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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Craft » Page 2

Craft

Books Are Signposts Along the Way

By Steve Laubeon August 16, 2021
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The novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, is a series of stories linked together in the small town of Macondo in South America. It is surrounded by a swamp and thus is known for its isolation.

One day the town was infected by a plague that causes insomnia. The people of the town were not unhappy at first because it meant there was more time to get things done. But there was more to this plague. In addition to insomnia, they began to lose their memory. Marquez called it the loss of “the name and notion of things.”

They countered these symptoms by writing names on things or pinning signs to them. You would walk around the town and see the words clock, chair, dog, wall, and so on. But they were afraid they would forget the purpose of the items. So they would write longer and more elaborate signs with instructions. For example, this is what was looped around the neck of the cow: “This is the cow. She must be milked every morning so that she will produce milk, and the milk must be boiled in order to be mixed with coffee to make coffee and milk.”

This literary exploration of collective amnesia made me think of the purpose of writing books and publishing in general. Writing is a thankless task during the process. But the finished work is a “signpost,” a place of memory or experience. A place where a traveler can go, sit for a while, and later move to another signpost having been affected by their previous reading. Without these books, our society would forget where we came from and where we should be going.

In a small way each book being written, whether for entertainment, education, or inspiration, is a signpost. A stopping place with a set goal of direction. When driving you see signs: “Stop,” “Yield,” “Slow, children crossing,” “No parking,” and more. But even something as simple as the roadside mile marker tells us that we are one step closer to our destination.

Bear with me for a moment and think of the “signs” we find in Scripture. Ones that point to greater things to come (emphasis added):

“I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth” (Genesis 9:12-14).

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:13-15).

“And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger”
(Luke 2:11-13).

Think about the sign that your book is creating. Signs like “Hope,” “Love,” “Redemption,” “Joy,” “Lament,” “Restoration,” “Create,” or “Beauty.” Make your sign unique and one that makes a reader stop and sit a while.

[Unfortunately, while writing this, the 1971 hit song “Signs” by The Five Man Electrical Band kept playing in my mind. (https://bit.ly/3zXnIlO)]

Your Turn

What is written on the “sign” for your book (fiction or nonfiction)? It can be a single word or two or a phrase up to six words (short enough to remember).

[This is a revised version of a post from December 2012.]

Leave a Comment
Category: Art, Craft, Creativity, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Creativity, Signs

The Story We Bring to the Story

By Steve Laubeon June 7, 2021
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by Steve Laube

With all the discussion about the craft of fiction and the need to write a great story there is one thing missing in the equation. The one thing that is the secret to great fiction. And it is the one thing the writer cannot control.

That one thing is the story the reader brings with them to their reading experience. As a reader I have the life I have lived, the people I’ve …

Read moreThe Story We Bring to the Story
Category: Art, Craft, Creativity, Steve, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Reader, story

Diligence Is Rewarded

By Steve Laubeon September 28, 2020
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by Steve Laube

The ease of today’s social media communication brings a casual layer to the task of writing. Careful composition is trumped by the need for speed. For most “throw away” emails and posts that is the new normal. But it should never leak into the business of writing, either in craft or in delicate communication.

The other day I received an email query/proposal. There was a very …

Read moreDiligence Is Rewarded
Category: Book Proposals, Communication, Craft, Pitching, The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: Communication, Craft, Diligence, Writing Craft

He Said. She Said.

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon May 14, 2020
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A blog reader recently left an excellent comment on an earlier post:
Tamela, fiction workshop presenters taught me that the best word for “said” is “said”–that others only tend to slow down the reader’s eye. I’d appreciate a discussion on this.
While I don't know the workshop presenters in question, what I can guess they meant is to avoid substituting creative verbs for "said" as a tag. For …

Read moreHe Said. She Said.
Category: Craft, Tamela, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Grammar, Tamela, Writing Craft

Letting Go of Your Babies

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon February 13, 2020
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One of the worst mistakes writers can make is being too possessive of their words. They fight for each adjective, adverb, and conversation tag.

My early writing suffered from too many words. I once wrote an artist didn’t “really” understand the difficulties of making a living in his profession. The editor kindly cut all instances of “really,” “just,” “so,” “very,” and other weak words …

Read moreLetting Go of Your Babies
Category: Book Proposals, Craft, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Get Published, Writing Craft

Floating … Floating … Gone …

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon January 23, 2020
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Writers conferences and blogs talk about this topic often so I don't pretend to be breaking new ground with this post. Yet I still see some floating body parts and cliches creep into otherwise great stories. No, I don't mean murder mysteries depicting a stray arm floating in a river. I mean much gentler fare.

Yes, floating body parts offer the reader -- and writer -- shortcuts. But relying on …

Read moreFloating … Floating … Gone …
Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Grammar, Tamela, Writing Craft

Tag, You’re It!

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon December 12, 2019
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One of the most common habits I see burdening stories is overemphasis on conversational tags, which goes hand in hand with not making good use of action tags. Here's an example I just made up:

"No," she exclaimed. She looked at the the pot of stew bubbling the stove and saw red juice splattering. She began to stir.

Unable to resist multitasking, I demonstrated several bad habits in the above …

Read moreTag, You’re It!
Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Dialogue tags, Grammar, Tamela, Writing Craft

C.S. Lewis on Writing

By Steve Laubeon October 28, 2019
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by Steve Laube

On June 26, 1956, C.S. Lewis replied to letter from an American girl named Joan with advice on writing:

Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.
Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them.

Read moreC.S. Lewis on Writing
Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Craft, CS Lewis, Writing Craft

Always Be Learning

By Steve Laubeon October 7, 2019
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During the Summer of 1978 the #1 hit on Christian radio was the classic “He’s Alive” by Don Francisco (click here to listen). That same Summer I attended a Christian music festival in Estes Park, Colorado and decided to take a class on songwriting being taught by Jimmy and Carol Owens. I settled into my chair near the back of the room with notepad ready.

Just as the class was about to start a …

Read moreAlways Be Learning
Category: Conferences, Get Published, The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: Book Business, Conferences, Craft, Get Published, Writing Craft

The Art of the Sentence

By Bob Hostetleron July 11, 2018
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A month or so ago I asked some social media friends what sentence from a book rocked their world. The replies were delightful, and I shared some of them in my June 27 post on this site, titled “In Praise of Memorable Sentences.” There were too many, however, to include them all at that time, so I offer the rest below, with  the author, title, and (in parentheses) the friend who …

Read moreThe Art of the Sentence
Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Sentences, Writing Craft
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