Christian Indie Writers

Podcast Home

Podcast Episodes

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

Episode 90: Art Imitates Life: Your Trauma

Hey Christian Indies,

I’ve always said what I like about a piece of art is its ability to make me feel something. I like for art to leap from the page or the canvas or the stage or the instrument and hit me inside my guts, to twist them with fear or electrify them with the thrill of promised adventure. But how does one compose a song, or write a novel, that has that sort of lasting impact on the consumer?

Episode 89: Readers of the Elusive ARC

I first fully grasped the concept of an acronym while learning to write a Mother’s Day acrostic poem in Kindergarten. I remember struggling with the exercise. I mean, how many “good” adjectives are there that start with “M”, anyway? And you have to come up wtih TWO for a proper “MOM” acrostic!

Little did I realize  how many acronyms I was going to encounter as an adult. I don’t even think the adults responsible for my care and upbringing were prepared to equip me, for the internet, with it’s LOL’s and SMH’s was still a long way in the future.

Thus, I was ill-prepared to face the barrage of confusing terms people throw around when they are talking about writing and launching a book. “It’s so hard to find a good BETA reader” they’d say. Or, “I’m having a bit of trouble recruiting for my ARC team!”

BETAs? ARCs?

Who can keep it all straight?! 

That’s why we at the Christian Indie Writer’s Podcast wanted to do this series on Launch and Review teams. We’ve already covered BETA readers, and now we’re going to sort the ALPHA’S from the BETA’s from the ARC’s, so you’ll be ready to commiserate with the “long time” writers next time you attend a meeting.

See you there,

Jamie

Episode 88: Better Call a Beta!

If you’ve been around the independent publishing world for any amount of time, you’ve heard writer’s speak (often, lovingly,) of their “Team.” Sometimes, they specifically mention a “beloved BETA reader,” or a treasured member of “my ARC team.”

If you’re anything like me, these acronyms become interchangeable in your conversation, because they seem to overlap so much in common usage that you are certain you are referring to the same group of people, but BETA readers and ARC readers serve very different functions.

This week on the podcast, we discuss what a BETA reader is, why you want one, and where you can find one. In future episodes, we’ll cover what you can do with an ARC team of your very own!

Still have no idea what BETA or ARC even means? Tune in to this week’s podcast and the mystery shall be revealed!

See you there,

Jamie

Episode 87: Secrets of Side Character Success

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve talked about your protagonist and your antagonist, and why it is important that these be three dimensional, well-developed characters. This week on the podcast, we focus on side characters, and the importance of making them seem “real” to the reader.

Sometimes a babysitter is just a babysitter. But, sometimes, the babysitter shows up later in the book to save your heroine from a burning building. Imagine if we, as a reader, know nothing about the sitter other than her hourly rate until the moment she shows up to the scene of the fire, the actions she takes might seem out of place. Worse, your reader may “catch on,” understanding instinctively that you needed someone to save your character, and since your hero was off battling with the antagonist, you, the writer, panicked, and inserted the “teenager saves the day” plot line.

I’m not saying you can’t have a side character play an important part in your novel, but I am saying it’s important that characters with arc-impacting action seem just as real to your readers as that beloved heroine we are desperate to see spared from the inferno.

So, how does one accomplish the feat of Scribing Superlative Side Characters?
The Secret is in this week’s episode.
See you there,

Jamie

Facebook
RSS