By Kimberley Woodhouse *disclaimer – this post may or may not include the word poop. You have been warned. If you’ve been to Bible College or Seminary, or even if you are just an avid studier of the Bible, you may have heard of the Concentric Circles of Context. Context is key. And not just in studying the Word. It’s …
Five Things You Can Do After the Writing Storm
By Glynn Young The manuscript sits with the publisher. A fifth novel, it’s the last of a series. The story arc that began with listening to an airplane music program in 2002 is coming to an end some 18 years later. You’ve lived with the characters for almost two decades. Sometimes it feels like you know the characters better than …
Writing Tips from Paul and Joshua
By Lana Christian From conception to conclusion, every step of writing takes us out of our comfort zone. As faith-based writers, we also strive for excellence that pleases God. Collectively, that takes strength and courage. Scriptures for both abound. While they certainly can help us weather our challenges, they also contain writing tips. STRENGTH: Paul on word order and word …
Perception, and Making It Real
By Lynn Hobbs Writing your story is just that; your story. If you are making a point using a situation as an example or attempting to show a lesson learned; readers will decide for themselves if it could be applied to their daily lives. As a Christian fiction author, writing about a fictional family, town, or one main character should …
What We Experience Affects What We Write
By Kimberley Woodhouse Write what you know. We’ve all heard it. But is that always the best advice? It worked for the character Anne in her vignettes of Avonlea, and it worked for Jo of Little Women, right? But what about all the adventurous and exciting stories they wrote and longed to write? Just like those fictional characters, our inquisitive, …
Those Important First Pages
by Jamie Chavez Sometimes you set out to do a thing for one reason only to find it was so much more than you ever imagined. More than you could have actually planned. In this case, I learned just how much value can be wrung out of focusing on the first chapter and how it relates to the rest of …
Writing with Integrity: Remaining True to Yourself and Others
by Kathy Harris For most of us, life is moving too quickly right now. We have what seems like a thousand things on our to-do list and little time to do them. Each moment of every day is about last minute detours, do-overs, and deadlines. And that’s without even thinking about writing. And it’s not just during the holidays that life is …
From Disaster to Discovery
By Kathryn Haueisen Until I retired, most of my writing was work-related non-fiction. Critique groups, beta readers, and launch teams were all new concepts to me. I wrote my first novel without a critique group; didn’t yet know what a beta reader was; and didn’t get help with a book launch until the book was at the printer. I had …
Write What You Know
By Lynn Hobbs Have you ever read a book that kept your attention? Was it informative? I have been fortunate enough to read many and I can assure you, they will remain in my library to be shared and reread later. What are the writers secret to writing such terrific books? Simple. They are writing what they know. They may …
The Doctor Is … In
by Jamie Chavez You’ve been there, I know. Those moments of extreme manuscript fatigue. You just want to walk away. I get these emails. Stop me if you’ve heard this one. You: I will never finish this book. And it doesn’t matter, because it’s no good! The writing’s crap! The plot’s crap! The dialogue’s crap! I think I’m just gonna …