Hooking the reader–it’s the author’s goal from the first word to the last. This is why one of the best compliments a reader can give an author is, “I couldn’t put it down.” But how do you accomplish this goal? How do you keep the readers flipping through hundreds of pages? Much is taught about hooking readers […]
Why Write Tight
Once you start writing, it doesn’t take long before you hear the advice to “write tight.” To the veteran authors who tell this to new authors it makes perfect sense, but sometimes it confuses new authors. After all, isn’t the idea to wow readers with your brilliant word usage? Actually, that isn’t the idea. Author’s […]
When Your Brain Won’t Work Any More
You’ve got a great idea for a novel. Scenes practically create themselves because you know your characters so well. Your passion for writing takes over for weeks, maybe even months. It might be some type of disconnect between you and your characters. Maybe they’re not agreeable to doing what your plot has in store for […]
ADD A DOSE OF HUMOR
Writing is hard work. Writing a novel is the hardest writing you’ll ever do. It takes planning, creativity, research, emotions, and can wring the energy from you in a way that can’t be described. It’s not writer’s block, more like writer’s fatigue. The old saying is that laughter is the best medicine. In the case […]
Behind the Scenes: Collaborative Writing – The Writer vs. The Visual Artist
Janeen: I’m a plotter. I believe in to-do lists and set routines. I like to work alone so I can control things. God has a sense of humor, since I’m in a long-term creative collaboration with a visual artist, Julia Busko, who has a very different perspective. Julia: The best way to describe my process […]
A Word about Suspense
You’ve got a great story idea, characters your readers will love, and a fantastic surprise twist. You can’t wait to start writing and lead your readers along the path of suspense that builds up to the big reveal at some point late in the story. Most of all, it tickles your stomach to think of […]
Behind the Scenes: How the tale of a lonely burro inspired author Yvonne Anderson
The Story in the Stars, the book that launched my Gateway to Gannah sci-fi series, was inspired by a little nonfiction book I ran across about a decade ago, originally written in the 1880s but reprinted almost a century later. It proposed the theory that when God created the heavens and the earth, He arranged […]
Behind the scenes: a Story of Hope by Morgan L. Busse
Many times I am asked where I get the ideas for my books. Some ideas come from a question like “What if we could see people the way God sees people?” Or a character shows up in my head and his/her story is so intriguing I have to write it. However, Heir of Hope came […]
Caption needed for bookworm dinosaur!
So, captioneers, got a caption for the bookworm dinosaur?
What C.S. Lewis’s story means for you, a writer
The conversation that finally led to the conversion of writer and evangelist C.S. Lewis to Christianity wasn’t about hellfire. It wasn’t about holiness. It was about stories. Lewis, 33, was talking to his friend J.R.R. Tolkien and one other person, taking a walk in the woods near Oxford one evening in 1931. Here is the […]