Prologues and Openings

As a child, I didn't like writing the beginning of a story. To me, the beginning was a long, boring sequence of character introductions labeled exposition that I had to get out of the way before the fun could start. One book I wrote had random action sequences (staring different characters) that had almost nothing to do …

Please Write Responsibly

I was reading an story the other day that imagined an alternate history in which President Kennedy survived his assassination attempt, but had severe brain damage, leaving him childlike. While the story was really good, I had to ask myself: is this respectful? Kennedy was a real person who really died not that long ago. He has living …

Marketing and Publishing Tips for Authors from Expert Sara Wigal

Do you ever stare at the books on your shelf and wonder how you get to there from where you are now--how to get to published. Recently, I interviewed Sara Wigal, the Senior Manager of JKS Communications and publishing professor at Belmont University. According to her, there are two routes for authors--traditional publishing and self …

Don’t Start With an Info Dump

Recently, I was looking back over a short story I wrote in high school and realized how slow the opening was. People don't have long attention spans, so grabbing them in the first couple sentences is critical. So what does this story do wrong, and what can I learn about good openings from its failure? …

13 Social Media Tips for Authors

Social media has never come naturally to me. In fact, I much prefer anti-social media like books. Maybe you know the feeling of staring at your Twitter or Facebook page (or your blog) and feeling like you have nothing important to say. My social media class has pushed me on this, and I recently went …

Why is There so Little Christian Science Fiction?

There's C. S. Lewis's Space Trilogy (highly recommended). There's Madeline L'Engle's books. A couple of Jerry Jenkins's book are dystopian. And that's about it. I'm sure there are wonderful science fiction books with Christian themes out there that I've just never heard of, but they seem to by a small, small minority. As a Christian …

Social Media for Authors: Interview with Social Media Strategist Allison Harpole

Many authors want to grow a platform on social media, but if you're anything like me, social media is a struggle. Allison Harpole has worked with a variety of businesses to drastically improve their social media presence. In an interview with me, she revealed her tips for authors. Whether authors are trying to find a …

Interview With Bestselling Collaborator, Matt Litton

Matt Litton, a professional collaborator whose work has appeared on the Wall Street Journal and Publisher’s Weekly bestseller lists, offered his thoughts on collaboration and writing in an interview. Litton, who’d published several of his own books, was asked by his literary agents friends to help another author with his book. “It was fun,” Litton …

Dialogue and Concision: A Writing Critique

Have you ever looked back at your old writing to see how you've grown? Recently, I was looking back through a novel I wrote in high school and was surprised by how much could be cut without changing the story. Characters stop to order drinks, engage in pleasantries, say things we say in real life …

Rotating Perspective and Unreliable Narrator: A Writing Critique

In middle school, I was addicted to K. A. Applegate’s Animorphs series, especially its use of rotating first-person. I incorporated this technique into all my writing including my high school novel Grayscale. Let’s take a peek back to see what we can learn from this attempt. In rotating first-person, it's important to make each character's …