by Cynthia Ruchti “This is driving me crazy! I’ll never get the hang of it!” Two months later: “What did I ever do without it?” We’ve seen the pattern before. From open fire to fireplace to cast iron stove to gas stove to electric range to glass-top range and microwaves and convection ovens. From barefoot to bareback to open wagons …
Inspired to Write by Grandma
by B.J. Young On my tenth birthday, my grandmother gave me a gift I still hold in my hands, fifty years later. She gave me my first book. The rose colored cover is now tattered and discolored. The title, Heidi, is barely legible. The old gift is worth $8.99 on E-bay, it’s priceless to me. For a little girl who …
Do You Know Your Audience?
by Davalynn Spencer “I love your book,” she said, dark eyes sparkling with genuine appreciation. “I’m going to finish it tonight. I’m saving the last chapter until after the service.” “The service” was our church’s Christmas Eve celebration. The dark sparkling eyes belonged to our pastor’s wife. The pastor’s wife reads romance? My romance? This surprise encounter with a reader …
ACFW Journal Extra: Happily Ever After Disasters
By Jeannie Campbell, LMFT ACFW Journal Contributing Writer When a characterization trend becomes so dominant it leads to copycat plots, there’s a problem. What trend? That would be the one of the female savior-as referenced in my ACFW Journal article, “Happily Ever After or Ever After Happiness?,” in the Spring 2013 edition. Typically, these characters are the pure, virginal type, …
In the Beginning
by Tina Radcliffe In the beginning, there was the Smith and Corona. That was my beginning. I started out on a portable that I toted to a shady spot under a tree in my backyard. At fourteen, I was thrilled to be able to chronicle my love of romance on the typewritten page. My real love of romance began when …
Going Dark
by Beth Vogt Growing up, I always wanted to be a writer. Not a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher or – like my husband – a spy or an astronaut. So imagine my surprise when I realized that being a writer is, at times, similar to being an astronaut. A writer is like an astronaut because they: • …
The Vulnerable Writer
by Charlotte Snead Writers are a strange lot. We talk about our characters as if they were our friends-and perhaps they are, our best friends. I don’t just sleep with just anyone, and these, my companions, talk to me at night, waking me up, demanding a re-write, more detail, a closer look, another layer. Sometimes they let me off with …
The Poetry of Plots
by Christine Sunderland As Christians celebrate the resurrection of Christ, they celebrate their own resurrections. They celebrate the ending of their story as human beings. And it is a satisfying ending for each of us. Just so, as I plot my novels, I want my stories to reflect these deeply human realities that are true of all of us, believers …
Motivation-the Foundation of Compelling Characters
By Ane Mulligan For those who have read Debra Dixon’s book GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict, I have come to the conclusion that Motivation is the most important. Motivation engages us. We can relate to character motivations. They form the foundation of characters that live on in our minds after the story ends. Motivation leads to character arc. It’s the …
ACFW New Releases: April 2013
More in-depth descriptions of these books can be found on the ACFW Fiction Finder website. Diamond in the Rough by Jennifer AlLee and Lisa Karon Richardson — Grant Diamond is a professional gambler on the run from his past. When he comes across a wagon wreck, the chance to escape his pursuers is too good a gamble to pass up, …