The Phases of Your Dream Come True…

, by

Greetings, Friends! Susie Larson here… Today I want to connect with you about the very real phases most of us walk through in order to step out and step into our dreams. Maybe you’ve read this famous Hudson Taylor quote before. These words inspire me: I have found there are three stages to every great work of God: It is impossible; then it is difficult; then it is done. 

Read More

Story Part I: What Is It?

, by

Happy Friday from Gail  Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com Story is what sells the book and attracts readers, Donald Maass, a top agent and novelist, says in Writing the Breakout Novel. An author can have exciting characters, unique setting, tremendous dialogue, but if he doesn’t have a good story, he has nothing. Story is taking an idea and bringing it to life by transporting the reader from one world to another through the experiences of a character on a mission—striving to reach a goal with a purpose. A story has the power to capture readers and allow them to experience the journey….

Read More

Deeper Into the Interview

, by

Jan here. Over this summer, for my two monthly contributions to the CAN blog, I’d like to explore the interview. On the first Friday of the month, today, I’m supposed to address writing craft. On the fourth Monday, writer encouragement is my assigned category. I plan to use both, craft and encouragement, to talk about the interview as part of our writing. To begin my summer series on interviewing I’ll share a post I wrote in 2007 when I was a year into writing the Live Free series. I had discovered that interviewing had a whole lot more to it than simply getting information for my…

Read More

Description III: Presenting Action

, by

Good morning from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com.   I sort of chuckled when I realized last time I wrote here, I was supposed to be blogging on Love Inspired Authors Blog so you received a blog from me on traveling and how it affects me life. I guess that has to do with writing also, but I wanted to finish my three blogs related to Description. So here you are – Part III Presenting Action. Describing action brings a story to life, but the amount of description is regulated by the kind of action. Ask yourself these kinds of questions: How significant…

Read More

The Writer as Learner

, by

Jan–nostalgic and wishing we could get together and chat about writing over a cup of tea or coffee. Yesterday, I slid a package out from my mailbox at the end of the country road where I live. Inside, along with a couple of text books I ordered, was a book about writing nonfiction and understanding the editor’s perspective. Earlier today, I turned to another resource to look up a grammar tip. What was that rule about . . .? After that, I read a few blogs I visit from time to time and read about writing and marketing. On a recent road trip,…

Read More

Description II: Purposeful Details

, by

 H from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com. Right now, I am away from home on staff at the American Christian Writers conference in Dallas, Texas, and today I want to give you some information on purposeful details. Description can connect with readers when it evokes emotion, and it can also deepen characterization by helping expose characters’ attitudes. When you use detailed descriptions in your novels, think about the affect the details have on readers. Develop them to get the most emotional impact you can. And how do you do that?

Read More

We Need to Get Out More

, by

 Blessings to you from Bonnie Leon. Most days do you stay cloistered in your office with your story ideas flying onto your computer screen or your nose in a research book seeking an imperative piece of information that turns out to be impossible to find? That’s the writing life, but there’s more to living than that. And if you’re not experiencing it you’re missing special pleasures offered to us by our Heavenly Father. There is so much to be gained by engaging in the world around us.

Read More

A Two-Way Surge

, by

Happy 1st Monday (of the month which ushers in spring, I might add!) from Dianne Neal Matthews. Last month I loved Jeanette’s post about sharing in the joys of fellow writers’ successes. It reminded me of a lesson that God taught me several years ago, when I was at one of the lowest points of my life.

Read More

Descriptions I: Bringing Experience To Life

, by

 Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com here to share some writing tips with you. Fiction is mixture of plot, characters, theme, and setting and so much more, While setting is one way the reader receives a sense of place, it can do so much more for the reader. This series of posts will give you ideas on how to enhance your descriptions and make the work for you.

Read More

He Makes Me Able

, by

It’s a new year and a lot of us have made New Year’s resolutions or simply decided that “this year will be different”. However, let’s not leap into change willy-nilly. If we leap too quickly it may lead to defeat, or what we see as defeat. Writers already experience enough of that.  

Read More