So here’s the deal. I was teaching all day Saturday at the MN Christian Writer’s Guild spring seminar, and then again on Monday night, at their monthly meeting, then I drove home on Tuesday, 6 hours, only to arrive just in time to pick up my oldest son and another son’s bike, return to town, drop off my packages, then hang around until another son got done with track practice, only to pick them (sons and bikes) all back up and return home, drag in my suitcases and drop into a heap. That’s the backstory to why I didn’t blog yesterday. Now, I’m thinking you didn’t need all that. A simple….life washed over me and swept me away, and I was unable to blog would have been sufficient. Yes, it […]
Read the RestArchive | April, 2008
Handling Back story Paul’s way
This week we’re going to be talking about back story. What is back story, you ask? It’s the history of your characters. Past events, family, career, friendships, you name it. Anything that happened before “today.” One problem writers face, especially new writers, is weaving in back story so the reader and story is not overwhelmed. Back story, as you will learn this week, slows down the action. It jerks the reader from “now” and lures them to the past where they most likely forget the “current action.” The same is true for real life back story. We need to learn how to deal with our past, our history. Paul writes to the Philippians in chapter 3 verses 13 – 14 “… but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind […]
Read the RestStakes not Steaks
So, I say to Rachel, hey, we’re going to talk about Stakes this week on MBT, and she says, Nummy, I like mine rare! Ha ha, very funny. No, I’m not talking about a T-bone, or Sirloin. Stakes are those things that make us see what we could lose. It helps us stand at the precipice and say, is it worth it to step over into the unknown? (Reminds me a lot of that scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Indy has to step out in FAITH. What a great scene!) Stakes are those things that drive the story, that make the reader say, hey, I care about this story, I want to know what happens. They might not even be as big as we know starting […]
Read the RestRefusing the Call!
I know I didn’t blog yesterday. It wasn’t because I didn’t WANT to, or didn’t THINK about it. In fact, the reason sorta…tiptoed up to me, and grabbed me and pulled me in before I realized what was happening… Sort of like an…INCITING INCIDENT! I was just standing there in the parking lot, watching my son ride his bike, and my girlfriend said, “Hey, I’m going to tap class, wanna join me?” Yes, I said TAP class. Like Ginger Rogers and the clippity clop shoes. And, just like that, something grabbed me. I thought…cool! Fun! (forgetting completely that I have the knees of a 97 year old, thanks to years of aggressive skiing!) So, I went. Tapped my little heart out. Today I’m sitting on the sofa, icing my knees, […]
Read the Rest
