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Episode 99: Indescribable, #2 – Improving Setting Descriptions in your writing

Hey there, Christian Indies,

The first time I really thought about descriptive language was when I learned the song “America, The Beautiful.” I loved the phrases, “amber waves of grain,” and “purple mountain majesties.” The impact of those beautiful images set to that tune wells up inside me whenever I see something majestic and grand in God’s creation. I understand that the composer of the song was trying to find a way to talk about that feeling, and the best way to do that was to describe what he saw.
I want to be able to capture a scene in that sort of poetic way. Alas, I find it difficult to get beyond, “the pavement was slick,” or some such thing. How can I flex (and grow!) my scenery description muscle?

Tune in to find out.

See you there, 

Jamie

Episode 98: Indescribable: Improving Physical Descriptions in your writing






Hey Christian Indies!
Have you ever stared into a swimming pool? Or a pool of rainwater, collected on the sidewalk? What about the pool of condensation on the corner of your coffee table?
You haven’t?
I haven’t, either.
But, I’ve noticed my protagonists love staring into pools – big brown ones, icy blue ones, deep amber ones – they seem to delight in lovingly gazing into them all.
Of course, I’m talking about human eyes, so often described in literature as “pools.” 
The other hosts and I were talking about this oddity, and it seemed the situation was chronic – their characters, too, spent an inordinate amount of time staring into pools. Eventually, we discovered the problem was not with our characters, but with us, the writers. We’d gotten into an eyeball description rut: we’d run into a staring scene, and, well, the word, “pools” was just convenient. It was also familiar, “tried and true,” if you will, guaranteed not to raise brows. 

The more we  examined this issue, the more we realized that  eyes were not the only physical feature we had difficulty describing with any sort of originality whatsoever.
Thus, episode #98 was born. In it, we hope to broaden your (and our own!) horizons, so to speak, when it comes to providing physical descriptions of characters in (y)our novels.
See you on the podcast,
Jamie
Episode 97: Finding Your Social Media Stride






A recent foray into the world of social media has brought a sad fact of reality profoundly to my attention: I have a boring life.
You see, I primarily peruse social media in order to read.
I enjoy reading about the happenings in the lives of other people, the opinions of my peers, or  chronicles of events which obligation or distance prevented me from attending, often reacting with “care” or “love.” 
But that is the extent of my participation: I’m not really much of a poster.
In fact, I think I’m more of what you call a “lurker.”
So, when I was recently challenged to increase my participation on social media (and, thus, build my “author’s platform,”), I found myself with quite a dilemma:
I had no idea what to say.
I mean, not on my author’s account, anyway. On my personal accounts, I have no issue. It’s easy enough to think of areas in your life your Mom or your Aunt Sally would like to receive updates about:  but surely, my future audience – and new social-media-platform acquaintances – are not interested in the fact that my daughter’s prom pictures got rained out, or that I tried a new muffaletta recipe last weekend. 
So, what are they interested in? Nothing that I could think of to post from the world of Jamie Hershberger. Thus, I reached the sad conclusion of my introductory announcement: I have a boring life.
Ever intrepid, I wonder now, “How can I overcome my interesting-life deficit sufficiently in order to  connect with these people*, thereby creating from them connections, which eventually leads to ‘fans’, when I honestly, secretly, don’t even believe I am a writer, yet?”
Could that, perhaps, be the majority of the problem?
Tune in to find out,
Jamie
PS – Sheesh. Since I’ve become a writer, I’ve discovered I am both a “pantser” and a “lurker”! I’m going to need a notebook page dedicated to keeping up with all my nicknames!
*Jen has told me I am not allowed to call them, “twits,” no matter how many times they may, “tweet.”
Episode 96: Plodding Through Plotting






Hey, Christian Indies,
You may or may not know this, but I am a “pantser.” This means that instead of plotting my books out, I am  committed to “fly by the seat of my pants,” so to speak, a “die-hard” devotee to the idea of discovering the story as I write it. Therefore, I have never found myself in the peculiar position of being bound up in a never-ending plotting nightmare.

However, even with my limited experience, I can see how someone who has discovered the benefits and utility of the process could be inclined to “over do” plotting.  How tempting would it be to just keep adding things to the outline, when you’ve created these characters that you know oh so well: you know in which hand they hold the body pouf in their hand when they shower, what their favorite brand of microwave popcorn is, and that they’ve always wanted to drive a luxury sedan.  Thus, you (wrongfully!) conclude your novel must – whatever the cost to story structure – include a crying jag in the shower, a pajama party/movie night, and a trip to the Lexus dealership. Or, you find it impossible to turn off the spigot of setting or plot ideas once you’ve opened it, and you keep inventing little scenarios in which to position these unfortunate creations of your maniacal imagination.
In both scenarios, your plot just grows bigger, and bigger, and bigger  and you never get around to actually writing the book, or, worse, you do attempt to write this book, and end up with something that  isn’t a novel at all, but just a big wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey mass of weakly strung together occurrences.
So, how does a plotter know when “enough plotting is, (FOR REAL!) ‘enough’?” Tune in this week as our resident plotters, Jen and Rhonda – as well as Tina, who’s a self-professed “plantser” (plotter/pantser hybrid) – try to navigate this tricky topic. For special fun, we’re bringing on Rhonda’s mom, Barb, the other half of the mother/daughter writing team “Dee Dee Bouman.” They’ll talk to us about their book, “Use this Workbook to Plot Your Novel” 
See you there,
Jamie
PS – Just for fun, you can hear us talk about the difference between “plotting” and “pantsing” on  episode 11 of the podcast to figure out which is more your style!
Episode 95: 12 Things We Wish We Had Known as New Writers






Hey Christian Indies,
This week, I am going to break a rule.
Not just any rule,  mind you, but a longstanding rule of mine. 
Jen, Rhonda, and Tina have also been persuaded to become complicit in my rule breaking.
What is this rule, you may wonder? 
Well, this week, on the podcast, we hosts are going to…
 (drumroll, please!)
…hand out unsolicited advice.
This shall be an act of rebellion against my long standing beliefs against meddling in someone else’s business. However, I believe it is an infraction necessary for the betterment of those I care about, namely you, dear reader.
This week, I am going to tell you what I wish someone had told me at the beginning of my journey toward publication, advice which would have saved me hours of agony and a puddles-worth of frustrated tears.
Tune in this week, dear reader.
Help me, help you.
Love,
Jamie
Episode 94: Why You Should Have a Book Launch Strategy


Hey, Christian Indies,
The “experts” agree that the best possible start to a novel begins with a big kick-off they call, “the book launch.”
I am editing a book right now which I hope to publish on October 13 (which happens to be my birthday).
This will be my first novel. 
Until now, I have given little thought to the process of publishing my stories; they’ve been shorts, after all, and most of the book-launch advice out there is for people who have a novel-length work of fiction to get in front of the eyes of readers. 
In other words, I thought something like a book launch was for “real writers.”
But no, insists Jen – who loves me and wishes me to become at least a tiny portion of the tech and publishing guru that she is – a book launch is for even me, a lowly author with barely any “street cred.” In fact, she argues I am exactly the candidate for a book launch.
I admit, I’m dubious. A book launch seems like a whole lot of work I don’t want to do for a payoff that isn’t guaranteed.
But, I believe in my story, I believe in my characters, and since “they” say a book launch is what every good book deserves, I’m willing to give it a shot.
So, I’ve asked Jen to come on this week and lay it all out for me, step by step.
Will she be able to convince me to put at least some of her plan into action?
Tune in to find out.




See you there,
Jamie
Episode 93: Art Imitates Life #4: Inspiration is Everywhere






Hey Christian Indies,
Something readers often ask is, “how do you come up with all these ideas?”
If you’re anything like me, you stumble and fumble to answer such questions. After all, if I knew the source of my ideas (the good ones, anyway!), I’d return to that fount afresh each morning, hauling along the biggest bucket I could carry.
We writers know that our writing inspiration does not come that way, in some predictable manner, such as a spring-fed stream which perpetually and inexorably flows from higher elevations to the lower. Inspiration is more like the wind, or perhaps like a wisp of vaporized sea, lingering – even faintly tastable on the tongue – yet impossible to directly grasp.
This sounds like bad news, until you consider inspiration – like the vaporized droplets of the Atlantic that make that region’s saltwater taffy dance on the tongue – is everywhere, all around you. This week on the podcast, we’ll learn how to recognize, collect, and distill this inspiration into a story that comes alive for your reader. 
See you there,
Jamie
Episode 92: Art Imitates Life #3: Characterization






Hey Christian Indies,
Just recently, a woman caught my eye. She was walking down the sidewalk in a fifties get-up, complete with a poodle skirt, sweater,  and scarf around her neck. In moments, my mind created details of this woman’s life, based solely upon her outfit. I imagined her a sold-out member of a sock-hop reenactment group, who had assembled her outfit with painstaking attention to detail. She’d done a remarkable job; every piece appeared accurate, save for one bright white exception – her shoes, which were athletic sneakers.
I gestured toward the tote the woman carried and remarked to my husband, “I bet she has a cute little pair of patent leather mary janes to put on once she gets where she is going.” 
He responded, “maybe not,” and immediately, I could see the possibility that she might be a different sort of person altogether, someone too sensible to bother with shoes that would grow uncomfortable as the evening drew on, someone who’s smuggling Cool Ranch Doritos in that bag because she can’t trust anyone there to show up with a decent snack. In other words, someone a little more like me.
The fact that we can never know the truth about this woman’s motivations illustrates the point that human behavior is a response to human experience, which is not universal. Today on the podcast, we will discuss how these acts of human behavior which make us stand up and take notice can help us develop characters that come alive for the reader.
See you there,
Jamie
Episode 91: Art Imitates Life Episode #2: Your Joys






Hi, Christian Indies,
Last week on the podcast we covered Trauma in your writing. This week, we are going to talk about writing about joy – how they can be used to make your writing better. I confess, last week’s newsletter felt easier to write than this one, perhaps because we are currently struggling, on a national basis, to find something in life to feel optimistic about. 
In an effort to get my creative juices flowing, I started to think about the times that I’ve felt joy –  on my wedding day, for example, when my heart was full to bursting with it. I cried with joyful tears at the births of my niece and nephew, and, for sure, nothing could top the joy I felt at the birthing of my own children.
Holidays also came to mind, particularly the seasons when the cultural focus seems to be on the gift that is the salvation and redemption of our creator. Now, I enjoy a turkey dinner in November, and appreciate a good fireworks show on the fourth of July as much as anyone, but I often wonder why we only celebrate certain moments, when every moment of life is equally worth celebrating with the fullness of joy that we are promised in Christ. The present, as the old saying goes, is an actual gift from God.
So, I encourage you, find a little bit of joy in your life today, whether it is in the look of wonder on a child’s face as she encounters an insect for the very first time, the simplicity of a beam of sunlight on a blade of grass, or the mere fact that in Christ, you live and move and heve your being. Then, take that joy and carry it into the pages of your novel, where it can inspire others to look for joy in the everyday.
See you soon,
Jamie







			
			
			
			                
                

                
                

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