Some fun with classical music today! Enjoy the virtuosity, once the musicians begin playing, and the shenanigans surrounding it all.
Blog
Every Christian Book Is About Easter
As we near Holy Week, I know the assertion that every Christian book is about Easter won’t change anything in publishing. The seasonal best-seller lists, bookseller promotions, online keyword searches, and publishers require marketing hooks to advertise. But let’s face it: All Christian books are really about Easter Sunday morning. Christian books all have a key pivot point of their message in the …
Mastering Subtext in Fiction, Part 2: Subtext in Dialogue
Let’s dig a little deeper into how subtext in dialogue works and what it looks like. In the previous post, I talked about how people rarely say exactly what they mean—especially when under stress or in a sticky situation—or maybe when the truth would hurt someone’s feelings. We dodge, deflect, soften our words, or hide our true feelings behind sarcasm or politeness. Great fictional dialogue works …
How to Write Your Novel From the Middle With James Scott Bell
Are you starting your book in the wrong place? I’m not referring to giving too much backstory. I mean, are you starting your story in the wrong place? Pantsers often start at the beginning and just let the story unfold. Plotters often want to outline the entire story from beginning to end before they write the first page. But what would happen if you started writing your book from the …
Houston, We Have a Problem
This week marks the 55th anniversary of the launch of the infamous Apollo 13 mission to the moon (April 11, 1970). Two days after the launch, an oxygen tank exploded, jeopardizing the lives of the astronauts and scrapping the mission. Their ingenious solutions and subsequent safe return on April 17 were later portrayed in the award-winning 1995 film Apollo 13. I couldn’t help but think that the …
Fun Fridays – April 4, 2025
What an amazing invention! I love the battery life and the ability to scan through the content quickly. Incredibly portable and even shareable. I wish I had thought of it. Even better? I don’t have to rely on Amazon to deliver it by drone. The bookbook™!
A Writer’s Prayer on Beginning a New Project
Abba, Father, thank you for the work you have given me to do, for what I am about to write. I begin in fear and trembling, not at all sure that I can start well, let alone finish well. But your grace is sufficient for me, in writing as in all of life, for your strength is made perfect in my weakness. Take my weakness, all of it. I give it to you. Take my strength, what little I have. Take my mind, …
Expand Our Storytelling
Dan’s post last week, “Foreign Intelligence,” got me thinking. There are times when I wonder if I need to change my glasses—metaphorically—to correct, or even remove, a myopic vision that only sees or cares about the first-world problems surrounding me. Of course, the problems in my life, city, state, region, and country are of great importance. But they are not the only ones. …
Fun Fridays – March 28, 2025
A perfect prelude to the upcoming April Fool’s Day. For all piano accompanists out there, this video will especially resonate with you!
Foreign Intelligence
In 2017, I wrote about The Challenge for American Christian Authors. I asserted that great care needs to be taken when American authors want their message to be understood by anyone outside of the US Christian subculture. Today, I am reversing that position and looking at what writers from other countries might have to say to the North American believer. Two things brought this to mind: First, I …