#1 – Characters Need to Hurt A good story matters. A good story touches the reader’s soul and changes it, just a little. A good story matters because it touches the reader’s soul and changes it for the better. Which
Choosing details is a critical part of writing a narrative. They can make or break a scene, can build a character or destroy him, can draw the reader in or break his suspension of disbelief. This is true in all
The last entry in this series tackled the beginning of my published novel; this entry turns to the beginning of a short story I don’t believe I’ve ever published, though I’ve shown it to some people. It’s old, just under
Have you heard of Twilight? The financial success of the series cannot be doubted. Its writing? If it has a claim there, it rests in creating a successful blank-slate everyman protagonist (or everywoman). The same can be said for many
Theology and writing have a sometimes fraught interaction. Art has an apparent opposition to theology, if we consider how awful preachiness can get, how making a story into a tract makes it a very bad story. At the same time,
Last week, we looked at the dichotomy between a sin’s historic fact and its moral guilt as they relate to redemption arcs. I asserted that redemption arcs are just not quite possible, in their fullness, outside of the Christian understanding,
The redemption arc is a difficult but powerful tool in the writer’s arsenal; it’s an even more difficult thing to undergo in real life, as Saul of Tarsus could no doubt tell you. See, sin exists. Because men sin and
Today we’re going to deal with two problems of direction, a false goal and a false guide to art. This is Part Three of a series (1, 2) dealing with the issues of modern writing, as I’ve observed them, a
Last week we discussed two issues common in modern writing: failure to take it seriously and disregard for realism. Today we’re continuing the topic with another issue endemic to the failures of popular media, particularly films and TV shows. We
If you’ve followed popular culture over the past few years, even at a remove, you will likely have noticed a paucity of truly excellent stories on the television screen (actually your computer, but that’s neither here nor there), particularly of