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 Rest
About Susan May Warren
Former Russian Missionary Susan May Warren is the best-selling author of more than 40 novels and novellas with Tyndale, Barbour and Steeple Hill, and Summerside. A Christy award and RITA winner, and multiple finalist for the RITA, Christy and winner of Inspirational Readers Choice contest, Susan currently has over a million books in print. A seasoned women’s events speaker and writing teacher, she is the founder of http://www.mybooktherapy.com an online community for writers, and runs a fiction editing service teaching writers how to tell a great story. Visit her online at: http://www.susanmaywarren.com.Author Archive | Susan May Warren
Stakes 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 RestThe power of metaphor in a scene
I first discovered the power of metaphor during my premarital counseling. We were using what (I think it was in a Gary Smalley book) was called, “Word Pictures.” The idea of taking an object or an event and using it as a symbol for something else. Okay, we as writers aren’t dumb. We get the whole metaphor idea. But sometimes we forget its power in a scene. And, I’m not talking about a direct metaphor where the main character in the scene spells it out for the others. I’m talking about the subtle metaphors that betray emotions, or revelation in the scene in the background. It’s similiar to subtexting, only in description. For example, in my newest book, I put the opening scene on a beach, the sky darkening as […]
Read the Rest
