by Deborah Raney Last Wednesday I returned from the dream trip of a lifetime, one I wasn’t sure would actually happen before I died. It was our first time to travel overseas and we spent three glorious days in Paris, then wound our way through the United Kingdom—England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland—over the next ten days before returning to London to …
Plotter or “Pantser” – Is One Better than the Other?
By Lori Domingo @LoriDomingo22 If someone had asked me that question a year ago, I would have proudly declared, “I’m a pantser. I never write from a plot outline. It’s too confining.” I had managed to complete one manuscript without it, and was hard-pressed when I was required to write one for one of my MA classes. It was something …
How Long Do You Write Before Writing It Down?
By Glynn Young I spent almost four years writing my first novel before I put a single word on screen or paper. Writing a novel wasn’t intentional. A song had captured my imagination, a single image formed in my mind, and gradually a story unfolded to accompany that song and image – all in my imagination. I mentally nursed the …
Ideas Are Everywhere…
By Janetta Fudge Messmer All writers have ideas floating around in their heads. And like everyone else, I write them down because I don’t want to forget them. Never know, I might want to use them for a book at a later date. In my case, our dog gave me the grand idea for a novel. She “told” my hubby …
Cooking Up Story Ideas
by Ann H. Gabhart Where do you get your ideas? That’s a question most writers are asked at one time or another. Here’s an answer one writer, Sarah Zette, gave that might make you smile. My joking answer to this question is that I leave a bowl of milk out on the back porch every night for the Idea Fairy. …
Get Closer to Your Story With the Power of “Why?”
by Carol Alwood Space exists between us and our stories. As much as we can imagine these fictional dreams, we can’t transcribe unfolding events. There’s a rift between what we imagine and what we write. This gap, depending on how wide it becomes, can be the victory or downfall of our books. It may be why readers continue or stop …
The Puzzle Method
By Kristi Holl Starting a new novel can be overwhelming. Our minds jump around as we fill dozens of colored sticky notes with snippets of ideas. Eventually we end up with hundreds of bits of information. Where do we start to make sense of it all? One summer I found a solution when putting together a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle with …
Springing into the Next Story
by Jan Drexler Spring is here, and it’s time to start my next book! With this new beginning, I’ve already spent hours of preparation. I’ve cultivated the bed of ideas, throwing out stones and stray roots. I’ve poured over research materials as if they were seed catalogs, each with their own versions of the standard offerings. I’ve studied maps, terrain, …
The Christian Writer’s Cause
By John W. Tucker Christian writers have a variety of reasons for wanting to write. Here are eleven: 1) to fulfill a personal need; 2) to honor God by using this gift; 3) to reach sectors of the population with a message of hope; 4) to earn a living or supplement it; 5) to set an example and help reproduce …
Where Do Ideas Come From?
By Melanie Dickerson I get a lot of emails and messages from teen writers asking for writing tips. The two questions I get asked most frequently: “Where do you get your ideas?” and “What do you do when you get stuck?” Since many of my novels are fairy tale retellings, I start out checking into the original fairy tale and …