A PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO DEVELOPING GRIP-YOUR-HEART CHARACTERS By J.A. Marx How do we write a poignant story that’s realistic, emotionally satisfying yet not watered down? After you’ve given your character a personality, a vocation, a purpose for living, and a setting contemplate the following. 1) Reality Pick an offense more exciting than stepping on toes or cutting someone off in …
Reflection
By Kariss Lynch Authentic. That’s ultimately what we want, right? We want a story that moves us, motivates us, makes us forget our troubles for a few hours, that makes us laugh or cry or jump, that leaves us still thinking, still wondering days later. We want a story that rings so true and raw in our own mind and …
Myth: BUSTED!
By Elizabeth B. Elliott If you have ever watched the show MythBusters on the Discovery channel, then you know the goal of co-hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage is to prove or disprove the veracity of commonly held beliefs. Putting these ideas to the test and sometimes under a literal microscope has paid off for them – their 11-year-old show …
When You Want to Give Up
By Tamara D. Fickas There’s a picture floating around Facebook of a guy eagerly digging a tunnel in search of diamonds. He’s been at it a long time and finally gives up. We can see the whole picture and know that just a few more plunges of his pickaxe will unleash the diamonds. He doesn’t know that. He’s tired and …
Overcoming the Failure Inside
By Elizabeth Ludwig Scarlett O’Hara. Katniss Everdeen. Michael Hosea. Jane Eyre. Do you recognize any of these names? Obviously, they are all characters from books. And yes, they are all heroes. But before they were heroic, they were flawed and fallible. These frail, imperfect, unlikely paragons struggled with weaknesses in their character-like serious flaws-vanity, envy, fear, jealousy, and pride, just …
When Fiction Becomes Life
By Cynthia Ruchti Decades ago when I wrote radio drama and devotions for a daily broadcast, I created a script in which two voice-over characters discussed a new program at their church. Those within the church who were devoted to prayer were given pagers so they could be alerted immediately, even if they were far away from their home or …
Who’s Afraid of the Multiverse?
By Bruce Hennigan Recent successful series such as Stephen Lawhead’s “Skin Map” books utilize one of the most common staples of fiction, parallel worlds. The idea is not a new one. George MacDonald in “Phantastes” used such a device in his works. And, his writing influenced C. S. Lewis to develop Narnia. In recent years, there has been an explosion …
Your Seven Staples as a Writer
by Cheryl Wyatt For this blog post, we’re going to do a little digging. The title mentions seven staples. In the case of this blog post, by staple, I mean the commodity of theme, or something regular that is unique to you and your writing. One definition of staple, according to Merriam-Webster, is “a chief commodity or production of a …
Follow The Leader
By CE Hilbert Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. — John 12:26 When you were little, did you ever play, Follow the Leader? The object of the game is to mimic the movements and the steps of the one who is in …
Murphy Lives Here
By Linda Robinson Lately, my writing journey has been derailed by Murphy. It’s bad enough when my muse takes a vacation. Eventually she returns, and it’s usually when I become self-disciplined and sit down in my computer chair to write-about ten o’clock at night. But I don’t always do that. For good reason. In August, we decided to update the …