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.
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 16th 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 23rd 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
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
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.
Throughout my decades in publishing, I’ve written many different types of nonfiction books: biographies, how-to, diet, self-help, co-authored books, children’s books and others. I’ve interviewed more than 150 bestselling authors and written their stories for various magazines. It’s not that I’m the best writer in the room but I am one of the more consistent, persistent writers.
I attend conferences and pitch my ideas to editors. I listen to their response and sometimes they say, “That’s a good idea, Terry. Write that up and send it to me.” I make a little note, then I go home. write and send it. Now that doesn’t mean I get published, but I did give myself a chance to get published because of my submission.
Now I go to conferences as an editor and listen to writers pitch their ideas.
I listen carefully and if I hear a good idea, I encourage them to send it to me. I’ve been to conferences across the United States and Canada listening to writers and encouraging them to send me their material. Here’s a startling statistic: probably only about 10% of those writers actually submit their requested material. I follow up through email and often a phone call to encourage them to send it—but they don’t submit.
There are several other key factors from my experience:
Professionals continue to work at learning the craft of writing. I’m constantly reading books and taking online courses and learning. The authors who disappear off the bestseller list figure they have arrived at their craft and don’t have anything else to learn. Yes, I’ve met some of these writers.
Professional writers keep in touch with readers through an email newsletter and have invested the time to learn about their audience (readers) then write what they want and expect. These professionals also understand the importance of a gentle follow-up. Notice the word “gentle” because if you are too pushy, the easiest answer to give is “no thank you.” Yes often takes patience, persistence and time.
These professional writers also understand the importance of continual pitching to decision makers (editors but also radio show hosts, podcast creators, and others of influence). Authors who succeed in the publishing world are looking for opportunities. When they find the open door, they have the boldness to move forward and seize it.
Also professional writers understand the importance of deadlines and meet those deadlines with quality writing. As an editor, I’ve fielded calls from writers who are not going to make their deadlines. They have many reasons—some of them even reasonable. Writers are notoriously late so publishers often build some room for such excuses into their schedule—but don’t be one of those writers. I’ve taken some crazy deadlines from publishers and sometimes stayed writing at my keyboard all night to send my manuscript on the deadline. It’s another key for those writers who succeed in the book business.
The path is not easy for any of us and takes persistence, consistency and discipline.
But it is possible for you to find the right idea and the right book and the right publisher at the right time. I understand there are many rights which need to align. It simply will not fly if you don’t try.
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.”
Featuring…
Managing and Submitting Poetry, Short Stories, & Nonfiction with Patricia Tiffany Morris
If you write poetry, short stories, articles, and essays, then you know the importance of keeping track of your submissions. Patricia shares how to use different programs to keep track of where you submitted your work, when you’ll hear back from publisher, and the outcome. A few of Patricia’s tracking programs of choice are Submittable, Scrivener, and Excel. These are also good for keeping up with your works in progress (WIPs), awards, and more. For more information and resources, be sure to check out this week’s replay.
Watch the August 16th replay.
Patricia Tiffany Morris sketches ideas while she sleeps, that is, when she sleeps. She encourages others to hope in Christ. An eclectic creative with a geeky-tech affinity and a poet with three names, Patricia adores Pinterest and hashtags but finds Twitter quirky. She owns Tiffany Inks Studio LLC, publisher of Journaling Scribbles. TISLLC provides troubleshooting and artwork services for writers. Visit her online at PatriciaTiffanyMorris.com
Every Writer Needs a Bio with Edie Melson
All writers, novice or veteran, needs a bio. Actually, we need more than one bio! Social media expert Edie joins us to discuss different types of bios and what information they should have. She explains that social media bios are different from that of a website or book. Your bios need to be relevant, represent our personality, and be credible. She also shares what to avoid putting in a bio. Your bio should represent you at your best. For more tips and resources on this important topice, check out this week’s replay/
Watch the August 23rd replay.
Edie Melson is a woman of faith with ink-stained fingers experiencing life through the lens of her camera. Her advice, “Find your voice, live your story.” Her bestselling eBook on social media has been updated, expanded, and re-released with co-author DiAnn Mills as Social Media for Today’s Writer. She’s the director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference and author of numerous books.
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
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.”
Engaging the Kid Brain with Pam Halter
Award-winning children’s book author, Pam Halter, knows that writing chapter books for 7-10- year-olds involves an interesting story plot, good word choices, characters kids will love, and the ability to do it all in 15,000 words or less. In this episode: Pam shares practical tips for how to incorporate these essentials in stories. As a bonus, she’ll lead you in a creative writing exercise to apply what you learn. For more information and resources check out this week’s replay.
Watch the November 16th replay
Pam Halter, an award-winning children’s book author. Her picture book series, Willoughby and Friends, is a Purple Dragonfly recipient and so popular with children, parents have been known to hide the books because they’re sick of reading them. She lives in southern NJ with her husband, special needs adult daughter, and three cats. You can connect with Pam on social media or at her website, pamhalter.com
Writers Chat, hosted live each Tuesday at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET for an hour on Zoom. The permanent Zoom room link is: http://zoom.us/j/4074198133
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
Last month we looked at an overview of writing nonfiction for kids. This month we focus in on writing nonfiction magazine articles for kids. Most children’s magazines buy MORE nonfiction articles than fiction.
Here are some helpful tidbits for crafting and selling your nonfiction to children’s magazines (online and print).
Research way more than you think you need. Use print sources and primary sources (interviews with people) primarily. For facts be sure you have three reliable, verifiable sources for each fact you include.
Keep track of your sources. A variety of website and software packages include bibliography builders. Pick one and use it to keep track of the following information:
Title and author (and illustrator) even on websites
Publishing company or magazine title
Publishing date or magazine date, volume and issue
City of publication for books
Page numbers for all printed material. Photocopy or download the actual pages you use.
For online sources the URL
For primary sources their names and date of the interview
Organize your research. If you can outline your article before you write it. If not, be sure you can outline it logically after it is written.
Be able to sum your article up in one sentence.
Remember the rule of threes.
Use great writing: strong verbs and nouns, clear sentences, keep words and sentence length age-appropriate, write tight, avoid passive voice.
Use visuals if you are a photographer or illustrator. If not, recommend the inclusion of visuals at specific places in your article.
Use humor when appropriate
Try to use a child-character in your article.
Research the publishers (books and magazines) well before submitting. Follow their guidelines exactly.
Magazines buy a variety of nonfiction articles. Here are a few ideas to get your brain tumbling.
Step-by-step How-to articles. Be sure the tools, materials and instructions are age-appropriate. Follow magazine guidelines exactly.
Sports articles. Interviews with sports figures, or profiles on them are always needed. Also informational articles should be about unusual sports. Introduce kids to sports they don’t commonly read about or participate in.
Articles about the arts. Focus, again, on famous people or people who have accomplished exciting or unusual things. If your subject is a kid that’s a big plus. Focus your articles on unusual productions, musical instruments, how-to articles for visual arts or literature.
How-to articles are great for sports, the arts, cooking, crafts, science experiments, gardening, pet care. The list is endless. Be sure to organize the article well with headings that clearly show the steps.
Facts or informational pieces. RESEARCH well. Write in a kid-friendly style. Engage and inspire your readers to dig deeper into the subject. Supply them with other sources (books, websites, magazines) they can check out for themselves.
Remember: nonfiction is BIG! It takes lots of research and plenty of patience to get the articles done right. But selling nonfiction magazine articles is a giant step toward publication and a readership of hundreds of thousands of kids. They’re eating this stuff up.
Go for it!
EXTRA: For more handy info about writing nonfiction for children read Cyle Young’s article here.
Jean Hall lives in Louisville, Kentucky. She is represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary. Her premier picture book series Four Seasons was recently signed by Little Lamb Books. Jean is a member of the SCBWI, Word Weavers International, and the Kentucky Christian Writers. Visit Jean at jeanmatthewhall.com, on Facebook at Jean Matthew Hall, and on Twitter as @Jean_Hall.
In the publishing world nonfiction is a hot item at this time. For both children’s magazines and books (especially picture books) nonfiction has more publishing options than fiction. So, if you love research, writing nonfiction might be the way to go.
Current children’s magazines are always looking for great nonfiction pieces. But they must be well researched, well documented and well written. If you are an illustrator or photographer offering visuals with your magazine articles is a huge plus.
Whether for books or magazines however, there is one critical rule to always obey:
Present only verifiable facts. Do not add any made-up conversations or situations to your nonfiction manuscripts. Adding such imaginary bits transform your manuscript from nonfiction to informational writing, or to historical or bibliographic fiction.
TIPS
Many of the techniques we use in great fiction also make for great nonfiction. Here are a few tips:
Start with a blast—jump into the article with a true anecdote, amazing facts or questions.
Add humor—even heavy topics can become appealing by adding a little humor.
Surprise!—adding elements of surprise will keep our readers tuned in until the finish.
Zero in on the unusual—especially with familiar topics we need to keep researching deeper and deeper until we find something unique, brand new, curious or little-known about the subject of our article or book.
Use dynamic language—strong verbs and nouns, and a strong voice can make nonfiction just as riveting as fiction.
REMEMBER
Document all sources you use with complete bibliographic information. Photocopy the actual pages you use from magazines and books. Print out information you get from websites.
Avoid online information and encyclopedias, if possible. Emphasize facts you get from books on your subject.
Use the most recent research available.
Stick to verifiable FACTS.
No anthropomorphism.
If your research is boring to you, your article or book is going to bore readers. Choose subjects you find interesting.
DIG DEEPER
For tons of great information about writing nonfiction for kids check out these sources.
Jean Hall lives in Louisville, Kentucky. She is represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary. Her premier picture book series Four Seasons was recently signed by Little Lamb Books. Jean is a member of the SCBWI, Word Weavers International, and the Kentucky Christian Writers. Visit Jean at jeanmatthewhall.com, on Facebook at Jean Matthew Hall, and on Twitter as @Jean_Hall.
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.”]
Do you ever feel like “just a writer?” “Just” a wannabe author? “Just” a wordsmith who spends hours inventing characters and hoping someone will read your work?
I encourage you to throw out the word “just” from your thinking. Treat it like yesterday’s trash that’s contaminating your mind. You are not “just” a writer. You are “A WRITER!”
So why are writers—especially Christian writers—important? Because when you feel that niggling urge to create words that are meaningful, then being a writer is “A CALLING.”
There are billions of folks in this world with numerous callings on their life. Some are called to heal, some to organize, some to preach God’s Word, some to be leaders, some to be helpers. The list can go on. But to be called to write is unique in that you can reach people around the world without so much as a passport.
I know many writers with debilitating illnesses. Many who have difficulty traveling for one reason or another. Some with responsibilities that anchor them to their homes. Yet the message in their words can reach hundreds, thousands, even millions, without so much as using a gallon of gasoline.
“But all I write is fiction. How is that a calling?”
There are thousands of folks around the world who would never think of picking up a Christian non-fiction book. You could find them running away from a Max Lucado book as though rabid dogs were on their heels. Fiction is less threatening, more entertaining, and, if a writer is good, they can slip in the gospel message without scaring off the reader. Christian fiction might be the only Gospel message they’ve ever heard. Who knows where those seeds might sprout?
Another blessing about writing is that you can create a variety of messages, and not just in your usual genre. Most writers have blogs. These allow writers to create words that can fulfill promptings that the Holy Spirit places on your mind and heart. While some in the writing field encourage writers to always stay within the expected theme (such as historical fiction), I choose to believe that God wants to use our words to minister and enlighten the audience He has created for our writing.
These last few weeks have revealed horrifying videos about abortion taking place in our country. Although I write historicals, I felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit to create words that will hopefully open people’s eyes in a new way to the atrocities taking place in contemporary America. If you wish to read that blog, you can click here.
So the next time you think you are “just” a writer, praise God for the calling He has placed in your heart. And get writing!
Vintage Typewriter courtesy of: Just2shutter through freedigitalphotos.net
Photo of man writing courtesy of: tiramisustudio through freedigitalphotos.net
