By JPC Allen Mystery or crime fiction covers many subgenres, cozy mysteries being a very popular one. What makes a mystery a cozy? Below are the four most prominent features of cozy mysteries, ones that I incorporated into my YA mystery, A Shadow on the Snow. COZY MYSTERIES ALWAYS HAVE AMATEUR SLEUTHS. One reason I think cozy mysteries are so popular …
In Praise of the Writing Pack Rat
By Glynn Young I admit it. When it comes to writing, I’m a pack rat. I keep everything: blog posts that never saw the light of day, book reviews I wrote 13 years ago, ideas that I excitedly wrote down and then rejected later, emails I’ve sent to readers explaining something that might have been confusing, whole manuscripts, partial manuscripts, …
The Power of Body Language
By Tara Johnson One of my favorite shows is The Behavior Panel on Youtube. Four body language experts who are psychologists, served in law enforcement, or worked in the military analyze the body language of celebrities, politicians, and criminals. Some of their notable observations revolve around people like Scott Peterson, Meghan Markle, Michael Jackson, Amanda Knox and more. What I …
Step One to Publication: Overcome Your Fear
By Janette Melson Step one of publishing a novel might seem like a “duh”—write a novel first! You can’t publish something which doesn’t exist. However, you can garner the interest of agents and editors without a completed manuscript, as I did. So, what do I think the first step is? Overcome your fear of failure (or even success). As Wayne …
Being Important
By Jerri Kelley As I write this, I glance over my computer screen to the hospice bed where my aunt lies. Her breathing is shallow; her lungs, worn out from a decade of fighting COPD. She is in the homestretch. I am here for her graduation. I know what you are probably thinking. These devotionals are supposed to be uplifting …
Loving Righteousness
By Christine Sunderland My seventh novel, Angel Mountain (Wipf and Stock 2020), opens on Veterans Day, 2018. Hermit Abram awaits, surrounded by icons, in the sandstone caverns of Angel Mountain. Soon he will step into the light outside on his promontory and preach righteousness to the curious in the meadow below. He is fighting for freedom, the freedom to believe, …
How Fiction Humanizes
By Sarah Sundin We’ve all felt this when we read good books—we become the main characters. We feel their joy and anger and fear. As writers, our job is to produce this effect through our own characters. Not only does this produce a satisfying, cathartic, emotional experience for our readers, but it has a humanizing effect. Haman vs. Esther This …
Resurrecting your Manuscript: Rewrite, Repurpose … but Regardless, Give Grace
By Lana Christian Most, if not all, authors have at least one manuscript buried in a drawer. Maybe it was the first book you wrote. Secretly, you kept rooting for that underdog, hoping it would see the light of day. Maybe it can. The biblical story of Samson brims with lessons about giftedness, redemption, second chances, and the fact that …
Violence in Christian Fiction
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 …