Craft
Quick Fiction Fixes – Using actions to show emotion
We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle. This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you! Character actions: (I already covered…
Review: Crimson Eve by Brandilyn Collins
WARNING! Do not pick up this book unless you have time to read it straight through. Brandilyn’s books have never disappointed me, but this one was simply impossible to put down. Even when I figured out one of the plot points with 100 pages left I…COULD…NOT…PUT…THIS…BOOK…DOWN. Crimson Eve is a classic woman in jeopardy story…
GROWING GRAMMAR:
“Help Stamp Out, Eliminate and Abolish Redundancy!” –Unknown, Unknown, Unknown My students are fond of writing, “I was thinking in my mind. . .” or “I was thinking in my head….” This concerns me as I wonder in what other parts of their bodies thinking may (or may not) be happening. These repeated or unnecessary…
What is “Christian” Fiction?
Here’s a question that’s been running through my mind the past several weeks: What exactly is Christian fiction? At first glance, it may seem like an easy question, but look again. How do we define what is “Christian” and what is secular? The question surfaced in my mind in response to a novel I read…
Saturday Morning Review: The Lost Sheep by Brandt Dodson
I literally just got done reading this book and had to tell you about it. Those of you who know me, know I don’t usually read PI stories. I may love the Thin Man movies, but PI tales have never been my thing. Brandt Dodson has changed that. The fourth installment in Brandt Dodson’s Colton…
Quick Fiction Fixes – Using thoughts to show emotion
We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle. This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you! Character thoughts: Your characters are…
Michelle Sutton’s review of After the Leaves Fall by Nicole Baart.
About the Book: Her childhood marked by rejection and loss, Julia Bakker longs for life to finally begin. Determined to escape her conservative Christian hometown, she chooses college for a radical reinvention. But following a momentous mistake, the self-defeated Julia returns to her loving grandmother’s farm. Will she learn to hope in a God who…
Why People Buy Cookbooks (and why you need to know)
My wife wants to be Rachel Ray. Based on the dinner, she cooked last night, I’d say she’s well on her way! Pork chops with cooked apples. Homemade macaroni and cheddar with broccoli and curly, spiral noodles instead of tube macaroni. At our house the Food Network is a favorite channel. We subscribe to Rachel…
Try Dying by James Scott Bell
This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducingTRY DYING (Center Street October 24, 2007) by James Scott BellREVIEW: I really wanted to be farther into this book before this blog tour posted, but alas I’m a slow reader! But so far I’m enjoying the book, as much as I enjoyed meeting the author! The…
Quick Fiction Fixes – Using physical reactions to show emotion
We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle. This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you! Physical reactions: Psychiatrists agree that…