Jamie Hershberger

What makes Christian fiction, well… Christian? Is the definition of Christian fiction dependent on genre? How do you add spirituality to your novel if you are writing a Christian novel? Join the ladies as they answer these questions and more in this episode!

Hey Christian Indies,

I hope that you were able to pick up some helpful tips and tricks about including conflict in your story during last week’s episode. If you missed it, you can catch the replay here. If there was something that really helped you, or an additional suggestion you have let us know. We would love to hear from you.

This week on the podcast we will be discussing 5 dos and don’ts for writing dialogue. Things you should and shouldn’t include, the use of dialogue tags, exposition, quirky language, and dialects are a few of the things we’ll cover.

As always our active chat will surely have lots of sage advice to add to the conversations. Come join us if you can!

Be sure and join our private Facebook group, Listeners of the Christian Indie Writers Podcast, to be a part of this growing and dynamic community of Christian writers.

We can’t wait for you to join us on today’s podcast!

In Him, Tina

Dear Christian Indies,

You may not enjoy conflict in real life, but how about in your story? In this episode, the ladies discuss why conflict is important and how you can add it to your novel for a better story.

We hope their won’t be any conflict in real life that would keep you from joining us today!

See you there,

Tina and Jen

Dear Christian Indies,

This week we are returning to our Writing Craft series. This week, we’ll be talking about character development, specifically, character interrogation. What is character interrogation? Why should one do it? How can effective interrogation be helpful to writing a great book?

We’ll be discussing all of this and more, so it’s an episode you won’t want to miss.

See you there,

Jamie

Dear Christian Indies,

This week, we have a special treat in store for you, a guest appearance!

Kirsten Holmberg is a professional public speaker, and has agreed to come on air with us to discuss how independent authors can use public speaking to grow an audience, increase confidence, and potentially sell more books.

Kirsten specializes in confidence building and equipping others for the task of speaking in front of audiences of all sizes, and we’re excited to see what hints, tips, and advice she has for independent authors.

It’s an episode you won’t want to miss. 

See you there,

Jamie  

Dear Christian Indies,

Coming off our St. Patrick’s Day episode and all the conversation about the “lore” surrounding St. Patrick, we started considering how the term does not necessarily have to center on fantastical events or creatures, made-up “fairy tale” sounding stories, but that “lore” can also just mean the foundations of a family or a community. We discussed how each of us, when we think about it, has our own family “lore”. Some of us, like co-host Christina Cattane, have a more complicated history, and pieces of the past come together for us later in life, providing answers to some long-asked questions. Some of us are more steeped in tradition, with very firm ideas about who we are and how we live.

It made us wonder, dear Indie, how lore affects the characters we write, and the communities in which they live. How big of a role does lore play in our novels? Are there genres which have a greater expectation of lore? 

Tune in this week as we discover how lore impacts your characters and your writing—and perhaps explore/discover, along with us, times when it absolutely shouldn’t.

See you there,

Jamie

Dear Christian Indies,

In case you weren’t aware, we have a facebook group!* And a couple of weeks ago, a listener posted in that group a very big question. How, she wondered, does someone write a “great” book? And she was super clear; she was looking for advice as to how to write a book that was “GREAT”, as opposed to a book that was “meh”.

The other hosts and I pondered how best to answer this question, and I think we were not the only ones who were stymied by it, as the post got very little traction and not a lot of responses. Honestly, it’s a great question! The issue is, it’s also a really BIG question. And, at least for me, it raises a ton of associated questions, such as, “how does one measure the “greatness” of a book?”

Well, the co-hosts and I decided this question would be an excellent foundation for a podcast episode, and that is what we’re bringing to you this week; each of the hosts will have for you their one big tip for writing a book that will be GREAT, and not just, “meh.”

It’s bound to be a great episode. See you there!
-Jamie

Dear Christian Indies,

There will come a time when you have done it—written an entire novel with a beginning, a middle and an end. And if you’ve been listening to the podcast long enough, you know we always tell you to be careful with your first draft and to whom you give access to it. So let’s say you’ve followed this advice, and you’ve done a self edit. You may also have hired a professional editor. You may have also followed several other steps to get your book what you believe is “publication ready.” And yet…you still don’t feel ready to publish. This week we’re discussing when is it time to finally pull the trigger on your work, and ask the question, “What are YOU waiting for?”
It’s an episode you won’t want to miss.

See you there,
Jamie 

Dear Christian Indie,

Burnout is real.

Guilt is real.

Guilt resulting from burnout is real.

This week, we’re on a mission to save you from both.

“But how?” You may ask.

[Read more…] about 210: Give Me a Break! Taking Breaks From Your Writing