Living the Words We Use

In a recent blog posting on my website in my series, “Developing character and defining principles”, I wrote, “Throughout our lifetime, we are receiving input from others who we consider more experienced, have more expertise or wisdom and who we hope will tell us the truth. We sit in classrooms and listen to professors’ talk about history and psychology, economy and political science. We hear and read similar words spoken in two opposite contexts. How do we decide what is right? How do we make sense of it all? This is more than just gathering data and information. The input here is what is being preached and taught in the public forum. It is presented to give us a perspective of how life should be lived and what we ought and should be doing.“

I wrote this in the context of why it was important for us to be in God’s word so we could use that as a discerning benchmark.

As writers we impact the minds and values of other people. We give information on how to write, how to blog and utilize social media. We write books of fiction and non-fiction. We share life strategies. Within it all, we are sharing with the world what it means to be a Christian and hopefully, always pointing to a God who loves us. In that sharing, we are helping to define our personal actions and perhaps help others make tough choices.

At the NWCW conference this past weekend, one of the presenters talked about the huge needs of people and women in general. She encouraged us to write in a way that wasn’t “preaching to the choir” but to those still unchurched who were reaching out to find solutions beyond what the world preaches. They don’t want to hear rhetoric; they want to know someone cares. They want to hear solutions to their problems.

We are challenged within the different genres we write, to offer that message of hope and love that only God can give us. We do it not only through the simple sharing of “the Good News”, but by the demonstration of that love. We cannot have one without the other. God demonstrated His great love to us through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. Unless we are transformed through His Word, we will not be able to share that love to others as we reach out in genuine concern, compassion and understanding. Within that simple message of love, our words will point to the source of all hope, healing and peace. It is a huge responsibility; one that should not be taken lightly. I pray we can humbly but courageously take up the challenge.

©2011 Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

7 Tips for Writing Tense Crisis Scenes

When I first started writing, whenever I would reach a point of climax in the story, I’d break and recap in a new scene. Needless to say, none of those stories ever saw the light of publication. (Don’t try this at home.)

It wasn’t until I learned to press into crisis points that I produced a story worth publishing. DawnSinger, book one of my epic fantasy trilogy, Tales of Faeraven releases this fall.

Interestingly enough, when I received edits for DawnSinger, most of the notes calling for revision centered around, you guessed it, crisis scenes.  The next lesson I had to learn was... Read More

Words: Friends or Foes

I read for many reasons: to gain more knowledge in my profession, to be entertained, or to learn how to become a better person. Words give us information, clarification and hopefully help us live better lives. Last May, I wrote that words can be the “paintbrushes” we use to open the windows to our soul or they can be “weapons” we use against another as we defend, parry and judge. Words can be “healing brush strokes or daggers” used to destroy.

As Christian writers, we are challenged to choose words carefully. Fiction writers weave tales of suspense, love and fantasy, treachery, intrigue and mystery. Non-fiction writers give information on how to identify problems and offer suggestions and strategies for resolution. But whether entertaining or offering assistance, we are challenged through our words to enable the reader to identify in some way with the human condition. Within the stories and words we get glimpses of ourselves: our struggles, joys, temptations, and frustrations. We identify with the words – they are a microcosm of who we are. We are not just writing to entertain or inform, but to clarify the human condition and our desperate need for God.

People have an incredible ability for denial, especially as it relates to how good we are. When the human condition is revealed, readers have the opportunity, if but for a moment, to see themselves as sinners in need of redemption. Our words can challenge the reader to reflect on their denials, acknowledge instead of defend them and turn to God. We are also challenged to illustrate God’s love and saving grace so the reader leaves with a sense of purpose and direction.

In a world of sound bites, text messages and quick blurbs to social media sites, our challenge as writers is huge. But we can’t find God in quick little sound bites. We find Him within the pages of a Bible that takes time to read. We find Him in the conversations with others. We find Him in reflection and acknowledgment of our need.

I find the responsibility for writing huge. It isn’t just what I write. It is my own journey within the covers of God’s word and the relationship that I have with Him. It includes prayer about the words I use as I write. For, if my words don’t offer hope and encouragement, understanding and reconciliation through Jesus Christ, they are worthless. They can entertain and give assistance, but won’t truly speak to the human condition.

As writers, may we constantly be challenged to become better stewards of the words we use, both in our writing and in our conversations.

©2011 Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

Now Available: My Free Daily Writing Scheduler

Because of the many demands upon our time, writers have a keen understanding of the fleeting nature of that commodity. We need to work in a consistent manner that prioritizes creativity and maximizes productivity. Is such a happy balance even possible? I may be a Pollyanna,  but I do believe it can be done.


Visit my author blog and sign up to receive Your Free Scheduler.

Posted by Janalyn Voigt, author of novel books.

A New Perspective

The mind loves to focus on what is negative. Perhaps it helps us perceive danger so we can protect ourselves. However, when we perceive danger or distress in everything, we become super vigilant, depressed and worn out. We no longer experience laughter or happiness. There is no joy in our lives.

I do not like gray skies that go on day after day. I wouldn’t be a very good cave dweller. I need that light. During long, northwest cloud covered days, a light box joins me and my cup of coffee as I begin my day with The Message and my laptop. But while I am encouraged with God’s word, and the light box changes melatonin levels in my brain, I also bring to the mix my automatic responses to what is going on around me.

In Philippians 4, St. Paul tells us to “celebrate God”. We are told not to fret or worry but instead pray and fill our minds with things that are “true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse” (The Message)

So I put my gray northwest skies in a new perspective. I look out my window and see the green landscape of lawns, trees and bushes. In the winter months, I can create comforting spaces within my home that reflect light and color. In the spring, I look out at the abundant color from tulips, daffodils, rhododendrons and azaleas that thrive under rainy as well as sunny skies. I change my focus from the gray to color and give thanks to God for the cloud cover and rainy days because they produce the lush vegetation and green evergreens that make the Pacific Northwest one of the most beautiful places in the world.

In the same way, we are challenged to put a new perspective on other things in life. Parents are challenged to teach their children rules and responsibilities while giving them freedom to be children. We are challenged to see the good in the grouchy neighbor and difficult family member. We are asked to pray for those that aren’t nice to us. We grit our teeth and try to work with that difficult supervisor. Every day, life presents challenges that when we respond to them at face value leave us angry, stressed, resentful and oftentimes bitter. Life is more than unfair - it can be cruel.

We find comfort in God and the words in scripture. But God also teaches us to change our perspective and focus. When we do, we see the wounds and pain that cause people to strike out; we see the losses that have colored their internal skies not only gray but black and we can appreciate the loving traits of our spouses, children and the people we work with and their struggles. And in so doing, perhaps offer a new perspective, that bright spot of love to another’s gray existence of hopelessness and despair.

©Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

Stephen Bly ON GETTING PLOT IDEAS for Throw The Devil Off The Train

I don’t have a clue how I derived the idea for my newest release, Throw The Devil Off The Train.  Sometimes plot ideas seem to fall out of the sky for me. When I recognize one that I like, I pick it up and run with it, to see where it leads. 


I’ve set stories in Colorado and Arizona, in New Mexico and Nevada, in Montana and Idaho, in Wyoming and Nebraska, in Texas and South Dakota. 

The old western Stagecoach was a road story in a stage. Throw The Devil Off The Train is a road story inside a train headed west.

Idea germs that evolve

• The grandeur of the West from a train window.
• The very slow journey, compared to modern transportation.
• The theme that people are much more complex than first meetings reveal.
• The hurts and pains, the victories and defeats of the past form a part in acts and responses in any given situation.

I tossed two cats into a burlap bag, then watched to see how they’d survive....or not. After a few gouges and bites between Catherine and Race, I could see the trail and markings of their story in Throw The Devil Off The Train..

Setting A Scene

  

You’d think after more than a hundred books in print, most of them set in the Old West, that I’d have exhausted every possible location. I’ve used cabins, saloons, dance halls, jails, hotels, cafes, sandbars and most any other place you could name. All, except one. In my newest book, Creede of Old Montana, I set a whole scene inside an outhouse.

As much as I like telling western tales, it was not the time for me to live in. Two reasons at least: health care and sanitation. That doesn’t mean a cowboy never used soap. Some even shaved every morning. Living in a wild and primitive land doesn’t mean you have to look uncivilized.

And I don’t want you to think I’m weak-willed and pasty skinned. I can survive just fine for days, weeks, even months in the wilderness. But I know that sooner or later I’ll be back in civilization that boasts hot showers, waste treatment plants, and flush toilets.

I wouldn’t even mind a footed bathtub. Many fun western movie episodes have centered on bubbly bathtub scenes. But hot baths were a real luxury and only the nicest of hotels would offer such an amenity. Some of the more modest hotels would advertise: Baths 25 cents; Used Water 15 cents. Which, in my opinion, is a great motivator to save up your money when on the trail or hang with friends who smell like you do.

Which brings me back to…setting a scene inside an outhouse.

On a trip to Yellowstone with our teen grandkids, Zachary and Miranda, we stopped to explore at Garnett, a Montana ghost town. One structure that captured the kids’ curiosity: the double set of outhouses behind the old hotel. There was a two-seater for gals and a two-seater for guys. Quite the deal on a busy Saturday night.

Ah, the romantic Old West.

And about that scene in the outhouse…you can read about it yourself in Creede of Old Montana. I promise…it's won't be R-rated. That’s the thing about the classic western genre. Good triumphs over evil. There’s little or no bad language. And sensual details are relegated to the fightin’ and shootin’ only.

WRITING EXERCISE for you:

Create two strong characters. Make one the type the other tends to dislike. Make them so disgusted with one another that they cannot exist in the same room for several minutes without being at each other’s throats. Then, stick them in a place where they have to co-exist for hours, days, weeks: a cabin, a mine shaft, a train car, etc. Then, write the dialogue. Start out with no descriptions. No identifiers. No narration. Just two voices conversing. Make the words authentic as you can. Then, edit it later.

Do they wind up killing each other? Or total estrangement? Or a truce of some sort? Or a breakthrough to relationship?


About Stephen Bly:


Stephen resides in Winchester, Idaho at 4,000 ft. elev., on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. He's been married 47 years to fellow writer, Janet Chester Bly, and they've co-authored 18 books.

Stephen is father of 3 sons: Russell, Michael, & Aaron. The family includes daughters-in-law, Lois, Michelle & Rina Joye, plus grandkids: Zachary, Miranda (& husband Chris), and Keaton.

As a third-generation westerner, Steve spent 30 years working family ranches and farms in central California.

When he's not writing Steve collects and restores antique Winchesters; studies histories of the Old West; and does construction on Broken Arrow Crossing (a false front western village next to his home). He also plays a par game of golf.
Recent books by Stephen Bly include: Creede of Old Montana (2009), The Land Tamers (re-issued 2009), One Step Over The Border, Center Street/Hachette; The Horse Dreams Series—Memories of a Dirt Road Town, The Mustang Breaker, and Wish I’d Known You Tears Ago (B&H);Paperback Writer (B&H); and Fortunes of the Black Hills Series (B&H Publishers).

Noteworthy Facts about Stephen Bly

* Author and co-author of 102 fiction and nonfiction books, including historical and contemporary westerns.
* Christy Award winner, Westerns, 2002, The Long Trail Home
* Christy Award finalist, Westerns, 2003
* Mayor of Winchester, Idaho, pop. 308 (1999-2007)
* Pastor of Winchester Community Church
* Speaker for men’s and writers’ groups, USA and Canada
* Roving editor, "Big Show Journal"
* Mentor, Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild
* Fresno State University, CA, Philosophy, summa cum laude
* M. Div., Fuller Theological Seminary, CA, 1974

Janalyn Voigt is an Amazon Associate and benefits when products are purchased on Amazon through links from Author Haven.

Psalms of Praise

What is your favorite Psalm? I discovered the richness of the Psalms when I was grieving a major loss. They validated my journey and allowed me expression. I could identify with the Psalmist.

The Psalms give us the opportunity to question, to praise, to yell and scream, to be angry, and to be joyful. They enable us to be vulnerable – genuine and real. They encourage the reader to be honest. Beside the psalms in my Bible, I have written my own identification and responses, highlighted, dated, inscribed and tagged.

Becoming honest is not always as simple as it sounds. We don’t want to complain because we don’t want to feel sorry for ourselves. We don’t want to express our anger at God because after all, He is holy, do we want to tell Him how we feel or even that we doubt? We know we should be thankful, but we feel so phony when our hearts are heavy and we are struggling with questions and fears.

In the Psalms as nowhere else in the Bible we see the heart of people. We see honest expression, whether desiring revenge for enemies, petitioning God to strike them down or dancing around like a kid in joyful praise. The Psalmist says it like it is. He understood we could be totally honest and real with God; that God would not condemn, but would listen and respond with love and wisdom. In the Psalms we can be as free as children knowing intuitively God loves us unconditionally.

In an art therapy class I took both to meet professional hours and to gain more knowledge about expression in the grieving process, we were given various nondescript articles to articulate what couldn’t be said with words. At the end of the exercise, we could examine each other’s work, but were not allowed to comment or ask questions. The piece itself was all that was needed.

Art, by its very nature, enables the creator to give expression to what is felt. In the Psalms, that expression is done with words, painted and sculpted across the pages in timeless fashion. Within the words, you see lush meadows and quiet pools, the majesty of God’s hand, the depth of despair and the heights of celebration. You see yourself. When you take the Psalms and make them your own, they become your personal prayers to God.

In my retreat, “Celebrate Your Life Story”, participants are asked to express their favorite psalm or psalms by making a collage. The project does not need special pens, paints or paper. You don’t need to be an artist with special training. Materials used in making that collage come from things we find around us that we can twist, shape, cut and paste or re-direct in some way to express what we want to say. The collage becomes our personal Psalm to God.

I encourage you to make a collage of your own. Use words to re-write or find articles that express your prayer of joy, moments of anger or doubt, or quiet reflection. It is when we take The Word and personally apply it to our own lives that we intensify that wonderful relationship we can have with God.

©2011 Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

Surprise Guest Interview with Marc Schooley

Marc Schooley

Surprise Guest Interview!


Author Haven's Novel Craft series on plotting just wrapped up. However, since not everyone approaches writing the same, I've asked Marc Schooley to discuss his method of writing by the "seat-of-the-pants."  


AH: Hello Marc, and welcome! Please describe your writing process.

This gets right to the point, Janalyn; I don’t have one. I mean, I like to write between ten p.m. and midnight, or thereabouts, because it’s quiet. Or, if I have a quiet Saturday afternoon, I can knock down quite a bit of text.

If I had to describe a process, it’s this: I like to read the previous few paragraphs or full scene of what I have written previously to maintain perspective and spark my mind, and then simply let myself immerse in the story until I’m there and not here: sort of the opposite effect of author intrusion pulling the reader out of a story, in a way. It has a secondary effect of being therapeutic for the author.

AH: Do you write down the ideas as they come to you or let them germinate?

That all depends on what you mean. I love to let ideas germinate, especially the seed kernel of a story. But once the writing starts in earnest, in a perfect world the story would go on the paper as it comes into the head.

AH: Do you keep notes of any kind?

As few as possible. I like to keep a list of images, dialogue, or events that I envision as I’m writing that I don’t want to forget.

AH: How do you keep track of all your story threads?

I don’t. I follow the threads and let them take me where they want to go. I trust the story without question. I’m simply not as interesting as it is.

AH: Do edits take longer for you as a seat-of the-pants writer?

I really don’t think so. When you see a story, and write what you see, I believe the plot tends to work itself out organically. I could be wrong about this, but I doubt it. Now, perhaps because I translate what I see to the page, I may require more editing due to the speed at which the story goes to paper. From what other writers have shared, however, this does not seem to be remotely near the case.

AH: If someone wanted to try your method, what would you advise them to do?

Take some time out of life to just sit and relax. Close your eyes. Imagine things. And wait. Do it for as long as it takes. Something will come. When it does, it will be something like a setting or a character. Then both elements will be there and the character will be doing something. Something unusual, or momentous, or interesting, or fun. Then you’ll notice s/he has a problem, and the environment will add to that problem, and in some cases help with it.

Once this happens, the key is to trust it. Let the story happen; watch it unfold and write what you see. Don’t try to gerrymander the character—now perhaps character(s)—and the setting into fixed roles or courses of action. Let them do it. They’ll know what to do; it’s their life!

AH: Please describe your novels.

Konig’s Fire has been described as Moby Dick meets Apocalypse Now, with Nazi’s. It has tons of action, plant men, and all sorts of unusual stuff going on. I’m most proud of it for the way it blends deep spiritual themes into the action. Publishers Weekly called it "a gold mine for readers who enjoy the blend of paranormal fantasy with one man's desperate search for meaning and self-sacrifice.”

The Dark Man, which features attack helicopters and lots of action/intrigue, is a near-future thriller about a master of disguise, government agent infiltrating the church, until a Damascus road experience sets him on a new course.

AH: What are you working on now?

Three WIPs: a murder mansion tale, co-authored with CL Dyck, a cowboy tale, and current nonfiction project on the church and politics.

AH: Which books on seat-of-the-pants writing do you recommend?

On Writing, by Stephen King.


AH: Thanks for giving your perspective.

Thanks, Janalyn.


Marc Schooley is a Texan, which may be empirically verified if you ever hear him speak. He is a Christian philosopher, theologian, Bible teacher, speaker, musician, and Christian fiction writer who welcomes you to communicate with him at www.marcschooley.com

Posted by Janalyn Voigt, author of novel books

Janalyn Voigt is an Amazon Associate and benefits when products are purchased on Amazon through links from Author Haven.