Writing Craft

Your Character’s Key Words

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon April 27, 2022

We all need passwords to log onto websites that we can hope to remember, right? So we are likely to choose configurations that mean something to us but not to others.

Here is a fun exercise you can use to think about your characters. Pretend your character needs a password, whether for a shopping site today or a safe stored under the floor in the year 1877. What word or number combination would she use? Why? The passwords your character creates say a lot about her. She’ll choose words and numbers she can identify with. Maybe:

Nana1999

50Mom

LoveytoHubs2010

70sBombshell

Fitness177

Knitter000661202

$$$$$$$Money$$$$$$$

If you try this exercise, you may gain new insights into your character.

Have fun!

I Is for Indemnification

By Steve Laubeon April 25, 2022

Publishing is not without risks. Plagiarism, fraud, and libel by an author are real possibilities. Thus within a book contract is a legal clause called indemnification, inserted to protect the publisher from an author’s antics. The indemnification clause, in essence, says that if someone sues your publisher because of your book, claiming something like libel (defamation) or plagiarism etc., …

Category: Book Business, Contracts, Copyright, Legal Issues, Publishing A-ZTag: Contracts, indemnification, lawsuit, warranty

How to Make Me Stop Reading

By Bob Hostetleron April 20, 2022

Once upon a time, I finished every book I started reading. I had to. I felt an obligation. If I didn’t finish it, it wouldn’t “count” as a book I’d read. Right? Then, maybe ten, maybe twenty years ago, I changed. I think I realized how many books there are in the world that I want to read and how little time I had left in life to read them. And I reasoned that plowing through a book I’d lost (or …

Category: Book Proposals, Craft, Writing Craft

Writers Groups

By Dan Balowon April 13, 2022

Writers need good, personal support structures because so much of the work is done in solitude. Christian writers conferences, whether they are held online or in person, are part of this structure, as one receives training; exposure to different ways of thinking; critical review; advice from people with experience they lack; and, most importantly, relationships. But another level of support is …

Category: Communication, Conferences

Cover Bands Don’t Change the World

By Steve Laubeon April 11, 2022

by Steve Laube

I had been reading and thinking about creativity when I came across the title of today’s post as a chapter by that name in a book called The Accidental Creative: How to be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice by Todd Henry (2011). It stopped me in my tracks. I knew he was right. A cover band plays other people’s music. Often it is a new interpretation of a familiar song and sometimes …

Category: Art, Craft, Creativity, Writing CraftTag: Creativity, Writing Craft

Today Is a Good Day to (re)Read

By Steve Laubeon March 28, 2022

by Steve Laube

What was the favorite book you read, cover to cover, in the last year or so? Why is it your favorite? (It can be fiction or non-fiction. Faith-based or not.) Feel free to tell us in the comments about yours.

Read it Again

Now that you’ve identified the book. Read it again. As Vladimir Nabakov wrote:

“Curiously enough, one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A …

Category: Art, Craft, Reading, Writing CraftTag: Reading, Writing Craft

A Is for Agent

By Steve Laubeon March 14, 2022

by Steve Laube

I thought it might be fun to write a series that addresses some of the basic terms that define our industry. The perfect place to start, of course, is the letter "A." And even better to start with the word "Agent."

If you are a writer, you've got it easy. When you say you are a writer your audience lights up because they know what that means. (Their perception is that you …

Category: Agents, Book Business, Book Business, Career, Creativity, E-Books, Legal Issues, Publishing A-Z, Writing CraftTag: Agent, Book Business, publishing

B Is for Buy Back

By Steve Laubeon February 28, 2022

by Steve Laube

Many authors are also speakers and as such usually have a book table in the back of the room where the audience can purchase a copy of their book during an event. This can be a very valuable source of income for the author if they have negotiated a “buy back” price (also known as the author’s discount) at the time of signing their book contract.

Check Your Contract …

Category: Book Business, Publishing A-ZTag: Author Buy Back, Author Purchases, Author Sales Tax, Book Business, Publishing A-Z

The Power of Punctuation

By Bob Hostetleron February 24, 2022

In his memoir, Education of a Wandering Man, Louis L’Amour repeats a charming story about two great actresses that reveals the power of punctuation: Sarah Bernhardt . . . finally got a chance to see [Eleanora] Duse on the stage and, overcome with the greatness of the performance, wrote a very quick note to send backstage. It said: “Sarah Bernhardt says Eleanora Duse is a great actress.” Busy …

Category: Grammar

Ten Reasons to Read a Christian Romance Novel

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon February 10, 2022

Since we’re on the cusp of Valentine’s Day, this is a great time to read a Christian romance novel. Here are a few good reasons, in no particular order: The characters are living with Christ as the focus of their world. You know the ending will be sweet. The story will be uplifting. You can root for the characters and their romance. You are invested in the characters’ problems and how they will …

Category: Craft, Creativity