I was pleased to stumble across an article by Randy Alcorn in World Magazine a few weeks ago. It dovetails perfectly with my article about why I decided to marry the word meaningful with the word suspense for my author’s tagline. In summary, the thrust of my article was about why I believe message is important in Christian fiction. I listed several reasons why I strongly believe this way, based on my understanding of Scripture. Many of my fans agree with me. At least one reader took me to task and told me to “lighten up”—that no, not every Christian novel needs to be message driven. Well, no, that’s not what I said. What did I say? Does that mean Christian writers can never write only a fun, entertaining story once in a while? No. But if all we write is entertainment, what eternal value is there? So what does Randy…
I’ve edited more novels this year than ever before. What I’ve observed (without pointing fingers at anyone in particular) is that a lot of inexperienced story writers make the same mistakes. One area of particular challenge is point of view. What is it? The term “point of view” pertains to the filter through which readers experience any particular scene in a story. Point of view occurs through the filter of the five senses and includes thoughts, memories, and really anything that can go on in a character’s head. One common rule of fiction writing today (which definitely wasn’t true one hundred years ago) is that point of view must remain consistent from the beginning of a scene (a slice of action in a story) to its end. What’s wrong with it? Readers want to experience story while “in the skin” not of the author but of one story character per scene…
Note: Previously published as a guest post at Thoughts of a Sojourner My Unconventional Path to Publication My boss sank into a chair across from my desk, hung his head, and delivered news no employee wants to hear. “We’re making cutbacks here at the college, and I’m afraid”—he took a deep breath and let it out—”your position is being eliminated.” A two-by-four to the side of the head couldn’t have jolted me more. What!? They’re cutting my job? It was January 13, 2006, and I was sitting in my office (see photo) at Northland Baptist Bible College (now Northland International University), where I’d been serving as an editor since 1995. With a BA in print journalism, I was in charge of editing and writing content for all sorts of campus publications: promotional brochures, a magazine, the academic catalog, the yearbook, even the website. And now, in five months, I’d no longer…
For my birthday, I asked for a book several friends had recommended—and I’m so glad I did. Lately, I’ve become rather impressed with this little book (187 pages). Because each chapter is topical, focusing on a specific sin, I’ve been first going to the chapters that address areas I know are a struggle for me. The book is Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate by Jerry Bridges. If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend you go get a copy. Now and then you may find me referring to it here because that’s how impressed I am with it—and how much it has stirred my thinking about several key areas of my life. And how I love passing on its truths to others. Yesterday, I was reading the chapter about anxiety and frustration and came across this wonderful quotation from John Newton, author of “Amazing Grace.” “[One of the…
