Tag: fiction

Happy Days Are Here Again

Post author By Carlton Hughes - Lighter Look at Writer's Life
Post date August 6, 2024
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A few years ago, I got to the point where I could not watch the evening news. It was just TOO MUCH, causing me to be depressed. One evening, around news time, I surfed the channels and found an oasis—one of the oldies channels showing an hour of Happy Days during my normal news time. Finally, a solution to the doom and gloom!

If you’ve been under a rock for half a century or are too young to remember, Happy Days follows the exploits of Richie Cunningham (played by Ron Howard, Opie grown up a bit) and Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) and the rest of their gang, navigating life in the late ‘50s/early ‘60s. The show debuted in 1974 during a wave of ‘50s nostalgia and lasted until 1984—my formative years.

One night during my “anti-news Happy Days mini-marathon,” I witnessed a big juxtaposition I had forgotten. The first episode of the evening was the second season finale, focusing on Richie and his pals Potsie and Ralph Malph on an overnight school field trip to Chicago. Typical of the first two seasons, the episode was on film, enhanced with a laugh track, and played out like a mini-movie.

The next episode that night was the season three premiere, and the changes were startling. Facing sagging ratings, the producers revamped the series that season, shooting on videotape in front of a live audience and placing the Fonz, previously a minor character, at the center of the action, with more broad comedy and catchphrases like “Sit on it!” The changes worked ratings-wise, as Happy Days soon became the number-one show on television and remained near the top for several seasons, even after Ron Howard left to become a famous film director.

I was in middle school when this change to “Fonzie and More Fonzie” took place. He was the coolest character on the planet, and my classmates and I wanted to be like him. I even had a “I’m with the Fonz” t-shirt with a depiction of his “thumbs-up” pose.

Seeing the stark differences in tone from one episode to the next made me think of such changes in writing direction. When I began writing and pursuing publication, I was firmly in the fiction camp, planning to be the next Great American Novelist. I attended writers conferences and studied dialogue, POV, and all things fiction.

Just as Richie and Fonz and crew changed tone, God changed my direction a few years into my journey, guiding me toward writing devotions and other inspirational essays. Back in the day, I remember the new Happy Days took some getting used to, and my new “Carlton devotions” felt the same. I did learn that some of the things I studied in fiction writing—the aforementioned dialogue and POV, among other techniques—have made me a better writer of inspirational essays. Setting a scene for your readers is just as important in nonfiction as it is in fiction.

What to do if God changes your writing direction? Be like the Fonz: give a thumbs up and say “AAAAYYYYY!!!!” Then Sit on It and start writing.

Carlton Hughes, represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary, wears many hats. By day, he is a professor of communication. On Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, he serves as a children’s pastor. In his “spare time,” he is a freelance writer. Carlton is an empty-nesting dad and devoted husband who likes long walks on the beach, old sitcoms, and chocolate—all the chocolate. His work has been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Dating Game, The Wonders of Nature, Let the Earth Rejoice, Just Breathe, So God Made a Dog, and Everyday Grace for Men. His latest book is Adventures in Fatherhood, co-authored with Holland Webb.

Tags A lighter look, A Lighter Look at the Writer's Life, fiction, humor, nonfiction, Polishing Your Message, POV

Writers Chat

Writers Chat Recap for July Part 2

Post author By Norma Poore - Managing Editor
Post date July 31, 2024
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Writers Chat, hosted by Johnnie Alexander, Brandy Brow, and Melissa Stroh, 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.”

How to be a Writer Editors, Agents, and Publishers Love with Literary Agent Chip McGregor

We want editors, agents, and publishers to love our writing. So we submit our “book from God” to everyone. We polish our manuscripts and practice our pitch for that important face-to-face meeting. Some of us have navigated the submission maze and found our publishing home. Yay! What could go wrong? Plenty if you forget to consider your conduct. Literary agent Chip MacGregor draws on his decades of experience in the publishing industry to share his insights on how to be (and not be) the kind of writer editors, agents, and publishers love.

Watch the July 16^th replay

Chip MacGregor is the president of MacGregor and Luedeke (LEE-duh-key) and former publisher with the Time-Warner Book Group and Hachette. He’s handled more than a thousand book contracts and represented titles on nearly every bestseller list, hitting #1 with the New York Times and USA Today. When he was in first grade, he hurried home one day and told his Scottish immigrant mother, “When I grow up, I’m going to be a book guy!” After four decades in the business, he has managed to do exactly that

MidYear Look-Back: A Roundtable Discussion with Writers Chat Community

In this open mic episode, the Writers Chat community engages in a round table discussion reviewing episodes from the first half of 2024. This discussion included some fan favorites via categories like fiction, nonfiction, and marketing, just to name a few. We hope you enjoy and are encouraged by the episodes that encouraged us.

Watch the July 23^rd replay

Writers Chat is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET
on Zoom. The permanent Zoom room link is: http://zoom.us/j/4074198133

Tags editors and literary agents, favorite episodes, fiction, marketing, nonfiction, submissions, writers chat, Writers Chat Recap

A Lighter Look at the Writer's Life

Sunnyside Up

Post author By Carlton Hughes - Lighter Look at Writer's Life
Post date August 6, 2023
1 Comment on Sunnyside Up

“Walking on Sunshine”

“You are my Sunshine”

“Keep on the Sunny Side”

Okay, which one are you singing right now? We like sunshine and apparently songs about sunshine. There are a bunch of them. We like activities in the sun. We like feeling the warmth and seeing the light. To quote John Denver, “Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.”

How much sunshine is in your writing? I mostly write nonfiction, but I know that Snoopy wasn’t the only fiction writer that had to write about a dark and stormy night. Nonfiction writers also write about true situations that are not always pleasant. However, there are ways to add sunshine to every genre of writing.

Add Humor.

A funny character or tongue in cheek example can go a long way in making a serious topic a little less dark. A favorite laugh inducer is when the joke is on the writer. We all have those days when we need to laugh at ourselves so we might as well make our readers laugh too.

Add Literal Sunshine.

Let your characters feel the sunshine on their shoulders or see the ray of light shining through the window. Let every terrible situation have a bright spot such as a pleasant memory or a hand holding friend. If you are writing nonfiction don’t make things up just to lighten the mood this is not the time to call things that are not as though they were. Just dig a little deeper to find the light.

Add Hope.

There are a lot of dark evil things being written and published as good right now. As Christian writers we have the responsibility to be the light. The piece we are writing may not have anything to do with Christianity at all. It might be a “how to” piece on how to put together a bookshelf but we can be positive and enthusiastic as the reader stares at the thingamajigs and whatchacallits. Of course, any time we can we need to share the ultimate hope that we have in Jesus. He is the Light!

Are you ready to take a lighter look at your writing? Are you ready to let your little light shine? I believe you can do it. Go ahead and as you are writing and singing, “Let the sunshine in.”

Sue Davis Potts is a freelance writer from Huntingdon, Tennessee. She is mother to her beautiful adult daughter, Jessa.

Sue enjoys writing for both children and adults. She worked for years as a preschool teacher but feels most at home these days with other writers who speak her language. She has been published in local magazines, anthologies, Ideals, Southern Writer’s Magazine and Focus on the Family’s children’s magazines Clubhouse and Clubhouse, Jr.

She authored a children’s library book. She is the author of a book of short motivations 101 Life Lessons From Uno (The One-Legged Duck) and coauthored. The Priceless Life (The Diane Price Story). Both books are available on Amazon. Sue can be found on her website, suedavispotts.com

Tags A lighter look, A Lighter Look at the Writer's Life, fiction, humor, nonfiction, writing

Book Proposals

The Difference Between a Fiction or Nonfiction proposal

Post author By Terry Whalin
Post date July 25, 2023
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Possibly you are an author who writes nonfiction and fiction. Because I’ve worked in both areas of the market—fiction and nonfiction—it’s valuable to clarify the distinction. In simple terms, nonfiction is factual whereas fiction is a created story. Sometimes new authors get confused about what they need to market their fiction or nonfiction materials to a publisher.

Two of my published author friends referred someone to me. Often it takes several email exchanges to figure out why I am corresponding with a person and what they need. In this situation, the individual had a proposal for a publisher. If it’s a fiction project, then I want to correspond with the person using my publisher email address and because of my position with the publisher. On the other hand, if the proposal is a nonfiction project, then I will probably correspond with them through my personal email address. On a rare occasion, I help people get their nonfiction proposals into shape to show a publisher. On other occasions, I will co-author a project with someone and other types of combinations. It takes some exploration to determine what a person needs and if I can help this person.

I began to exchange emails with this unpublished writer who had received a sample book proposal from my published author friends. The writer followed their example and submitted it to a major publishing house which rejected it. This person wondered whether or not he needed my help with the proposal creation. To sort out what needed to be done, I asked the writer to send both proposals to me—the one from the published author friend and the unpublished proposal. I received them within a short period of time.

First, I looked at the proposal from my published author friends. I was a bit surprised at the simplicity and lack of completeness of this book proposal. As an editor, I’ve seen many book proposals and can quickly evaluate them. Some published authors, after achieving a particular level of book sales and market success, don’t have to produce a complete book proposal to get a publishing contract. Because of their track record of book sales or the ready-made audience and market for their writings, their submission process is much more simplified than the unpublished author.

Next I looked at the unpublished author’s proposal to see if it needed to be reworked before he sent it out to other publishers. At a glance I could see the problem. This author used a nonfiction proposal format for a fiction proposal project. He was wasting his time, and energy to market the wrong project in the wrong format. No wonder the publisher rejected his submission.

When I wrote and asked him about it, he quickly responded, “Is the proposal for a fiction proposal different from a nonfiction proposal?”

I told this potential author that the forms were radically different. You are doomed if you follow a nonfiction book proposal format for a fiction submission. I assumed this author was a first time novelist. In general, publishers require these authors to have completed the entire 80,000 to 100,000 word manuscript. It takes a great deal of time and energy to write 100,000 words (typically about a 300-page novel). Usually driven from the need to tell the story, these writers work long hours at their computer to complete the manuscript. For the book to be published, these pages need to be polished, fast-paced and generally excellent. If the novel requires a great deal of work, then it’s almost certain to be rejected. Many authors have heard the story of Max Perkins, the editor for Thomas Wolfe. Perkins would pull a little of this and a little of that and from his editorial skills create a classic novel. Those editors are long gone in this business. Instead, the publisher expects the novelist to complete the entire work on speculation—without any certainty of a publishing contract. Why?

I’ve heard numerous horror stories from long-time editors who contracted a novel because of a dynamic chapter or a terrific plot. Often fiction will change as the story is written. An inexperienced novelist writes their plot into a place where they are stuck and they don’t know how to complete the story. This type of situation becomes ugly for both the author and the publisher. From these experiences, publishers have learned to ask for the entire manuscript from first time fiction writers. In addition to the completed manuscript, first time fiction authors need a dynamic synopsis, combined with an outstanding marketing plan, to explain how you are going to personally sell your book. Finally you need to tell the editor a bit about yourself in a short personal bio. Novelists will send out shorter pieces, such as a couple of well-done sample chapters, synopsis, marketing plan and bio, and then ask if the editor wants to see the entire manuscript. An excellent book on this process for fiction authors is Your Novel Proposal From Creation to Contract by Blythe Camenson and Marshall J. Cook.

The story for nonfiction is totally different. You can write a nonfiction book proposal and get a publishing contract. From my experience an excellent proposal is critical for nonfiction and fiction. Several years ago, literary agent Jennifer Rudolph-Walsh was interviewed in a writers’ newsletter. Over ten years earlier Rudolph-Walsh was an agent with the Virginia Barber Literary Agency and pulled in a $400,000 advance for Ethan Hawke’s first novel. She said, “A well thought out proposal with an outline and a table of contents and maybe one to three sample chapters is enough. A friend of mine had a whole nonfiction manuscript and couldn’t sell it.” Rudolph-Walsh had the author chop off the first three chapters, then she sent it out and got $550,000 for something that couldn’t be sold for any price only four months earlier.

What counts in a nonfiction proposal is the promise of what’s to come with the finished manuscript and the editor’s potential to push the manuscript slightly in one direction or another. My experience says that the editor doesn’t push it much in the process, but because a proposal is in more of an “outline” format, it has the illusion of the editor pushing it. Normally I’ve written each of my nonfiction books exactly like I wrote them in the proposal—chapter by chapter.

Keep these statistics in mind as you think about your nonfiction book proposal. At any given time, 500,000 proposals and manuscripts circulate across the United States. With good writing skills and using the secrets in this book, you can beat these odds and get a contract. One major publisher received over 6,000 unsolicited manuscripts and proposals in a year, yet didn’t accept a single one. These thousands of proposals weren’t written well and didn’t include the necessary elements of a proposal, nor were they appropriate for this particular publisher. The writer has to fulfill every expectation in order to stand out from the other submissions.

Book Proposals That Sell can save you hours of effort and potential heartache. As you write, keep in mind this important statistic: nine out of ten nonfiction books are sold from a nonfiction book proposal.

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Colorado. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook, his blog and LinkedIn.

Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook, his blog and LinkedIn.

Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success

Tags book proposal, book proposals, fiction, nonfiction

Writers Chat

Writers Chat Recap for June Part 1

Post author By Norma Poore - Managing Editor
Post date June 21, 2023
No Comments on Writers Chat Recap for June Part 1

Writers Chat, hosted by Jean Wise, Johnnie Alexander, and Brandy Brow, 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.”

The Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference Review

Writers Chat co-host Norma Poore, attended the recent 2023 BRMCWC. Joining her in this episode are four other attendees to share their experiences, both as first-time attendees and multi-time attendees. Find out how attending a conference can benefit your writing journey with both opportunities and friendships.

Watch the June 6^th Replay

Norma Poore is an award-winning Christian writer who is passionate about encouraging women in their faith, families, and friendships. After thirty-eight years of marriage, six children, and thirteen grandchildren Norma is still crazy about her knight in shining armor, David. Her favorite thing to do is to cook for and hang out with her large family

Plotting 101: How to Create a Story Readers Can’t Put Down with Crystal Caudill

Crystal presents a comprehensive look at the four-act story structure (which is the three-act structure with the middle act divided into two). She begins with an idea for brainstorming using M&Ms, followed by elements that strengthen our stories. The popular movie Shrek is presented as an excellent example of the four-act structure. Catch the replay of this episode to deepen your understanding of story structure.

Watch the June 13^thReplay

Crystal Caudill is the award-winning author of “dangerously good historical romance. She is a stay-at-home mom and caregiver. When not writing, Crystal can be found hanging with her family, drinking hot tea, or reading at her home outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Find out more at crystalcaudill.com.

Writers Chat is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET
on Zoom. The permanent Zoom room link is: http://zoom.us/j/4074198133

Tags fiction, fiction writing, plotting, writers chat, Writers Chat Recap, writing conference, writing contests

Writers Chat

Writers Chat Recap for September Part 2

Post author By Norma Poore - Managing Editor
Post date September 30, 2022
No Comments on Writers Chat Recap for September Part 2

Writers Chat, hosted by Jean Wise, Johnnie Alexander, Brandy Brow, and Melissa Stroh, 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.”

Featuring…

How to Research for Fiction with Johnnie Alexander and M.N. Stroh

Writers Chat very own novelists, Johnnie Alexander and M.N. (Melissa) Stroh, share a wealth of information on research for fiction. They discuss common pitfalls to avoid and other helpful resources—like personality tests for your characters and drawing maps or street layout so you don’t mix up locations in your story. Johnnie and Melissa offer helpful tips on where to start research for your novel and templates to imbue your characters and story world with the needed realism to engage readers. For more information and resources, check out this week’s replay.

Watch the September 20^th replay.

Johnnie Alexander is a wannabe vagabond with a heart for making memories. Whether at home or on the road, she creates characters you want to meet and imagines stories you won’t forget.

A bestselling, award-winning novelist, Johnnie has written over twenty-five novels, novellas, and short stories in multiple genres. She is on the executive boards of Serious Writer, Inc. and Mid-South Christian Writers Conference, and she co-hosts Writers Chat, a weekly online show.A fan of classic movies, stacks of books, and road trips, Johnnie shares a life of quiet adventure with Griff, her happy-go-lucky collie, and Rugby, her raccoon-treeing papillon. Connect with her at JohnnieAlexander.com and other social media sites via https://linktr.ee/johnniealexndr.

M.N. Stroh is fueled by her love of storytelling and history. She writes Christian Historical Fiction with an edge, to inspire the downtrodden and outcasts through adventure-laden escapes leading them back to their First Love, as showcased in her debut series, Tale of the Clans. M.N. serves as Director of Communications for Serious Writer Inc. affiliate, Writers Chat, director of Serious Writer Book Club, a member of ACFW, and Historical Society’s Interviews Admin Team. Connect with her at mnstroh.com and on social media.

Writers Chat is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET
on Zoom. The permanent Zoom room link is: http://zoom.us/j/4074198133

Tags fiction, historical fiction, Research, research tips, research your novel, researching details, writers, writers chat

Mastering Middle Grade

An Interview with Katie Carringer Baker

Post author By Lisa E. Betz
Post date May 16, 2019
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Many aspiring authors hope to write a successful series, but our author interviewee for this month is living the experience. Katie Carringer Baker talked with me about the differences between writing her second book and her first, as well as what makes a compelling middle grade story.

Katie Baker is the author of The Keeper and the Compass, the first story in the Keeper Chronicles series. You can find out more about her and her work on Instagram at thekeeperandthecompass or on Facebook at katiebakerwrites.

KM: The Keeper and The Compass was your debut, and it looks like you are planning for the next two books in the series to land this fall. Was the experience of writing and publishing your first book very much like the experience you had with the second? Tell us about any similarities or differences you discovered along your journey.

KCB: Yes, The Keeper and The Compass was self-published in November and was my first foray in publishing anything ever. I worked on the book for almost two years with two editors, a cover artist, and a proofreader. It was a long and arduous process and quite the education. Actually finishing a book is SO HARD, and I didn’t have much in the way of a writing process. Learning HOW to write a full-length novel did not come easy for me, but it has paid off in dividends with this second and third book.

The second book, The Keeper and The Castle, was a much quicker process. I had learned how to outline a book, grow characters, create individual voices for them, and create, complete, and link story arcs. My main characters were already developed from book one, and their world was already “built.” They already had their voices, and I was more confident in mine as a writer. I enjoyed seeing how the characters grew, how they changed, and was sometimes surprised at where the story went as I wrote despite my plans and outlines.

As far as similarities between my experiences writing the first and second book–I think the biggest thing is how much I enjoyed the process of creating characters I loved and a world I wanted to be part of. Fantasy writing for any age involves taking the reader somewhere new and different, and I think for younger readers, it has to be a place they want to visit. They can either want to visit it because it is amazing (Hogwarts), because it promises adventure (Story Thieves) or because there is the opportunity for it to be redeemed (The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe). Creating a place, a world, where readers WANT to visit and WISHED was a real place was such a joy.

KM: Sometimes writers sit down to write “childrens’” books thinking they will write a board book or an easy reader but end up with a middle grade story. Other times writers have a middle grade audience in mind from the outset. What was your experience?

KCB: I actually had a different experience than either of these. I wrote what I thought was a YA book, but it has been such a hit with MG that I think it falls more appropriately into a MG/YA genre. I write clean books about teenagers who are coming of age. This seems to resonate with middle grade readers. I write characters who are in the midst of relationship crises, parental crises, seeking adventure, experiencing their first crushes, diving into familiar fairy tales that most middle grade readers would be familiar with. My themes resonate with readers of all ages, which makes this a book parents can enjoy too and hopefully talk to their tweens and teens about as a family. I love that middle grade readers have surprised me with how much they have loved this book, and it has spurred me on to writing more books they can enjoy and be inspired by.

KM: Marketing for a middle grade book can sometimes involve multiple efforts – trying to reach the ‘gatekeepers’ and the readers alike. How did you approach marketing your books?

KCB: I am far from an expert in marketing to MG readers, but I’ve some success with it and am happy to share my ideas. One, I have the privilege of knowing a lot of parents. I’m a mom, and I know a lot of other moms. I’m also a homeschooling parent with a large homeschooling network that is full of parents who want their kids to read solid, clean, uplifting books. I’ve marketed to them through social media and word of mouth, and the response was quite positive.

I have also reached out to teacher friends who have invited me to speak at their schools to their classes about writing and the book. I’m planning a “school tour” of at least 5 middle school and high schools in the fall before the release of book three. It’s been recommended to hit up homeschooling conferences as a vendor, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to pull it off this summer.

I am building my instagram account and using that to market my writing a little more than facebook since IG has a younger demographic. I wish I had more to offer in this area…I’m still learning too!

KM: Is there any advice, encouragement, or suggestion you might have for new writers who want to write for middle grade readers?

KCB: The advice I would love to share to those writing to middle grade is this: Don’t dumb it down. Middle grade readers want and NEED characters they can look up to and love and cheer for. They want settings they can picture and desire and WISH were real. They want stories with depth and tension and suspense and action. And, they can handle more than 60,000 words. The Keeper and The Compass is 110,000 words, and more than a few middle grade readers finished it in a day (so did their parents, which I think is just like, basically the coolest thing ever).

If you want to write to MG, write a clean story to teenagers, and MG readers will eat it up. Why? Because they have their eye on being teens, so give them teens they want to be. Not perfect characters, but characters that are different, who wrestle with hard questions and doubt and fear, who face their trials with courage rather than complaints. Give them characters who inspire them and can be examples to them. Use the power of the written word to challenge and encourage middle grade readers to things bigger than their cell phones, school social hierarchy, and making the team. What greater gift can you, as a writer, give them?

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.

Tags fantasy, fiction, Katie Carringer Baker

Book Proposals Uncategorized

Book Proposals for Different Genres?

Post author By Cherrilynn Bisbano - Managing Editor A3
Post date April 25, 2019
1 Comment on Book Proposals for Different Genres?

Cherrilynn Bisbano is an award-winning writer. She founded The Write Proposal after reading hundreds of book proposals with avoidable errors. These errors cost the author a contract or representation. As a submission reader and junior literary agent, Cherrilynn wants you to succeed. Her desire is to help you present a professional and memorable proposal. She has written proposals for Paws for Effect, a Hollywood movie company, and helped edit many proposals. As the managing editor of Almost an Author, she helped the website earn the #6 spot on the Top 100 best writing websites for 2018 by The Write Life and Top 101 Websites for writers with Writers Digest.

Cherrilynn can be reached at editor@thewriteproposal.com
For more information about the Write Proposal visit www.thewriteproposal.com

Tags book proposals, fiction, nonfiction, The write proposal

Book Proposals

Book Proposals for Different Genres

Post author By Cherrilynn Bisbano - Managing Editor A3
Post date January 25, 2019
No Comments on Book Proposals for Different Genres

“What’s the difference between a fiction book proposal and non-fiction?”

“Do I need the illustrations when I submit my children’s book proposal?”

Join Cherrilynn Bisbano and Caleb Walton for an informative chat. As they answer these and other proposal questions.

Cherrilynn hosts Genre Chat where she’s privileged to interview expert writers like Jerry B. Jenkins, Cecil Murphy, Michelle Adams and Steven James.

She earned her associate’s degree in communications and continues to study business management.

She is a two-time winner of Flash Fiction Weekly. She’s published in many online magazines and blogs. Cherrilynn contributed to Chicken Soup for the Soul- Miracles, Breaking the Chains, and Heart Reno books.

Cherrilynn proudly served in the military for twenty years, earning the John Levitow Military leadership award.

HOLLAND WEBB

Holland Webb is a full-time freelance copywriter and digital marketing strategist living near Greenville, SC.

His clients are leaders in the online retail, higher education, and faith-based sectors. Holland has written for brands such as U.S. News & World Report, iLendX, Radisson, Country Inn & Suites, MediaFusion, Modkat, Great Bay Home, IMPACT Water, and BioNetwork.

He is a featured writer on Compose.ly, and his copywriting column appears on Almost An Author.

You can reach him at www.hollandwebb.com

CRISTEL PHELPS

Cristel is “Saving the world from bad writing, one project at a time, all while drinking copious amounts of coffee.”

Cristel is part of the Serious Writer team, lending her editing expertise to writers at conferences and online. Mentoring and coaching authors through the editing and proposal process is what makes her shine. She is also a member of The Christian Pen and owner of The Editing House, where she edits manuscripts and other projects for the Christian industry.

Managing editor for Decapolis Publishing in Lansing, Michigan for 7 years.

Editing reviewer for CBA for 5 years.

Editing for Elk Lake Publishing for 4 years.

Deep POV edit is her specialty.

Tags book, cherrilynn bisbano, childrens, fiction, genre, Genre Chat, memoir, non-fiction, proposals, serious writer

Bestsellers

Best Selling Author-Lauren K. Denton

Post author By Cherrilynn Bisbano - Managing Editor A3
Post date March 2, 2018
No Comments on Best Selling Author-Lauren K. Denton

Welcome Lauren, can you share a little about your recent book –

The Hideaway is the story of a young woman who, while restoring her grandmother’s bed & breakfast, learns much more about her grandmother’s early years than she ever imagined. My next book, Hurricane Season, comes out in April 2018. It is the story of Betsy and Ty Franklin, owners of Franklin Dairy Farm in southern Alabama, their unconventional search for a full life, and relationships that must be mended along the way.

Why do you write? Do you have a theme, message, or goal for your books?

I don’t set out with a particular theme or message that I want to get across to readers. I usually start with either a setting or a character

and add layers as the story comes to me. One of my favorite things about reading is when an author (or a character) says something that makes me think, “Oh, me too! I feel that too!” I always hope to give that same experience of connection and affirmation to my readers. I hope they leave both entertained and encouraged.

How long have you been writing? And how long did it take you to get your first major book contract? I’ve been writing in various ways since I was old enough to spell (diaries, journals, essays, etc.) I started writing fiction with the hope of publication in 2011. I queried The Hideaway to agents for about nine months before my publisher expressed interest. (In an unexpected turn of events, my publisher was interested in the book before I had an agent.)

How long does it take you to write a book? Various amounts of time. I wrote the first draft of The Hideaway in 10 months. Hurricane Season roughly a little over a year.

What’s your writing work schedule like? It varies depending on my kids’ schedules. When they’re in school and I’m in the middle of a book, I try to get in at least 2-3 hours of writing every day. Sometimes things get crazy and the writing doesn’t happen, and other days, I write most of the day while the kids are at school. My brain works best in the morning, and I never write at night!

Do you have an interesting writing quirk? If so, what is it? Not sure how interesting it is, but I write best if I have coffee and total quiet (or the white noise app on my phone if I’m somewhere other than home.)

What has been your greatest joy(s) in your writing career? The crazy few months between first hearing that Thomas Nelson was interested in The Hideaway and learning that they’d offered me a contract. It was total shock and glee. Another great joy was the launch party for The Hideaway. It was so special to have so many friends and family members come to celebrate with me. They knew how long I’d been working toward this goal and they were so happy for me.

Which of your books is your favorite? Oh too hard to choose! Right now, I’ll say The Hideaway because it’s the only published one, but Hurricane Season is pretty special.

Who is your favorite author to read? I have so many. Sue Monk Kidd, Sarah Addison Allen, Nanci Kincaid, Pat Conroy, Anthony Doerr, Tom Franklin, Ariel Lawhon…

What advice can you give aspiring writers that you wished you had gotten, or that you wished you would have listened too? I’d say if you want to write—if you have ideas bouncing around in your head–try to find pockets of time to sit down and get your story down. You’ll feel better once it’s out. And no one finds extra bits of time during the day—you often have to carve it out. Get up a little bit earlier, write in the carpool line, etc.

How many times in your career have you experienced rejection? How did they shape you? Forty-one times, to be specific! That’s how many rejection letters I received from agents as I queried The Hideaway, not to mention the query letters that went unanswered. Some of them hurt more than others, but overall, each one made me even more determined to find the agent or editor who believed in the story as much as I did.

Do you have a favorite character or scene in one of your books? In The Hideaway, I love Sarah’s opening scene where she talks about the sights, sounds, and scents of New Orleans. Similarly, I love the scene where she sits in the courtyard behind her house. It takes me directly to the French Quarter in my mind. I love the chapter where Mags and her crew go to the beach for the weekend and she writes the letter to Jenny.

Where do you get your ideas? They come from everywhere—bits of conversation I overhear, things I read, personality quirks of someone I come in contact with. Sometimes it’s a setting I love and I build a story around that place.

What are common mistakes you see aspiring writer’s make? Thinking that as soon as they finish their story, it’s ready to query to agents. Sometimes they don’t realize how much editing and revision is necessary to get a story into shape. And it’s crucial that someone else read the story too—someone with fresh eyes. Preferably by someone not related to you!

Where/How do you recommend writers try to break into the market? I don’t know if there’s a way to truly break into it other than just writing the best story you possibly can. You can’t control how agents and editors will respond to it, but often persistence helps. Write your story, and if that one doesn’t get attention, write another one. Rinse, repeat.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HAK33TC/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb

Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Lauren K. Denton now lives with her husband and two daughters in Homewood, just outside Birmingham. In addition to her fiction, she writes a monthly newspaper column about life, faith, and how funny (and hard) it is to be a parent. On any given day, she’d rather be at the beach with her family and a stack of books. The Hideaway is her debut novel. Her second novel, Hurricane Season, releases April 3, 2018.

Tags a3, fiction, Lauren Denton, southern fiction, writing

Dear Young Scribes

Balancing the Elements of Fiction – Part 1

Post author By Tessa Emily Hall - Becoming an Author
Post date October 9, 2017
2 Comments on Balancing the Elements of Fiction – Part 1

Have you ever noticed how some authors tend to focus too much on writing certain fiction elements, yet ignore the others? Maybe their writing sounds a little like this…

Dialogue
Action beat
Dialogue
Action beat
Dialogue
Action beat

And on and on. Or perhaps the author writes far too much description and internal monologue and not enough dialogue or action. This becomes easily distracting, don’t you think? This is why we need to be careful that we aren’t making the same mistake in our own writing.

The elements of fiction include the following: description, dialogue, exposition, action beats, & interior monologue. Fiction writers should study and master each of these elements separately if they wish to deliver a story in novel format. However, the placement of these elements is vital. The elements need to be braided together throughout each scene and flow naturally so the scene becomes 4D to the reader. It’s a writer’s job to understand how to balance these elements in a way that keeps the pace of the story moving along.

Let’s think about this in movie format. Pretend as though you’re watching a film. If the camera focused on the scenery of the setting rather than the dialogue, I doubt you’d be intrigued enough to continue watching the movie. On the other hand, if the scenes focused on back-and-forth dialogue, don’t you think that’d feel restricting? Each element of the story must work together in order to portray the full spectrum.

If we can establish this in our fiction novels, then we will master the art of crafting a story that immerses our readers and brings them into a “fictive dream”. They’ll feel almost as though the story is happening to themselves rather than to the characters.

This is a balancing act, one that every fiction writer must strive to achieve in their stories. If we give too much emphasis on exposition and description, then dialogue, interior monologue, and beats will be neglected. So how can we balance the elements of fiction?

First, we must understand the definition and role of each element. We’ll discuss this in the next post of this series.

Which of these elements do you tend to give too much attention to in your own writing?

[bctt tweet=”Balancing the Elements of Fiction – Part 1 #writingtips @TessaEmilyHall” username=””]

Image Credit: My Gre Exam Preparation

Tags action, books, description, Dialogue, fiction, fiction elements, interior monologue, writing, Writing Craft, Writing tips

Fantasy-Sci-Fi Storyworld

Entertainment in your Storyworld

Post author By A.D. Shrum - Storyworld Columnist
Post date August 10, 2017
2 Comments on Entertainment in your Storyworld

We’ve spoken before about how little details can help color your storyworld. Societal habits, mating customs, dinner choices, and environmental aspects are all key to fleshing out a believable living space. Another aspect to consider is the way in which your characters entertain themselves.

Sometimes entertainment plays a central role in a book. The entire concept in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games is a deathsport reality show, partly to show the Capitol’s control over the Districts, but also partly to entertain the masses. Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One shows a world in which reality is miserable and everyone escapes into a massively multiplayer online game. This “game” supports commerce, education, and other activities, but entertainment is a major aspect, especially considering the bleak reality outside of the virtual reality “OASIS.” And Aaron Gansky’s Hand of Adonai series presents a World of Warcraft type game in which the protagonists get trapped, Tron-style, and must figure out how to escape.

In those three examples, the entertainment medium is actually the centerpiece of the novel, but it’s also the major point of tension. Specifically, each of the forms of entertainment is broken or twisted in some way, and the characters must overcome the challenges that arise.

Should entertainment play a major role in any other type of novel though? What if you have a story in the Wild West? Or a post-apocalyptic survivalist tale? A Space opera? I would argue that entertainment should be valued by your characters if you want them to feel like real people. That’s because all humans desire to have comfort and enjoyment at least part of the time (hopefully their lives aren’t always threatened by events like the ones in your novel!).

For example, John Scalzi’s The Ghost Brigades is a book about super soldiers defending humanity from a ghastly assortment of different alien species. And yet, Scalzi helps to make the storyworld feel alive with little windows of enjoyment. In one scene, a pilot is playing poker with some friends, in another, a father pirates a broadcast signal so his daughter can watch TV, and most importantly, an alien race is revealed to have no need for arts and entertainment. And this alien race realizes its lack of culture and strives to create it.

Or take Little House in the Big Woods. The novel chronicles the survival of a young girl and her family in the wilderness. Despite the struggles, there are times where she and her sister enjoy the musical talents of their father, or the two inflate and seal a pig bladder and kick it around like a ball. Personally that’s disgusting to me, but it really does help me picture the world in which little Laura Ingalls lived.

If your story is a non-stop adventure, you might feel like you don’t have time or space in your book to show scenes of enjoyment. That may be true. While not a book, the first season of the TV show 24 really pushed its story along with scant little room to explore its characters’ hobbies. Nevertheless, the first scene with the protagonist shows Jack, his wife, and his daughter finishing a late-night game. This one scene helps establish Jack’s normal life before the world started falling apart. It thus gives us an idea of what he’s fighting to get back through the whole first season.

Even if your story is very dark and the adventure extremely perilous, I would really encourage you to figure out some hobby or interest your character has to make him more personable. This is especially true if the world is very different from our own, because the character’s chosen entertainment could be used to show how foreign or similar that world is to ours. For example, a sorcerer in a fantasy adventure might enjoy magical sculpting – which might be a sort of enchanted pottery making. Or maybe he enjoys reading books of far-off adventure. In the first case, the hero has a hobby similar to one found in our world, but he clearly lives in a different reality. In the latter scenario, the sorcerer has an interest akin to that of your readers, making him relatable despite his extraordinary talents. Both are useful, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish.

That’s all for now, and possibly for a while. My wife and I are expecting our fourth child in a few weeks. Being a stay-at-home dad with four children ages 6 and under (and homeschooling the oldest two) will mean I won’t have much time to make regular updates at A3. So after two years of storyworld contributions, I’ll be taking a sabbatical for a little while. In the meantime, if there are any particular topics you’d like to see covered in the future, please leave a comment below and I can cover that subject when I return! Thanks guya and gals!

Ghost Brigades Image from: http://www.alisoneldred.com/imageJohnHarris-Illustration-2-58.html

Pig Bladder Kicking Picture from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/270638258827560791/

24 Family Picture from: http://www.buddytv.com/articles/24/hottest-tv-dads-jack-bauer-24-17503.aspx

Tags AD Shrum, Almost an Author, Christian writer, Christian writing, Create Motivate Inspire, creative writing, creativity, fiction, inspiration, sci-fi, science fiction

Guest post archive

Three Hard Lessons I Learned Writing Nonfiction-David Brannock

Post author By Cherrilynn Bisbano - Managing Editor A3
Post date June 10, 2017
1 Comment on Three Hard Lessons I Learned Writing Nonfiction-David Brannock

Which is easier: fiction or nonfiction? It depends … on who you ask and when you ask them.

Today I’m learning about characters, dialogue, and plot to create my first screenplay. But five years ago, fiction appealed to me as much as a creepy clown beckoning me into the woods. The “what if?” possibilities stretched before me like the toothpaste aisle at Walmart. #Overwhelmed

In 2012 I left the pastoral ministry to write a nonfiction book. Sermons, reports, and newsletters trained me to communicate about real things, factual events. Last spring on CreateSpace, I released Choose: Fulfill Your Created Purpose for high school graduates.

Over the past five years, I’ve learned three hard lessons writing nonfiction.

Some nonfiction should be shared NOW.

“Now” means after the work has been appropriately revised, critiqued, and/or edited.

What if I get rejected? Welcome to the club. But the only way our words can change lives is to risk sending them into the world. If you need a nudge to submit your work, have you heard encouragement like this?

“You can’t hit a home run from the dugout.”
“You can’t grow a garden with unplanted seeds.”
“You can’t walk on water if you don’t get out of the boat.”

They don’t pay if my work is accepted. Income is nice, but to learn the craft and establish myself as a serious writer, I had to accept a number of free opportunities for publication. This journey is a marathon, not a sprint. Three popular options:

Blogs (your own site and guest posts for other blogs)
Compilations (such as Bible studies or Christmas stories)
Devotions (such as Christian Devotions Ministries)

Some nonfiction should be shared NOT YET.

“Not yet” implies a season of discernment before a decision later.

If we birth our manuscript prematurely, we can count on low sales and bad reviews. Editors are our friends. They’ll help us develop our “baby” until it’s ready for delivery.

Which could take a while. At my first writers’ conference in 2013, the first several pages of my 65,000 word draft on clergy burnout was critiqued. The raw candor began:

At 12:01 p.m. on June 20, 2012, I walked out on the bride of Christ. I still loved Jesus with everything I had. But I was through taking care of his demanding bride. I was tired of her turning me and others off with her unattractive behavior. I was done. No more trying to meet the endless needs of his self-centered church.

The feedback? “It felt like the opening of Saving Private Ryan. Keep writing through the pain. But don’t publish until you move beyond the pain, so you can temper your hurt with hope for the reader.”

Continue healing until you can discuss awful experiences with objectivity. Readers don’t want to wallow in our trauma. They seek solutions and redemption for their pain. When we can offer a way forward, readers will embrace the help.

Today, much of my rant on clergy burnout remains where it belongs: in a file. I may or may not stare it in the face again someday. Yet I did use parts of that draft in Choose. Those areas were ready to help my target audience.

Some nonfiction should be shared NEVER.

“Never” involves topics best treated as free therapy – thus kept confidential – since words can’t be erased once they’re online or in print.

Are the people who hurt us still alive? The long-term cost may not justify the short-term satisfaction of paying back a harmful character. Unlike a novelist, we can’t disguise the real-life model for our villain by changing their name, gender, and occupation.

If strong emotions bubble up while we write, use the keyboard to release the molten lava. Don’t hold back. Let it rip! Rain fire and brimstone on that stinky dog who treated us like a fire hydrant. Justice feels wonderful! Then, take a deep breath … exhale slowly … and press DELETE.

Three of the hardest lessons I learned about writing nonfiction reflect the importance of timing: (1) Now. (2) Not yet. (3) Never. May we choose wisely.

David Brannock is a clear writer and speaker who loves using analogies and teaching new perspectives. He previously worked as a CPA, instructor, and pastor. David’s current projects involve writing drama for stage and screen. Visit him at DavidBrannock.com.

Tags blog, clown, compilation, devotions, fiction

Storyworld

The End of Civilization

Post author By A.D. Shrum - Storyworld Columnist
Post date May 11, 2017
No Comments on The End of Civilization

Recently, a friend of mine asked me if western civilization was at the end of its life cycle. It’s a loaded question, and its answer will largely be dependent on how you define western culture. I’ll answer the question in a minute (or because I hate click-bait as much you do, you can skip to the last few paragraphs – I won’t tell on you), but this got me thinking of good storyworld ideas. Specifically civilizations in decline and how to preserve culture.

Cultural Preservation in Fiction

First of all, what I am not talking about is the French Resistance or Napier’s band of anti-Neo sappers in ExoSquad. Those are fine stories of fighting an oppressive government, but preserving culture usually means peacefully (if possible) living in one society, while preserving the spirit of another.

In Asimov’s Foundation, Harry Seldon foresaw the collapse of the Galactic Empire long before it happened. He knew that once that downfall began in earnest, it would take millennia to reestablish the same level of culture and technology. His solution? Create a colony with a massive library of all information necessary to recreate society. The colony of mostly scientists would feverishly work to teach successive generations all of known literature, science, and culture. It worked. The bloated galactic empire fell to the point where nuclear power was no longer known, space travel was rare, and control of different regions was usurped by local warlords. Meanwhile, Seldon’s world of Terminus carried on and even made advances.

The premise was borrowed by the storyworld of Battletech, where a semi-religious cult on earth maintained what was called “losttech.” They were decades more advanced than the other thousands of planets, but not because of scientific breakthroughs, but scientific preservation. The five main houses controlling known space had lost even the ability to create new battlemechs, their principle method of warfare.

In various fantasy settings, sometimes the arts of magic are preserved in a similar way. While the rest of the people beat each other senseless, mages will isolate themselves to preserve their craft. And they always seem to do so in dangerously tall and remotely situated towers. I can’t think of any specific novels, but I know I’ve rolled dice in at least one role-playing game with a similar backstory.

Cultural Preservation in History

These fictional tales are believable because they are based on actual events that happened in history. Over a thousand years ago, a man named Benedict created enclaves of culture, science, and literature to preserve the best of Roman, Greek, and Judeo-Christian culture. These little enclaves became known as monasteries, and monasticism was born. And we can all thank God for it, since monasticism effectively maintained a light in the dark ages and allowed culture to rebound once a degree of political and legal stability resumed in Europe.

My wife is currently reading a book called The Benedict Option, which looks at what Benedict did and evaluates if a similar method ought to be employed in present times. I’m not a huge non-fiction reader, (I believe truth is sometimes best conveyed in fiction) but the topic sounds interesting enough that I’ll probably pick it up when she’s done.

Cultural Preservation in Present

In a larger context, Christians know this idea resonates, and not just because of recent law-changes or disruption on college campuses. As Christians, we preserve a way of life – a relationship with God – that was lost soon after creation. Despite my tendency to avoid nonfiction, I’ve been reading Jake McCandless’ book Spiritual Prepper (I mean check out the cover, how could I not?). It is a good reminder that although the world is increasingly antagonistic toward us, we are called to preserve our faith. Each of us are little monasteries that preserve a Christian value system foreign to those around us. One might even call us temples. And in large groups, like at a church or a community gathering, we represent a subculture.

So is Western Culture really dying?

That depends how you define it. Some see western civilization’s foundation as secularism and liberalism. And before my conservative friends balk at that, remember that classical liberalism (the idea of disagreeing politely, discussing rather than shutting down ideas, encouraging freedom as long as it doesn’t impede the freedom of others, etc.) has nothing to do with the Democrat party. Just watch the news to see how the so-called Resistance treats people who disagree with their “open-minded” views. Also see Dave Ruben’s video here.

In modern times, the term “Liberal” has been perverted, but secularism has been reigning for quite some time. If western culture was built on a secular ideal, then I’d say it is reaching its natural conclusion. That’s because secularism holds to no higher authority. One cannot claim that murder is wrong (since there is no higher authority to cite), only that one feels murder is wrong. Or that the largest group opinion is that murder is wrong. Or the most vocal group opinion is such.

As for me, I think Western Civilization is best described as an intersection of Greek, Roman, and Jewish cultures. The Greeks brought the idea of logic and reason over emotion, the Romans provided an evenly enforced set of universal laws, and the Jews had a unique value system which valued life, property (even slaves had rights in Jewish culture), and a respect for a higher power to which all people, even kings, were subject. And Christianity was birthed at this same intersection point. For this reason, Christianity and Western Culture are intertwined, each shaping the other.

Do I think that Western Civilization, as I define it, is falling? Yes. Emotion is far more important to most than logic and reason; FBI director James Comey has proved that we no longer have a set of laws universally enforced between ruling class and commoner; and the only religious part of the constitution that progressives cling to is the line about “separation of church and state.” Never mind that that particular phrase isn’t even in the document.

However, there is hope. As I’ve already said, within each Christian is a preserved culture, different from the world. As long as we continue to meet together, encourage one another, and help each other in the faith, then the best development of Western Culture, one that now transcends all local cultures – the restored relationship between God and man – will be preserved.

Battletech Galactic Map from: http://operationbulldog.blogspot.com/2010_08_29_archive.html

Benedict Picture from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_of_Nursia

Wizard Tower image copyright Shaun Williams: https://www.3dartistonline.com/image/10248/wizards_tower

Tags Almost an Author, Christian writer, Christian writing, fantasy, fiction, inspiration, Jake McCandless, sci-fi, scifi

Storyworld

Anatomy of Grays: Sex

Post author By A.D. Shrum - Storyworld Columnist
Post date February 13, 2017
2 Comments on Anatomy of Grays: Sex

Jim held a gray spheroid up to the light. “So Doc, you’re saying the sex of this alien was actually female?”

“That is perhaps an overstatement. This is clearly an egg we retrieved from the deceased Sharalla pilot. While this may indicate a female of the species, their biology is unlike anything we’ve encountered. For all we know, the males carry the fertilized eggs, as in some of Earth’s aquatic wildlife.”

Jim lowered the egg, which had the size, heft, and texture of a softball. “You’re not saying this thing is fertilized are you?”

The doctor shook his head. “Our scientific team has concluded it most certainly is not. We wouldn’t let you handle it otherwise.”

The little rock wiggled itself in Jim’s hand, producing a breathless stare from Doctor Stein.

“Ahh,” Jim sighed in mock contentment, “ the certainty of science.”

What better way to spend the day before Valentine’s than talking about alien sex and reproduction? Seriously though, the method of reproduction in an alien species dictates much of its culture, so it bears at least some consideration in your storyworld.

Assuming your creatures have some form of sex to reproduce (and don’t just materialize or breed asexually), you’ll need to figure out how they do it. Generally, it will involve some form of fertilization, the method in which sex cells, containing half the genetic composition of each parent, unite to form a new, unique member of the species. This is broadly separated into two categories: external fertilization and internal fertilization.

External Fertilization

External fertilization is a form of sex that is mostly reserved to earth’s fish. While from our view, this seems impersonal, it doesn’t have to be. Granted, there doesn’t seem to be much intimacy between two fish, but there is sometimes a loyalty to the young. The male Siamese Fighting Fish will tirelessly guard over its eggs, ensuring they remain in a nest of bubbles until they hatch. Male seahorses will care for their fertilized eggs in a special pouch. Cichlids are fish that keep their eggs in their mouths, and continued to do so until they’ve not only hatched, but are old enough to fend for themselves.

If you introduce a sentient (and somewhat relatable) alien species with external fertilization, it would probably be best to model it after one of these more maternal or paternal species on earth. That is, unless you’re trying to create a heartless society of extraterrestrials. In that case, spawning massive numbers of progeny at random might fit better.

Internal Fertilization

This is the section that might get me fired from my position at A3. I’m kidding, I’m kidding – you can’t fire someone who works for free … I think. Anyway, internal fertilization is when male sex cells enter the female’s body and find the female sex cell(s). They combine and form a new life, starting as a zygote and eventually either hatching into the world, or emerging via the birth canal.

Which brings up the next distinction, whether or not the animal lays an egg or cares for the embryo in an internal placenta. Some examples of egg-laying creatures on earth are reptiles and birds. If your alien species lays an egg, you’ll have to decide the level of involvement you want the parents to have in guarding that egg. Some birds like the hornbill are very protective of their eggs. So much so that the female blocks herself off in a tree hole and entirely depends on her mate to bring her food. Others, like sea turtles, bury their eggs in the sand and then leave, hoping for the best (there may be a reason they’re so endangered). Rattlesnakes are odd egg layers though, since they don’t really lay eggs, but keep the eggs internally until they hatch. While that may sound like a live birth, the eggs are still self-sustaining, meaning no nutrients pass from mother to child.

And that’s actually one of the distinguishing features of sex and reproduction in a mammal – the placenta. When a mammal baby develops in the womb, it receives nutrients from its mother until ready for birth. Even then, female mammals provide milk for their young with their mammary glands (breasts in humans, udders in cows and pigs, etc.).

Sex Between Species

While forbidden in Leviticus 19, sex between two different species occasionally produces a hybrid creature. Probably most well known is the mule, a cross between a donkey and a horse. Additionally, ligers are crosses between tigers and lions, and according to liger scholar and artist Napoleon Dynamite, they’re bred for their skills in magic. There are a lot of different hybrids out there, including zonkeys , dzos, and other strange creatures. Usually the two parents need a similar number of chromosomes, and even then the result is typically a sterile creature. Sometimes though, intentionally breeding two species results in a very, very bad hybrid, such as the killer bee. Yes, thank science for producing a species of insect capable of killing thousands of humans and livestock … and then accidentally releasing them from quarantine -whoops.

Sometimes in sci-fi and fantasy literature you’ll see a hybrid race. The most obvious that comes to my mind is the Half-Elf. Born of human and elven parentage, these half-races display characteristics of each. But in a sci-fi or fantasy world, you can’t assume that every alien species can intermingle with every other. In Michael A. Stackpole’s X-Wing series, one of his protagonists humorously recounts a bad memory of having sex with an alien. The two hadn’t considered the delicate pH balance in that… region. And as a result, both partners developed severe rashes and some other, ahem, unpleasant side effects.

Sex and Culture

As I said in my intro, sex (and marriage) is a huge factor that dictates how a culture operates. How do two individuals in a species find a mate? How do they produce offspring? How do they care for their offspring? Is there sexual deviancy and abuse? While these are all major questions that deserve an entire column this column has mostly addressed biology. Fear not though, I will address them in the future. So if this article interests you, be on the watch for my sex and worldbuilding article in the next few months.

There, I made it through an entire column dedicated to sex without once mentioning the words vagina or penis. Oh! Darn. Well, almost.

Next month we’ll continue our anatomy series and tackle the neuroendocrine system! Yeah, that’s basically just a fancy word for evaluating how an alien thinks and feels.

Photo Credits:

Birds and Bees Photo: http://www.evilenglish.net/the-birds-and-the-bees/

Siamese Fighting Fish Photo (Also great resource regarding these cool fish): http://dkphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Siamese-Fighting-Fish-Life-Cycle/G0000_kRdp2qXrtk/I0000qlzVaRnV4Qw/C0000NHUtq8T1jVw

Napoleon Dynamite Inspired Liger Drawing: https://www.flickr.com/photos/51035597721@N01/5266903

Tags Almost an Author, Christian writer, Create Motivate Inspire, creativity, fiction, ideas, inspiration, novelist, sex, storyworld, write, writer, writers, writing, Writing Craft, writing ideas, Writing Inspiration, Writing tips

Dear Young Scribes

The Writer’s Palette: How to Write Concise Description to Liven Your Scenes

Post author By Tessa Emily Hall - Becoming an Author
Post date February 8, 2017
3 Comments on The Writer’s Palette: How to Write Concise Description to Liven Your Scenes

As writers, we have the power to tear down the boundaries of paper and ink when we craft a description that triggers the imagination of our readers. That’s the power of writing a concise description.

I’m sure you’ve heard it’s best to limit your descriptions. Pretty prose does not equal a pretty story, and ultimately it’s your characters and plot that will push the story along.

So how can you write scenes in a way that accomplishes the job of description — to bring the story to life — without interrupting the flow?

Writing this kind of description is much harder than writing flowery prose that goes on forever — prose that most readers will skim. Instead, writing concise description will enable your scene to become 3D.

And you can do this without having to hit the “pause button” on your scene.

When I wrote my latest novel, UNWRITTEN MELODY, I tried a new technique. I created a “writer’s palette” before each scene I wrote. (This idea came from Susan May Warren’s Book Therapy tools, although she refers to it as a “scene sketch”.)

This writer’s palette is similar to an artist’s palette. Before an artist begins working, they mix their paints to create the colors they want to display on their masterpiece. These paints are arranged on their board. That way, while they paint, they can dip their paintbrush in their assortment of colors and apply it to their canvas. They don’t have to create the colored paint as they work; rather, it’s already prepared beforehand.

Similarly, a writer’s palette is our own assortment of “colors” that we can use to paint our scenes, and we can prepare this before we even put our pen to the page.

Here’s how you can do this:

(Again, I learned how to create a scene sketch through instruction at My Book Therapy.)

1) Ask yourself, what scene do I want to paint?

Place yourself in an artist’s shoes. A blank canvas stands before you; what scene do you want to paint?

Close your eyes and envision the scene you’re going to write. Let it come to life in your imagination before you try to transcribe it onto the page.

What emotion/mood do you want to portray through this scene?

Now, open your writer’s palette. (This can be a page in your notebook or a new document in Word. While I wrote UNWRITTEN MELODY, I used the “Document Notes” tool in Scrivener to create these scene sketches.)

On this palette, answer the following questions about your scene:

Where? Why? Who? When? What? How?
What emotion/mood do I want to establish in this scene?

2) Prepare your paints. What colors do you need to gather and mix?

Pretend you’re the POV character and you’re observing the surroundings through the lens of his/her perspective, worldview, personality, and attitude. What details does he/she notice? What descriptive hues do you need to combine so you can achieve the scene’s specific emotion/mood?

In your writer’s palette, prepare these details:

What does your character see? Hear? Touch? Taste? Smell?
What is your POV character’s attitude and view of his/her surroundings?
How do these sensory details emphasize the emotion of the scene?
Is there a metaphor/symbolism you can use to highlight this emotion?

3) Record the details by choosing specific nouns and active verbs. In other words, gather your props.

While the scene is still in your imagination and you’re viewing it through the lens of your character, write down the scene’s details (keeping the emotion in mind as well). You’ll gather an array of details that you can potentially use as you write the scene.

But instead of writing “candles were lit and burning on the coffee table”, record the specific type of candle and its scent. And instead of writing, “long, draping curtains hung over the windows”, you can use its specific noun, such as, “pinch pleat curtains draped over the windows”.

~ ~ ~

By preparing your writer’s palette beforehand, you’re more likely to write a scene that becomes 3D in your reader’s imagination. You’ll know which details to incorporate (the ones that highlight the mood and POV character’s perspective) and which ones would only get in the way of the story. Your description will ring as authentic, and you may even convince your reader that you have lived through the specific time and place.

If you’d like to see an example of how I used a writer’s palette to write a certain scene in UNWRITTEN MELODY, click here for the scene excerpt and here for the writer’s palette.

~ ~ ~

How do you write description in your scenes? Do you create a writer’s palette or scene sketch to gather your “paints” before you begin to write?

[bctt tweet=”The Writer’s Palette: How to Write Concise Description to Liven Your Scenes #amwriting @TessaEmilyHall” username=””]

Tags Descriptions, descriptive writing, fiction, Prose, writer's palette, Writing Craft, Writing tips

Storyworld

Anatomy of Grays: Alien Digest

Post author By A.D. Shrum - Storyworld Columnist
Post date January 16, 2017
1 Comment on Anatomy of Grays: Alien Digest

The autopsy window allowed Jim a clear view of the good doctor’s grim work. The gray-skinned corpse had been cut open from neck to … whatever was between its legs, and its internal workings were just as alien as its external ones. Over the speaker, Doctor Stein began commenting on how the ugly fellow might digest its food. Apparently the little gray invaders had multiple stomachs like cows. Jim sighed. So their world was being invaded by bipedal gray-skinned cud-chewers. Great. Just great.

This month we continue our series on alien anatomy, literally delving into the bowels of unusual creatures – specifically their appetites. I’ve already posted an article about food and its necessity to your characters, which are probably vertebrates. That means they ingest their food, break it down, absorb it, and then circulate it to every single living cell in their bodies (which is headache-inducing if you stop to ponder it – don’t). Unused consumables are then disposed of in the same way that publishers typically treat unsolicited manuscripts. But with an alien anatomy, it bears mentioning that exotic creatures might ingest, digest, and circulate food differently.

Self-producing

Take for example a typical plant. Its food is self-produced, using a special pigment called chlorophyll, plus sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. It still needs potassium, nitrogen, and various other nutrients found in the soil, but the energy the plant uses is the sugar it produces for itself. This may not sound extremely interesting as a plot device in a book, but wait until you read John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War. I won’t spoil who the green-skinned creatures are, but suffice to say Scalzi incorporates a creature that uses chlorophyll-infused skin to further enhance its energy (as a hint, they aren’t the Jolly Green Giants).

Externally Digesting

Other organisms like fungus and starfish actually digest their food externally. A fungus emits enzymes into the soil (or plant, organism, or whatever the fungus is feeding on), and its “food” breaks down around the root-like hyphae. The nutrients are then absorbed into those little tendrils. Try not to think of that the next time you get athlete’s foot. Arguably more gross is the starfish, which actually spits its entire stomach out of its mouth to digest its food externally. Creatures like this are likely to be pretty alien. Again, the world of Scalzi’s Old Man’s War is populated with interesting characters. Take the Gehaar for example, which are blue, tentacled extraterrestrials that inject their food with acid and slurp up the mostly-digested syrupy mess into their mouths. Yuck. But who knows what your space-faring adventurers or fame-seeking wizards will find in their world?

Otherworldly Appetites

But not all creatures need to follow the same rules as those in our own world. The second book in Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter series (incidentally, no relation to the Pokemon craze), includes some creatures called Oni, which feast off of souls to prolong their life. They do this in an almost literal way, because the souls are actually stored in a stomach-like bag inside the creature, where they are processed and provide energy for the evil beings. Apparently such a malevolent metabolism makes a monster very hard to kill too, since an entire section of Alabama interstate was virtually destroyed in the process. You’ll have to read Monster Hunter Vendetta to appreciate it though.

Picking up a Monster Manual from Pathfinder or 3^rd or 5^th edition D&D can also give you some interesting ideas for aliens and fantastic creatures (Note: 4^th edition is great to play, but the monsters typically lack back-stories). Examples from these books are Gelatinous cubes and oozes that tend to be mindless blobs of jello that are only semi-aware. If you touch one though, your skin will begin to decompose in their uniform acidic bodies. That’s because their digestive systems are little more than homogenous blobs of acid. Rust monsters are also interesting since they eat metal, including magic weapons. In one of the editions this meant that one of their waste products would sometimes be residuum, a magical substance used to enchant other weapons.

That’s all on the menu this month. Next month we’ll talk about alien sex and reproduction, but don’t worry, I’ll keep it PG. Still, you may not want to invite your grandma.

Gelatinous Cube Inspirational Photo from http://catsoftindalos.blogspot.com/2016/05/caverns-of-slime.html

Green Giant image from https://www.tellwut.com/surveys/lifestyle/food-drink/91881-jolly-green-giant.html

Tags aliens, Almost an Author, Christian writer, Christian writing, fiction, sci-fi, science fiction, storyworld, writer, writers, writing, writing ideas, Writing Inspiration, Writing tips

Fantasy-Sci-Fi Storyworld

World-building From the Eyes of a Character

Post author By A.D. Shrum - Storyworld Columnist
Post date November 9, 2016
No Comments on World-building From the Eyes of a Character

The carbine was still jammed and Jim couldn’t do anything to fix it. He finally tossed it aside and cursed the shoddy Adronni weapon manufacturers – maybe their world would be next on the alien invasion tour. A shrill whine filled the air, and Jim pressed himself tighter against the debris-covered groundcar. A scant thirty feet away the earth erupted in blue smoke. As the remains of a prefab shelter rained harmlessly over his powersuit, Jim took inventory. A Gilgamesh repeater pistol, a single frag, and a suit of armor with a busted rebreather. As long as the reptilians didn’t gas him first, he’d probably live long enough for one of their walker units to plasma-blast him in the chest. He sighed. No, there was one last thing he possessed – the souls of his charred comrades pushing him on to avenge them. Jim unholstered the pistol and peered around the corner. Time to move – vengeance would be his!

On the surface, the above paragraph looks like an action scene. It’s dripping with tension, and Jim’s fate looks pretty bleak. But even an action-packed paragraph can be used to build your world. In fact, study it a minute and try to identify some of the foreign storyworld elements.

We’re not sure what kind of weaponry Jim has (laser? projectile?), but his attackers clearly have plasma weapons that explode in puffs of blue gas. And we can guess based on the grisly state of his allies that either the plasma weapons burned them alive or that the aliens have some other kind of burning weapon.

Let’s look at some of the subtler elements though. Take the use of the word “groundcar.” What is the implication there? Obviously a “groundcar” is a type of vehicle distinguished from some other type. An aircar? A hover car? We don’t know specifics, but use of that word reveals that methods other than ground-based vehicles are used for transportation in this world.

We also get a glimpse into the intergalactic relations. First of all, these reptilians are not only invading Jim’s planet but have apparently been on “tour,” invading many planets. We don’t know if “Adronni” is a company or a race of aliens, but we do know that either Jim or his military outfit purchased firearms from otherworldly suppliers. This establishes that the storyworld has interplanetary trade.

All of this could be done from a detached, third-person omniscient perspective, but the story is told from a deep, although third-person, POV. This not only conveys the gobs of storyworld information above, but it also does two other things: 1) it gives the action emotional impact. Sure, the battle scene is only a paragraph long, but you’re emotionally involved in the character. It inspires you to read onward and learn Jim’s fate, even as your imagination processes the alien elements. And 2) the world is shown with Jim’s particular biases. A comment like “shoddy Adronni weapon manufacturers” shows us Jim has preferences in firearms and the Adronni-supplied weapons are apparently not among them. This doesn’t mean his preferences are necessarily right, and a different character’s POV may reveal a different perspective on the carbine and its manufacturer. Your storyworld’s inhabitants, like those in the real world, won’t always agree on things.

This isn’t to say that every paragraph in your 90,000-word manuscript must be packed with exotic storyworld elements, but the first few chapters should do so as much as possible. And if you’re trying to get your audience attached to your characters in that same timeframe, doing so from a close, ground-level perspective can really help.

Last year, my favorite novel was Monster Hunter International written by Larry Correia. A contemporary fantasy novel like this doesn’t need as much storyworld explanation as a distant-future sci-fi novel, but the author does equally amazing jobs at world-building and deep character exploration. I’ve also just started Marc Turner’s When the Heavens Fall, an epic novel with some well-developed fantasy elements and several great POVs. A final verdict will have to wait since I haven’t finished it yet, but thus far it’s a great read and exemplifies some of what we’ve discussed here.

That’s all for now. Next month we’ll kick off a series on alien and fantastic biology. Until then, let me know if there are any other storyworld elements you’d like me to explore in this space. Thanks for reading!

Storyworld

Board Games that Inspire Writing

Post author By A.D. Shrum - Storyworld Columnist
Post date October 11, 2016
2 Comments on Board Games that Inspire Writing

The murmur of countless alien tongues subsided as the chairman of the interstellar council called for order. The delegates to Mecatol Rex were unusually nervous tonight, and with good reason. By the end of the week, congress might put forth a motion to ban bio-technology, a move that would devastate the inhabitants of New Moscow. The young ambassador from the Federation of Sol held his breath as the insectoid chancellor of Sardakk N’orr took to the stage, violently shaking a proposal in his foreclaw. The political games had begun.

When you think of storyworld ideas, your typical sources are probably other books, movies, and TV shows. But have you considered board games? No, I’m not talking about Monopoly, Risk, or Sorry. Modern games provide a wealth of imaginative fodder for the aspiring novelist.

The example in my opening paragraph comes from a truly epic game called Twilight Imperium. In it, various alien races compete for galactic supremacy through military force, shrewd diplomacy, and delicate trade arrangements. While there are similarities to any conquest-type game, from a writing perspective the real gem is the character development of the individual races and the manner in which they interact in the galaxy. In addition to battles and alliances, the actual rules of the game get voted on regularly at the council event. It’s an intriguing concept for a game, and any sc-fi writer is sure to enjoy the political debates between each of the six players. Trade deals and a variety of starships round the game out and should provide an abundance of ideas for anyone hoping to write a space opera.

Smaller in scope but not in story, the game Love Letter is a simple game where each player has only a single-card hand. Easy to learn, but sophisticated enough to keep gamers coming back, Love Letter serves as a wonderful gateway for those unfamiliar with modern games. But even the included back story is captivating. Basically, the queen of the kingdom has died and various suitors are trying to win the hand of the princess. The king won’t just let anyone speak with his daughter, so he carefully guards the young woman. Her only hope – that some handsome prince might find a way to deliver a message through the castle staff. Filled with intrigue and amusing characters, you might be surprised at the writing inspiration you can draw from this simple game.

I recently had the opportunity to play the game Imperial Assault, a cooperative strategy game of heroes set in the Star Wars universe. While you might think you already know that Galaxy Far, Far Away pretty well, you should think again as you play this. Set in the period of the rebellion, each character possesses a deep history and exciting side quests. My character, a force-sensitive operative dressed somewhat like Mortal Kombat’s Sub Zero, is on the hunt for his former employer who might be selling secrets to the Empire. The set-up is similar to a Jason Bourne movie, but with enough interesting twists to keep me engaged. But the story isn’t just about my character, as each of the main characters has his own story that further fleshes out the universe. The elements of the world (blasters, walkers, etc.) may feel familiar, but the scenarios are unique enough that they may inspire you in ways that George Lucas’ films haven’t.

Set in the Wild West, Shadows of Brimstone puts you in the role of a sheriff, preacher, rancher, or any number of assorted other professions of the period, and pits you against a wide array of Cthulu-inspired critters. The blending of monsters with a gold-rush era landscape is a great and fresh setting. The individual missions are all twists on old west concepts, whether exploring an abandoned (and now demonically reoccupied) mine, rescuing a child who fell down a well (and is now surrounded by evil critters), or finding the source of a town’s disturbances (which happen to be in another dimension). The amount of storyworld built here is stunning. Many of the ideas could inspire a hopeful steampunk or fantasy writer.

This is just a small sampling of various games I’ve played, but the wealth of ideas that have gone cardboard is legion, and many host quirky and fun stories to boot. If you get a chance, stop by your local boardgame store and scope out the market. From the 16^th century piracy of Merchants and Marauders to the superhero battles of Sentinels of the Multiverse, you’re sure to find something that captures your imagination. Granted, you can’t lift their storyworlds directly without a copyright lawsuit, but if you’re searching for inspiration, this might be the ticket. Ooh, did I mention Ticket-to-Ride?

Twilight Imperium image from http://www.swordsandspace.com/2013/08/twilight-imperium-after-action-report_31.html

Love Letter image from https://lordoftheboard.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/love-letters/

Imperial Assault image from https://deathwatchstudios.com/2016/07/11/imperial-assault-heroes-of-the-bespin-gambit/

Shadows of Brimstone image from https://wediealotblog.wordpress.com/

Tags Almost an Author, Board Games, character motivation, Christian writer, Christian writing, Create Motivate Inspire, creative writing, creativity, fiction, Games, ideas, inspiration, novel, novelist, write, writing, writing ideas, Writing Inspiration

Tour Uncategorized

Blog Tour- Morgan L. Busse

Post author By Cherrilynn Bisbano - Managing Editor A3
Post date June 15, 2016
3 Comments on Blog Tour- Morgan L. Busse

What is the title of your latest book, Morgan?

Tainted.

Please give us an overview.

What Happens When Your Soul Dies?
Kat Bloodmayne is one of the first women chosen to attend the Tower Academy of Sciences. But she carries a secret: she can twist the natural laws of life. She has no idea where this ability came from, only that every time she loses control and unleashes this power, it kills a part of her soul. If she doesn’t find a cure soon, her soul will die and she will become something else entirely.
After a devastating personal loss, Stephen Grey leaves the World City Police Force to become a bounty hunter. He believes in justice and will stop at nothing to ensure criminals are caught and locked up. However, when Kat Bloodmayne shows up in his office seeking his help, his world is turned upside down.
Together they search World City and beyond for a doctor who can cure Kat. But what they discover on the way goes beyond science and into the dark sphere of magic.
Book one of The Soul Chronicles series.

Why do you write what you do?: I love to tell stories and through those stories, I want to touch my readers’ hearts. I want to remind them that even though this world is broken, and sometimes it seems like the darkness around us is overwhelming, we are not alone. God is with us, and He will never leave us. That is why I write.

What are you currently working on?: I am working on the edits for Awakened, book 2 of my steampunk series, The Soul Chronicles.

How does your work differ from other work in its genre?: Well, considering there are few steampunk books to begin with, and even fewer Christian steampunk, there are not a lot of books to compare Tainted with. And now I can hear someone asking what exactly is steampunk?
Steampunk is a fusion of our history (usually the Victorian Era or the Wild West) and fantasy/science fiction/or both. Some examples of Steampunk would be Jules Vernes or the movie Wild West. A story with a historical and speculative feel where the technology is advanced for that period of time and runs on steam. That’s steampunk.
Now how my steampunk differs from others is that instead of the usual inventor character, my character is a scientist. But her problem has to do with her soul, and no amount of science can help her, only God can.

How does your writing process work?: I’m a plotter. I start planning my stories out years in advance, keeping all my ideas in a folder on my computer. Then, when I’m ready to start writing, I get out my storyboard (a large corkboard) and I plan out the story by writing down all the ideas I’ve collected on 3×5 cards. For about a week I think through my story and figure out how everything fits together, what are the major plot twists, and how does the story end.
After I am done, I have my entire story outlined on my storyboard, and this becomes my map once I start writing. For the most part, I stick to my plot.
As far as writing the story, it takes me 6-9 months to write the rough draft, writing 1k words every day, 4 days a week. But I finish with a pretty clean manuscript that just needs a little more deepening and then off it goes to my editor!

Morgan L. Busse writes fantasy and steampunk for the adult market. She is the author of the Follower of the Word series, including Daughter of Light, Christy, and Carol Award finalist. Morgan lives on the West Coast with her husband and four children. You can find out more about Morgan at www.morganlbusse.com

Social Media and Blog: Website: www.morganlbusse.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morganlbusseauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MorganLBusse (@MorganLBusse)
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/morganlbusse
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5827587.Morgan_L_Busse
My books: http://www.enclavepublishing.com/authors/morgan-busse/

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Tainted-Soul-Chronicles-Book-1/dp/1621840670/ref

Tags blog, fiction, fusion, Morgan Busse, steampunk, tour

Developing Your Writer's Voice Uncategorized

A Simple Exercise for Finding Your Writer’s Voice

Post author By Dee Dee Parker - Developing Your Writer's Voice/The Writerly Cafe
Post date March 7, 2016
4 Comments on A Simple Exercise for Finding Your Writer’s Voice

Many of us belong to writers groups that meet regularly with the goal of honing our writing skills, finding our writer’s voice, and receiving critiques of our work. Unfortunately, some writers have no such groups in their area. Online groups now offer this excellent opportunity, but for some, even this is not a viable option.

A novice writer, with no group in her area, and with limited computer skills, once asked if I had a suggestion for helping her to find her voice. She had started a novel in which her protagonist, a young mother, suffered loss in many areas of her life and wondered if her voice was true to the story line.

I created an exercise that requires only two people; of which being a writer was not a requirement for her partner.

The exercise consists of:

A topic chosen for a letter that each participant writes; such as an upcoming wedding/vacation memories etc.
Both participants choose the same recipient for the letter, such as a mother/friend.
Both participants complete the exercise, and then exchange letters.

The goal of this exercise is to compare the letters, and hopefully recognize each voice by studying the tone and style and of both writers.

The writer contacted me after completing the exercise saying she easily heard the voice difference between the two letters. She now understood, and heard her voice much clearer. After reading her first three chapters of the novel, I agreed with her assessment.

The protagonist in my new friend’s novel was tender in her words and actions; her losses in life having made her compassionate, and a friend to the less fortunate.

I find when writing fiction the character partners with the author to produce voice.

“A word is not the same with one as it is with another. One tears it from his gut. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket” William Wadsworth

Tags Come Go Home With Me, Dee Dee Parker, Exercise for Finding Writer's Voice, fiction, Finding writer's voice, Online writer's group, William Wadsworth

Storyworld

Acquiring Things of Value

Post author By A.D. Shrum - Storyworld Columnist
Post date February 7, 2016
2 Comments on Acquiring Things of Value

When writing a speculative fiction novel, determine what the things of value are in your world. Water, food, shelter-building resources, fuel: these are essential to survival and can create primal conflicts in a story. Sometimes wars are fought over precious metals and rare elements with powerful properties either for magic or technology. Maybe your characters aren’t directly involved in your storyworld’s economy, but they’ll definitely feel its effects somehow.

If precious commodities have anything in common, it’s that they are rare. Additionally, there are only five ways to acquire them: force, theft, trade, harvesting, or begging. The things of valuable in your novel, as well as the manner in which your characters (and their authorities) acquire them, will shape your fictitious world. Here are a handful of examples from various works of fiction.

Frank Herbert’s Dune portrays the relative need of two different substances, one native to the desert planet of Arrakis, the other quite rare. The rare commodity, water, was used as a form of currency, despite also being a necessary consumable. On the flip side, Arrakis’s primary export was its spice, an addictive drug used for its life-extending and prescience-granting purposes. Interstellar trades (and wars) were made to ensure the exchange of these two commodities, and such is the socio-economic and political stage for the epic saga in Dune.

The TV show Firefly also showed an interesting perspective on things of value. In the opening scene of the first episode, a crew of space pirates scavenge what looks to be a crate of precious metals from a derelict vessel. The entire episode leads you to believe that what Mal and his crew have stolen is something of incredible value. But by the show’s end, you discover the blocks of gold are essentially just foil-wrapped Powerbars. This causes some confusion until you realize just how desperate the border worlds are for food. Nevertheless, we get a glimpse of how the border folk survive – namely by trade and theft.

Similarly, Robert Heinlein’s book, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, briefly alludes to the commodity of air and the complicated manner in which colonists pay for that utility on a lunar base. Certainly not something we think of here on earth, where the air is free.

In these three examples, water, food, and air are all valuable commodities, despite each being common on earth. On the other hand, the fictional resource in the preceding examples, Dune’s “spice,” is unique and fundamental to Herbert’s amazing world – it literally wouldn’t function without it. If you’re writing a speculative fiction novel, what sort of unique resource needs exist in your storyworld? If you’ve read something with some interesting things of value or ways of obtaining them, consider leaving a comment below so you can pique the imaginations of fellow authors.

Tags Create Motivate Inspire, creativity, fiction, ideas, inspiration, inspire, novel, novel settings, storyworld

The Ministry of Writing

Fiction Writers are Teachers Too

Post author By Jake McCandless - The Ministry of Writing
Post date January 20, 2016
1 Comment on Fiction Writers are Teachers Too

Labeled for reuse. Image can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/cybrarian77/6284181389

Christian nonfiction writers receive all the credit for being the biblical and spiritual teachers. If we want to learn the truth then we are told to pick up one of those boring nonfiction books written by a preacher, but that is not fair because fiction writers are teachers, too. Actually learning is accelerated far more through narrative than simple prose therefore we learn more from fiction writers than we even realize.

Education experts and our own experience tell us that we learn best through watching examples than hearing a lecture. As famous author Henry David Thoreau once said, “If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see.”

Your stories in your fictional writings teach. They teach far more than a sermon or “how-to” book does. Therefore, you must understand you aren’t just a story teller — you are a teacher.

Your writings teach a lot of practices, doctrines, and values — but most of all you teach worldview.

You don’t just teach worldview you create worldviews. You create whole worlds and then you teach how that world should be viewed and understood.

So how do I know this? Because I am trying to instill a Christian biblical worldview in my children, but that worldview is constantly being challenged through the fiction books, movies, televisions, and clichés that fill their lives.

We guard the shows and books that my children see and hear. We find stories that convey solid values and don’t introduce “bad” things. But even in those good stories a different world view is presented. Even in the good stuff my kiddos see people who are good people, but do not walk with the Lord. The self-sufficiency of man is championed. In many of those stories, the world just appeared and was not created by an almighty God. The characters live their life and do not worship God. In the stories the characters chase their own dreams and don’t let the Holy Spirit guide them. Nature may be worshiped. The list could go on. Here are some of the worldview challenges that has come up:

[bctt tweet=”“Daddy, Calliou doesn’t pray before he goes to bed.””]

“Daddy, do you think Daniel the Tiger knows Jesus? He doesn’t go to church.”

“Daddy, do you know that at that princess castle with the tea cups you can ride that all of our dreams will come true. Can we go?”

“Daddy, do you know that the ponies (My Little Pony) can make rainbows, too?” (Meaning in addition to God).

“Daddy is Jesus like Superman?”

“Daddy on Dinosaur Train I heard that dinosaurs were here millions of years ago.” (Did I mention I am young earth proponent?)

I could go all day. None of these are terrible. There are all good shows, but they portray a worldview of life without God or a reality where something is a god.

Not only do they portray things, they shape worldviews.

So what kind of worldviews are you creating?

Please be creative and tell amazing stories, but how about still portraying the biblical worldview and values you hold dear.

Refer to the one, transcendent Creator. Refer to an afterlife. Have your hero still reliant on the Creator. Have your character carry out spiritual disciplines. Again know that you are shaping your reader’s worldview.

Author Brian Godawa wrote, “Every story is informed by a worldview.” I would add that every story shapes our worldview.

[bctt tweet=”Since fiction writers are teachers too, teach a biblical compatible worldview.”]

Tags Almost an Author, Christian writer, Christian writing, fiction, fiction vs non-fiction, Ministering through writing, nonfiction, Writing Instruction

Storyworld

Food for your Storyworld

Post author By A.D. Shrum - Storyworld Columnist
Post date November 28, 2015
No Comments on Food for your Storyworld

Regardless how fantastic the setting, the people in your book must treat their environment as commonplace. A character who regularly interacts with something will spend little thought on (and the author should spend little time describing) its method of operation. This is true whether writing about food or magic. But how do you describe the common occurrences of a believable system? It’s best done with sparse descriptions of characters interacting with their world, but to write convincingly, you need to think things through. To get your creative juices flowing, let’s look at the energy that fuels your characters.

No, not their motivations, their breakfast.

Food Production

Unless your world breaks the laws of mass conservation (such as a cleric’s “Create Food” spell or the Enterprise’s replicator), your protagonist’s lunch came from somewhere. If survival isn’t one of your story’s tension hooks, you don’t need to describe the origin of each meal, but in a long enough adventure, your reader may wonder where the lone hero gets his food, and you’ll need to consider it as well.

In our world, all food can be traced back to plants, which require soil, sun, water, and carbon dioxide. This obviously applies to vegetables, fruits, and grains, but grasses inedible to humans are the sustenance of livestock, and from them we get a myriad of consumables. In fact, animal feed can often grow in climates hostile to farming, which is why residents of colder regions historically had more meat in their diets.

Other hostile climates, such as a post-apocalyptic future, may have a similar increase in dietary protein, or they may rely on food production and preservation of ages past (until it runs out!). Alternatively, space stations may house hydroponics facilities, or elven crop growth may depend on the blessings of the local druid. Nevertheless, before food is eaten, it must first be produced.

Food Preservation

Unless your protagonists are survivalist hunters or part of the agricultural industry, the food they bring on their adventures must be stored. Portable storage falls into five main categories: canned, frozen, dried, pickled, and salted. Even a high-tech future will have some variation of these methods (e.g. cryo-frozen meats, canned nutrient-paste, etc.).

Preservation only delays the process of rotting as long as possible, but decay is inevitable. You can’t have a character wake from stasis a million years after humanity’s destruction and have her forage for canned food, because by then it will all have spoiled. Exceptions are made for Spam and Christmas fruitcake.

Food Preparation

Anyone who has eaten Cheerios in the car knows not all food needs preparation, but a good meal requires heat. Why? Partly because warm food is pleasant (ever tried cold French fries?), but also because higher temperatures kill harmful bacteria (ranging from 140F for rare beef to 180F for poultry).

But no matter how bizarre your world’s heating methods are, your characters won’t think twice about them. Suppose you were an author writing about food two hundred years ago and conceived of a “Microwave Oven.” Should the microwave’s operator need to consider the details of particle physics and wavelengths? Not if you wanted to describe the way we typically use it. Even those who understand microwave technology seldom consider it when they put their leftovers in and walk away. The denizens of your creation should similarly spend little time thinking about something so common, even if it would be unimaginable to those living in a different world or time.

In a fantasy setting, maybe fire sprites heat your villagers’ meals in exchange for precious stones, but don’t revel in the occurrence if it’s commonplace. Or consider a future in which all single-use rations have a self-heating mechanism, making them especially useful on the galactic frontier. At any rate, a method of heating must be considered unless your people eat all their food cold (which limits the kinds of food that can be eaten).

Food Disposal

Disposal of waste is not of great concern unless your characters inhabit a world of extremely limited resources. Some examples are desert worlds, post-apocalyptic settings, or space stations (Hugh Howey’s Wool Omnibus come to mind). For the most part though, trash isn’t noteworthy. Even a short-range starship will probably jettison its refuse.

When writing about food, you don’t need to spell out every detail, but you should ponder how and what your characters are eating. A genuine environment will connect with the reader because it feels like you’ve considered how people survive in it, and food is very much a part of daily survival.

Much of this information comes from my own 2,500 square foot garden and from The Encyclopedia of Country Living, a 900+ page tome by Carla Emery that details everything our agrarian ancestors did.

Tags creative, creativity, fiction, food, ideas, novel settings, speculative fiction, storyworld

The Writer's PenCase

Putting Fire in Your Fiction Part II

Post author By Donna L.H. Smith-Managing Editor
Post date November 10, 2015
No Comments on Putting Fire in Your Fiction Part II

We’re looking at Donald Maass’ The Fire in Fiction. @DonaldMaass #FireinFiction

I’m on a quest to learn more about writing and share it with you, Today, we’ll talk about Chapter 1, Protagonists vs. Heroes.

“…think about the people whom you deeply admire. Who are the individuals for whom you would cancel other plans? Who stirs in your awe, respect, humility, and high esteem? Are these regular people, no different than anyone else? They may not be famous but they are in some way exceptional, right? Click to Tweet

Tags Author, Donald Maass, fiction, fire in fiction, writing, Writing tips