By: Carol Buchanan I turned to Christian fiction about four years ago when I found the novels of Davis Bunn in my church library. I devoured The Great Divide, Rare Earth and The Patmos Deception, and Maestro. Having written four historical Western novels set in early Montana, I felt that I’d been liberated: Violence can exist in Christian novels. Since …
Defining Goals and Redefining Success
By: Janette Melson As I edited a previous blog before publishing, I realized that I used the word goal a lot. And I concluded that there is a reason for that. According to some of the greatest minds throughout history, goals are a way to keep life exciting, successful, and productive. After all, “If you aim at nothing, you will …
Creating Quirky
By: JPC Allen So much work goes into creating believable characters that writers sometimes forget to have fun with the process. One way I’ve discovered to prevent character development from becoming a chore is creating quirks for characters, fun traits that make my characters seem more likable or real or relatable. One of the reasons for Sherlock Holmes’s enduring popularity is his …
Three Tips for Polishing Your Rough Draft
By: Katie Powner As an adjective, the word rough means “having an uneven or irregular surface; not smooth or level.” Boards can be rough. The seas can be rough. But how can stories be rough if they don’t have a surface? Well, they do. The surface of a story is the plot. Everything that happens, that you can see in …
Writing the Seasons
By: Kariss Lynch Anne Shirley’s words are a good reminder for all of us this time of year: “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” A change of season is powerful, and the way we write and incorporate seasons in our books can be powerful, too. Lorelei Gilmore can smell snow, stirring our nostalgia. Anne …
What’s Fiction’s Purpose?
By Cynthia Herron What’s the real purpose of fiction? Several months ago, I tweeted: Fiction is just that. Fiction. Reading it is (and should be) fun. It is a break from reality. An escape. It doesn’t have to make sense, a point, or a literary statement. It can, but it doesn’t have to. When we distort that, we miss the art …
Surprise Characters Can Be Fun
By Ann H. Gabhart The number one reason people read novels is because of the characters. Books need lots of action orconflict. Fabulous settings or dramatic historical events are good, but without characters to enable readers to vicariously live the story with them, you just have a travel guide, a history book or a news article. We want to love …
Five Hundred and One – Encouragement for Unpublished Authors
By: SK Derban My long-term goal of becoming a published author was finally realized after more than two decades. It’s hard to remember how many times I thought about quitting, and that was before I started writing my first manuscript. Although I wanted to write directly out of college God had other plans for me. He knew I needed grooming, …
Layers
By Lisa Loraine Baker Fictional While House speechwriter, Sam Seaborn, sits at his desk writing with feverish intensity. At a point of frustration, he rips the sheet of paper off his tablet, crumples it, and pounds his fists three times on his desk. He chucks the offensive wad into his wastebasket, picks up his pen and starts anew. In a …
Your Wellspring of Strength for Writing
By Lana Christian I’ve been thinking about strength a lot lately—partially because COVID stole part of mine. My legs scream after I hike for a half hour. My brain still slogs at times. As I recoup those losses, I continue a demanding day job writing for physicians and researchers … and burn midnight oil pursuing my faith-based writing career. I …