Helping to Change the World…Word by Word
The Steve Laube Agency
Helping to Change the World Word by Word
If you missed this before, spend a little time this week with this great four-minute animated video written by Nalo Hopkinson on writing great fiction.
It is also helpful for the nonfiction writer because you, too, tell stories. But yours happen to be nonfiction!
Once you are done watching, you can take a short quiz and even go deeper on the TED-Ed site. (Click here for the quiz.)
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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 …
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 …
Subtext is the hidden layer of meaning beneath the words and actions of a story. It’s what characters don’t say, what emotions they suppress, and what truths are left for the reader to infer, rather than being explicitly stated. Great writing isn’t only about what’s written; it’s also about what’s implied. Readers love engaging with stories where they have to read between the lines, piecing …
Seth Godin once wrote in a blog post: No one ever gets talker’s block. No one wakes up in the morning, discovers he has nothing to say and sits quietly, for days or weeks, until the muse hits, until the moment is right, until all the craziness in his life has died down. What a liberating concept! It reminded me of a great book by Joel Saltzman, If You Can Talk, You Can Write. Of course, …
(Updated 1/7/2025) I’m thankful to the Lord that I’m a literary agent working for Him in Christian publishing. I’m grateful to the readers of this blog for being part of our writing community. As for approaching me with your work, let’s see if our passions match: Christian Romantic Suspense and Suspense Readers of Christian romantic suspense and suspense are a large and devoted …
Imposter syndrome sometimes tells you the truth. Sometimes, you really do need to get better at the task in front of you to succeed. Many gurus will tell you that you already have everything you need. You just need to pay them money so you can be successful. But in the real world, success requires the hard work of improving your craft. Now, it’s true, sometimes imposter syndrome lies; but …
Last time I talked about Deep Point of View. Now, let’s jump into some practical tips for application. Eliminate “Distance” Words Eliminate “distance” words like “saw,” “heard,” “felt,” “thought,” “wondered,” “noticed,” and so on. Is there ever a time you’d use those? Of course, but for now, let’s try not to use them. I call them “distance” words because they distance the reader from …
My husband and I just read The Pursuit of Christian Maturity: Flourishing in the Grace and Knowledge of Christ by A. W. Tozer, compiled and edited by James L. Snyder. Steve Laube represents a portion of Tozer’s literary estate. The book offers many excellent points and is worth reading. An overarching lesson on obstacles to a fulfilling relationship with God made me think of writing about the …
I’m back to talk a little more about point of view, continuing to build on what I talked about in the last post. If you’ll remember, last time I dissected POV into three different types—the ones most often in fiction. Today, in this last post on point of view, let’s dig a little deeper and talk in depth about deep point of view since this is the preferred POV in fiction writing. Someone asked why …
