By Donna Schlachter I’ve seen the way some authors’ eyes nearly roll up into their heads at the word, “research”. After all, that’s just dry, boring stuff. We’re always told to ‘write what we know’. If we have to research a topic, we aren’t writing what we know. I used to write what I knew. My first yet-unpublished novel was …
Are You Living Your Happily Ever After?
by Courtney Hilbert “We always believe our first love is our last, and our last love is our first.” Unknown As a writer, the palette of love provides innumerable shades of color with which to paint a story. Despite the rainbow of choices there is a preset pattern that all romance novels follow: Boy Meets Girl. Boy Falls for Girl. …
Writing for “The One”
By Kariss Lynch Every Tuesday night, three thousand young adults across Dallas come for a little get together we call The Porch. For three years now, I’ve volunteered, entering the worship center to fulfill my assigned task of shepherding people to seats and hopefully to a closer relationship with the Lord. Those of us who volunteer have a saying, a …
Writing Effective Book Club Discussion Questions
By Sarah Sundin Book clubs. As readers, we delight in socializing with book-lovers. As writers, we delight in connecting with avid readers. Since I belonged to a book club long before I was published, I knew the importance of a good set of discussion questions. While some groups fall naturally into discussion, some don’t, and good questions stimulate conversation. I …
Breaking the Rules
by Laura McClellan Any novelist who studies craft reads a lot about the rules: Show, don’t tell. Avoid adverbs. No head-hopping. These rules have developed to help us create fiction that welcomes the reader in, with no barriers to the reader’s participation in the story. I recently reread Francine Rivers’s Redeeming Love, one of my favorite novels ever. The characters …
Suzy Shepard Gray, Wonder Dog
by Shelley Shepard Gray Suzy, our twelve year old miniature dachshund, killed a field mouse two weeks ago. Usually I’m not a fan of things like this, but I have to admit to having a bit of a shock and awe moment. See, for the last four or five years, our Suzy has been having numerous health issues. Lots of …
Are You A Predictable Writer?
by Lynn Hobbs How often have you started reading a book and quickly figured out what would happen next? Ho-hum…how boring. Interest is lost, yes, but any reader will notice a predictable pattern after several similar books by the same author. Some refer to these as cookie cutter books. The villain is introduced on page six. Female doesn’t like the …
ACFW New Releases: August 2014
August 2014 New Releases More in-depth descriptions of these books can be found on the ACFW Fiction Finder website. Contemporary Romance: Small-Town Billionaire by Renee Andrews — When trapped in a tiny North Alabama “Mayberry” town, billionaire Ryan Brooks wants nothing more than to get back to Chicago ASAP, but a business opportunity–and the eclectic yet gorgeous woman with the …
Real Civil War Spies
by Mary Ellis While researching my latest romance, The Lady and the Officer, I discovered several real-life spies whose lives provided plenty of inspiration. Probably the most famous Confederate spy was Belle Boyd. At 17, Belle was arrested for shooting a Union soldier who had broken into the family’s home. Though Union officers cleared her of all charges, they watched …
Finding Your Book’s Perfect Fit
by Robin Johns Grant Whether you’re a published author or still on the road to publication, you’ve probably been asked to identify books that are similar to yours. Publishers want to know that you can identify your target audience. But this can be tricky. Have you ever noticed that there’s something a bit mysterious in the way you feel about …