By Dan Lewis Campbell I am a writer. I weave words into stories on pages of white to inspire those who read them. But what if nobody reads them? A haunting question to be sure. I have pondered it more times than I wish to admit, but still I write. When asked why, my answer is always the same. I …
Moments in Time-Bringing Characters to Life
by Ann H. Gabhart Not long ago I got to thinking about the odd moments that can rise from the murky depths of my memory, nudged out to my consciousness by a chance word, an image or even a sniff of some aroma. Of course, we all have those moments of tragedy or world changing events so intense we remember …
What, No Adverbs?
by Donna L. Rich So many “how to” books tell me to weed out weak adverbs, and as I look at my own work, I’m paranoid. However, I’m not paranoid enough. In writing this post, I referred to my current edit in process. I wanted to see how many times I used an ly word when a stronger verb would …
The Hard Choices Every Day
by Sherri Stone I have been a life-long dieter. Actually, a more appropriate way to say that is that I’ve been a life-long thinker about diets and losing weight. You know the syndrome: • First resolution every New Year is to lose weight • The resolve to eat less and eat healthy is never stronger than immediately following a pig …
Why Fiction?
by DiAnn Mills Christian writers are often posed the questions: “Why fiction when you could be writing nonfiction?” “If you feel writing is a ministry, a calling from God, then why are you putting your time and effort into story?” “A real Christian would be writing something with real sustenance, not fiction.” I used to swallow my displeasure with those …
Don’t Quote Me on That
By Crystal Laine Miller I’ve been collecting quotes I like for a long time and have a huge, unorganized file. Here are some quotes dealing with writing that speak to me. Maybe they will speak to you too. “Writing a novel is like jumping out of a plane with some yarn, then trying to knit a parachute before you hit …
Movies That Inspired Me
by Ruth A. Douthitt I grew up in the 1970s as a “child of the television age”. Most families had more than one TV set in the house and had it turned on all day long…even during dinner! I grew up during the summer of blockbusters, a term created after the movie JAWS set box office records that summer of …
Purpose in Pain
by Jennifer Sienes I lack imagination. A bold confession for a writer, wouldn’t you say? It’s true. That’s why I don’t do fantasy-don’t write it, read it, or watch it. “What do you mean you’ve never seen Lord of the Rings?” my husband of seven years asked me. “But you’ve read the trilogy, right?” Sorry to disappoint. But, no. I’ve …
GMC. And the greatest of these is: Conflict
by Maureen Lang There have been countless books, blogs and workshops devoted to the topic of conflict, mainly because of the three biggies in fiction writing, Goal, Motivation and Conflict, the greatest of these is conflict. Without conflict, the goals of your character would come too easily, with or without proper motivation. And then where would your story be? Over …
More is More
by Michelle Arch Lately I’ve struggled with the word constraint of a guest column I write. No matter how concisely I try to present my ideas, I’m routinely asked to cut between twenty and forty words from each submission. Not long ago, I spent a painful weekend pruning over 4,000 words or roughly fifteen pages from a complex essay that …