Writing in the Christian market pushes us to go beyond the realm of this life to find meaning and purpose for our characters. While we are not writing sermons and devotionals set in fictional places with fictional characters, we are imitating life. For the Christian author, Jesus is very much a part of our every day life. We want to express Him in some way in our stories, through the lives of our characters. But often our stories sound hokey, canned, full of Christianese. How we talk in the foyer at church, or in Sunday school class does not translate into fiction. Remember, our goal is to write great stories about great characters. Our goal is not agenda fiction where we pound the pulpit so to speak about some error of […]
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Quick Skills: Black Moment Construction
The Black Moment in your novel is the most important part of your novel. I just had to say that because I see so many manuscripts that pull their punches on the Black Moment. Authors have fallen in love with their characters and they just don’t want to hurt them. But creating a powerful Black Moment is what both the character and the reader need to convince them they must change. So, how do you create a powerful Black Moment? First…let’s just take a look at the Black Moment Flow Chart: Dark Moment of the Past (Greatest Fear + Lie) = Black Moment Event = Black Moment Effect = Epiphany = Character Change. Again, how do we find the Black Moment? We go into our character’s backstory and find a […]
Read the RestConversations: Finding the Black Moment and Epiphany
“Are you ready to finish your book?” Sally laughed as she sat down at the table in the corner. “I just started and already you want me to finish it?” “I’m not asking you to write the end of the book, I just wanted to talk to you today about how knowing the black moment, and the ending actually gives power to your first act. Think of Act 1 and Act 3 as the “bookends” of your novel. They are the before and after pictures of your novel. Even if they begin in a happy place, there is still something that will cause your hero to become a better person through the book and they’ll with that lesson learned. “They learn that lesson by experiencing the Black Moment, having their […]
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One Thing Marketing … Write a Press Release as Compelling as Your Book!
Welcome to this week’s One Thing Marketing where we talk about that “One Thing” you can do this week to build your platform, connect with readers/reviewers and snag some attention for you and your latest book or WIP. Last week we talked about a writer’s mission statement. How did you do coming up with a Brand Promise, Tagline and Emotional Relevance? This week we’ll tackle the press release. A press release is an announcement of your new book. The trick is making the announcement as compelling as your book is, and that takes a slightly different touch. It’s a simple formula merely to put together a proper press release for your book. In the first paragraph, include the following: Title ISBN number Publisher Author Price Then in the body of […]
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