, punchy, attention-getting. In addition to taglines for our writing, we might also want one about us and our author brand.

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December 31, 2013

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What Does “Happily Ever After” Mean to You?

Sunset with text: Stories and Happy Endings

How were your holidays? Was Santa good to you? I’m still mostly offline, enjoying quality time with my family, so I’m rerunning this post from several years ago. My Christmas couldn’t have been any better, and I hope yours was everything you hoped for too. Of course, whether or not we’re […]

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December 26, 2013

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Our Writing Life: This Year I…

Blank Christmas stationary with text: This Year I...

My Christmas to-do list is finally down to a manageable size, and I think I’ll complete everything on time. If you’re celebrating this week, I hope your plans all unfold smoothly, your travels all go safely, your family members all behave perfectly, and all your dreams for the New Year […]

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December 24, 2013

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Are You Waiting for Permission?

Begging pug dog with text: Waiting for Permission?

This past week has been a good news / bad news / good news sort of week. The conflicting emotions have been *ahem* good for making me question my strategies (yet again). On the good news side, I received the scores from my last contest, The Emily. I mentioned a few […]

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December 19, 2013

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Ask Jami: Can We Use Beat Sheets with Scrivener?

Scrivener logo and Basic Beat Sheet title with text: Using Beat Sheets with Scrivener

Do you use the Scrivener program for your writing? Many writers do, especially as Scrivener sponsors NaNoWriMo and offers a discount to participants. I started using Scrivener for my NaNo drafting last year and was able to buy the program at half-off because of my NaNo win. Woo hoo! Many writers […]

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December 17, 2013

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Fix 4 Common Writing Problems with “The Emotion Thesaurus”

Cover of the Emotion Thesaurus with text: Writing Tips with The Emotion Thesaurus

A couple of weeks ago, Becca Puglisi, one of the co-authors of the fantastic Thesaurus books, shared her tips for using the new The Positive Trait Thesaurus and The Negative Trait Thesaurus books. Her advice can help us develop our characters at all stages of planning, drafting, and editing. But the […]

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December 10, 2013

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NaNo Wrap-Up: Beat Sheets 101

Green chalkboard with text: Beat Sheets 101

Not familiar with beat sheets or spreadsheet programs? Learn what the different columns and rows mean and how we can update the details for our unique story.

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December 3, 2013

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7 Tips for Using the Trait Thesauri — Guest: Becca Puglisi

Covers of the Positive and Negative Trait books with text: Writing Tips with the Trait books

I have a special treat for everyone today! I’ve mentioned many times that I love The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi (of The Bookshelf Muse/Writers Helping Writers fame) for expanding my “showing vocabulary” when it comes to character emotions. A few weeks ago, I shared how their new books, The Positive […]

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November 26, 2013

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