Hi! Sherry Kyle here, writing from my laptop in central California. By definition, setting is the period and place of a story. It gives a story authenticity and gives the characters and plot believability. In other words, your setting is the large frame, which defines the surrounding for your characters. When I wrote my first published novel, it didn’t take long to decide where I wanted my story to take place. I lived near a charming coastal town that would, in my opinion, be a wonderful backdrop for the contemporary fiction world I wanted to create.
Month: October 2011
This is our archive pageLove Finds You In Golden New Mexico, by Lena Nelson Dooley
Love Finds You In Golden New Mexico, by Lena Nelson Dooley Lena Nelson Dooley's historical romance, Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico is ALL about love. Anyone who has studied the five different types of love–attraction (epithumia), romance (eros), affection (storge), friendship (phile), and selfless giving (agape)–will recognize examples of every facet of love in the characters Dooley created for her story. Surrounded by a vivid setting in the 1890s mining town, Madeline Mercer and Jeremiah Dennison interact with kind, lovable God-fearing friends, as well as selfish, conniving criminals, before finding one another. You'll find yourself turning pages far…
Basic of Poetry Writing II – Images
by Donn Taylor In my last poetry blog we talked about finding strong words and putting them in emphatic positions in the poetic line. The end of the line is most emphatic; the beginning, next-most emphatic. Now we go on to specific kinds of strong words. As Lawrence Perrine wrote, poetry speaks in "higher voltage" than prose. One essential means of achieving that higher voltage is the effective use of images—words or phrases that appeal to one of the five senses. Why important? Because everything we know about the world we live in comes to us through one…
Tips from the Pros: Jeanette Windle
Good day to you from Sarah Sundin! Today I have the honor of interviewing award-winning author, Jeanette Windle. Her most recent novel, Freedom’s Stand, was nominated for the Golden Scroll Novel of the Year, and her novel Veiled Freedom was a finalist for the Christian Book Award and the Christy in 2010. SS: Jeanette, how did you get into writing? JW: Writing has always been such a part of my life, I can’t remember ever consciously wanting to write. The missionary kid boarding school I attended in the Venezuelan Andes put great emphasis on proper composition (we were doing…
Long Trail Home by Vickie McDonough
Long Trail Home, book 3 in the Texas Trails: A Morgan Family series by Vickie McDonough Moody Publishers ISBN 978-0802405852 A weary soldier returns from the War Between the States to discover his parents dead, his family farm in shambles, and his fiancée married. Riley Morgan takes a job at the Wilcox School for Blind Children and tries to make peace with God and himself. When a pretty, blind woman who cares for the children reaches through his scarred walls and touches his heart, he begins to find renewed faith and hope for the future. But when he discovers Annie…
The Sagging Character
Greetings from Gail Gaymer Martin, home from a refreshing Writers Retreat in the Caribbean. What could be better? Drop by to see me at www.gailmartin.com or look for me on Facebook and Twitter. Last month I posted ideas for creating real life characters. This month I'm sharing tips on how to bolster your characterization if you have worries that it sags. This can happen so knowing how to stop it before it begins is always a great idea.
PUGS Pointers #3
Hi! I’m Kathy Ide, and in addition to being a published author, I’m a full-time professional freelance editor. For CAN, I’m blogging about “PUGS”–Punctuation, Usage, Grammar, and Spelling…tips for writers based on the most common mistakes I see in the manuscripts I edit. Each blog post will have one tip for each of the four categories, as well as a reason it’s important for authors to “polish their PUGS.” (For more PUGS tips, check out my website, http://www.kathyide.com/, or get a copy of my book “Polishing the PUGS” (available through the website or at the conferences I teach at). If you’re interested…
What do Books and Leg Warmers have in Common?
Happy Thursday from Jeanette! I tend to find illustrations for articles, devotionals, and blog posts in odd places. Last week for example, an experience that I had while shopping for shoes made me think more deeply about the writer’s life, specifically the genres we write in.
When Love Gets In The Way – A New Release
When Love Gets in the Way – Grace Bradley wishes all she touches would turn to gold. Instead, it tends to tarnish…that is, until she finds freedom on the Double K Ranch. Grace is fleeing from the man her father chose to be her husband. But once her heart is captured by her new employer’s best friend, and she finally understands the meaning of God’s sacrificial love, she relinquishes her independence to save her loved ones. Cade Ramsey contemplates running for dear life from the accident-prone nuisance he brought to his hometown. The trouble that trails her seems…
Weathering the Changes
Dianne Neal Matthews, here, looking at the snow-coated mountains around Salt Lake City. Last week I flew home after spending a couple of weeks in Illinois with my children/grandchildren. The day before I got home, the temperature had climbed into the 80s; the day after I arrived, the high was in the 40s. Talk about a mood swing.
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