Write for a Reason

Send us Fan Mail

In one of our recent Writers for a Reason Unite groups, one of the things we talked about was weaving a message into our stories. How do we do this gently, with respect? After all, we are not here to persuade, as much as allow readers to think through issues of faith, and make up their own minds.

Of course, as Christians, we would love everyone to share our faith! But not everyone will choose to do so, and that’s between them and God – our job is to simply to share our story.

This episode will help you think about how you can weave a brilliant message into a story your readers will love. 

Support the show

Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings?

Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel?
Click on this link to find out more.

Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)

Send us Fan Mail

We usually start of with a good idea of what our characters look like. But what about other parts of their personality?

Here's a writing exercise for you to do, that will help you get to know your characters better.

Try this in your writers' groups as well as on your own!

Hear you again soon,

Janet

Support the show

Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings?

Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel?
Click on this link to find out more.

Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)

Send us Fan Mail

With your theme and message in mind, how will your protagonist, and any other characters, change during the course of your story?
 
 How will they be different at the end, than they were at the beginning?
 
 How will you show the difference?

Listen to the podcast and get some tips!

Support the show

Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings?

Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel?
Click on this link to find out more.

Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)

Send us Fan Mail

Keeping up the pace in our stories is essential, if we want to hold our readers' attention.

This is even more true today than it was a few years ago!

So how can we do this?

Here are some fun creative writing tips, to help your story zip along at a great pace! 

Support the show

Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings?

Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel?
Click on this link to find out more.

Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)

Send us Fan Mail

This may sound like a daft question, but knowing who you want to write for, and why, is an important foundation for our writing.

We can have what we think is a brilliant idea for a story, but will it resonate with our target audience?

This episode will help you narrow down your target audience and get your mission statement sorted... resulting in clarity - and that's a wonderful thing!

Support the show

Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings?

Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel?
Click on this link to find out more.

Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)

Send us Fan Mail

Today I have a little tip for you, on writing dialogue. Someone was asking me recently about what mistakes I see most often in dialogue, and one of them is that their characters all sound too similar.

The way people speak will denote their character. A bold person, for example, will speak boldly. A timid person will use completely different words, and express them in a different way. The bold person will be direct. The timid person may beat about the bush, go red, fumble and look at the ground. The bold person might fold their arms, stand their ground, and look you in the eye.

So show how your characters are feeling, and their personality, in your dialogue, by their actions as well as their words.

Listen to the episode and you might glean a few tips for your own characters, and their dialogue.

Until next time, be blessed!

Janet

Support the show

Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings?

Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel?
Click on this link to find out more.

Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)

Send us Fan Mail

We are leaving a legacy with our writing, whether we are thinking about it or not. So why not be intentional? Listen to this episode and be inspired to change lives with your stories. 

Support the show

Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings?

Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel?
Click on this link to find out more.

Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)

Send us Fan Mail

We may avoid conflicts in real life, but in our stories we should embrace them as our best friends, because without conflicts we do not have a story!

In this pocast episode we get deeper into conflicts, so grab your writing journal and get ready to take your story to the next level.

Oh, and there are a couple of exercised for you to do!

Enjoy!

Support the show

Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings?

Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel?
Click on this link to find out more.

Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)

Send us Fan Mail

Hi, Janet Wilson here.

The issue with writing fantasy, and how we deal with it as Christians, came up in one of our Writers for a Reason Unite meetings recently.

One of our members had been reading a children’s book, where witchcraft, magic and spells were included in the story. As Christian writers, we’re not going to be including any of these things, of course… but what about fantasy? What about where a character is taken ‘as if by magic’ to another time and place, for example?

Where do we draw the line?

Here are some guidelines – feel free to disagree! But let's at least think about these things.

Support the show

Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings?

Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel?
Click on this link to find out more.

Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, Janet looks at the whole subject of inspiration. 

Sometimes we have to go out looking for inspiration... it doesn't always come when we want it... here's how, and why.

Enjoy!

Support the show

Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings?

Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel?
Click on this link to find out more.

Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)