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Should Politics and Fiction Mix?
While bookworms consult other bookworms for reading recommendations, there is often a common caveat to these requests. It goes something like this: “I love the suspense or thriller genre, but please no politics.” Readers have valid reasons for avoiding the political. Fiction is often viewed as an escape from the problems of the world. No one wants to be lectured from either the left or the right of the political spectrum. So why do writers, who happen to be political junkies, inject their stories with political principles, and why is it important? Here are a few reasons to consider. Education Infuse fiction with politics in order to educate. There is…
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The Bottom Line: What I’ve Learned in 40+ Years of Writing
The writing life is a great ride—if one can hang on. I’ve never liked roller coasters—and yet, that’s exactly what I’ve been riding for nearly half a century. How well I remember that glorious first book contract somewhere back in the mists of the 1970s. I thought I was set. I had a publisher, I had an editor, I could just spend the rest of my life writing the stories I was passionate to tell and—Voilà—they would be published. It didn’t take me long to figure out that editors change, publishers cancel series, agents retire—or even die. Life is unstable—and nothing more so than the writing life. Zondervan cancelled their…
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The Great Adverbectomy
When I first began writing, I wrote completely without guidance, operating my keyboard without training. After several manuscript rejections, I found much-needed help through a critique group. My first writing mentor addressed a problem. Since I had enough adverbs in my first paragraph to give an editor a heart attack, they were removed. Gasp. Wheeze. Whimper. I loved my adverbs. They were astonishingly, beguilingly, charmingly, alluringly wonderful.After recovering from the shock, I went home and held a small service in their honor. Lovingly, longingly, I took one final look at my Word document before starting my search. Weepingly, I sought for any word ending in the dreaded, tell-tale “ly” and…
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Eight Ways to Make an Editor Do a Happy Dance
Writing intended for publication, whether it’s traditional, partner or self-publication, should be sifted through an editor filter. Why? Because we authors tend to read what’s in our heads, not what’s on the computer screen. We also have trouble pinpointing weaknesses in our own manuscripts. Editors who have no emotional attachment to our work provide unbiased, professional feedback. Even editors need editors. My writing is always improved by an editor’s candid comments. Here are a few key things to remember to create a smooth and productive writer/editor relationship: Read As many great writers and publishers have said, “Good writers are first and foremost good readers.” Reading teaches us word usage, sentence…
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Writing That Transforms
I thought, “How cool is that? The idea that acceptance, simple grace, is the first step in a transformation.” The implications of that idea are mind-blowing...
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Write Regularly (Here’s How…and Why)
We all have those hours somewhere, we just don’t take advantage of them because resistance tells us they’re not enough – we’re not enough. But it will be enough, and so are you.
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The Rescue
The sweat on her skin chilled. “Every second longer we’re inside increases how hard it will be to fight our way out of here.”
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The End
“The opposite of the happy ending is not actually the sad ending. The sad ending is sometimes the happy ending. The opposite of the happy ending is actually the unsatisfying ending.” ~ Orson Scott Card “Just look at the language we use to talk about endings. Nobody ever accuses the beginning of a story of being a “cop-out,” or a “cheat,” or of “falling flat.” Beginnings don’t have to pay off anything, or explain everything. The beginning of the story hooks us, and makes a bunch of promises — and then the ending has to deliver on all those promises. So perhaps it’s not surprising that it’s slightly easier to…
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So You Want To Be A Writer
Every journey begins with the first step. If your shoelaces are tied together, the first step may result in a tumble, injury, and a lifetime of medical bills. Tied shoelaces are not the best way to begin a journey. So, you want to be a writer. Where do you begin? How do you keep from tripping over your own feet? Think of the word write as a noun (I’m a writer!) and then as a verb (I write). The Writer: Now Write: Writing is a bit like jogging. Your first run may feel a bit more elegant than it looks to the observer. Who cares? Write. Then do it again…
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You’re Not The Only One
One author's ICW odyssey.
