What Makes Me Put Down a Book

Lately, I have put down two books. Couldn’t finish ’em. I got about a little less than halfway through (I was trying very hard), but just had to say, “Fuggetaboutit”. I decided to ask myself why? What made these books putdownable? I came up with two reasons.

For the first book: The main character did something in her past that literally made my skin boil. Instant turn off. Whatever sympathies I had for her vanished. I put down the book and got this funny look on my face and thought, “Why in the world did the author do this?” I’m all for edgy inspirational fiction. I’m all for giving my characters flaws and murky pasts (that’s real life!). I do this with my own characters. So why did this particular character make me cringe? I don’t think it was the action itself, as much as it was the motivation behind the action. The motivation that drove this character to do what she did… it wasn’t there. At least not enough. So I put the book down.

For the second book: My disbelief was not suspended. I knew I was reading a book. Instead of getting sucked into the world, I knew I still sat in my living room, reading words off a page. What fun is that?

What lessons can I take from these two books?
1. If I have my characters do something bad, something a lot of people do not agree with, I better give that character one strong, compelling motivation to have done it.

2. My story world needs to be realistic. My characters need to be three-dimensional and my dialogue realistic. Disbelief needs to be suspended.

This first one is a little easier to fix. The second one… that’s a little tougher.

Question to Ponder: What makes you put down a book?removetweetmeme

The Ultimate Author

No, I’m not talking about Karen Kingsbury or Steven King. I’m talking about Yaweh, Yeshua, Abba, Wonderful Counselor, Alpha and Omega, Savior, King, Creator, Maker, Friend. The author of the universe. The author of salvation.

My prayer today, tomorrow, and for as long as I write Christian fiction is not that I would make it big in the publishing industry, not that I would write a best seller, but that I would write books that bring glory to the God who wrote everything first. The God who penned creation, who inscribed the universe in all its vastness, the ocean in all its mystery, the mountains in all their majesty, and the thousands of sunsets that paint our skies every evening. He created them all. And as glorious as all these are, how much more glorious is the Author who wrote them?

I pray my writing will always be a reflection of the ultimate Author.removetweetmeme

3 C’s – It’s Friday!

Cares:

I found an old notebook, and each morning, I write my daily goals in it. You have no idea how much satisfaction I get from crossing these off before I go to bed.

I care about craft books. In fact, I’m a little obsessed with them. I just finished Revision & Self-Editing by James Scott Bell. Basically everything you want to know about writing jammed between two covers. I’m in the middle of Getting into Character and Goal, Motivation, and Conflict.

What do I want to read next?
Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell (this will be a reread).
Finding Your Writer’s Voice by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall.
Techniques of the Selling Author by Dwight Swain. I want to get a good grasp on scene and sequel and this book dives in.

Concerns:
None really, other than every single banana we bought at Walmart last Monday was bruised. Every single one. If this isn’t a tragedy, I don’t know what is.

Celebrations:
Fifty more pages to go on my revisions for Beneath a Velvet Sky. I’ve done some major rehauling for this book. I’m learning to be ruthless cutter and much less self-indulgent. If it doesn’t move the story forward, snip, snip, snip!

While I was walking Brogan and Bubba the other day, the heroine in my future story (which has been percolating in my mind for sometime) bared her soul to me.

Brogan is taking very scheduled naps during the day and being such a trooper when bedtime rolls around. Talk about a one-eighty from last week!

And my biggest celebration…. Jesus loves me. He loves YOU too! Can’t get much better than that!

Question to Ponder: What are your cares, concerns, and celebrations on this rainy Friday morning?

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