I’ve never understood how two authors with different muses, voices, and ideas, could, combined, form one cohesive work. Sure, Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim Lahaye co-produced the legendary Left Behind Series, but … those men are clearly brilliant, which I am not. I struggle to keep my own plot threads straight. Why in the world […]
Setting the scene, three tips for writers
Writers, do you have a high-action starting scene that just isn’t drawing the reader in? What can you do about that? You need to set your scene to draw readers into the POV of the main character and give us an emotional connection to him. Without that, it’s hard to care about what’s going on. […]
How to draw readers to Christ, gently
C.S. Lewis was one of the great evangelists. He used story to draw people to the faith, stories that showed the spine-tingling presence of God in a way that pulls us in like moths to the flame. As I said in a previous blog post, his prayer for his readers was that “they will fall […]
Why would I need to hire myself an editor?
Writers, you probably know that there are plenty of free-lance editors out there, ready to help you hone your novel. But do you need one? And do you need to pay one? Your needs depend on your goals. What if you want to take the slow route–taking five, ten years? I did it this way, […]
What’s wrong with writing from many points of view?
I know we’ve all read them, stories where the author is telling a story from the protagonist’s point of view. But in the next scene, the story moves into the mind a bystander to allow the reader to witness a disastrous event. Maybe this bystander gets wiped out. Next chapter, same thing. Protagonist is struggling […]
Writers, how to generate sympathy in your readers
Stringed instruments have a little-known special ability: sympathetic vibration. Each string is tuned to a particular pitch, and when something nearby generates a sound exactly on that pitch, the string will hum along. For example, you can get a violin, a harp, or a piano to do this. Some unusual instruments have special strings that […]
How to shorten your journey to becoming an author
In my nine-year apprenticeship as a novel writer, I first learned the mechanics of writing a good scene. A crackerjack critique group quickly taught me point-of-view nuances and the difference between showing and telling. I already knew some of the other basics from my nonfiction writing, such as using strong verbs. My first few pages […]
The writing craft: drawing fiction from real life
Today we hear from writer Emilie Hendryx. Drawing from real life as a writer is not only helpful but also crucial in my opinion. What you draw out is what matters. Taking your cue from real life, use these three things to strengthen and enliven your fiction. 1) Motivation Read news stories or talk with […]
Writers: how to show thoughts
We writers keep hearing “show, don’t tell” a lot. So, how do we apply that to showing thoughts? Readers want a cinematic experience where they experience what’s happening right alongside the character, drawing the reader in so well that he or she can’t put the book down. The writers’ jargon for this is “deep POV,” […]
How a seat-of-the-pants writer can avoid rabbit trails
Most of the writers I have met seem to write mostly by the seat of the pants, meaning letting the muse take them through a scene rather than plotting it all out first. These are the “pantsters.” But there are some who dream up the story, plot it all out, and write it up. These […]