I've Been Talking...

In the past few months I've taped a number of podcasts on a variety of topics. I also did a interview about writing with Christian Authors Network. Have a listen, watch or read. I'd love your feedback.

Podcasts:

1. Gender and Scripture — Beyond Ordinary Women podcast with Claudia McGuire

2. Sexual Identity and Gender Identity  — Beyond Ordinary Women podcast with Kay Daigle

3. Rethinking Purity Culture — Honestly Though podcast with Rebecca Carrell

4. On the Virgin Mary. — Graced Though podcast with Christian Williams 

5. Leaning into Luke’s Gospel (in conjunction with launching Latte with Luke) — Honestly Though podcast with Rebecca Carrell 

6. The Story of Ancient Christian Art and Women in Ministry — The Alabaster Jar with Lynn Cohick 

Interview

• with Christian Authors Network about writing. 

Checking In

It occurred to me this week that I'd left you, my loyal readers, in the dark on some of the stuff I've written and said of late. So in case any of this interests you, here goes—a few links here:

Every year I teach third graders at The Covenant School in Dallas “How to Read an Icon." I did so again in February. So fun! If you see a guy holding keys, he's probably Peter. If you see a tall skinny cross held by a solemn-looking person, he or she is probably a martyr. If he's wearing green, good chance he's John the Baptist.

A friend created a PDF from one of my blog posts as a visual for my content on seven views on women in ministry leadership within the inerrancy camp (five of them within the Complementarian camp), a topic I presented for Reformed Theological Seminary via Zoom. The post was also referenced in Christianity Today. You can find the free PDF here.

I presented on “Artemis of the Ephesians at the time of the earliest Christians” for a class at Northern Seminary. Lynn Cohick, Northern's provost and my friend, asked me to lead their DMin students on a trip to Italy similar to the one I do for DTS, only this one focused specifically on women in the visual record of the church (oh, and I got a grant to do some photography on the subject!). Slated for early January 2023.

I presented a lecture titled “Cultural backgrounds in interpreting verses about women in public ministry” for Missio Nexus missionaries last month. I did a related blog post on that for bible.org, where I post twice a month on the Engage site.

I invite you to listen in as I talk with Christine Prater on the Holy Shift Podcast: "What's Up with the Upside Down Kingdom?" We talk in a follow-up episode about “The Sermon on the Mount.”

You can also listen as I talk with Jodie Niznik about “The Betrayal of Jesus” on her So Much More podcast. That ran during Holy Week. "Kiss the Son" (Psa 2) in worship or kiss him in betrayal. What a contrast!

I taped an episode on "Feminism and Womanism" for DTS's The Table Podcast. I'll let you now when I have an air date.

Christianity Today's book editor asked me to review Aimee Byrd's latest book, and I really wanted to love it. But I had some concerns about her hermeneutics. You can read my thoughts here: “When Song of Songs Uses a Word, It Doesn’t Always Mean What We Think It Means.”

Do you use the YouVersion Bible app plans for Bible reading? If so, check out the work of two of my students, who published plans they wrote doing independent studies I supervised. One is "Known By Love: A Six-Day Devotional in 1, 2, and 3 John"; the other is an intersection of Negro Spirituals and Lamentations with music included (she rented a studio!) titled "Learning to Lament with the Spirituals: A Six-Day Devotional."

I wrote a blog post about some things that trouble me regarding how we talk about adoption. That was for The Holy Shift: Adoption

And I wrote another for them about comforting those who mourn: Quiet Presence

The Write Now Editing site ran a short post I wrote titled “Read to be a better writer” Why do you read?

April 10-12, I took/met up with some students from across the USA—from Manhattan to LA—and we attended the national conference of the Evangelical Press Association (I'm prez-elect) in Colorado. We also met up with former writing students from Dallas, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, and Colorado Springs. My former intern Seana Scott won an award for her excellent writing with Peer Magazine; and my student Radha Vyas won EPA's $2,000 Jerry Jenkins scholarship, presented by Mr. Jenkins himself. YAY! So fun to see them thriving and expanding their influence.

My Latte with Luke Bible study is late in launching. But for good reason: AMG is doing (much needed) all new covers for my Coffee Cup Bible Study series. So look for the Luke study in June.

Speaking of that series, if you have read Mocha on the Mount and never posted an Amazon review, I need only two more to make fifty, which would move it up in the search engines. Consider helping me out?

Now that I've entered grades and have graduation behind me, I'm gearing up to take twelve people to Italy with DTS in June, teaching Medieval Art and Spirituality. Please pray that the Spirit would do a great work. I have students coming from all over—from Doha, Qatar, from the Smoky Mountains, from working at Google in LA....I love the diversity of our distance students!

Debora Annino and I have a tentative date for the next writer's workshop in San Miguel de Allende Mexico. We're looking at February 8–12. Maybe you should join us? One of our 2022 attendees just landed her first book contract. YAY!

Thanks for reading. I'd love your prayer support.

Layer Your Literacy

This piece was first published at Fathommag.com.

My earliest memories include visions of my mother reading to me as I sat on her lap. Once I would memorize a story, she’d tease me as moms often do with their repetition-loving youngsters. She’d change one word and wait for me to object.  

When I grew a little bigger, Mom read to my little sister and me nightly from her chair next to our bunk beds. One of the books she read was Winnie-the-Pooh. I still have my original copy of A.A. Milne’s masterpiece. It’s in a state of disrepair, but I prefer it that way. Like the velveteen rabbit whose realness increased as his “skin” grew threadbare, the my Pooh book also grew more real with wear. And upon reaching adulthood, I smiled when I re-read the story, as I caught entirely new layers of meaning. White had written a book for children, but he tucked inside some rewards for the bigger readers too.

My father also contributed to our love for reading—I would often see him with his nose stuck in a National Geographic or American Heritage magazine. In fact, his literacy extended further than I realized, as I would find out later. Much later.

Whenever Dad faced the occasional toilet overflow, he would grab the plumber’s helper and dash into the bathroom calling out, “Double, double toilet trouble! Come a-runnin’ on the double!” I found his trochaic tetrameter clever, and I was also glad that the same man who tossed a wrench when the car gave him fits could so good-naturedly face what I considered a far less agreeable task. I had no clue that he was quoting—or rather, misquoting—anything. 

Nearly four decades later, however, when doing my Ph.D. work, I took a course in Shakespeare tragedies. One evening as I was reading along in MacBeth, I came upon something in Act IV, Scene I that shocked me. The witches bending over their brew were chanting, “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble.” 

I burst out laughing.

For years, decades even, I had quoted my dad’s rhyme without realizing he had based it on some of the best-known literature in the English language. I had lacked the background to appreciate it. Yet that deficiency hadn’t kept me from enjoying it at an elementary level. Still, further knowledge added—greatly added—to my appreciation.

Lifelong Journey of Literacy

The road to literacy is paved with many such layers.

I had a similar experience with Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. When I checked it out from the school library in the sixth grade, I knew little of the Bible. So when I read in L’Engle’s pages the concept that “perfect love casts out fear,” I thought she had coined a beautiful saying. Only when I read the same phrase in the New Testament several years later did it dawn on me that L’Engle had borrowed her profound concept straight from the elder John himself. Both revelations—the initial discovery of the idea and the later realization of its literary source—delighted me.

And the revelations keep happening.

In the early 1990s, one of my creative-writing professors assigned his graduate students to read Annie Dillard's Pulitzer-winning Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Then we had us write something that mimicked her style. And, frankly, at the time I could hardly stand the book. I wanted Ms. Dillard to get on with something, anything, other than what I considered endless ramblings about nature. Still, the class’s results proved interesting, even if for some (myself included) Dillard’s work provided nothing more than an opportunity for parody.

Fast forward a few decades, and I’m a writing professor teaching the same class in the same institution. So, a few years back, I gave my students the same assignment. And I re-read Dillard to refresh my memory. I wanted to be able to catch my students’ allusions, sorting through what they borrowed and what they created.  

And to my utter surprise, I loved the book.

Whereas in the past I had read too little of Shakespeare, Thoreau, and Pliny to appreciate Dillard’s references to them, now I understood. And whereas in the past I had read too little history even to know what “anchoresses” were, this time when I found them in Dillard’s similes, I caught her meaning. I found myself glad to have yielded my youth to years of learning.

Whatever level of literary understanding we might have achieved, we are always becoming better readers. It’s a lifelong journey. We start out on the dirt path of plain understanding—“my father made up an amusing rhyme”; “L’Engle has a wonderful idea”; “Dillard writes only of nature.” Yet as we reread texts, we find that children are not the only ones who grow in literacy.  

And those of us who make our living using the word to communicate the Word—we of all people can and should aid our readers in their multi-layered literary journeys by ensuring that whatever we offer them is legible, readable, and accessible on many levels.

The Greatest Book Ever Written

It is also why we must read and reread the Bible. We benefit from the way different truths touch us at different times, depending on what God is emphasizing in our lives in the moment. And we equip ourselves to notice when authors are borrowing from its pages.

Consider what John Steinbeck did with Cain and Abel’s story retold as East of Eden. Or what Melville did with Moby-Dick and Jonah. One does not have to know the underlying story to appreciate the conflict between brothers or the joy of triumphing over a whale. But a thoroughgoing understanding of the Genesis story or of Jonah’s voyage adds to the reader’s appreciation of the author’s genius. Think, too, of how Dickens used the idea of substitutionary sacrifice in The Tale of Two Cities. Or how Lewis’s Narnia adventures retell the greatest story ever told.

The Bible itself is our example here, as it speaks to multiple audiences.

Consider that “in the beginning” we have a beautiful garden, but the man and woman choose to sin in a little matter about a tree. In the Gospels we find an innocent man hanging from a tree. And in Revelation we find humanity restored in the garden and invited to eat—you guessed it—from a tree. We can appreciate the wonderful ending in John’s apocalypse without knowing about the first two trees. Yet how much more meaningful the story is to the reader who has journeyed all the way from Eden to paradise restored.

We can read the book of Hebrews and catch the idea that Christ is supreme without knowing the story of Israel carrying around a tabernacle in the wilderness and what all the accessories symbolized. Yet Hebrews makes more sense, holds more meaning, as we grow and find layer upon layer of literary allusion. 

Think of Jesus on the cross crying, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” The words and the angst behind them are clear enough. Yet consider the even more powerful punch they pack when the reader knows the Son of David is quoting his ancestor King David right out of his Hebrew Bible.

As people of the word—and as publishers, writers, and sellers of books—we depend on the communication of words for life, both temporal and eternal. And the path to aural and written literacy is a lifelong road with many layers from the dirt path to the highway. 

The best works, the books destined to be classics, the books our readers deserve, get better and better as we grow.

On Metaphors

For writers, some good resources (okay, bad and good) on metaphors:Failed metaphorsBiblical metaphors for God 

How to Write a Book Proposal

Your novel is ready to go. Your nonfiction book is fleshed out. Now what?My agent, Chip MacGregor, has a brand new book releasing to help writers who are trying to create the best book proposal possible. Step by Step Pitches and Proposals: A Workbook for Writers is the new book from Chip and longtime editor Holly Lorenz.This book uses clear, detailed explanations, work-sheets, and annotated examples to walk readers step-by-step through the following: industry terminology, querying, pitching, creating a proposal, and formatting the whole thing. You’ll find helpful information about what to say, who and when to query, and how to find contacts. Suggestions on how to create a pitch are offered, along with sample pitches, as well as advice from a speaking professional on how to deal with a face-to-face pitch.Inside, you'll find detailed instructions for building professional, industry-standard proposals, both fiction and nonfiction, using plenty of examples and multiple samples of successful, real proposals. In fact, that’s one of the things that sets this apart from other books on proposals—Chip and Holly went back to authors whose books Chip had sold and asked their permission to use the proposals.  So the text offers real-world examples of proposals from books that actually sold in the market, including a couple bestselling books. There are also worksheets available in each section which readers have found extremely useful, walking the writer through their own material. There is even a section on how to format a manuscript before attaching it to a proposal.You can order print and Kindle copies.   

Humor: Weird Al Does Grammar

Outreach to the Deaf

In the Writing for Publication class I teach, a student I had last year—Sarita Fowler—wrote a good article about how to reach out to the Deaf. PRISM magazine ran it in the final issue of their publication. Congratulations to Sarita for getting published!

5 Lessons I've Learned about Writing

1. Have something worth saying. In his book Culture Care, artist Makoto Fujimura tells a story he confesses may be legendary about a Yale student taking Hebrew from the great Old Testament scholar Brevard Childs. The student, discontent with his grades, asked the scholar how he could raise them. Childs’s answer: “Become a deeper person.”Peggy Noonan writer of seven books on politics, religion, and culture, and weekly columnist for The Wall Street Journal, was at one time the speech writer for the man considered The Great Communicator. In her book Simply Speaking, she says that what moves people in a speech is the logic. The words “Tear down this wall, Mr. Gorbachev” are not all that poetic when taken at face value. But they express something that resonates in the human heart. In the words of Robert Frost, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.”In the same way that logic is what moves people in a speech, logic is what moves people in writing. And to have logic, to move people, we must have something worth saying. In fact, probably about 90% of writing is having something worth saying. And how do we get something worth saying? By expanding the world of ideas to which we expose ourselves and by cultivating a rich inner life.2. Decrease your vision. That is, “think local.” Start with your family. Doug Bender, the bestselling author of I Am Second: Real Stories. Changing Lives. wrote a book for an audience of one. When Doug’s wife had a miscarriage, it grieved the Bender’s little girl. So Doug wrote a child’s book about death and loss just for her.My husband’s favorite seminary professor told his students, “Stop thinking you will go out and save the world, and instead become the best family member you can be, the most grateful child of your parents, the greatest and most dependable encourager in your church, the best contributor to your community.” We influence the world one small corner at a time. Cherish the small.In the days when Abraham’s descendants had been carried off from Israel to Babylon, their prophet, Jeremiah, sent a letter to King Nebuchadnezzar for the surviving people in exile. Jeremiah’s counsel: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce…. Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile” (Jere. 29:1–7). Seeking the good of the city where we live is always good counsel. So write for your kids, if you have any. Contribute good columns to the local paper. Donate some book reviews for your favorite local web site. Do readings at the library. And do so simply to give back and because you wish to make your corner of the world a better place.3. Read or listen. A lot of people say that to be a good writer you have to read. But that is not totally true. Not everyone can read—even among bestselling writers of worth. Bodie Thoene, who has sold millions of books, has dyslexia, which makes it nearly impossible for her to read. My own husband, who holds a master’s degree from a rigorous program, can hardly read without falling asleep, due to a mild form of dyslexia. But he watches a lot of National Geographic shows and keeps up with the news in non-written forms. Some say that Emily Dickinson's meter draws not on the cadences of authors she read but of hymns she sang.Those who cannot read can listen. And even those of us who do love to read can benefit by hearing. These days I learn aurally from NPR’s book reviews, the weekly podcast of the New York Times Book Review, and at least one Audible book per month. In the past six months, I’ve switched my drive time from passive radio listening to more active listen to books on audio. The list has included mostly fiction such as The Goldfinch, The Invention of Wings, Lila, Gone Girl, and The Fault in Our Stars. But I’ve also enjoyed Unbroken, Quiet, I Am Malala, and Bonhoeffer. I would never have had time simply to sit and read those books.4. Write what contributes to human flourishing, not what you perceive as the next hot market. Trying to predict what will sell is like leaning on cobwebs. Just about the time you find a post to rest against, it gives way. By the time you finish writing a book to meet demand, the market will have left you in the dust. So write what you love to write and/or what you can write with excellence. (Sometimes we must write what we do well to pay the bills, even if it’s not our favorite.) Of the twenty or so books I’ve authored or coauthored, the one that continues to bring the most income is Sexual Intimacy in Marriage. There are fifty shades of books available on the topic of sex that sell many more copies than the one I coauthored. I could have turned up the steam and helped people live less fully human lives. And I probably would be making a lot more money. But the world needs more beautiful relationships, not those that are more hollow.5. Measure success accurately. You will be tempted to measure your own success by a number of externals that have nothing to do with your worth. Tell yourself they are lies.Someone once told me that the only human-made structure visible from space was not the Golden Gate Bridge or the Eiffel Tower or even the tallest building in the world, but only the Great Wall of China. Think of all the amazing structures that “failed” to make that list.But that does not make these structures failures. It just means that when measured by one narrow definition of success, they failed. As writers, any number of false measures can make us feel like losers. Did our last book fail to earn out its advance? Did we do a book tour? Did the work gain rave reviews in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal? These are not accurate measures of whether we can write. Lots of crummy books sell big. Many divergent books make their authors lots of money, but that does not make the books or the authors successes.At one time, I thought doing a book signing would indicate I had really arrived. Imagine my humiliation when I had to share a book-signing table with a famous person who had a long line of fans lined up out the door while I had nobody. Well, okay, one person. But she probably felt sorry for me. Still, that book itself changed some lives for the good. The humiliating signing experience had no correlation with the book’s success or mine.So measure not by money or fame, but in influence on human flourishing. And of course, that is impossible to measure. Which is precisely my point.

On Gender-Inclusive Language

When the Collins Dictionary linguists used their computational analysis to query their database on language use (4.4 billion words!), they discovered that evangelicals are using "man" to refer to the human race far more often than the general population. As in three or four times more often.

Douglas J. Moo said in his report to the Evangelical Theological Society at the San Diego 50th anniversary dinner for the NIV translation, "What determines 'correct' English is not some nineteenth or twentieth-century style manual or the English we were taught in grade school but the English that people are actually speaking and writing today. And the data are very clear: modern English has latched on to the so-called 'singular they,' which has been part of English for a long time, as the preferred way to follow up generic nouns and pronouns." That means, despite what our English teachers taught us, that someone can take their toys and go home. In fact, if we say someone can take his toys and go home, listeners notice—and not in a good way.

Academic Writing: My video workshop

How to Become a Great Photojournalist

Part 2, from Ashley Scarbrough, photojournalist (and my intern)

Lights, Camera, Love: From a Good Photographer to the Best  

How would you respond if a photographer walked up to you and asked if she could photograph your family for an assignment in a Muslim magazine? Dorothy Greco came face to face with this situation during one of her first assignments as a young photojournalist. At the age of 23, she received her first yearlong assignment for a Christian magazine. She boarded her flight and set across the Pacific to London, England, and searched for a Muslim family to photograph.

Why would a Muslim family welcome a Christian photojournalist into their home? How would she connect with them? Why would they trust her? After a week searching around London, an imam and his family welcomed her in. Twenty-four hours later, Dorothy returned to her hotel room humbled and amazed.

How did she build that trust and connection? To become a great photographer, you need more than the Photoshop skills and the knowledge of light. You need to connect with people. The deeper relationship you build with your subjects, the better storyteller you become.

Practical Tips to Develop Photographer/Subject Relationships:Manual Focus: Months or weeks before you go off on assignment, research the culture you will be diving into.  Brainstorm ways to relate, connect, and build relationships. Ask questions, listen, read, and take notes. Focus Your Lens: Before you set out on assignment, take a breath. Spend 30 seconds, a minute, or even an hour to get focused. You’ve done the research, now step out there.Put Down the Camera: Charge the batteries, grab the memory cards, organize the lenses and camera bodies.  Set the camera bag down.  Put the phone away, let the emails go unanswered for a few hours and get to know the people.  Spend some time working beside them and serving them. Develop the Photos: When you return back from your day of work, silence the doubts about your work. Put the obsession with perfection away in a dark closet, lock the door, and throw away the key.  Perfectionism destroys assignments, steals joy, and can harm people. Don’t try to be the best. Give your best. 

Advice to Writers

Build a Better Mouse Trap: Part 4
This is the final post of a four-part series by author Brandt Dodson.

In my previous posts, I’vediscussed my concern over the anemic results of my marketing efforts and how I’velearned that my writing was not what I had envisioned. I’ve discussed thethings I’ve learned from more successful writers and how I’m learning to applythem to my own work.

Now, I will list some of theresources I’ve used. I hope these help you. Some may not. You will have todecide which ones are right for you—which ones enable you to take your writingto the next level.

1.    Writers Digest

Istill read it. Even though it is largely aimed at the beginning writer, I neverfail to find it helpful. I subscribe to it as well as the newsletter.


2.   Publisher’s Weekly

Thismagazine is invaluable in helping to stay abreast of the rapidly changingpublishing scene.

3.    Writing instruction books

I’veread hundreds of writing instruction books, far too many to list them all. Buthere are a few of the ones I found helpful:

How to Craft a Great Story –Creating Perfect Plot and Structure by Chris Sykes

Writing a Bestselling Thriller –Strategies to Get Your Book Published by Matthew Branton

How to Write Best Selling Fiction by Dean Koontz (very datedmarket information)

Story Engineering – Mastering the6 Core Competencies of Successful Writing by Larry Brooks

Story Physics – Harnessing theUnderlying Forces of Storytelling by Larry Brooks

Make a Scene – Crafting aPowerful Story One Scene at a Time by Jordan E. Rosenfeld

CraftingScenes by Raymond Obstfeld

The Glamour of Grammar by Roy Peter Clark

Writing Tools – 50 EssentialStrategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark

The Power of Point of View – MakeYour Story Come to Life by Alicia Rasley

Conflict and Suspense by James Scott Bell

Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell

The Art and Craft of Storytelling by Nancy Lamb

Make Your Words Work by Gary Provost

How Fiction Works by Oakley Hall

Getting the Words Right by Theodore A. Rees Cheney

Simple and Direct – A Rhetoricfor Writersby Jacques Barzun

Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynne Schmidt, Ph.D.

The Elements of Storytelling by Peter Rubie

Writing for Emotional Impact by Karl Iglesias

The Art of Styling Sentences by Ann Longknife, Ph.D. and K.D.Sullivan

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers– How to Edit Yourself into Print by Renni Browne and Dave King

Asyou can see, a good number of the books I listed above deal with story. That’sbecause I found that to be the weakest link in my writing. For you, it may beentirely different. But I would recommend at least some of these for you, sincesuccessful writers are good storytellers

4.   Attend at least one conference ayear if you can

Conferencescan be expensive, and I realize everyone can’t do this. But if you can, thendo. There are conferences every year that are dedicated to one genre or other.For me, Thrillerfest tends to be my primary choice. But of late, I’ve begunattending one of the Writers Digest conferences. These are directed more towardcraft than any specific genre, and I’ve been able to learn as well as makeconnections with some excellent teachers.


5.   Read

Iread nearly all of the NYTBestselling writers in any given year, particularly (though not exclusively)those who write in my genre. I contact many of them through their websites andhave met them at conferences. I talk to them. I listen.

6.   Scout the internet for screenwriters conferences and books

Iunderstand we’re talking novel writing, but many of the techniques used toentertain and hold a reader can be learned from our screenwriting comrades.


7.   Analyze

Reada novel for pleasure. But then, go back and analyze it. Underline the author’sopening line and last line. Did the first one get you on the hook? Did the lastone let you off? How did they develop their characters in a way that made youcare? Did they use description? Primarily dialogue? Did they rely onstereotypes? Then, look at your own writing. How is yours different fromtheirs?

Analyzethe movies you watch in the same manner. Again, these are different media, butthey are both designed to accomplish the same goal: Telling a story in anentertaining way.


8.   Be on guard

Watchfor the ways a story falls flat for you. How would you have done itdifferently? What failed? Why? This may be a story you’ve read, watched, orheard at work while standing at the water cooler.

9.   Read interviews of your favoritewriters

Searchthe Internet for interviews with your favorite writers, particularly the oneswhere they talk about craft. Learn their thoughts, their approaches. You maynot be able to meet them, but you can still learn from them directly as well asfrom reading their work.

10. Don’t beat yourself up

Thereis a certain amount of luck in reaching the top of the bestseller lists. Manyof the writers I’ve mentioned in these posts have told me they don’t know howthey did it. Most of them have told me they simply wrote the best story theycould. The rest was serendipity. There are things in this business over whichyou have no control.

Butyou do have control over the quality of your work. Do the best you can withcraft, and learn the proper marketing techniques that are best suited for youand your work. If you do this, you will have done all that can be done. Andthere is satisfaction in that.


11. Don’t quit

Ifyour goal is to reach #1 on the NYT list,then do all that you can toward achieving that goal. True, I just told youthere is a certain amount of luck to this. But you can also improve yourchances of encountering that luck with persistence. Don’t quit. Ever.

I’mnot there. But I’m well on the road, much farther along than when I began thisjourney. I’ll get there. And I’m confident that if you focus on improving yourcraft and work diligently on taking your work to new heights, you will reachyour goals too.

What Bestselling Writers Do

Build a Better Mouse Trap – Part III

 This is part three of four in a series about writing by authorBrandt Dodson.

In my last post I outlined five characteristicsof successful writers—the kind of writers at the top of the New York Timesbestseller list. Here are the rest:

Successful writers know their market.

Lee Child was recently asked ifhe would ever write a non-Jack Reacher novel. He said, “No. I write JackReacher. If someone wants to read something else, I’m not the guy. I writeReacher.”

Smart man. Lee isn’t saying hecan’t produce something else. In fact, he did for many years while at the BBC.  But he is saying he knows his readership andhe will give them what they want. We would be well advised to do the same. Thisdoesn’t mean you can’t expand. In fact, you must if you are to grow as a writerand remain relevant. But knowing your market and giving them what they want isthe first step to a marketing plan that works—the first step toward building abetter mousetrap.

Successful writers know their craftThese writers know how to usegrammar to their advantage. They understand the simplicity and complexity ofthe English language. They understand that what is not said in a story can be just as impactful as what is said. They understand and use subtextto their advantage. In short, they make the execution of a well-written novellook easy. They do this by knowing their craft.

Successful writers are diligentThe writers I’ve met and readthat are highly successful have been diligent in the pursuit of their success.Ken Follett, Jack Higgins, Dean Koontz, and Stephen King were all determined tosucceed. This doesn’t mean that writing and submitting the same thing will makeus successful. But it does demonstrate that a determination to succeed willsupply the fuel necessary to do what it takes to achieve the dream. I heard a sayingrecently that I really like: Dreams don’t come true; dreams are made true.


Successful writers are accessible

This may not have a direct impacton their sales figures, but I’ve noticed that successful authors tend to putsomething back. With rare exceptions, they aren’t selfish or boorish people.Lending a helping hand is something they enjoy. And why not? It is enjoyable.

During the course of my careerI’ve taught at dozens of writing conferences and have mentored several writersinto publications. I’ve given cover quotes, edited manuscripts, and connectedfledgling writers with editors, agents, and publishers.

I enjoy it. But successfulwriters are writers first and teachers second. It is natural to want to pass onthe techniques we’ve learned. But when this takes the place of writing, we areon a very different road.

Okay. So there you have it.Perhaps this is nothing new. In fact, you may have noted these before. But areyou doing them? Are you thinking more deeply about your plots? Are you challengingyourself more? Are you truly giving the readers what they want? Somethingfresh?

It’s hard. No doubt about it. Ifthis was easy, everyone would be doing it. (I know, I know. It seems likeeveryone is doing it.)

Introspection is the key tounlocking our writing faults. Looking into the mirror often reveals the wartswe don’t want to see. You won’t like it. I didn’t like it either. Lazy writingis easy, and I like easy. But the rewards go to the diligent—to those who arewilling to roll up their sleeves and do the work necessary to take theirwriting to the next level. You can do it. You know you can. And there areresources that can help.

I’ll list some of the ones I’ve used in my next post.

Characteristics of Bestselling Writers

Build a Better Mousetrap: Part 2

This is part two in a four-part series on how to write great stories, by Brandt Dodson. 

When I recognized that mymarketing efforts weren’t paying off with the dividends I had hoped, I began astudious effort to learn what is was, exactly, I was doing wrong. I began analyzing my writing. Were mycharacters original? Did my plots avoid the tried and true? Was I writingsomething that was different? Fresh?

I had to conclude that I wasn’t.

Before I proceed, for the sake ofclarity, let’s define successful writersas having a very large and growing readership that places theauthor in the upper echelons of the NewYork Times Best Sellers list. It’s alofty goal, and I know that definition doesn’t work for everyone. But it givesa reference point for the purpose of this discussion.

Okay. So I determined that I wasn’t writing great books. Good books,I think, but not great. There are a lot of good books out there. But I’ve neverwanted to write good books or books that are competently done. I want to writebooks that move people; books that inspire conversation at the local Starbucks.

With this revelation, I beganreading and re-reading the novels ofthe literary stars as well as talking with them whenever I could. I’ve taken atwo-year hiatus from publishing in an effort to improve my writing as well asdevelop a workable business philosophy. Here’s is what I’ve learned.

Successful writers break the rulesYep. That’s right. Advice suchas: Make your characters likeable,and never begin with weather, arewell intentioned. Unfortunately, these rules often become restraints tocreativity rather than guideposts for engaging stories.

I recently spoke with Lee Child,creator of the Jack Reacher series,and he said, “Why not begin with weather? If that’s where the story starts, whynot?” In short, he was saying if weather plays a role in your novel, whether itis as a plot device or as a part of your setting or to establish the mood, whycan’t you start with weather? Alistair MacLean did. And who said charactershave to be likeable? Have you read TheGodfather?

I’ve learned there is only oneessential rule that all novelists need follow: You must entertain the reader. However you choose to do that,whatever road you take to achieve that goal, is fair game.

Successful writers develop simple plots that are executed withsimple words in simple sentence construction.Okay,I’ll admit, I was a bit reluctant to point this out because it may sound as ifI’m saying we need to write down to the masses. I’m not. But the fact remainsthat most of the best-selling novelists do not construct lyrical phrases oremploy complex sentences to execute erudite thoughts. They tend to use simplesentences that drive home the point and reach as wide an audience as possible.One bestselling author told me he believes there aren’t enough readers tocreate a large readership for an author. In short, he said he thought that asuccessful career, one in which tens of millions of copies are sold, requiresreaching people who generally do not read. They’re out there, he said. You justhave to give them something they want, and tell the story in a way they enjoy.

Readthe first page of Lee Child’s breakout novel, The Killing Floor, for an example of what I mean. Here’s anexcerpt:

I was arrested in Eno’s diner. At twelve o’clock. I was eatingeggs and drinking coffee. A late breakfast, not lunch. I was wet and tiredafter a long walk in heavy rain. All the way from the highway to the edge oftown.

Simple? Yes. To the point? Youbet. Ambiguous? Not at all.

Successful writers know story

There is a book out now that istitled: Story Trumps Structure. It’san insightful book written by an insightful writer, Steven James. But I’m notsure the title rings true. Story does trump technique. But story is dependenton a proper structure, and this is a technique of craft at which successfulwriters excel. They are first and foremost, great storytellers who understandwhat makes a story work.

Successful writers develop fresh ideas or engaging concepts forold ones

The writer of Ecclesiastes tellsus that there is nothing new under the sun. And he’s right. But as a writer, healso knew that there are different approaches to the same idea. After all,Ecclesiastes echoes the same ideas expressed in the rest of scripture, but doesso in a much different (some would say, slightly depressing) way.

When I was growing up, The Beverly Hillbillies was the numberone rated show on television. Later, as an adult, while watching Crocodile Dundee, I suddenly realizedthe similarity between that movie and TheBeverly Hillbillies. They are verydifferent concepts with verydifferent execution. But they are essentially the same story: A fish out of water. And that type ofstory always lends itself to humor. It is no mystery that both were comedies. (Thistype of story lends itself to great suspense, too. Remember the movie North by Northwest?)

All writers strive for highconcept, but most of fail. Some of us reach so high for the concept that we endup looking foolish. One who didn’t was Michael Crichton.

Jurassic Park is high concept. Could anyone argue otherwise? Dean Koontz,himself a successful, high-concept writer, has said that Crichton’s ideas weresome of the highest concept he has ever seen.

But others have succeeded at thistoo. Some have done it with their first book, right out of the gate.

Take David Baldacci, forinstance. His first thriller, AbsolutePower, took the idea of a man trying to hide an affair (nothing originalthere) and put it into the White House (pre-Bill Clinton). Suddenly, the mantrying to hide the affair, as well as its subsequent murder, was the Presidentof the United States, a man with a large number of resources. That’s highconcept.

Or take John Grisham’s secondbook, The Firm. A young lawyer findshimself working for the mob. Need I mention that The Firm is still in print and launched Grisham’s strugglingcareer?

Successful writers are well readI’ve taught at a large number ofwriter’s conferences over the years and have talked with a lot of writers includingsome of my favorites. Among them are: Ken Follett, Lee Child, Steve Berry,David Morrell, Michael Connelly, Scott Turrow, Tess Gerritsen, Michael Palmer,and Harlan Coben. In virtually every case, I’ve found these authors to be well read.Not just up to speed on current literature, but the classics too.

And I’ve learned that successfulauthors know their genre’s history.They know what’s been done, when, and why. But just as importantly, these authors are well-read outside their genre too. Techniques intelling a romance story will carry over to a thriller very nicely, thank you.

Successful writers don’t readanother author’s book to use it as a template. They study it to see why itworks. Lee Child has said that prior to his own publishing successes he readthe incomparable John D. MacDonald. Child has said that MacDonald’s ability topull the reader into the story was intriguing and, to this day, he can’t figureout how MacDonald did it. Child writes a very different type of book, but thelessons he’s learned from MacDonald have been well applied.

Successful writers are endowed with insatiable curiosity

 Ken Follett has said that hisdrive to write Pillars of the Earthcame from years of sitting in the old cathedrals of Europe and wondering about thepeople who built them.

Most successful writers arenatural learners who are easily bored, and a good portion of them have held avariety of jobs. I challenge you to read the biography of writers such as LouisL’Amour, Dennis Lehane, or Ernest Hemingway, to name but three.

I’ve also learned that mostsuccessful writers love to read about obscure subjects. Information as variedas how screwdrivers are made to new discoveries in physics serves as grist forthe mill. All of this information is read and then digested before it isregurgitated in some form or other in their stories.

In my next post, I’ll continuethe characteristics of successful writers.

Brandt Dodson on Writing Well

Building a Better Mouse TrapOur guest post today is from crime and suspense author Dr. Brandt Dodson. This is number one of a four-part series.

Clichés, like the title above, are to be avoided like the plague (See? There’s another one). I could’ve written"… are to be avoided like a bar fight following dental surgery." But I didn’t. Clichés are easier and require less thinking. Hence, they abound. 

For example, how often have you read about the wounded ex-Green Beret, Navy Seal, Delta Force (take your pick) who is recruited by the CIA, NSA, or other shadowy agency to unload vengeance, havoc, or destruction on our enemies? P-u-u-l-l-e-a-s-e!

And the cliché isn’t confined to thrillers. We see them in every genre. Take medical suspense, as another example. The young physician (always young) or the young resident-physician/surgeon or the researcher who is in the throes of battle with an evil HMO, corrupt hospital administration, a mutated virus or a cabal of sinister physicians bent on cornering a diminishing market. Really?

These can be good books. After all, they sell, some, so they must be. But are they great books? Breakout books?

In a market where tens of thousands of books are published every year, good isn’t good enough. No one wants another vanilla novel. Readers are looking for color. Plots that move too fast—or too slow—hackneyed characters, trite stories, or incoherent themes delivered with poor technique will not give them that color. The familiar tends to close the mind. But give the reader something new, something different, and they’ll take notice. More than that, they’ll tell their friends.

Why did Mario Puzo’s The Godfather take off? There had been mafia books before his. What made his different?

Why did Scott Turrow’s Presumed Innocent hit the bestseller lists? Wasn’t it a simple murder mystery?

Build a better mouse trap, the old saying goes, and the world will beat a path to your door. The flip side to that statement is: You can’t sell ice to Eskimos (unless you do it in a commercial for LaQuinta, but that’s material for another essay).

Like a lot of writers, I’ve been selling (marketing) ice to Eskimos. Now, I’m committed to building a better mouse trap. 

I had an opportunity to speak with Ken Follett a couple of years ago and to read an interview he gave on this very subject. He said that he had written ten thrillers that were received with “breath-taking indifference.” As a result, he was determined to write a better, more ambitious novel. He began by going to the bookstore in an attempt to figure out why there was only one copy of his book – sitting on the back shelf – but there were dozens by other authors prominently displayed in the front. He read those books to learn what their authors were doing that he wasn’t. In short, he said: “I was learning to raise my game.” And he did. His next novel, Eye of the Needle, launched (or rather, re-launched) his career. The book is still in print over three decades since its initial release.

Do not assume I am saying clichés are our only enemy. They are not. Lazy writing—lazy craftsmanship—is.

Over the course of my writing, I’ve learned the ins-and-outs of marketing and I rarely hear anything that I didn’t already know or haven’t tried. Like most writers, I spend an inordinate amount of time with social media, among other things, in an effort to reach readers, and I do so with a sustained effort. All of this has been to little or no avail. But I’ve learned a lesson from Mr. Follett. 

I’ve been studying the writers who are successful in reaching wider audiences. I’ve also begun talking to some of them to learn their philosophy on the writing business (and it is a business) to learn whatever I can that may be adaptable to my own career. I am approaching this on the assumption that if I follow my true calling, my marketing efforts will be more effective. That’s not to say that marketing isn’t needed. It is. Neither am I saying that writers can pass most of it on to the publisher. They can’t. But I am saying that if we write a product that the reader is waiting for—one that requires deeper thinking, superior craft, and that turns convention on its head—our marketing efforts will produce better and longer-lasting fruit.

In my next post, I will outline the lessons I’ve learned.

L'Engle on Sacred and Secular

I'm re-reading Madeleine L'Engle's book, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art. Here's a thought for the day:

There is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred, and that is one of the deepest messages of the incarnation.

Authoring: Book Numbers and Trends

According to Chip MacGregor, “We live in the golden age ofpublishing. Never have there been as many people getting published nor as manyreading as there are now.” I hear this everywhere. It’s a good time to be awriter; we just have to market a lot more." 

Who Sells Books?

Here are some key numbers on book sales today:

41% happen via ecommerce (e.g., Amazon)

22% come through chains (e.g., Lifeway)

8% mass merchandisers

3% independent book stores

Book trends

Readersare reading electronically. Among digital readers and dedicated readers (peoplewho read about 10 books/year) – 2 of 3 now own a digital reader of some kind.Kindle or Nook or iPad or laptop or phone.

Fictionhas grown. Before ebooks, non-fiction outsold fiction about 8 to 1. Cookbooks, money books, retirement books, diet books, theology books—that stuffcarried the day in sales. Now 79% of ebooks sold in this country are fiction. Andfiction is outselling non-fiction 4-to-1 on ebooks. So we have two big markets now. And that is good news for writers.

Lessons for Filmmakers

Tired of cheesy Christian family films? Here's a great summary of what does and does not work in the faith-revealing storytelling process.

Pixar's 22 Rules to Phenomenal Storytelling

Pixar's 22 Rules to Phenomenal Storytelling from Gavin McMahon | fassforward Consulting Group

The Market for Writers: An Expert Speaks

Meet Mark Kuyper, the pleasant and interesting President and CEO of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA).

The ECPA is an international non-profit trade organization comprised of member companies involved in the publishing and distribution of Christian content worldwide. (Think of all the Christian book publishers you've ever heard of, and then some.) ECPA helps publishing folks to network, share information, and benefit from advocacy on behalf of the industry.

So...you can imagine that the person leading that group might know a few things about the publishing industry, right?

When he and I talked last month at the Evangelical Press Association national meeting in Anaheim, we discussed the need for both online and physical book store models. Case in point: He recently tried to buy a Bible as a gift for someone, and online ordering didn't cut it. It's not that easy to order the size, color, binding, and translation you want online. Bible selection requires way too many options for the one- or two-click model, especially when it comes to buying the world's most important book. We need stores.

And get this: I asked him what he thought about "the market" from the perspective of writers. And the president and CEO of the ECPA told me there has never been a better time to seek publication. And this is the best time ever for writers.

So take heart, okay? Keep writing.