Tips from the 2011 Indianapolis Christian Writer’s Conference

This November 3‒4 conference sponsored by Wesleyan Publishing House was first-rate, and the first I attended. I’m a fulsome note-taker, so I came away with pages of great ideas from the speakers. Here are a few nuggets for those who couldn’t attend:

• “Laughter is the key that unlocks a reader’s heart. When the reader trusts you, you can speak to the deepest emotions.” — Angela Hunt, “Getting to the Heart of the Matter”
  
• “In our postmodern culture, people don't want to be told what to do. They want an experience...Creative nonfiction has a special concern...to stimulate the readers' emotions.” — Shannon Marchese, “Creative Nonfiction”
  
• “Your first sentence, your first paragraph must grab the reader and give a sample of the entire book’s tone and style. Avoid throat-clearing.” — Andy Scheer, “Is Your Manuscript Ready to Edit?”
  
• “It’s OK to end a book in a series with a story thread open if the next book is largely or completely written. Readers will expect to read the next volume within a year. With the shift to e-books, they expect the next book immediately.” — Shannon Marchese, “Pet Peeves of a Fiction Editor”
  
• “There’s a blueprint for every type of writing you want to do. Go get the blueprint and learn it.” — Angela Hunt, “You Have Everything You Need”

Joe Allison and his wife Judy live in Fishers, IN. Joe has just completed the first in a trilogy of historical novels set during the Great Depression.