Seasons of Writing

     This is the month when seasons change. Fall officially begins with the equinox on Saturday, September 23, when daytime and nighttime are of equal length. The Farmer’s Almanac says our first frost in central Indiana will occur soon afterward, on or about October 11. If you grow flowers or vegetables outdoors, it's time to trim your hibiscus and other perennials, then cover the stems with straw or mulch to keep the plant from freezing. Time to dig up marigolds and other annuals so your flowerbed will be ready for a fresh planting. If you have root crops that over-winter, such as turnips, make sure they are well covered with mulch so they don’t freeze. You can harvest and cook them all winter.

     Writing projects are like those plants. They require different kinds of care as the seasons change. If we keep them well-nourished and protected from harsh weather, they can provide beauty and food, even when the weather is harsh. Think with me about the various seasons of writing:

      Winter. From time to time, your best markets will be glutted with manuscripts and editors will ask you to stop submitting new material. What better time to pull out some manuscripts that didn’t hit the target when you first submitted them? Spend some time polishing and correcting them to submit when editors are soliciting new material again.

     Spring. This is a good season to submit manuscripts that you reworked when markets were inactive. Scan the Internet to see if any recent events may draw new attention to these pieces. The Christian Writers’ Market and other sources can alert you to new markets that are eager to launch with fresh, imaginative material like yours.

      Summer. You’ve been waiting for this season. There’s strong demand for new manuscripts, competitive pay for books and articles accepted for publication, and agents visiting writers’ conferences to scout out writers with promise. This isn’t the time to find your cupboard is bare. Be ready to query agents and editors with proposals that you’ve prepared to pique their interest. They are aggressively looking for material to publish in the next active season, so make it yours!

     Autumn. Here we are again, ready to turn the corner from the most active season to the most dormant. What you do now will determine whether your well-cultivated projects survive the harsh blasts of winter. Do you have a book proposal that several editors rejected with suggestions for improvement? This is a good time to act on their recommendations, so lay out a timeline to correct those manuscripts in coming weeks.

     As the sage of old wrote, “To everything there is a season.” Every season is a different opportunity to write for success. Will you make the most of it?      

 

Joe Allison writes both fiction and nonfiction, and has been a member of the Indiana chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers since 2010. He lives in Anderson, IN, with his wife Maribeth.         

Current Events in Fiction

Story ideas are plentiful. A bit of conversation, an unusual act of kindness, a child’s innocent question—these and a thousand other things may spark stories in our imagination.

Current events also can be fertile ground for stories because we already share these experiences with our readers. We know the frustration and sorrow of a pandemic. We share the pain of war victims. We feel the despair of illegal aliens fleeing violence in their home countries. Any of these events could grow into meaningful stories of faith.

Think about how you might use a current event as the seed of a story. Suppose a family is divided by war. The mother and children make their way to a safe haven while the father stays behind to fight. You could tell about the trials and triumphs of the refugees, the heartache of the father, or the anguish of a young couple separated by the demands of patriotism.

How about a college freshman who contracts Covid 19 just before classes begin? Since she can’t attend class for the first two weeks, ­she loses her scholarship. Now she has the stress of being out of sync with her friends and having to pay several thousand dollars of tuition by herself. What might she learn about God’s provision through such an experience?

Many more ideas emerge from each day’s headlines, but they come with risks. The source of your story idea may disappear before your story can appear, which could make it obsolete. The pain associated with some events could make readers avoid them. Escapist readers want to read about anything but traumatic true happenings.

Yet there are good reasons to write a story based on current events. Your characters can demonstrate how to cope with problems that seem too difficult to handle. Your heroine can discover a meaningful, life-changing relationship with God. Your protagonists can realize that God is always with them, despite unexpected turns their lives may take.

Watch the evening news with a notepad. List the problems that threaten people in the news. How might God enable them to cope with these problems? That could be the start of your next novel.

Joe Allison writes both fiction and nonfiction, and has been a member of the Indiana chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers since 2010. His most recent book is Hard Times (Warner Press: 2019). He lives in Anderson, IN, with his wife Maribeth.

2014 - A Year of Destiny and Purpose

Dear Fellow Writers,

     2014 looms ahead like a bound book of blank pages waiting to be filled. For some, all that white is paralyzing. Others itch to fill the pages. Still others press the first page flat, prep the pen, and plan. Whatever your style, I encourage you to include God for only he can cause us to get it right. Do you doubt me? Look at 2013 one last time before you file it on the shelf.

     The Book of My Life 2013 is filled with scrawls, inkblots, and scratch outs, as well as exclamation points, underlining, and stars. So is yours. Evaluate it through God’s eyes and you may be surprised. What you marked as failure may have held important God-moments that will help you succeed in your writing life or as a person. The success you did reach may have not been as sweet as you anticipated. Why not? The Bible is filled with men who followed God and knew success, only to become prideful, neglectful of family or driven by accolades.

     As writers, we incorporate our experiences into stories of impact. We describe what we see and feel so that readers identify with us. With written words we define and clarify what escapes others. In effect, we are God’s reporters weaving truth into fiction in such a way that light comes to dark minds.When you look at it like this, every moment has the potential of being a God-moment.

     You have a destiny, a purpose to fulfill. This next year will move you closer to it if you let two truths guide you. They are true whether 2014 is a mountaintop or a desert experience.

1.   God has a plan, a destiny, for you that is good. He tells us straight out in Jeremiah 29:11 “I know the plans I have for you… plans to prosper and not harm you, to give you hope and a future.”

2.   You choose your destiny. This destiny is not assured. It requires a decision to follow Christ’s direction. He gives us freewill, yet invites us to follow him and obtain full joy. “I set before you today life and prosperity or death and destruction…now choose…” Deuteronomy 30:15-19

     The year 2014 will hold surprises. Some will delight you. Some will devastate you. One thing is assured. God is faithful. Listen to him. Each day search for the God moments. Be grateful. Then you will say, “Look what the Lord has done!”

                                                             

Happy New Year! 

May this year be the closest you've ever been to the Lord. Live for him. Write for him. 

              Mary Allen