Title: Trauma Plan Author: Candace Calvert Publisher: Tyndale House Date: April 2012 ISBN: 978-1-4143-6111-6 Genre: Suspense Reviewed by: Holly Wolfe Killer opening. Maybe because I read this after focusing on contest entries and those first pages, but I was wowed by Candace Calvert’s opening scene. If you want to know how to hook ’em, study this one. Each word is …
The Writer’s Tool Chest
by Aaron McCarver What is in your tool chest? Your writer’s tool chest that is. Tools are wonderful things. We are able to accomplish things with them we could not do otherwise. When thinking about it, we have conquered the world through the use of tools. However, tools used incorrectly are very dangerous things. Only when we learn to use …
Personality and Writing Style
by Martha Rogers I’ve read a lot of discussion about organization and writing. For those of us who are SOTP (seat of the pants) writers, writing an outline or any of the other myriad organizational strategies boggles our minds. However as I have progressed, I’ve found that a little bit of both is necessary to get a story done in …
A Rose By Any Other Name …
by Maureen Lang The more books an author writes, the greater the struggle to find the right character name-ones they haven’t used before. Like everything else, names are subject to taste. Take Homer, for example. Not your unusual choice for a hero. Why? Does it strike the ear as too close to “homely?” Or does it have that old-fashioned, slightly …
ACFW Rewind: Becoming a More Productive Writer
Editor’s Note: Welcome to ACFW Rewind! ACFW strives to bring you interesting, varied, and helpful posts on the craft of writing and the writing industry. And every once in a while, a previous post deserves to be re-published so the information is fresh all over again. With that in mind, welcome to the first post of ACFW Rewind. The following …
Encouragement: From an Agent’s Point of View
by Terry Burns Hartline Literary The writer’s testimony that I have on my personal website comes from a time nearly 20 years ago when I was attending the conference in Glorieta NM as a writer (that’s the conference that is at the Ghost Ranch at Abique NM now). My mission was to learn what God was expecting of me in …
Know What You’re Entitled to as a Writer
By Cynthia Ruchti As you make progress on this journey of writing, it’s important you know your rights. What are you entitled to? 1. Have a contest judge evaluate your entry according to how hard you worked and how long you’ve been writing rather than on the product alone. 2. Present your work to agents and editors the way that …
No More Mrs. Nice Guy
by Keli Gwyn Are you too nice to your characters? I was. I used to ache for the characters in the stories I read as the authors forced them to endure one trial after another. When I began writing, I couldn’t do that to my beloved heroes and heroines. I made things easy on them-too easy. I wised up when …
Confessions of a Historical Author … Who Hates Research!
by Julie Lessman “But I don’t write “historicals,” I said stupidly to my agent. “I write romance.” Uh, wrong. And, yes, I really was that green, a writer who didn’t consider the historical aspect of my story as important as the emotional tug-of-war between hero and heroine. I mean, come on now, everybody knows the most important thing is WHAT …
ACFW Volunteer Spotlight
JoAnn Swearingen is our volunteer in the spotlight this week. She is the Area Coordinator for Kansas. She does her job efficiently and well. She is always professional and has helped the Zone Director when needed as well as the ACFW Wichita chapter. Thank you, JoAnn, for helping make ACFW a better organization. Margaret Daley ACFW President