A
Step in the Write
Direction
July
13, 2015
Update:
“This is the day that the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” I’m
glad that joy doesn’t depend on circumstances; instead it’s the Source of our
joy!...I’m one of those weird people who like Mondays; it’s a new beginning.
Forget last week!...Visiting pastor gave some good points yesterday on preparing
for church that I thought could be adapted to writers: Prepare, Participate,
Practice (what you learned). This is especially good for someone planning to
attend a conference. Prepare ahead of time by printing out guidelines of editors
who publish what you write; Participate by getting acquainted with other
conferees and scheduling appointments with editors, and Practice what you
learned when you get home….Off to physical therapy again. Five more appointments
before I see the orthopedic surgeon. I actually think it’s getting a little better.
Thought for the
Day:
"Writing is something that you can never do as well as it
can be done. It is a perpetual challenge and it is more difficult than anything
else that I have ever done—so I do it. And it makes me happy when I do it well"
(Ernest Hemingway to Ivan Kashkin, 1935, in Selected Letters, p. 419).
Song
for the Day:
“I’ve
been there
I’ve
faced those lonely trials, I’ve been there,
So
when you’re walking through the valley of the heartache once
again,
You’re
only going where I’ve already been.”
“I’ve Been There,” Dave
Clark
(If
you’d like the rest of the words of this song Dave wrote before he was healed of
his 19-year illness, email me.)
Laugh for the
Day:
The minister had received several
negative votes on his last recall and his little girl had overheard who voted
them, but the father told her not to tell him. Later he allowed the girl to view
the baptismal service and she sat on the front row. As the minister prepared to
immerse the first lady, the little girl shouted, "No, no, Daddy, she wasn't one
of them."
Writer’s
Tips: Writing the Short
Story
Parts
of a Short Story
There
are four parts to a short story: problem, struggle, barriers, and the solutions.
Choose one basic problem your main character will face and carry that problem
throughout the story. Don’t lose it on page 2, never to see it again, only to
come up with a new and better problem on page 4.
How
does the lead character solve his problem? You can use chance to hinder
resolution, but not to help. Stories where the person prays, and suddenly,
everything is all right seem unbelievable. Now perhaps during this person's
prayer she may recall a Scripture verse or a solution comes to her, but prayer
alone shouldn’t solve the problem. Show the character’s willingness to listen
and follow the guidance God reveals during prayer. One conference speaker said
that God can perform miracles in real life but not in fiction. A reader wants to
see the character’s creativity dig her out of a deep mess.
Show
the story's basic problem and identify the sex of the main character in the
first l00 words. Have you ever gotten halfway through a story written in first
person by a female author and suddenly discovered the main character is a man?
When that happens, I have to go back to the beginning and read it again, because
my entire perspective has changed. Somewhere near the beginning of your story,
either have someone call the person by name, or make reference to a gender
relationship to clarify.
Does
the problem fit the character's age? I began one devotional for teens with the
words, “Remember your first car?” The editor noted, “Most teens this age have
only had one car.”
In
her article “The Greatest Short-Short,” referring to the story of the Prodigal
Son, Colleen Reece says, “Stories almost invariably need three things if they
are to survive and sell: an interesting character who faces a real challenge and somehow changes in the process. What better
example,” Reece asks, “than a boy who demands ‘real living,’ finds it isn’t so
hot after all, and packs his pride in his battered suitcase to go back home?”[i]
[i] Colleen Reece,
“The Greatest Short-Short,” The Christian
Writer, June 1986, p. 27.
Have a good week spreading
the
gospel
through the printed page.
Donna
Clark Goodrich
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"A Step in the Write Direction--the Complete How-to Guide for Christian Writers"
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