What kind of Christian content is in your novel?
Besides answering "the true gospel," how else might an aspiring author describe the spiritual nourishment provided in story form? Our member and author Amy Lynn Green led our group in a fabulous discussion of gospel truth across Christian fiction. She drew from her years as a publicist at Bethany House and her experience writing novels (four published and a fifth in the works). From lighthearted to serious, from detailing the fall of man to reveling in the glory of God, the classifications she used as descriptors of fiction spiritual content are helpful not only for pitching to agents and editors but to the writer who hopes to accurately reflect their personality and spiritual message. A story about deep personal failure will resolve radically differently if it hinges on an atmosphere of gospel life or if meatier answers are spoken. A cozy romance can likewise look very different if common grace is the hope versus specific gospel tenets. Delivering the hope we have through the death and resurrection of Jesus against the sinful nature of man can look like a wide and creative swath of story telling styles. What is your style? Thank you, Amy, for an insightful evening. Thank you to Cynthia Ruchti, senior literary agent with Books & Such, for speaking at our February meeting! She shared 15 gems with our small group - hefty gems and soft pearly ones, and sparkling gems to keep us in the light. Her vast experience and knowledge of the publishing industry from both sides was a treasure trove and we were blessed by her wisdom and generosity. Her admonition that being called to write is not sufficient excuse to forego daily time with God was needed, especially given the ambitious goals of our group members this year. Our group met virtually as is our tradition for the cold snowy month of February but look forward eagerly to seeing each other in person next month when our speaker will be one of our members who also has a new book just released last month, Amy Lynn Green! See our full schedule.
We launched our 2018 meetings with a presentation by medical fittness expert Kylie Vatthauer entitled “Butt, This is Serious: Refocusing Your Wellness Goals.” Laurie Lucking shares her notes below. Our November meeting is usually a writing and brain storming time in honor of NaNo
WriMo (National Novel Writing Month.) It is also when we have our elections. Many thanks to (left to right) Gail Helgeson (treasurer), Laurie Lucking (secretary), Mollie Rushmeyer (VP) and Gabrielle Meyer (president) who have agreed to serve on the board for 2018. Hmmm. Who's that lurking behind the Gabe mask? Maybe someone who writes intriguing YA sci fi although I didn't remember that body-switching came into the story. Sunday, January 22, we tried a first at Minnesota NICE—a Skype conference speaker. It worked great. Carol Topp could see us, and we could see her as well as her computer screen. Carol, a fellow writer and a CPA, talked about (get ready for it) BOOKKEEPING (groan). She knows how much we creative-types love that subject, but she reminded us that we need to do it 1) for taxes, and 2) so we know whether or not our business actually made a profit. Like Donald Trump’s Atlantic City casino, she said, you can make lots of money and still not have enough profit for your business to be viable. She talked about what is and is not deductible on your taxes and gave us tips on apps and techniques for not letting the whole process overwhelm us. If you missed this informative meeting (or just couldn’t take it all in at one sitting!), check out Carol’s book Business Tips and Taxes for Writers or listen to her podcast Dollars and Sense. And join us for next month’s meeting when brainstorming guru Michelle Lim will take us through some craft basics. Rachel Britz spoke at our September meeting. She graciously agreed to summarize her thoughts on blogging. My blogging journey began 8 years ago. And like many good things it fell right into my lap. It was during a season that I was being awakened to a God-sized dream of writing and speaking. I had a pastor who came alongside me and helped me hone in and develop this dream. He gave me several opportunities to share an encouraging message at church and with our women’s program. Julie Klassen put together a wonderful summary of Jennifer Parker's time with us about cover design at our April meeting. Please check it out on her blog. Jennifer is a cover designer with Bethany, hired by our own Julie when she worked there. She took us through the process from concept through photoshoot to final approval. Thank you, Jennifer.
MN-NICE ACFW October 2015 - - Delores Topliff
“Why do writers write? Because it isn’t there.” ~ American novelist, Thomas Berger (1924-) Creating a scene is like setting up camera shots, or combining elements and style for paintings: Writing Styles: Simple Realism (literal and concrete) - Grandma Moses, Andrew Wyeth |
Books
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