Nearly Everything I Need to Write a Book I Learned in Elementary School

by Kelly Klepfer

1) Learn. 

Not even kidding about this. You need to invest your time, energy, heart and soul in learning what to do and what not to do. This involves conferences, books, magazines and blog reading. If you are new, you may have already poised to click out of this because you are tired of hearing this advice. But, there is no way around this step if you want to succeed. In order to be published and/or sell books, you have to give the impression that you are worth investing in. And the advice that hundreds of thousands of people give is that you learn to write according to the rules. When you get those down, you can calculate how to creatively twist those in your story.

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Multi-Published Author Terri Blackstock Reveals the Two Best Writing Tools

The Two Best Writing Tools—

Pain and Passion

byTerri Blackstock

I’ve written over seventy books, but the ones that have been the most successful have been the ones born of personal passion. I don’t mean a passion like strawberries or Diet Coke—though I am passionate about those. I mean something that cuts me deeply or makes me livid or comes from some emotional roller coaster I couldn’t control. Sometimes the passion comes from something I’ve seen happen to others, and my ire has flown up like a flock of angry birds, and it keeps me awake at night. Sometimes it comes from my own barely-healed wounds.

Bruce Springsteen once said, “I’ve always believed the greatest rock and roll musicians are desperate men. You’ve got to have something bothering you all the time.” I think that applies to writers of all kinds. Great writers are often desperate. They’re desperate to right some wrong, desperate to illuminate injustice, desperate to understand why hurtful people hurt, desperate to rewrite chapters of their own lives so they can analyze them from some distance. Depression seems to be a common trait among songwriters and novelists, and that may be what leads them into those vocations. I’m convinced we feel things more keenly than most people do, and we have no choice but to write those feelings down, couched in some story that gives them context and makes them palatable for others to read ... and easier for us to dissect. Maybe God allows us to have more trouble in our lives, not because we’re less favored, but because we are the troubadours and storytellers who will make people feel validated and less alone. Maybe people need to hear what we’ve learned.

Of course there are exceptions. I sold my first book at the age of twenty-five, when I hadn’t yet accumulated that many scars. I met with some success before I’d ever experienced the devastation of divorce, before I’d dealt with the self-destruction of a beloved family member on drugs, before I’d known much about death or disease, betrayal or heartbreak. It can be done, and it can be done well. I don’t mean to say that all writers are depressed or overly sensitive. Some of them are well adjusted optimists whose talent doesn’t depend on emotional trauma. I don’t want to paint us all as hyper-sensitive and melancholy. But I believe many of us are.

When wounds are inflicted, we often think we have to shut down, be quiet, back away. Maybe that’s when we should do just the opposite. Maybe that’s when our best work will come. Maybe that’s when we’ll write our masterpiece.

I remember the morning of September 11, 2001, when my writer friends and I were emailing each other frantically, shocked at what had just happened. We all wanted to shut off our computers and sit in a dark room watching the TV images of the towers falling over and over. But I had a strong gut feeling that we needed to do just the opposite. People needed us now more than ever. As Christian writers, we needed to feel the depth of that tragedy, then turn it into something that could bring comfort to our readers or express what they wished they could say. We needed to find where God was working and remind people that He was still there. We needed to turn that passion into something that mattered. We were here, gifted with language and story and perspective and hair-trigger sensitivity, for a very specific reason.

Maybe that’s the purpose in all of our wounds. Stephen King said, “A little talent is a good thing to have if you want to be a writer. But the only real requirement is the ability to remember every scar.”

_______________

Terri Blackstock is a New York Times best-seller, with over seven million copies sold worldwide. She is the winner of two Carol Awards, a Christian Retailers Choice Award, and a Romantic Times Book Reviews Career Achievement Award, among others. Her most recent suspense novel is If I Run, about a young female fugitive whose being accused of a heinous murder.  Other books include Truth Stained Lies (the Moonlighters Series), Intervention (the Intervention Series), and Last Light (the Restoration Series). See the complete list of Terri’s books at http://www.terriblackstock.com/books. Join her at Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/tblackstock) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/TerriBlackstock).

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While Hopping Down the Bunny Trail ~ Lynne Gentry

Rabbit Trail Research

by Lynne Gentry 

When the crazy idea of dropping a 21st century doctor into a 3rd century plague popped into my head, I knew to do this story justice, I would have to expand my knowledge base, and it wouldn’t be easy. I had several strikes against me. First, I didn’t know anything about third-century Roman life. I had never been to Carthage and because of the political unrest, travel there was highly unlikely. Finally, how could I interview a real-life hero who had been dead for centuries?  

But letting this story idea go was out of the question. So, I jumped into the research. 

Using a combination of primary and secondary sources, I was able to build an authentic story world for a man I could never meet. 

Before I tell you how one source lead to another, let’s talk about the difference between a primary source and a secondary source.

Primary sources are diaries, letters, or live interviews with someone who has firsthand knowledge of the time, place, or situation of interest. Primary sources give you a glimpse into the language, slang, and phrases used in the everyday lives of the people on the street so to speak. Primary sources provide you with the sights and sounds, lay of the land, the taste of the food, and the smell of the air. For example, I’ve been to a hospital and even had several surgeries, but going to a hospital is not the same as working at a hospital as a first-year intern. To get a “feel” for that terrifying experience I did several live interviews with first-year residents. 

Secondary sources are written after the fact by someone who either witnessed the events or collected evidence and then wrote a report, biography, or scholarly research article or book.  

Here’s a small sample of how my secondary sources took me on a rabbit trail that led straight to a surprising primary source while researching my real-life hero Cyprianus Thascius:

1. Since I knew I couldn’t give Cyprian a call, I started where you’d probably start: I Googled him. I found several scholarly articles. At the end of those articles were extensive bibliographies. I ordered as many of the reference books or articles as I could find and afford. During the process of combing through these scholarly works, I discovered that after Cyprian was martyred his faithful friend and deacon Pontius recorded the events of Cyprian’s demise in a secondary work entitled The Life and Passion of St. Cyprian. I was able to find pieces and parts of that work on different university websites. The secondary account Pontius left behind gave me great insight into Cyprian’s personal struggle with his faith, especially after he was betrayed (the premise for book #2, Return to Exile).

1. The real gold came when a different secondary source reported that Cyprianus Thascius was one of the most prolific early church biographers. Cyprian had left behind reams of his own thoughts on everything from paganism to how the church should handle those who sold out in order to protect their own necks. I was able to get my hands on a few of Cyprian’s letters to friends, etc. I love this passage he wrote to his friend Donatus: 

“It is a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people, who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy which is a thousand times better than any of the pleasures of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are Christians … and I am one of them.” (Source: Saints and Heroes to the End of the Middle Ages, George Hodges, Henry Holt & Company, 1911, p. 6)

1. By reading Cyprian’s own words (a primary source preserved by a secondary source) it was as if I was interviewing him in person (primary source). His journal gave me a sense of the cadence of his voice, the phrases he used to describe ordinary life, and his way of thinking, especially about matters of faith. I garnered great insight into this man who had been raised as a Roman pagan and converted to Christianity later in life.   

It's always a good idea to obtain as much primary source information as you can. But when you can’t get your hands on an expert or actually go to a location, gathering as many secondary sources as possible will help you get the detail and the perspective that you will need to make your work come alive. Don’t be afraid to take a rabbit trail or two.

What surprising tidbits have you found when you followed a rabbit trail? 

Lynne Gentry has written for numerous publications and is a professional acting coach, theater director and playwright with several full-length musicals and a Chicago children’s theater curriculum to her credit. She likes to write stories that launch modern women into ancient adventures, such as The Carthage Chronicles series (Healer of Carthage, Return to Exile and Valley of Decision). Gentry is also an inspirational speaker and dramatic performer who loves spending time with her family and medical therapy dog.

To keep up with Lynne Gentry, visit www.lynnegentry.com, become a fan on Facebook (Author-Lynne-Gentry) or follow her on Twitter (@Lynne_Gentry) and Pinterest (lynnegentry7).

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