Lisa Betz is a writer, blogger, and occasional director who lives in an empty nest perched on a wooded Pennsylvania hillside. She loves to bring characters to life, both on stage and on the page.
Writers Chat, hosted by Jean Wise, Johnnie
Alexander, and Bethany Jett, is the show where we talk about all things
writing, by writers and for writers!
“Because
talking about writing is more fun than actually doing it.”
Set-ups and Payoffs with Zena Dell Lowe
Zena joins Writers Chat again to discuss how to
write effective set-ups and payoffs. She was with us back in June and shared
tips on Hollywood storytelling. She was such a delight and wealth of
information we invited her back to share more of her amazing storytelling
talents, tips, and ideas with us. If you need encouragement and a few good
ideas, this episode is for you.
Zena Dell Lowe worked professionally in the entertainment industry for over fifteen years as a writer, producer, director, actress, and story consultant. As an award winning writer, her passion is to help other writers achieve both personal and professional success. Zena also has her own business, Mission Ranch Films, offering a variety of services to writers. To learn more about Zena visit missionranchfilms.com.
How to Use Your
Planners with Bethany Jett
In
this episode Bethany shares with us a multifaceted approach to getting
organized with planners. She explained the flexibility of using the Happy
Planner and shares ideas and tools to help you make a planner that will fit
your busy life. If you use a digital planner, paper planner, or are looking to
get more organized by using planner, this episode is for you.
Writers Chat
is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET on
Zoom. Here’s the permanent
Zoom room link.
Participants
mute their audio and video during the filming then we open up the room for
anyone who wishes to participate with our guests. The “After Party” is
fifteen-minutes of off-the-record sharing and conversation.
Additionally,
you can grow your network and add to the conversation by joining our Writers Chat Facebook
Group.
One of the biggest problems most people with brain injuries experience is problems with attention / concentration. Sometimes it seems no matter what precautions or measures I take, I cannot stay focused on what I am trying to do. Regardless of adequate rest and sleep, exercise and setting, focus can elude me.
One time while I was learning to walk again, my
neuropsychologist called out my name, distracting me just long enough for me to
walk face-first into the doorjamb of the door I was about to walk through. I am
the epitome of someone who cannot walk and talk at the same time. My focus is
on where I am going.
Even my eyesight is affected by my brain injury, my
eyes do not focus as fast as a normal person’s eyes, this is part of the reason
I am legally blind. For these reasons, I am an anti-multitasker.
It seems like everywhere I turn people are trying to
do a hundred things at once. In my opinion, multitasking can hinder performance
instead of enhancing it. I want to refer back to the cliché I heard while I was
growing up, “Jack of all trades, but masters of none.”
People want to do a little of this and a little of that
and in the end do a whole lot of nothing. I don’t care how trendy it is to
multitask; quality always suffers in the end. I see people all the time in the
gym trying to read while working out. When they finish working out they get
none of the benefits of either, because they never get a quality workout and
they forget most of what they read.
Before anyone gets up in arms about this, rest
assured medical science has proved this already, multitasking is an illusion at
best[i]. It
does more harm than good.
For
these reasons, I like to complete one project at a time. I can have other
projects on my mind and write notes down about them, but I never begin writing
anything until I finish a project I’ve already started.
Although
this may seem time-consuming and counterproductive to some reading this, for me
it’s the best way to get the quality writing I strive to produce. I’m
determined to stayfocused.
Focus?
When
I first began blogging over a decade ago, I wanted to create content that was
deep and meaningful; I wanted to make an impact on my audiences. So I spent a
lot of time writing in an attempt to add depth to my words.
Soon
my posts were 4,000 words in length. In my mind, I equated length with depth,
but after years of studying, I’ve learned the opposite is true. Because the
human attention span is so short, more
words can take away from our message.
When
we lose our audiences’ attention, we lose our purpose for writing, all because
we’ve lost the focus of our message. After my writing mentor read my blog, she
pointed out that I had two or three different blogs combined into one.
She
advised me to write shorter more focused blogs. Which meant I needed to stay focused
on my message and weed out excess.
Like
most writers and creatives I like using certain literary devices to emphasize
my point, such as the ones below:
Analogies.
Popular quotes.
Clichés.
The problem is when these devices begin taking away
from our theme instead of adding to it, often sending our readers down unwanted
tangents. The wordiness distracts or bores our audience. Pretty soon, like the
hungry cow grazing in a pasture without paying attention to its surroundings,
we end up out in the middle of nowhere.
This is why author Jerry B Jenkins teaches that less
is more. The best writers are economical writers; they make the most by using
the least amount of words. This is laser-focused writing.
Concentrated?
Lasers
work by concentrating light or energy onto a specific point which magnifies its
power. Focused writing is much more
powerful than lengthy writing. When we concentrate on our theme, our
writing is more focused which benefits both us and our audiences.
Brevity:
Fewer words take less time to write and helps keep our audiences’ attention.
Intelligible:
Focused writing is straightforward and easier to learn.
Clarity:
Focused writing is less confusing because we know its purpose; there is no
unnecessary information or clutter.
Personally, when I cannot concentrate, I tend to make more errors. Living with my brain injury has forced me to try to concentrate more and hopefully stay focused.
Martin Johnson
survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which
left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an
award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first
Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as
an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to
local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm
and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in
a Georgia and connects with readers at Spiritual
Perspectives of Da Single Guy and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.
Today I am talking with Hope Bolinger. She’s an
author of young adult novels as well as a literary agent with C.Y.L.E. I find
her blog posts to be full of useful information and an inspiration as I travel
along the writer’s path. Her novel Blaze
came out last month.
DJS: As you were going through the publishing
process of Blaze, what was the most interesting or surprising thing you
learned?
HB: Such a good question! I would say, I learned
just how many rounds a book has to go through to get to that contract. When I
first started writing as a teen I thought it went: get an agent after you send
one email, they send it to a publishers, publisher looks it over and says, “Eh,
looks good.” I mean, that’s sort of how it goes, but there are many other
intermediate stages involved.
DJS: I am persistent, and believe this tendency has
kept me focused on my goals. What personal character trait or traits have been
useful to you as a writer? What is one important trait necessary for a writer
to make it in the publishing world today?
HB: Oh, persistence. Persistence, persistence,
persistence. But also, hope. Yes, my name is Hope, so I do have a pun in there,
but it really carries you a long way. When you get rejection letter after
rejection letter, you want to quit. But if you have hope, you can keep going,
no matter what.
DJS: How did going through the journey to
publication yourself affect the way you approach your job as an agent?
HB: It really helps me to empathize with whatever my
clients go through. I started as an author before I became an agent, so I know
every step of the way to getting an agent, meeting with publishers, and getting
them to like your book. It breaks my heart because I know how much they have to
endure, but it also gives them a shoulder to cry on.
DJS: I love a character who makes me laugh and cry,
like good-hearted Anne Shirley (of the original books, please!) or the quirky
Mr. Monk. Who is one of your favorite fictional characters and what made you
fall in love with them?
HB: This is so hard, but I have to go with Anne of
Green Gables. She’s just so wonderful. She has an imagination and such energy.
I feel like I’m often more of a subdued version of her.
A kindred spirit! Thank you for visiting with us, Hope,
and congratulations on your new book.
Guys, you can read more about Hope and her book in
an interview we did a few weeks ago for my personal blog here.
Hope Bolinger is
a literary agent at C.Y.L.E. and a recent graduate of Taylor University’s
professional writing program. More than 350 of her works have been featured in
various publications ranging from Writer’s Digest to Keys for Kids. She has
worked for various publishing companies, magazines, newspapers, and literary
agencies and has edited the work of authors such as Jerry B. Jenkins and
Michelle Medlock Adams. Her column “Hope’s Hacks,” tips and tricks to
avoid writer’s block, reaches 6,000+ readers weekly and is featured monthly
on Cyle Young’s blog.
Her modern-day Daniel, “Blaze,” (Illuminate YA) just
released, and they contracted the sequel for 2020. Find out more about
her here.
Donna Jo Stone writes YA
contemporary novels about tough issues but always ends the stories with a note
of hope. She blogs at donnajostone.com.
Award-winning author Carrie Turansky, intrigued by a Facebook post,
discovered the British Home Children Advocacy and Research Association Facebook
group. Her interest in the stories she found there inspired her to write No
Ocean Too Wide. From 1869 to 1939, approximately 100,00 orphaned and
impoverished children were sent to Canada where the boys worked on farms and
the girls worked as domestics. In our interview, we talk about Carrie’s
research and the facts behind the fiction.
Rachel
Fordham is “a
bookworm turned storyteller” who loves delving into historical research. The
heroine of her latest romance, Yours Truly, Thomas, is a clerk in
the Washington DC dead letter office near the end of the nineteenth century. In
our interview, Rachel and I talk about her favorite character from her debut
novel, a delightful woman who runs a boarding house and doesn’t listen to
anyone (not even Rachel!). She also shares how the wisdom she wove into The
Hope of Azure Springs blessed her during a most difficult time.
The next Novelists Unwind Giveaway will be announced on Saturday, September 7,
2019 at http://www.novelistsunwind.com. Be sure to enter for your chance to win a
print edition of an amazing inspirational novel.
Meet Johnnie
Johnnie Alexander creates characters you want to meet and imagines
stories you won’t forget. Her award-winning debut novel, Where Treasure Hides, made the CBA bestseller list. She writes
contemporaries, historicals, and cozy mysteries, serves on the executive boards
of Serious Writer, Inc. and the Mid-South
Christian Writers Conference, co-hosts an online
show called Writers
Chat, and interviews
inspirational authors for Novelists
Unwind. She also teaches at writers
conferences and for Serious Writer Academy. Connect with her at www.johnnie-alexander.com and other social media sites via https://linktr.ee/johnniealexndr.
Do you remember playing dress-up as a child? Little girls
wear grown-up shoes, tripping over their feet. Little boys don vests and hats,
imitating the men in their lives. My children loved to play dress-up.
Nightgowns became turbans. Umbrellas became shields. Bed sheets served as tents
in faraway deserts. The art of play introduced them to the world of the
grown-ups they would follow.
As writers, we are not so very old ourselves, are we? Others
have gone before us to lead the way. Their works have honed our view of the
literary world, and we have become their apprentices. They have taught us to
sharpen our spears in order to garner respect in the writing community for the
Christian viewpoint. Their example led us to a high standard where we polish
our skills and prepare for the work of presenting God’s Word.
How will you get ready for your battle with words?
Will you read works on the writing craft? Will you attend a
writers’ conference? Will you enlist a critique partner?
Whom do you seek to inspire? Is your target audience male or
female, child or YA, fiction or non-fiction?
What is your goal? Make it SMART: specific, measurable,
attainable, realistic and timely. Then tackle it with determination and
preparation!
Further investigation into the Jeremiah passage reminds us
that it doesn’t matter what size our battle (or topic) is, we are still to
prepare.
What do you need to do to prepare?
Do you have enough background information for your story? Is
the research complete for your article?
Maybe you’re worried about public response to your stance,
or criticism of how you tackle a project? What do you need to do in order to
shore up your confidence? More research? More prayer? Assemble a prayer team to
help you in the battle.
Jeremiah 46:4 says, “Take your positions with helmets on!” Maybe this is a reminder to guard against being offended by opposing viewpoints. Or, maybe, as in Ephesians 6:17, the helmet of salvation is to give the grounding we need against doubt in what we have the ability to say.
It’s your job as an apprentice to prepare.
Be bold today. Prepare…and be bold!
Exercise: What “master” would you choose to study under as an “apprentice”?
Read the works of an author you respect. What grabs your attention? What do you want to imitate? Why is this author of particular interest to you?
Over 140 of Sally
Ferguson’s devotionals have been published in Pathways to God (Warner Press). She’s also written for Light From The Word, Chautauqua Mirror, Just
Between Us, Adult Span Curriculum,Thriving
Family, Upgrade
with Dawn and ezinearticles.com.
Prose Contest Winner at 2017 Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference.
Sally loves organizing retreats and seeing relationships
blossom in time away from the daily routine. Her ebook, How to Plan a Women’s Retreat is available on Amazon.
Sally Ferguson lives in the beautiful countryside of
Jamestown, NY with her husband and her dad.
Editors often say
they’re looking for stories with “strong female characters.” Many writers take
that to mean the heroine should be bold and brave or demanding and difficult.
But I think what it really means is that the character should be memorable,
someone you’d want to know and someone you’d respect. Someone who stays with
you, even after the story ends.
This month we’re
talking about your heroine, the female lead. It’s easy to write a character who
is a stereotype. The career gal in stilettos. The mousy
librarian. The harried housewife. Then we think we’re being creative by making
the character the opposite of the stereotype. Or putting her into a situation
that will create conflict with the stereotype. The career gal falls for a
rugged outdoors guy. The librarian moonlights as a stripper. The housewife is a
spy. All of those have been done and done well. But as my writing mentor used
to say, let’s “go deeper.”
Some of the most best
romance heroines I’ve read were memorable because they were so well crafted
that when I finished each book I could say I knew those women.
The widowed and
grieving mom in Rachel Higginson’s The
Five Stages of Falling in Love, Liz Carlson, was overwhelmed, falling apart
yet strong enough to risk loving again.
The first Kristan
Higgins book I read, Catch of the Day,
turned me into a lifelong Higgins fan, because of the heroine, Maggie. She
opens the book confessing to being in love with a priest.
In Susan May
Warren’s, My Foolish Heart, Isadora
Presley is an agoraphobic heroine who gives advice to the lovelorn in her small
town.
Each of these characters
stayed with me because I traveled their journeys with them. I walked with Liz
as she dared to fall in love again, even if it meant risking losing someone
else she loved. Isadora and I took baby steps outside to the front porch, then
to the sidewalk, and eventually to the coffee shop and then into the world.
So, how do we create a strong heroine that stays with the reader after they close the book?
Their strength has
to come from who they are, not what they do.
This doesn’t mean
every strong heroine has to have grown up in the foster care system, or be from
an abusive background. It doesn’t mean she had to have overcome something horrible
or difficult in the past. But it does mean she has to have had experiences that
have affected her, that have molded her into who she is when we meet her.
An agoraphobic
character sounds like the opposite of a strong lead, but Isadora Presley turned
out to have plenty of steel in her. Her strength came from inside. Not from her
job. Not from power suits and stilettos. She survived an accident that killed
her mother. That gave her the power to overcome her agoraphobia and rejoin the
world.
Strength isn’t
something we’re born with. It’s something we exercise and use and grow. It’s
the same for our characters. The stronger they are, the more problems we can
throw at them. And the more threats they overcome, the more your reader roots
for them. And the more your reader loves them, the longer your reader will
remember them. But not as a fictional character in a book. As a friend.
Carrie Padgett lives in Central California, close to
Yosemite, but far from Hollywood, the beach, and the Golden Gate Bridge. She
believes in faith, families, fun, and happily ever after. She writes
contemporary fiction with romance. Carrie and her Stud Muffin live
in Central California with their cat and dog and within driving distance of
their six grandchildren.
In the world of grammar
and punctuation, there are three types of dash (hyphen, en dash, and em dash).
“So what?” you say. “Ah,” but I say, “presentation is everything, especially
when it comes to the publishing world. And your presentation of such a small
thing as a dash is crucial to your book’s success.”
Working with the dash
can be tricky, boring, and downright distressing at times. As a writer and an
editor, I completely understand your frustration with grammar and punctuation altogether.
You’d rather write,
right? Right! So let’s continue our focus on a simple, easy-to-understand
punctuation series that I hope will be a help and encouragement to you—allowing
you more time to write well.
If you feel like you’re back in
grammar school, please take heart—and know that this isn’t going to be a
boring, stuffy ‘nother grammar lesson.
It may seem like the dash is not important, but they are, especially if you use
a lot of extra information in your prose or poetry. And that’s nearly every
piece of writing, so I invite you to stay for this little journey. This is by
no means an exhaustive list, but merely to give you a tool to use in your
self-editing journey, should you choose to do so.
Why
Paying Attention to the Dash Is Important
Appearance is everything, appearance
is everything, appearance . . . yeah
The difference is subtle, like
missing the road sign on the highway
Using the dash correctly shows you
care about your story, your editor, and your readers
In this blog post, let’s
look at one of the dashes, the hyphen.
The plain and simple hyphen. And my text for today is The Chicago Manual of Style, chapter six.
The hyphen is
part of the Dash Family, which you can read about em dashes and en dashes here.
Let’s differentiate the hyphen and the dashes, as I’m sure it gets confusing. I know you’d rather not focus on them at all, but it’s super easy once you have the tools! (Chicago Manual of Style 6.75).
Hyphen is one little tic: –
En dash is two little tics –
Em dash is three little tics —
*But you can find the dashes in the Symbols box in the Home ribbon. Don’t make the mistake and insert two hyphens (–) for the en dash and three hyphens for the em dash (—). It. Does. Not. Work. That. Way. 😊 If you want to know how, then finish reading this blog post and head on over the other two articles that talk about how to find and insert the en and em dashes . . . you’ll be glad you did!
Use
hyphens with compound words. (Chicago
Manual of Style 6.76).
Chicago 5.92 uses these hyphenated compound words and calls them
phrasal adjectives.
Yep, this is where grammar tips
collide with other grammar tips! So that means
Two hyphenated adjectives before a
noun to describe it.
If the phrase comes before the noun, then hyphenate the words to avoid misreading or misunderstanding. Clarity is key!
If the phrase is connected to a compound noun, then the entire phrase is hyphenated, such as chocolate-coffee-infused writers. This makes the relationship between the words clear, not to mention that commas would not work between the words at all.
If there are more than one phrasal adjectives that describes the noun, then each phrasal adjective needs to be hyphenated because each element is super important: twentieth-century historical-element writing; state-inspected assisted-living home.
For two phrasal adjectives that share the same noun, each phrase needs a hyphen between, showing that both phrases are related to the same noun. For instance, middle- and upper-classmen students (middle-classmen and upper-classmen); lower- and upper-elementary readers (lower-elementary and upper-elementary).
If the phrasal adjective includes reference to amount or duration, then don’t use the plural. For example, toddler stage is about two years, but for the phrasal adjective, two-year toddler stage. Or a bookstore that is open 24 hours a day would have a 24-hour-day schedule.
Have a confusing phrasal adjective? Don’t fret—just rewrite the sentence! There’s no pressure or misunderstanding or going round the Merry-Go-Round when you simply rewrite the sentence. And it might even sound better too!
Exceptions,
exceptions, exceptions! (Chicago Manual
of Style 5.93).
If the phrasal adjective is after a linking verb, then the phrase is *not hyphenated because then that phrasal adjective is acting as a noun.
The athlete is well trained.
My writers’ group is a mix and match of genres and skills.
If the phrasal adjective begins with a Proper adjective, do not hyphenate!
Glouster Beach goers.
Clinton Anderson horse trainers.
If the two-word phrasal adjective includes an adverb, don’t use a hyphen.
A timely appointed meeting.
A roughly made coffee table.
Use Hyphens as
Separators (Chicago Manual of Style 6.77).
Separate numbers that are not inclusive. Telephone numbers, social security numbers, or ISBNs.
Separate words and spelling out words.
This is also helpful when your character is dictating over the phone. Or with spelling out words if a character uses American Sign Language.
For example,
Your number is 123-555-4321
Tomorrow we hike Mountain R-a-n-i-e-r. (American Sign Language fingerspelling.)
My name is Tisha, that’s Tisha with an i, no r. Spelled T-i-s-h-a.
How’s that for a very brief introductory into using the hyphen
that’s widely used but so often tricky to use?
Using the well-placed hyphen
is important because your overall presentation makes a world of difference to your
editor, agent, publisher, and readers. That may seem counterintuitive because
the writing is equally important, but it’s the presentation that tends to
enhance your credibility as a writer. (Especially if you self-publish and are
doing your own first-draft editing.)
Pro Tip : I’m creating a few cheat sheets on some of the topics I’ve covered so far, and if you’d like to be in the loop for when they’ll be ready, just go to my website and email me, letting me know you’d like to be added to my Grammar List!! I look forward to seeing you!
Please take a minute and join in the discussion! I’d love to hear from you!
Conversation Time!!
Of the three Dash articles, which has
been your favorite, and why?
(If you haven’t read the other two
articles, go read them!! You might find them useful. Click here.)
Tisha
Martin
writes historical fiction and nonfiction but also edits and proofreads for
beginning and best-selling writers, professional editing agencies, and
publishing houses. She has a BA in Professional Writing, an MS in English Education,
and an editing certificate from the PEN
Institute,
affordable continuing education for editors. Active in American Christian
Fiction Writers and The PEN, she appreciates the writing and editing communities.
As Assistant Director of PENCON, a conference for editors, she enjoys travel
marketing and updating PENCON’s Facebook
Page. Connect with Tisha on her website www.tishamartin.com and engage in the conversation.
Whenever I teach at conferences, I’m
often asked the same question: “How do you write so many books a year?” I
jokingly answer, “Lots of Diet Pepsi and Peanut M&Ms.” But the truth is, it
takes determination, drive, prayer, a support system, and B.I.C. time,
otherwise known as “Butt In Chair” time. Let’s face it; if this children’s writing
thing were easy, everyone would be a writer. It takes commitment and sacrifice,
but you can do this.
Part of making time for writing is
changing your mentality. If writing for children is more than just a hobby for
you, treat it as such. If you don’t put
it on your calendar, you probably won’t do it. So, get a planner (I like the
Happy Planners) and make a writing date with yourself. Here are three more strategies
to help you carve out more B.I.C. time in your already busy schedule.
FIND THE TIME
On a deadline, ready for B.I.C time
If you’re a
morning person, get up an hour or two earlier and spend that time working on
book proposals, crafting articles, or writing those all-important follow-up
thank you notes to the editors, agents, and other faculty members who poured
into you at a recent conference.
If you get an hour for lunch, why not
take your personal laptop with you to work and spend those minutes working on
your own assignments?
Eat a protein
bar instead of going out for lunch. You’ll get work done and lose weight! It’s
a win/win! And, if you’re a night owl like me, write at night. Once the house
is quiet (when most everyone else is in bed) spend those magical minutes
cranking out copy.
If none of those options work for you,
how about participating in what I call a “Super Saturday?” Reserve one or two
Saturdays a month for all-day binge writing. Schedule that time in your planner
or add them to your smartphone calendar—just like you would any other
appointment—and plan for eight hours of uninterrupted writing time. NOTE: This
is not the time for Facebook stalking or playing computer games.
If you have children at home, ask your
spouse or another relative to take them to the zoo or the library or anywhere
but where you’ll be writing. And, then use that time wisely. Consider those
minutes sacred and write like crazy. You’ll start to look forward to it—I
promise! And you’ll get so much done!
BECOME ACCOUNTABLE
Writing partners keep each other accountable
Becoming
accountable to someone on this writing journey is another important strategy to
helping you meet deadlines, accomplish writing goals, and fulfill those publishing
dreams. So, get an accountability partner—maybe someone you met at a previous
writers’ conference— and have weekly or monthly “checkups.” Be tough on each
other and help one another inch toward those goals! (A writing critique group
is also good for keeping you honest, and you should have one of those already.)
Another way to
become accountable is simply to set a deadline for yourself. Even if you’re not
writing an article for a magazine that has a deadline attached, give yourself a
deadline. And, reward yourself when you hit that deadline! Treat your freelance
career like a 9-to-5 job—deadlines motivate us to quit procrastinating.
Depending on
how you’re wired, goals may not be enough to motivate you. But, goals plus
deadlines should do the trick. Set goals big enough to make you sweat a little
and create realistic (yet pressing) deadlines to keep your butt in the chair.
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME
My B.I.C. chair
Speaking of
B.I.C. time, you may have to “outsmart” yourself in order to get your writing
hours in each week. Spend a few minutes thinking about your habits, your
excuses for not writing, your normal routine, etc. Now, you’re going to have to
simply “outsmart” yourself into logging B.I.C. time each week. For example, I
know that once my butt is in the chair, I can write for many hours straight—no
problem. But when I allow myself to get out of the house—even if it’s just for
a food run—I’m gone. Fifteen minutes turns into four hours. I know myself. What
starts off as a quick trip to pick up Diet Pepsi ends up in a shopping trip to
Goodwill or Plato’s Closet, and before I know it, the whole day is gone. So, I
outsmart myself by running all of my errands on the same day. I’ll go grocery shopping, get my nails done,
take the dog to the groomer, and drop off those bags of clothes to Goodwill all
in the same day. Whatever doesn’t get done on my errand day will just have to
wait until the following week’s errand day.
The rest of
the week when I have the urge to “get out of the chair,” I resist that
temptation, knowing those other errands can wait until my next errand day.
That’s the deal I make with myself, and somehow that works for me. Find what
works for you!
When I
practice all three of these strategies, I accomplish so much more, and you
will, too. Bottom line, you have to want this writing career, and you have to
be willing to work at it every chance you get. It may not be easy, but I can
promise you, it’s worth it.
Now, go sit
your butt in the chair and write!
Michelle
Medlock Adams is an award-winning journalist and best-selling
author of over 90 books with close to 4 million sold. Her many journalism and
book awards include top honors from the
Associated Press, AWSA’s Golden Scroll for Best Children’s Book, and the
Selah Award for Best Children’s Book. Michelle currently serves as President of
Platinum Literary Services, a premier full-service literary firm; Chairman of
the Board of Advisors for Serious Writer, Inc.; and a much sought-after speaker
at writers conferences and women’s retreats all over the United States.
When not writing or teaching writing, Michelle enjoys
bass fishing and cheering on the Indiana University Basketball team, the
Chicago Cubbies, and the LA Kings.
Michelle is celebrating the recent release of
her books, Get Your Spirit On!, Fabulous
& Focused, Dinosaur Devotions, and
C Is for Christmas, and she’s anticipating the upcoming release of What Is America? (Worthy Kids) and They Call Me Mom (Kregel), a devotional
book she co-authored with Bethany Jett.
The youngster thought it her
privilege to pick the name for her soon-to-be-born sibling. She gleefully and toothlessly
spit out, “Pebbles!”
This
casual mention of a cartoon character in the book I was reading triggered a
warm fuzzy in my heart and a thought in my brain. Whether we write contemporary
or historical fiction, incorporating specific TV programming can enhance the
experience of readers.
For
example, a scene from our story might read:
Heroine
made dinner while the children watched television in the living room.
Simple,
almost boring. But the scene comes alive if we include the program.
Heroine
made dinner, smiling at the giggles from her two children who sat in the living
room watching Ernie and Elmo, their favorite Sesame Street friends.
Or,
consider a scene with our Hero and Heroine:
The
day had been long and Heroine hoped to veg in front of the television with Hero.
Instead, ruminate on this:
The
day had been long and Heroine hoped to veg in front of Wheel of Fortune and
Jeopardy. Hero switched the channel to the Red Sox game.
With
the above change, not only did we learn something about both characters, we
created a bit of tension.
Before using early television programming in our work, we should ask a few questions.
Critical
to writers of historical fiction: “Did they even have television then?”
Televisions
were commercially released in 1938, though few homes could afford them. However,
by the early 1950s, half of American homes had a TV set in their living room.
This new phenomenon was boxy in appearance with an antenna (nicknamed rabbit
ears). Programming was limited to only a few channels and the picture appeared grainy
and in black and white. As technology progressed, screen size and picture
quality increased. The number of channels expanded from a few to 13 to cable
additions. By the mid-1960s, it was common to have a color television in the
home.
Also,
important: What programs were popular? Would our readers likely recognize them
today or do we need to include an explanation?
The
following is a grocery-store sampling of what folks in America might have been
watching during the early decades of television.
1940s
Howdy
Doody, the first children’s program, aired in 1947 and ran for 13 years.
Truman
delivered the first televised presidential address to the nation (October 5,
1947).
These Are My Children
was the first daytime soap opera. (1947)
1950s
I
Love Lucy (1951)
The
Tonight Show (1954)
Gunsmoke
(1957) and Bonanza (1959)
1960s
The
Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show (February 9, 1964)
Star
Trek (1966)
60
Minutes (1968-date)
Sesame
Street (1969-date)
1970s
Monday
Night Football (1970-2005)
M*A*S*H
(1972-1983)
Nickelodian
(1977)
ESPN
on cable (1979)
If
the above doesn’t stimulate our creative juices, an internet search of
television programming by decade should provide a buffet of ideas that can (1)
add another smattering of detail to our stories, (2) endear a character to our
readers’ hearts, and/or (3) augment character development.
Whether
comedy or drama or a memorable event, why not experiment with a glimpse of TV
programming in our next writing project?
Jeannine
Brummett lives in South Carolina with her husband of
nineteen years, Don, who shares his three adult sons and three grandchildren
with her. Reading is big on her list of things to do, but she also thrives on
TV crime dramas, NBA basketball, and marvels at the critters and fowl life that
live at the pond behind their house. She loves to sing praise songs, attend
Bible Study, and help at a local food pantry.
The first book proposal I wanted to send out to publishers
was on the book of Revelation. My agent warned me that no one would be
interested in a book about Revelation in today’s market, but she tried for me anyway.
She was right. No one is interested in Revelation at the moment. I may self-publish
my book at some point, but since my desire is to be traditionally published, I
needed to find out what publishers are looking for right now.
In other words, what are the hot topics to write about in
2019 for Christian Living and devotional writers?
I asked around and searched the best sellers and new
releases list and came up with these 9 topics:
Hospitality
This is not a Martha Stewart manual on how to have your
house ready for guests. Hospitality is an everyday, ordinary life thing. Recent books about hospitality encourage
readers to invite others in even though their home or life isn’t perfect. Last
year, Rosaria Butterfield’s book The Gospel Comes with a House Key
was published by Crossway Books.
Digital Discipleship/Being
a Christian on Social Media
Other topics on this list have been written about for
generations. Social media and digital life is still relatively new in
Christiandom, so there is a need for books on the topic. Just a few weeks ago,
Chris Stedman signed with Fortress Press the rights to his book IRL: Searching for Meaning, Belonging, and
Realness in Our Digital Lives.
Church
Church attendance is dropping all across America. I don’t
say this to alarm you, because we know that God is building His kingdom and He
will prevail, but lots of people are thinking about church and what it is
supposed to be and how we relate to it since we do not live in a country where
church attendance is a given. There are many upcoming books on the topic of
church including Traci Rhoades’ book Not All Who Wander (Spiritually) Are Lost
which will be published next year.
Gender and Sexuality Issues
This is a hot topic, but if you are going to write here,
just with any topic, make sure that you don’t just have an ax to grind, but
that you have some personal investment or reason why your point of view,
experience, or expertise adds to the conversation. Dr. Juli Slattery recently
wrote Rethinking Sexulaity: God’s Design and Why
It Matters. You don’t need a
psychology degree to write on the topic of sexuality. Sheila Gregorie started
her blog To Love, Honor, and
Vaccuum to write about marriage and ended up honing in on sexual issues in
marriage. Along with her blogging and speaking, she has written several
books about sex in marriage and is still writing more.
Decision Making
The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful
Practice for Making Life Decisions by Emily P. Freeman was released
this year following over a year’s worth of her Next Right Thing podcast
episodes. If you haven’t read this book yet, you are missing out. Emily’s
thoughtful writing style is part informative and part reflective. It’s just the
right balance to get me thinking about my decisions and how I make them. I also
noticed that instead of 12-14 chapters of 3,500-4,000 words, her book contained
24 shorter chapters. As a reader, I loved this format and it’s getting me
thinking about the format of some of my future book ideas.
Family and Parenting
This is a perennial topic and there are lots of books on the
market on this topic. Make your unique voice and point of view clear so you can
stand out. Risen Motherhood by Emily Jensen and
Laura Wifler releases soon. They host the popular Risen Motherhood podcast so they
have already proven woman want to hear what they have to say.
We don’t hear the term homemaker very often. It’s old
fashioned. But the truth is that women still spend time and energy creating,
planning, and caring for their home and it’s still something they want to read
about. The trick is finding something new to write about in this space. Several
authors have done just that. Christie Purifoy wrote the Christian Living book Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort,
Beauty, and Peace.Placemaker
is about her reflections about her process of restoring her historic home. Victoria
Duerstock wrote Heart & Home: Design Basics for Your
Soul and Living Space which marries truths from the Bible and design
tips into a beautiful devotional.
Millennials
Everyone’s favorite generation to pick on has now had years
of experience as full-fledged adults. Now they are writing about their faith
experience and their views on Christian culture. Here is a recent list of books about millennials and their
faith.
Hopefully this list sparked an idea in your soul about what
to write for publication. But most of all, whatever idea you receive and
however you receive it, I encourage you to pray first before writing. God the
Father has created you with your unique experience and voice with a message to
share to encourage and challenge others. If He has put it on your heart to
write, seek Him first for guidance and direction.
Have you noticed any other current trends in Christian
Living or Devotional publishing? Comment below!
Rachel Schmoyer is a pastor’s
wife who is loving her church life. She writes about the hard parts of
Scripture at readthehardparts.com.
She has had devotionals published in the past, but now she is looking forward
to getting her first Christian Living book published. You can connect with
Rachel on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.
What’s the secret to
creating a book worthy of catching an agent’s eye? Worthy of turning an
acquisition editor’s head? Worthy of securing a publishing contract?
Pacing.
The speed at which the action takes place in our story is one of a myriad of literary devices that informs all writing including our mystery, thriller, and suspense novels. Correct pacing can drive our story to the next level, to the top of the pile.
How do I handle my
story’s action?
The hare demands
pounding hearts, stolen breaths, and jacked-up pulses at every turn. Throw in
scenes with car chases, a killer stalking our hero through darkened alleyways,
or a bomb disabled at the last second. For good measure include the click of
the action sliding back on a Glock, the creak of a wooden staircase, or the
gurgle of a faucet running in an abandoned cottage. Add a cup of tea laced with
strychnine, a virus released into the air ducts, or a poisonous needle prick on
a crowded subway.
“If you’re writing a thriller, mystery…you’d better keep things moving rapidly for the reader. Quick pacing is vital in certain genres. It hooks readers, creates tension, deepens the drama, and speeds things along.”
We want the reader
gripping the edges of our book, turning page after page into the wee hours of
the morning.
But the tortoise whispers, “Slow
down.” Give our protagonist time for processing clues. Whether it be with a
trusted confidant, behind a microscope, in front of an evidence board, or
beside a crackling fire in the drawing room. Who are the suspects? What is the
motive? When did the offense occur? Where do the clues lead? Why murder? How
was the crime committed?
Which pacing is better, the tortoise or the hare?
Pacing is all about balance. Correct balance provides variety and keeps the reader hooked. It involves more than racing hearts and tingling spines versus strolling through daisy-dotted fields.
According to Healthline.com, adrenaline makes the heart beat faster, increases blood flow to
the brain and muscles, and stimulates the body to make sugar for fuel. The body
responds so fast that you might not fully process what is happening.
While that may please
the writer in us, constant action might prevent the reader from fully processing
and delighting in our well-plotted story. We don’t want our reader dozing off, but
we can let them breathe.
Pacing depends on the
story you’re telling. Suspense and thrillers tend toward fast-paced, mysteries
come in at a slower pace––think Sherlock Holmes.
Our question becomes not the tortoise or the hare, but rather how do we join both voices to create a satisfying read where dangling threads are knotted and setups are paid off.
What is your story’s
goal? What does your genre require?
Read best-selling
authors in your genre and analyze how they pace their story. Create a template
of the plot. You’ll find they spread out the fast-paced action with more mundane
activities.
Your reader’s adrenaline surges with shorter sentences and chapters. Short sentences tighten the action. Short chapters heighten the pace. Keep the action quick and physical. Pick concrete words and active voice. Call on machine-gun dialogue. Crank up the tension with hard consonants, such as: crashed into the cold night. Action-packed cliffhangers keep the pages turning.
Longer chapters and
sentences let the reader bask in the ebb and flow
of our prose, the nuances of our story, and the witty repartee between characters.
If action is more cerebral––analyzing clues, pondering results, consulting
colleagues––the reader can drop those shoulders, sip hot coffee, and enjoy the read. Flowery descriptions utilizing present
participles and gerunds slow the reading experience as well as the action. Dialogue
reflecting the slower pace employs complex sentences and longer action beats. Soft
consonants––gentle breezes on a summer morn––lighten the mood and invite the
reader to saunter, rather than rush, through the story. A slower pace doesn’t
mean anesthetizing the reader. We still want hanging cliffs and turning pages.
The tortoise and hare must work together, but one or the other will claim center stage depending on your genre. Correct pacing keeps our readers entertained, turning pages, and coming back for more. That’s what we all want.
Write well, my friends.
PJ Gover encourages her readers to live the thrill…one story at a time,
whether through her devotionals or thrillers. She has received eight writing
awards including first place in American Christian Fiction Writer’s First
Impressions contest and the first place Tar Heel Award
from the North Carolina Christian Writers. Write to Publish recognized her
second novel with their first place Blue Seal Award. Her one-year devotional
book, Celebrate Thee Date, can be found at 4homestore.com. She is
represented by Jim Hart of Hartline Literary Agency.
A ranch in Texas
serves as home base where she is currently working on a suspense novel set in
west Texas. Offer her Mexican food or anything gluten-free and you’ll have a
friend for life.
Once upon a time, during what feels like another lifetime ago, I took my masters’ of science in documentary filmmaking and turned it into a marketing communications job. As part of that job, the entire marketing communications team took a project management certification training course. (Side note – this course was not nearly as fun as the Serious Writer courses, which you should try if you haven’t.)
The goal of the project management course
was to teach our marcomm team useful strategies and techniques for managing complicated
communications projects.
Ten years later, I no longer have a team
of people around me but I still have multiple moving parts and pieces to manage
and deadlines to meet in my writing life.
Writing middle grade is very similar to writing for other audiences in that you must write well. Writing middle grade is different than writing for other audiences because the voice must be authentic and relatable for a reader who is in a constant state of flux. It is harder to draw on life experiences while you’re writing for this reader, so you must research. To do research you must plan.
If you are like me, the process of
planning is not a straight line from point a to point b. It can get, well,
twisty. I research, I have ideas, I add those ideas to a to-do list and then I
write and research some more.
I find myself thinking about that old
project management class when I’m planning and writing and feel overwhelmed by
all the to-do’s on my list. My lists can grow exponentially each day,
especially when I’m trying to research one project while writing another.
Rework this chapter. Finish that blog.
Read these books. Query your manuscripts. Plan your social media posts. Oh
yeah, and build your website and tweet the tweets.
Whenever there are multiple things, and all of them are important, how do we do them all?
Project management classes are fantastic
and worth taking. But I need to tell you that the tool I use most isn’t one that
I learned in class. It’s what I learned to do when I ran into opposition, or
felt overwhelmed, or it was Tuesday.
Whenever there are multiple things, pick the next right thing, then do that one.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Then pick the
next next right thing and do it.
Repeat.
If you’re not sure what the next right
thing is, reach out to your writer community and ask.
If you do not have a writer community,
start now. The Almost an Author tribe is warm and friendly and has a number of
resources for people like you and me.
My next right thing is to finish the
last three chapters of my current WIP. What’s yours? How do you juggle multiple
priorities? Tell us in the comments below.
Kell
McKinney earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of
Oklahoma and an M.S. in documentary studies from the University of North Texas.
She’s a part-time copywriter, double-time mom and wife, and spends every free
minute writing and/or hunting for her car keys. Connect with her on Twitter @Kell_McK
or kellmckinney.com.
Writers Chat,
hosted by Jean Wise, Johnnie Alexander, and Bethany Jett, is the show where we
talk about all things writing, by writers and for writers!
“Because
talking about writing is more fun than actually doing it.”
Researching and Writing
Children’s Nonfiction with Wendy Hinote Lanier
Wendy is an author, CLASS certified speaker, and a former
elementary science teacher. She draws from her experience with children and a
wealth of knowledge as she shares with us tips on how to research and write
nonfiction for children. If you write children’s nonfiction, or would like to,
this is the episode for you.
Wendy Hinote Lanier is an author, speaker, CLASS certified speaker, former elementary science teacher. She has written fiction and nonfiction books for children. Wendy has also written for both online and print magazines such as Clubhouse Magazine and Highlights for Children.
The Writer as Speaker with Stephanie Jones
Stephanie is an inspirational speaker and author of The Giving Challenge. She shares advice
for writers who want speaking opportunities to promote their books. If you want
to build platform for your book through speaking, check out this week’s episode
of Writers Chat.
Stephanie L. Jones is an inspirational speaker, philanthropist, life coach, and award winning author of The Giving Challenge. She’s been a private investigator, a police officer, a professional organizer, and a senior manager for a Fortune 100 company. Stephanie is living out big dreams and when not working, she enjoys fishing and kayaking with her husband.
JOIN US!
Writers Chat
is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET on
Zoom. Here’s the permanent
Zoom room link.
Participants
mute their audio and video during the filming then we open up the room for
anyone who wishes to participate with our guests. The “After Party” is
fifteen-minutes of off-the-record sharing and conversation.
Additionally,
you can grow your network and add to the conversation by joining our Writers Chat Facebook
Group.
When you’re creating content for a certain audience, you
want them to respond to it. And not just respond, but respond positively,
showing interest, coming back for more, and becoming your loyal readers. This
is the essence of audience engagement.
However, not every writer knows how to push the right
buttons and get their audience to become more active, and interested. The truth
is, without a strategy or a clearly defined plan, you can’t go very far. To
help you gain a better understanding of what your audience wants, and how to
use it to increase your audience engagement, we’ve put together this step by
step guide.
Take a look at the 5 best ways you can maximize the audience
engagement.
1.
Provide
Value
Let’s start with the most important aspect of your writing.
It’s called value and without it, you’re as good as gone.
So, what is value in terms of writing?
The value of your writing is determined by how informative, useful, trustworthy, and
entertaining your content is.
If you want your audience to enjoy reading it and come back
for more, you need to provide quality content which will actually make an
impact on them. It needs to be:
filled with useful information
providing a solution to a problem
removing a dilemma or solving an issue
entertaining
In other words, once your audience finishes reading, they
need to feel rewarded, enriched, and well-informed. That will make them return
to you, and become more active members of your community.
2.
Inspire Them
You need to understand the basic needs, problems, or crisis
your audience might be experiencing. Ask yourself:
Why are
they reading this?
What are they looking for?
In most cases, the answer is simple: they are looking for a
way to make their life better, to find some new ideas, and to expand their
knowledge. But, they won’t do it just by reading your content.
They need to act.
You can be the missing piece of the puzzle, who inspires
them to actually make a move and become more active. Do this by:
writing powerful CTAs (call-to-action)
motivating them to take action
telling them they can do it
being uplifting and encouraging
If you manage to get some of those audience members to
actually follow your CTAs and take action, they’re going to love you.
Consequentially, it will increase their engagement.
3.
Find Them
Do you know where your target audience spends most of their
online time? If you do, you need to ensure your content is present at those
platforms, as well.
By doing data research, and examining your audience’s behavior,
you’ll be able to determine where are you most likely to catch their attention:
Know where to find them, and provide specific content for
their platform of choice. This will definitely get their attention and maximize
your engagement.
4.
Be Updated
If you want people to read your content, you need to ensure
it’s current, and it covers the topics people are actually interested in.
To achieve this, you have to:
constantly learn and read about the happenings
in your niche
keep a close eye on the competition
understand what the burning questions and
trending topics are and cover them
give insight into your audience’s biggest
interests
To ensure your audience will keep engaging with your
content, you need to keep it updated and current. This will definitely make
them increase their engagement.
5.
Be Consistent
People love creating habits. This is why you need to stay
consistent.
This means that you need to stay loyal to your audience and:
publish content on a regular basis
nurture your style and voice
provide reliable information and don’t let your
content deteriorate
This way, you’ll ensure people stay loyal to your and their
engagement only increases.
Final Thoughts
To maximize audience engagement, you need to give them
something they can love, follow, and stay loyal to. This means you need to
provide valuable content, designed especially for them, with the aim of making
their lives better.
Follow the advice given above and you’ll see the change in
your engagement rate.
Daniela McVicker is a well-known writer, a contributor to TopWritersReview, a blogger and editor at StudyClerk.com. She enjoys reading classic literature and doing research on internet marketing. Her favorite pastimes are to write, listen to jazz tracks and take quiet walks.
(Author Note: I posted
this blog over two years ago, yet the message is perhaps even more relevant
today)
“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians 5: 15-20
Being careful how we live in the evil days. So what does
this have to do with encouragement for writers, you might ask? I would answer,
“Everything.”
There is not a day goes by when the news is not inciting pain in our hearts as we hear of more unrest, murders, and other terrible “deeds of darkness.” It is enough to cause even the strongest Christian to tremble and become consumed with anxiety and depression. Yet these days of evil do not take God by surprise. Instead, He has given us a means by which we can fight the enemy that seeks to consume our minds with fear. It is called speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. It is singing and making music in our hearts and giving thanks to God our Father—not for the evil days but for our hope in Jesus Christ.
Is this our natural, human response to frightening news that
toys with our minds 24/7? Of course not. It is a decision that we make.
It takes a conscious choice to turn off the constant news
and put on Christian music that will
uplift our spirit. I find that, even if I’m working and barely paying attention
to the music in the background, the message of the music is making an impact.
In the quiet moments, I find the words of the songs playing through my mind and
uplifting me, shifting my focus from this world to the heavenly realm.
As writers for the Lord, we need to be aware that we “struggle not against flesh and blood…but against the powers of this dark world.” (Ephesians 6:12) The battleground is our mind. If we are frozen by fear, we become ineffective at spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Don’t let the evil one control the input. Take back control
over what you allow into your minds and hearts. “Sing and make music in your
heart to the Lord.”
Carry on.
Elaine Marie Cooper has two historical fiction books
that recently released: War’s Respite (Prequel novella) and Love’s
Kindling. Love’s Kindling is available in both e-book and paperback. They
are the first two books in the Dawn of
America Series set in Revolutionary War Connecticut. Cooper is the
award-winning author of Fields of the Fatherless and Bethany’s
Calendar. Her 2016 release (Saratoga Letters) was finalist in
Historical Romance in both the Selah Awards and Next Generation Indie Book
Awards. She penned the three-book Deer Run
Saga and has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies. You can
visit her website/ blog at www.elainemariecooper.com
In a time of divisive discourse, empathy appears to be a missing element in the fabric of some of our conversations. Join us for a timely chat about stepping into the shoes of others as we welcome poet Glenis Redmond and behavior specialist Tyson Wright to our table. We talk about diverse literary works and how they can influence our mindsets, which creates space for empathy.
Glenis is a traveling poet who teaches the creative process of writing and presenting poetry. Her books include: What My Hand Say, Monumental, & Under The Sun.
Tyson has been a police officer and a classroom teacher and is currently a behavior interventionist. He is also a football coach and is married with four daughters.
Holland Webb is a
full-time freelance writer and editor. He spends his days writing about higher
education, B2B technology, and nonprofit organizations. His clients have let
him write for U.S. News & World Report, The Learning House, The
Red Lantern, and Sweet Fish Media. Holland’s favorite writers are Malcolm
Gladwell, Olive Ann Burns, and Flannery O’Connor. In his spare time … are you
kidding, what spare time? You can reach
him through www.theafterwordpodcast.com or on Twitter at @WebbHollandLyle.
Amy Bowlin is a veteran teacher. She works with 6-year-olds in literacy
intervention and shares with college seniors the art of teaching literacy.
Balancing both worlds involves commuting which allows her to listen to her
favorite podcasts, “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me,” “This American Life” and
“Revisionist History.” When she is not traveling to Greece to work with
refugees, she likes to write, hike, kayak and spend time with family and
friends. You can reach her through www.theafterwordpodcast.com or
on Twitter at @albowlin1.
When I was a teen, I loved to
read. I loved to write. And I loved to read
about writing. I was just as thrilled
to receive a copy of Self-Editing for
Fiction Writers as I was The Hunger
Games. These books—the ones that taught about how to write and edit
compelling fiction—stirred my passion. It was thrilling to witness how the
reading experience of my stories improved, too, when these tips were applied!
Now, when I mentor aspiring authors or meet them at conferences, I try to recommend at least one book. I know they’re invested in their careers. They don’t allow pride to hold them back from becoming even better writers. It’s this dedication that may someday result in publication. And the result of these studies will be evident in their manuscripts. It will be worth it when an agent shows appreciation for their lack of “telling,” or when an editor can save some of his/her red ink because of the lack of exclamation marks.
So, are you ready to become an
educated writer, too, and build your library of writing resources?
Below are the top 5 books that have most benefited my writing.
I am a huge advocate for any craft book
written by Susan May Warren. She has helped this character-driven novelist
understand how to create an organic plot that stems from the character journey.
I can’t recommend her teachings through My Book Therapy highly enough! (No,
this isn’t sponsored.) 😉
This was the first writing craft book I
bought as a teen. I devoured it. What I found to be most beneficial was how it
covered various aspects of the craft and career—from plotting and building
characters, to blogging and book signings. Although some of the content may be
outdated, Christian novelists can still treasure some of the timeless advice
found here.
After I wrote what would become my debut
novel, I was clueless about fiction “writing rules” and expectations. Reading
this book helped me to clean that messy draft and transform the manuscript into
one that I wasn’t embarrassed to submit.
Similar to the previous book, this one
helped me prepare my manuscript for submission. The writers of this book—publishing
professionals—address the most popular mistakes newbie writers make and expound
on how to improve.
When I needed a quick pick-me-up for my
writing journey, I’d turn to this book. This compilation includes advice for
novelists by top CBA professionals. Each tidbit of advice was easy to digest
and served as just the fuel I needed to keep moving forward.
Below are 5 additional writing-related books that aspiring novelists can find useful:
I would love to know about your favorite books for novelists! Leave them in the comments below.
Have you read any of these? If so, let me know what you thought!
Tessa Emily Hall
writes inspirational yet authentic YA fiction to show teens they’re not alone. Her
passion for shedding light on clean entertainment and media for teens led her
to a career as an Associate Agent at Hartline Literary
Agency, YA Acquisitions Editor for Illuminate YA (LPC
Imprint), and Founder/Editor of PursueMagazine.net. Tessa’s first teen devotional, COFFEE
SHOP DEVOS, will release with Bethany House in 2018. She’s guilty of
making way too many lattes and never finishing her to-read list. When her
fingers aren’t flying 116 WPM across the keyboard, she can be found speaking to
teens, decorating her insulin pump, and acting in Christian films. Her favorite
way to procrastinate is by connecting with readers on her blog, mailing list,
social media (@tessaemilyhall),
and website: tessaemilyhall.com.
Some days we face disappointment,
rejection, criticism, frustration, nasty reviews, or writer’s block. On the
tough days, we need encouragement to keep going.
Here are 25 quotes on writing, creativity, and calling that can inspire you to keep going, even on the tough days.
Words: So innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.
Ernest Hemingway
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
Maya Angelou
The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.
Neil Gaiman
Each of us has a unique part to play in the healing of the world.
Marianne Williamson
Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are or why we’re here.
Sue Monk Kidd
I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it until it begins to shine.
Emily Dickinson
We live in a world where bad stories are told, stories that teach us life doesn’t mean anything and that humanity has no great purpose. It’s a good calling, then, to speak a better story. How brightly a better story shines. How easily the world looks to it in wonder. How grateful we are to hear these stories, and how happy it makes us to repeat them.
Donald Miller
Behind every specific call, whether it is to teach or preach or write or encourage or comfort, there is a deeper call that gives shape to the first: the call to give ourselves away — the call to die.
Michael Card
Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.
William Wordsworth
You see, in my view a writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.
Junot Diaz
Go and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make. Good. Art.
Neil Gaiman
Stories create community, enable us to see through the eyes of other people, and open us to the claims of others.
Peter Forbes
Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.
Steven Pressfield
Creativity is allowing oneself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
Scott Adams
There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.
Diane Setterfield
The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.
Ben Okri
I think… the most brilliant thing about being a writer is that if you don’t like the way the world is, you can create your own.
Maegan Cook
The whole culture is telling you to hurry, while the art tells you to take your time. Always listen to the art.
Junot Diaz
If you wait for inspiration to write, you’re not a writer, you’re a waiter.
Dan Poynter
Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now.
Annie Dillard
I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I’m afraid of.
Joss Whedon
Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head. Shakespeare has perhaps 20 players. … I have 10 or so, and that’s a lot. As you get older, you become more skillful at casting them.
Gore Vidal
One thing that helps is to give myself permission to write badly. I tell myself that I’m going to do my five or 10 pages no matter what, and that I can always tear them up the following morning if I want. I’ll have lost nothing—writing and tearing up five pages would leave me no further behind than if I took the day off.
Lawrence Block
The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them — words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they’re brought out. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you’ve said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That’s the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.
Stephen King
Award-winning writer Lisa
E. Betz believes that everyone has a unique story to tell the world. She
loves inspiring fellow writers to be more intentional about their craft and
courageous in sharing their words. Lisa shares her words through speaking, leading
Bible studies, writing historical mysteries, and blogging about living intentionally.
You know the phrase, all an actor
needs is an empty room and a script? I’ve heard that idea dispelled by an
acting coach. Why? Because actors need something to react to, something to work
with. A good actor uses the space around him to define his character,
personality, and intentions.
In the same way, a good writer puts characters in environments that show their personality, without telling their intentions.
When it comes to fantasy and
science fiction, this is especially important. In past centuries writers could
get away with long pages of exposition, but in today’s Netflix era, where the
next episode is just seconds away, we need readers to want to turn pages faster
than Netflix changes episodes.
How to do so? Easter eggs. Easter eggs are a simple way to reference – or show – something deeper within a scene, without ever mentioning it.
Let’s say your character is sitting in the woods. They’re not just any woods, but woods you’ve taken hours to create and build into your fantasy. Your character sits down on a clean, expensive blanket. He or she opens a leather bag and takes a glass bottle full of your world’s equivalent to a specialty drink. They open a fiction novel with a title correlating to something they’d be interested in. In your select sentences of narrative, you mention that it’s morning and there’s a warm breeze.
Based on the above, what do you
we know about your character?
He’s
rich, or at least has high quality taste (expensive blanket, specialty drink in
a glass bottle).
He’s
interested in _____ type of pleasure reading (based on the title you choose for
the book).
He’s
an early riser and appreciates the small pleasures of a morning sunrise on a warm
day.
What if we changed the props? How could something as simple as props show the depth of your character? Let’s give it a try.
Your character sits on the
ground, ignoring the muddy leaves. He pulls a tattered blanket around his
shoulders and a plastic, battered water bottle from a used backpack. Finally,
he grabs a book with the title of a difficult school subject, and opens to the
first, underlined page.
This time we could deduce:
He’s
not bothered by dirt, or is too concerned with other things to focus on where
he sits.
He
doesn’t have much money.
He’s
willing to spend what he does have to further his own study, and either doesn’t
worry about the book being new, has used it extensively, or simply can’t afford
something nice.
Depending on your specific fantasy setup, you can further play around with these props. Make the drink relate to some aspect of your world, show the bag was made from nearly extinct dragon skin, etc. A few, purposeful props can give countless insights into your character.
What types of props show your character’s motives? Let me know in the comments!
Sarah Rexford is a
Marketing Content Writer, working with brands to grow their audience reach. She
studied Strategic Communications at Cornerstone University and focused on
writing during her time there, completing two full-length manuscripts while a
full-time student. Currently she trains under best-selling author Jerry Jenkins
in his Your Novel Blueprint course and is actively seeking publication
for two books.
A few weeks ago, I walked into the family room and caught my husband
asleep on the sofa. This was not an isolated incident. That’s where he goes to
“rest his eyes” after a hard day’s work. I wrestled the remote from his hand,
but before I could click the power button I found myself drawn into a Netflix documentary
titled The Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much. The film
followed the life of a man named Ted Slauson, a Texas math teacher who
dedicated much of his life to one pursuit—mastering the TV game show, “The
Price is Right”. Ted spent countless hours recording and reviewing episodes. He
meticulously documented and memorized thousands of prize facts and figures. He scrutinized
the process of every nuance of the games—from the opening bid to the showcase
showdown. After traveling from Texas to California 24 times to try to become a
contestant on the game show, Ted finally heard those words he had longed to
hear for over a decade: “Ted Slauson, come on down.”
I felt sad, and a little lethargic, at the conclusion of that
documentary. The ending was anticlimactic and seemed to be a testament to a
wasted life. But upon further reflection, I realized that even if Ted’s lifelong
pursuit did not end with the spectacular finale my storyteller’s heart wanted
to hear, the final interview with the man showed him to be happy and fulfilled
with the outcome. Why? Because Ted’s drive to master the impossible proved to
be a reward in itself. The mastery of the game is what energized him when he
woke up each morning and what gave him hope for the future when he fell asleep
on his price-down dollar sign printed sheets at night.
As Christian authors, our ultimate drive—that force that compels us to push forward in our writing even when it seems like we are getting nowhere—is fueled by the fire of our God given mission. In this blog series I’ve talked about keeping our eye on the goal and putting first things first many times. When we keep our eyes fixed on Him, He often places unique tools in our hands to help encourage and motivate us.
What are your motivators?
For some it might be the inspiration we receive from a session with our critique group partners, or the euphoric thrill that comes from attending a writer’s conference. Maybe that motivation comes through the simple act of perusing a bookstore and dreaming of your future book on those shelves. All these motivators have worked for me, be none more so than the stimulation I receive from entering writing contests.
The funny thing is, I’m not generally a competitive person. In any given situation I prefer peace to confrontation. I’ve even been known to purposefully lose games during family game nights to avoid the sulky-wrath of my hyper competitive husband and children. But when it comes to writing—there’s a spark that ignites my insides when I’m given the opportunity to put my craft to the test in a competitive arena.
Many times, when I have felt stuck in the literary mud, entering a contest has helped me regroup, focus, and emerge from the muck victorious. Some of my contest submissions have led to awards. Others have produced new or perfected manuscripts. But all of them have provided the oomph I needed to go the extra mile. What are some practical things God has used in your writing life to prod you down the path to success?
Scripture: Philippians 2:13 (NLT) “For God is working in you,
giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”
Fun Fact:This link contains an awesome article about how you can improve your craft by entering contests:
Annette
Marie Griffin is a
award-winning writer who speaks at local women’s group meetings and women’s
retreats on the topic of biblical womanhood and finding our identity in Christ.
She is the Operations and Events Coordinator at a private school for special
needs students and is the editor of their quarterly newsletter. She has written
custom curriculum for women’s retreats and children’s church curriculum for
Gateway Church in San Antonio, Texas where she served as Children’s Ministry
Director and Family Program Director for over twenty years. She and her husband
John have five amazing children and two adorable grands. She’s a member of Word
Weavers International, ACFW, SCBWI, and serves on the Board of Directors for
The Creative Writing Institute.
Last month I
finished another rewrite of a screenplay I’ve been working on this year.
Although I cut a lot and made the story more visual, there are still a few
aspects I want to improve. Additionally there is a subplot I want to develop a
little more.
As excited as I am about continuing to improve a
story close to my heart, I’ve decided to take a small break from working on it.
Hopefully, stepping away for a minute will give me clarity about the subplot
and help me say what I want to say through the narrative without adding any
unnecessary scenes or dialogue. Because simple, economical writing is important
in screenwriting:
Less is more: the best writers know how
to say more by writing less.
Too much detail is counterproductive:
giving too much detail leaves less room for the audiences’ imagination.
Show versus tell: showing action is
always more visual than telling.
Actions
speak louder than words anyway. In film, this is more powerful than ever. For
instance, a girlfriend wants something from her boyfriend, but doesn’t want to
have to tell him. She hopes he knows her well enough to know what she’s
thinking.
Will
he be able to know what’s needed without ever saying or hearing a word? The
silence can show the depth of their relationship or lack thereof.
Silence
can be just as effective in storytelling, because silence speaks.
Silence Speaks?
Silence speaks may be an oxymoron, because silence is the total absence of sound—yet there are other ways to communicate. The Intellectual human nature allows us to communicate thoughts, desires, and feelings in a thousand different ways.
Going
back to our hypothetical couple scenario, couples have the capacity to argue
and never use a single word: gestures, facial expressions, body language, even
audible but nonverbal sounds are just a few ways we express ourselves. Not to
mention the good old-fashioned silent treatment some use as weapons to express
hurt.
The
fact is we all know when we need to talk and when words unnecessary. Furthermore,
there are times when we don’t know how to express ourselves through verbal
communication.
This
facet of silent communication enhances the realness, the life-likeness of a
film’s story. Robert McKee explains, “Silence is the ultimate economy of
language.”[i]
Silence isn’t communicating less; it’s communicating more through less telling.
But it is communication nonetheless, possibly at the deepest level.
McKee
continues, “as you compose dialogue, I think it’s useful to imagine character
design–three concentric spheres, one inside the other—a self within a self
within a self. This three-tiered complex fills dialogue with content of thought
and feeling while shaping expression and gesture and word.”[ii]
The unsaid: revolves within a character. His thoughts and feelings form at this level, the self deliberately withholds them.[iv]
The unsayable: concealed beneath the unsaid, the sphere of the unsayable roils with subconscious drives and needs that incite a character’s choices and actions.[v]
Before I started on my latest rewrite a writer friend who is also an actor told me, “When there is less dialogue, it allows the actor to act more.” In other words, when actors use fewer words and more gestures, facial expressions and movement to bring their characters alive, their stories are more visual.
When
you let your characters interact with their settings, other characters and even
their innermost feelings or demons, you can increase the level of conflict without
using a single line of dialogue. This is how you show and not tell in a film.
Show Me?
Sure most movies have memorable lines, but the most memorable movies contain powerful scenes that show without telling. Recently, Avengers Endgame became the top grossing movie ever. Who will ever forget the final battle scene, although it had very little dialogue?
In film, when writers tell through dialogue it is called exposition and this is bad writing for a few reasons:
It’s a boring and takes too much time
than what we could visually experience in a few seconds.
Thus, it slows the action on screen
down.
It cheats the audience of a full
theatrical experience.
McKee
shares, “Big helpings of static exposition choke interest.”[vi]
Remember the nature of film is visual. The scariest movies scare us by what we see, not what we hear. Below are two examples of scary scenes with little or no
dialogue, one is old and one is new.
Did you catch the facial expressions of the characters? How they interacted with their environments and or other characters? We experience fear because the silence speaks.
[i] McKee R. (2016). Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen (Kindle edition) pg 92.
[ii] McKee R. (2016). Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen (Kindle edition) pg 45.
[iii] McKee R.
(2016). Dialogue: The Art of Verbal
Action for Page, Stage, and Screen (Kindle edition) pg 46.
[iv] McKee R.
(2016). Dialogue: The Art of Verbal
Action for Page, Stage, and Screen (Kindle edition) pg 46.
[v] McKee R.
(2016). Dialogue: The Art of Verbal
Action for Page, Stage, and Screen (Kindle edition) pg 48.
[vi] McKee R.
(2016). Dialogue: The Art of Verbal
Action for Page, Stage, and Screen (Kindle edition) pg 23.
Martin Johnson
survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which
left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an
award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first
Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as
an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to
local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm
and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in
a Georgia and connects with readers at Spiritual
Perspectives of Da Single Guy and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.
Writers
already understand the importance of creativity: after all, writing is an art
form, and art forms rely heavily on imagination and the ability to craft
something unique. Technology is sometimes
painted as the enemy of creativity, but that is simply not true. From provoking
inspiration to facilitating the means of finding it, technology has simply
enhanced the ability of writers in their pursuit of creativity, not hindered
it. Here is how:
Tuning in to the right distractions
Technology
is sometimes cited as the enemy of concentration – mobile phones constantly
pinging and entertainment facilities such as TV and video games marking hugely
distracting and mind-numbing activities which take away from our more
productive activities and thinking time.
However,
cannot these advances actually perpetuate imagination and creative thinking? If
through video games we are able to enter incredible online worlds, and in movie
theatres we are able to step into lives that are far-removed from ours as we
could possibly imagine, are we not in fact feeding creative thought? Of course,
there is a time and place for such distractions, such as when we have a task at
hand that demands our full attention.
Using technology
within helpful restrictions
Technology
offers unlimited choices. Unfortunately, choices can be counterproductive, as
there is also evidence to suggest that the greater number of choices we are
faced with, and the greater the number of options we can select from, the more
we resort to out tried-and-tested, and thus, less-creative, options. Consider a
restaurant where there are 500 choices on the menu. In such a case, are you
more likely to choose something new, or become so overwhelmed by the number of
possibilities that you order a burger through sheer panic?
Using technology to ask questions
What technology
can do, to an incredible extent, is facilitate your ability to ask questions
and get answers. “It still amazes me how the internet in particular has
facilitated our ability to find about things that we always wanted to know. In
fact, some people have almost become dead to the idea of this, but I say use it
for absolutely everything it is worth to feed your knowledge and creativity,” says
Stanley Strachan, a writing consultant at Australian help and Academized.
Play educational games
Research
from Michigan University has pointed to children who play video games actually
showing a higher degree of creativity than their peers. Now, this doesn’t mean
that writers need to immediately jump into the world of Fortnite, but it can
mean that, with the selection of the right sort of game, your creative juices
can start pumping. Games which inspire problem-solving capabilities are
particularly useful.
Getting creative with help of photographs and videos
Technology
has facilitated the ability to record images and videos, and subsequently share
them, in a manner that could not possibly have been envisaged a short time ago.
Use these images to inspire creative thoughts and to help paint the visuals you
need in your mind’s eye to produce the story you want to tell. “As an example,
now you can write a novel set in Africa if you have never been there simply
because images and videos can facilitate your understanding of that place” says
Lucy Hutton, a blogger at State of writing and Big Assignments.
Balance privacy and sharing
One
final word of warning here. Creativity can also be greatly bolstered through
what is known in the business as ‘incubation’, that is time spent alone with
one’s thoughts and ideas in order to foster the greatest possible outcome. This
rings as true now as it ever has, so be wary of sharing your ideas to freely
before they have solidified in your mind.
I have
often been warned against ‘oversharing’, and I think this is pertinent advice.
Let the idea come to fruition first, because once you have released it, it is
not yours anymore.
Nora Mork is a journalist at UK Writings and Essay Roo. She shares her ideas by speaking at public events, and writing posts for Boom Essays.
The first is “Match You Like Crazy,” a contemporary romance
in the Resort to Romance Series. The stories take place during
Matchmaking Week at an island in the Bahamas. The heroine and hero have
everything in common, but their families are business competitors. Will a week
on Joy Island spark another feud? Or prove they’re a crazy-perfect match?
“Journey of the Heart” is a historical romance in Barbour’s The
Erie Canal Brides Collection. The heroine writes abolitionist pamphlets
under a pen name. When a slave-hunter captures a runaway, she vows to rescue
the young girl. But she’ll need to trust the hero with her secret. And also
with her heart.
Why do you write? Do you have a theme, message, or goal
for your books?
The desire to create stories is so strong within me, I think
I’d shrivel up and die if I couldn’t write. I thank God for His gift and pray
that readers are blessed—whether simply entertained or deeply touched—by the
stories He has given me to share.
How long have you been writing?
I dreamed of writing for so long, it’s hard to pinpoint a
starting date. However, I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing
Month) for the first time about sixteen years ago. That’s when I fell in love
with creating characters and imagining a story.
But since I had a full-time job, teenagers at home, and
other responsibilities, I didn’t write much for another couple of years. I left
my job and went to my first major writers conference about twelve years ago.
That was definitely a turning point for me. I learned more about the writing
craft and the publishing industry, joined a critique group, and made lifelong
friends.
And how long did it take you to get your first major book
contract? Or are you published non-traditionally? How did that come about?
My first major contract was for Where Treasure Hides
which was published in 2013. So that was about ten years. Here’s a fun bit of
trivia–I first wrote the manuscript for my debut novel for NaNoWriMo about five
years earlier. Of course, it went through major revisions before I submitted it
to a publisher.
How long does it take you to write a book?
That depends on the length and depth of the story. I spent
years writing my first two novels, but only had nine months each to write the
next two. This month I’m doing the final edits on a historical novel that I
first started ages ago.
Now that I’ve gained a bit of experience, though, I can
write a contemporary novel of approximately 55,000 words in about four months.
What’s your writing work schedule like?
I set weekly word count goals and usually write in the
afternoons and evenings.
Do you have an interesting writing quirk? If so, what is
it?
I don’t know that it’s a quirk, but I love to plan, imagine,
and dream my stories by scribbling in artist sketchbooks. The thick, unlined
pages allow me to write in different directions and sections. I ask “what if”
questions, write lists of potential names and characteristics, add interesting
research info, brainstorm titles . . . all kinds of fun stuff!
What has been your greatest joy(s) in your writing
career?
Signing contracts is fun, and it’s always exciting to open a
box of brand-new books with your name on them. I also love encouraging other
writers and learning from other writers.
What has been your darkest moment(s)?
When I got my first two-star review, I was devastated. It
was one of the first reviews posted on my debut novel, and it truly hurt. But
that’s part of the writing life, and I’m happy to say that most reviews are
extremely positive. If there’s something to learn from a critical review, I
tuck it away. If not, I shrug it off.
Which of your books is your favorite?
Such a tough question! But if I must choose, I’d say Where
Treasure Hides. It’s a complex story set during World War II, and the
characters experience extremely difficult situations. I love my other novels,
too, though!
Who is your favorite author to read?
Another tough question! There are so many great authors. I
recently read Erin Bartels’ debut novel, We Hope for Better Things. This
compelling novel, set in Detroit, weaves together three different time periods.
It’s amazing.
I’m currently reading No Ocean Too Wide by Carrie
Turansky, and it’s also amazing!
What advice can you give aspiring writers that you wished
you had gotten, or that you wished you would have listened too?
For too many years, I was afraid to pursue the most
important dream of my heart because I didn’t want to fail. I wish I hadn’t let
fear hinder me the way I did.
So my advice is to be brave and be persistent.
How many times in your career have you experienced
rejection? How did they shape you?
Definitely more than I wanted, but I’ve learned that
rejection can be a good thing. God knows what’s best for me, and I trust Him to
protect me. That doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed—of course, I am. But I
rarely dwell on a rejection.
Do you have a favorite character or scene in one of your
books?
One of my favorite scenes involves Ian Devlin, the hero of Where
Treasure Hides. When this scene takes place, Ian isan officer in
the British army who has escaped from a German POW camp. He’s with a group of
Jewish refugees trying to get to France when they encounter German soldiers.
It’s a very sad scene, and the consequences cause Ian to make a pivotal
decision.
Where do you get your ideas?
My first contemporary novel, Where She Belongs, was
inspired by my love for a mid-19th century house I lived in as a
teen.
Other novels are inspired by heart-tugs. For example, when I
was researching World War II, I became fascinated by the efforts of art
galleries and museums to protect their cultural treasures from the Nazis. This
research inspired Where Treasure Hides.
Settings, interests, and occupations can also inspire ideas
for stories. I recently started watching Forged in Fire which is a
competition for bladesmiths. I’m so intrigued by the process of making knives
and swords that I plan to have a master bladesmith as the hero of a future
story.
What are common mistakes you see aspiring writers make?
One common mistake is to give too much background
information at the beginning of the story. Instead, it should be sprinkled
throughout the story—and only when and if it’s truly needed!
Where/How do you recommend writers try to break into the
market?
I think it’s helpful to attend writers conferences to meet
agents and editors in person. Entering contests can also be a great way to get
feedback on your writing and get the attention of publishing professionals.
Bio
Johnnie Alexander creates characters you want to meet and imagines stories you won’t forget. Her award-winning debut novel, Where Treasure Hides, is a CBA bestseller. She writes contemporaries, historicals, and cozy mysteries, serves on the Serious Writer, Inc. executive board, co-hosts an online show called Writers Chat, and interviews inspirational authors for Novelists Unwind. She also teaches at writers conferences and for Serious Writer Academy. Johnnie lives in Oklahoma with Griff, her happy-go-lucky collie, and Rugby, her raccoon-treeing papillon. Connect with her at www.johnnie-alexander.com and other social media sites via https://linktr.ee/johnniealexndr.
Writers Chat,
hosted by Jean Wise, Johnnie Alexander, and Bethany Jett, is the show where we
talk about all things writing, by writers and for writers!
Because talking about writing is more fun than actually doing it.
Mid-Year Goal Review
The Writers Chat team and community discuss the
progress of our goals for 2019. We shared our successes, setbacks, the
unexpected, and things we learned. We also talked about the ebb and flow of the
writing journey. If you’ve experienced setbacks in your goals this year, watch
the replay and be encouraged.
Bethany Jett—author, entrepreneur, and marketing grad student—shares ideas on marketing for fiction and nonfiction. She also tells what she learned at the Book Expo in New York. This episode is full of great ideas and inspiration to help you with marketing.
Watch the July 23rd replay.
JOIN US!
Writers Chat
is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET on
Zoom. Here’s the permanent
Zoom room link.
Participants
mute their audio and video during the filming then we open up the room for
anyone who wishes to participate with our guests. The “After Party” is
fifteen-minutes of off-the-record sharing and conversation.
Additionally,
you can grow your network and add to the conversation by joining our Writers Chat Facebook
Group.
Recently I finished a rewrite of a screenplay I’ve
been working on this year. I felt a sense of relief after working hard to
improve a story close to my heart.
Afterward, I wanted to take some time to myself for a breather. Also, I
had other projects I needed to work on:
My blog.
Future A3 posts.
New screenplays.
Articles for Brain Injury magazines.
When I took
part in the brain injury awareness month I discovered many resources for
persons struggling with brain injuries.
One of them was a magazine people could subscribe to. Upon studying the
magazine guidelines, I realized they requested pictures to accompany the
articles. Problem is I had no pictures from my accident twenty years ago.
Great, I thought, there goes my opportunity to share my story with others with brain injuries. Then I remembered the video of me I had uploaded to YouTube.
I realized I needed to be creative to help get my story out, I pulled up the video on my phone and took screenshots of it and saved them to my phone. This gave me the pictures I needed. I also uploaded them to my social media and used the correct hashtags. I was able to share my story before the articles were even sent to the magazines.
The response from other brain injury survivors and caregivers has been amazing. I connected with the mother of a twenty-two-year-old soldier. Her son, Luis Rodela, sustained a brain injury during training to be an Army sniper. Although they are on the opposite coast, I was able to share my message of struggle and hope with them. Because I know firsthand, the struggle is real.
THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!
During my time writing this column, I’ve tried to be
clear the writing and publishing business is not easy. Many other writers both
published and unpublished have been honest enough to share with me this career
path isn’t easy.
It seems as fast as you learn one facet of the
industry, it changes. In real-time, while writers are attempting to utilize the
skills they’ve learned, the publishing industry is going through another growth
spurt and everything is changing.
It’s a lot like living with a disability; as soon as
you overcome one hurdle, life throws you another obstacle to overcome. After
you come to grips with that burden, you lose ground in another area of
recovery.
Forward momentum is only achieved once we learn how
to handle setbacks that are meant to keep us down. Being disabled I’ve learned
to use hindrances as fuel to get stronger. Even without a disability, this is
life—the struggle is real. This is where the two most important abilities that
I shared a few months ago come into play:
Be flexible:
flexibility is the ability to bend when under pressure, when the stresses of
life come at us, and not break under the pressure.
Be coachable:
being coachable is understanding you don’t know everything, yet being willing
to listen to others who are trying to help you, this requires humility.
I
don’t care how great your writing is, how educated you are or how moving your
story is—pride can ruin it. Don’t head into a writing career thinking everything
will come easily.
Instead,
come eager to learn. Come expecting to be pushed. Once you learn to wait and
listen, the process becomes easier to manage. Even the best writers must go
through the refining process.
I
didn’t realize until years after my accident just how miraculous my survival
was. I just knew I was alive and foolishly believed I could do anything. I
wasn’t prepared for the gruesome and humiliating rehabilitation process.
Nor
was I ready for the seizures, endless doctor visits and sometimes painful
medical tests. I’ve learned the struggle is indeed real, but I am still here
and that’s what matters. What I choose to do with it is my choice.
What’s the Point?
The hard truth is some people never see their writing published. But they keep chipping away at it year after year, anyway. Meanwhile others give up and find other careers for various reasons.
Lack of patience.
Lack of resources.
Lack of training.
Lack of passion for the craft.
You have a story to tell, so don’t give up.
Photo credit: Juanita Rodela
As
I shared with Luis’ family, the road to recovery from brain injuries is long
and hard, full of heartache and surprises. Each survivor’s story is different. The
key is to focus on what you can do,
not what you can’t.
That
is good advice for writers as well. We writers, both successful and aspiring,
must remain flexible, coachable, and patient to navigate the ups and downs of a
writing career.
I
leave you with the motto of the professional writing school I trained with—what’s your story?
Martin Johnson
survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which
left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an
award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first
Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as
an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to
local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm
and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in
a Georgia and connects with readers at Spiritual
Perspectives of Da Single Guy and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.
