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Posts by Jami Gold

Strong Character Relationships: From Friendships to Romance

December 12, 2023

Strong Character Relationships: From Friendships to Romance

December 12, 2023

As a romance author, I’ve learned how to portray deep romantic relationships between my characters, focusing on techniques to make the relationship believable, healthy, and something readers will root for.…

Writing Techniques: Use and Abuse of “Lampshading”

September 12, 2023

Writing Techniques: Use and Abuse of “Lampshading”

September 12, 2023

As storytellers, we usually want to keep readers immersed in our story. However, we’ve probably all written lines that we worry will break readers’ suspension of disbelief, such as with…

Story vs. Plot vs. Theme: Know Your 5Ws and H

June 13, 2023

Story vs. Plot vs. Theme: Know Your 5Ws and H

June 13, 2023

Journalism writing often uses the 5W1H structure. The first few paragraphs of a news article should answer 6 basic questions (which start with 5 Ws and an H): Who, What,…

Character Arcs: Making a Long Story Short

March 14, 2023

Character Arcs: Making a Long Story Short

March 14, 2023

A well-structured story uses events (also called story beats) to move the narrative forward — with compelling issues, rising stakes, and an organic sense of cause and effect — toward…

“No, Don’t Tell Me”: How & When Should We Use Foreshadowing?

December 13, 2022

“No, Don’t Tell Me”: How & When Should We Use Foreshadowing?

December 13, 2022

Foreshadowing is a literary technique we can use in our stories that gives a preview or hint of events that will happen later. While many might think of foreshadowing for mysteries, this literary device…

Point of View: Is Deeper Always Better?

September 13, 2022

Point of View: Is Deeper Always Better?

September 13, 2022

Until relatively recently, most stories were written with an omniscient point of view (POV), which follows the story and characters from an all-knowing distance. But over the past several decades,…

“They’re All Gonna Die!” Wait, Why Does That Matter?

June 14, 2022

“They’re All Gonna Die!” Wait, Why Does That Matter?

June 14, 2022

By Jami Gold Want to draw readers into our story? Of course! To do so, we often attempt to make the stakes bigger. Typically, that’s a decent approach. But imagine…

Scenes vs. Sequels: What’s a Good Balance?

March 10, 2022

Scenes vs. Sequels: What’s a Good Balance?

March 10, 2022

We use the terms scene and sequel for so many definitions when it comes to writing that it can be difficult (not to mention confusing) to discuss Dwight Swain’s ideas…

What’s Your Story’s Focus? Plot vs. Character Arcs

November 18, 2021

What’s Your Story’s Focus? Plot vs. Character Arcs

November 18, 2021

There are as many ways to tell a story as there are stories in existence. That means not all writing advice will be a good fit with the story we’re…

Story Not Behaving? Try Going Deeper into Structure

September 14, 2021

Story Not Behaving? Try Going Deeper into Structure

September 14, 2021

With all the writing advice out there, we know that some “writing rules” we hear are more like guidelines. However, story structure is important not just for our writing but…