I’ve
probably said this before, but I’ll say it again… (and we all know
it and do it!)… don’t rely on the spellchecker!
I recently wrote “Cat passed its MOT” on a facebook post, before realising I meant “Car”! 🙂
(For those of you who live outside of the UK, the MOT is the annual check your car has to pass to ensure it’s roadworthy – it’s definitely not for cats!)
Here
are some more:
Witch
is faster?
It
reins on the planes.
Sewing
seeds. (I’m guilty of this one!)
She
through it into the river.
Do
you have any spellcheck problems? Words you often type wrong? Put
them in the comments below – it’s good to know we’re all human!
I’ll leave you with the Ode to the Spellchecker:
Owed to the Spell Checker
Eye halve a spelling chequer It came with my pea see It plainly marques four my revue Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a quay and type a word And weight four it two say Weather eye am wrong oar write It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid It nose bee fore two long And eye can put the error rite Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it I am shore your pleased two no It’s letter perfect awl the weigh My chequer tolled me so.
Hehe!
Love
to you all,
Janet
P.S.
I have a free mini writing course coming up. I’ll let you know when
I’ve got it up and running, and how to sign up. 🙂
The Lord can do awesome things through prayer… but if we don’t ask, we won’t receive!
If you are writing stories with the intention of reaching children with the good news of Jesus, you need to pray, because what you are doing is vital. I don’t need to labour this point, but the world is a dark place, and becoming increasingly more so for our children. You only have to think of the last two or three news items you heard, to know this is true.
We
need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as we write, because He
knows what our children need. Prayer can keep us on track. I am
writing a YA novel in my spare time (I love writing!)… and my
heart’s desire is that it touches many young people, because if I
have been given a gift, it’s to serve others. So I need to pray.
I
also have a group of people who pray for me, and I strongly suggest
you do the same. Do you have a trusted friend or two who will stand
with you in prayer? Why not ask
them right now,
before the moment passes? 🙂
I
pray for you, even though I don’t know most of you! And I’d be
grateful for your prayers for me, too, as I seek to serve writers for
a reason – thank you!
If
you are a writer for a reason, here’s a prayer you can use:
Dear Father God,
You are the giver of all good gifts, but sometimes we are tempted to bury the talents you have given us, because we doubt our ability and fear failure. We’re sorry for the times we have failed you. Please help us to be bold and courageous in the face of every obstacle, so we can use our gift of writing for your glory.
Inspire us to write excellent, relevant, fun stories, through which you can touch hearts and lives. May we write boldly and sensitively on issues our young people face, so they feel understood, and to help them make good choices.
Help us to set aside time to fulfil this good work that you have given us to do. Help us to persevere and to stay close to you, so we can hear your voice and pass on what you would have us say.
Lord, we are writing for your precious children, and we acknowledge that we need your help. We can’t bring our children to you in person, and only you can change lives, but we want to bring those we love, and many more we don’t know, to you through our novels. We long for them to know you and walk in your ways. Please use us! Please use our stories to sow seeds and touch hearts.
In Jesus’ name we pray, for your glory,
Amen
Keep
praying, keep working! Done together they are a combination hard to
beat.
Love
to you all,
Janet
P.S. Registration for the January Write for a Reason Academy is now open. I would love you to join me! If you are a Christian and you write novels for young people, you will love this course. If you don’t, I’ll be happy to refund your money. It costs just ¼ of the price I paid for a business online course last year, so it’s excellent value – I wanted to make sure it’s available to as many new writers as possible. I have poured hours and hours into the course to make it the best Write for a Reason course ever, because I want to help you get excellent, relevant, fun novels into more young people’s hands than I can alone! I promise you, even if you’ve done writing courses before, you will learn so much, and come out with a brilliant story plan with the first paragraph already written. I will support you on your writing journey in a Facebook group, where you can ask questions and help other writers. (For example, if you need a name for a character, we can all help you choose! Or if you’re stuck with your narrative voice, you can get some advice.) We’re all in this together. Imagine, if, all over the world, we have a group united in our common aim to encourage and inspire our children and teens to walk with God, caring for and supporting each other. Imagine what we can achieve if we pray for each other! 🙂
I
only intended to write a sentence to let you know the Write for a
Reason Academy is open, but got carried away, hehe! Anyway, any
questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. 🙂
Hello and welcome to this week’s Write for a Reason creative writing tip.
Actually, today’s tip is more than a tip… it is nothing short of essential, if you want to write a book which will have meaning for a new generation of readers.
How do your readers spend their time? What do they love and hate? What makes them happy and what makes them sad? What are their aspirations for the future – their dreams and goals? What do they think of their neighbourhood/community? What do they fear? What current issues are important to them? What do they think about Jesus, God, the church and other religions? How do they spend their free time?
Do you know? If not, it’s time to do some research!
If you don’t have family in this age group to ask, why not ask if you could visit your church youth club and ask about the members’ favourite and least favourite things? (How about offering to run a writing workshop, while you’re there? :-))
Alternatively, what about sending out a questionnaire to families you know, asking how the young people spend their leisure time – what books/magazines/blogs they read, what games they play, what music they listen to, what films and YouTube videos they watch, what sports they enjoy?
Online
research can also be useful – there’s no limit there!
Get to know your readers. It will spur you on… and your novel will be so much better for your research!
Hello again my writer friends, and yes, it’s Monday again, so time for a new creative writing tip! This week I wanted to write about something which will help you with your stories, so I picked a topic which is essential.
You may know this, but when writing novels for children, it’s the young characters themselves who must save the day.
By
all means have a ‘Yoda’ style older character who can advise, but
‘Luke’ (insert your own character’s name here!) needs to win the
battle alone. Or Luke and his friends, if there are a group of young
heroes in your story.
Your
protagonists need to use their own wits, strength and
ingenuity to defeat the enemy.
They need to think up the plan, make their own decisions, make mistakes and get up again before reaching their goal. Alone.
I know you wouldn’t normally place children in danger, but in your stories you safely can!
Don’t
worry about it being a tough fight – the tougher the better (as
long as it’s age appropriate). The greater the struggle and the
battle, the greater the defeat of the foe, and the greater the
victory!
So:
Do not have an adult stepping in to save the day.
Assignment: This week, I have a writing exercise for you! Find three books popular with your target readers. Read each of the stories thinking about how the main characters have fought and won through. In your writing journal (if you don’t have one, get one!) write down your thoughts, and how it can help you with your own stories.
I
hope this writing tip is helpful! May the Lord help and inspire you
as you write. 🙂
Janet
P.S. You must read books your target readers enjoy, if you want to write good stories they will love. It’s never to late to start! If you don’t have a collection, today’s the day to start one. Empty one of your bookshelves, and start to fill it. The books don’t have to be new! But you do have to read them.
Everyone hates rejection letters. Nobody likes being rejected! As a publisher, I hate writing rejection letters, because I know how much time and emotion an author has invested in their book, and I understand how tough it is to have your hopes dashed.
But what does a rejection letter mean? Does it meanyou have been rejected? That you are a terrible writer and you might as well give up now? It might feel like it when you first receive it, but that’s not what the letter is saying!
I recently listened to a speech by Bob Hartman. Bob writes mainly Bible stories for children. He was looking back to his first rejection letter – although the publisher said “not this time”, they did say keep writing, and he submitted several ideas before they finally took one on. Now Bob has a whole gamut of books in print with several publishers – you’ve probably seen them, or may even have some on your bookshelf!
Remember (I’m going to say it again, because it’s important), publishers aren’t rejecting you – just this story… and you will have a lot more where that one comes from! Plus you have to think that wasn’t the best place for my book. If the publishers gives you feedback, take it on board, because they know what they are talking about.
So why might your story have been rejected? Here are three reasons your proposal may have been turned down.
1. It may not be exactly what the publisher is looking for at this time. They may have a surfeit of books for girls – and yours is about princesses! They may have just commissioned a set of books set in a school… and yours is set in a school! Remember, publishers usually have a limited number of titles they will bring out, and a whole heap of proposals to choose from.
2. Your story might not fit with their publishing requirements. Did you do your research before submitting the manuscript? See last week’s writing tip about submitting your book proposal.
3. Your story isn’t written well enough. Have you done a writing course? If not, why not consider doing so? The investment will be worth every penny of your money, and every hour of your time. You may find out all sorts of things that you didn’t even know you need to know! You can join a local course, or go on a writing weekend. You might like to look at our own online Write for a Reason Academy, if you write novels for children/teens from a Christian perspective.
Bob Hartman
finished his talk by saying he’s glad his first efforts
weren’t published! As with all things in life, his writing got
better with time and training. So keep writing, my friends. If God
has called you to write, work at it with perseverance. One day you
will find the perfect way to get your stories into readers’ hands.
Hope that
helps! If you feel called to write, don’t ever give up, because only
you can write your story, and someone, somewhere, is waiting for it.
Blessings
abundant on your writing week,
Janet
P.S. In the Write for a Reason Academy, we look at various different ways you can get your first book out into the world – you don’t have to have a traditional publisher take your story on. For example, you might like to make it into a kindle book, have it spiral bound for your grandchildren/Sunday School, or self-publish. You can read more about the course here.
Hello and welcome to theWrite for a Reason blog! Today I want to take a look at sending book proposals (unsolicited manuscripts) to publishers. This is a topic I have covered before, but it’s something I’ve been asked about recently by a Write for a Reason student who has now finished her novel (way to go Pam!), so I thought it would be worth going over again.
This is quite a long post, in four
parts, so hang on!
1. Research
We all know there’s no point wasting our time submitting a proposal for a picture book to publishers who don’t do children’s stories, or a YA novel to a publisher who only publishes adult fiction. And completely pointless if a publisher doesn’t accept unsolicited manuscripts at all!
But how do you go about finding a suitable publisher for your novel? Here are some suggestions:
Step One: Do some research on
foot. Go to your nearest Christian bookshop and take a good look at
the shelves with books in your genre for your target age range. Just
suppose your manuscript became a book, where would it fit? If your
book was on the shelf, which publishers could it be with?
Step Two: Buy a
good selection of books from different publishers closest to
yours in content and length, and for the same age of readers.
(While you’re there, encourage the bookshop, be generous, support
them in their outreach to the community!)
Step Three: Read the books. 🙂
Step Four: Check out the
publishers’ websites. Browse through all their titles, not just the
selection you found in the bookshop. By now you should have a good
idea which publisher you think your story would fit best with.
Step Five: Find the section on
your chosen publisher’s website with information for prospective
authors. Do they accept unsolicited manuscripts? If they do, you’ve
found where to send your proposal!
Going through all this research will take effort, but what worthwhile thing was ever easy? Skipping the research is likely to cause you a lot of wasted time, and rejection letters you could have avoided.
2. Your Proposal
Once you have chosen your publisher, you
need to follow their guidelines for submissions.
They may allow you to send an electronic submission, or they may require a hard copy sent in the post. Check on their website, and whatever they ask for, make sure you tailor your proposal to their requirements.
This is likely to include:
The first three chapters of your
story.
A complete synopsis of the book.
A stamped SAE if you’re sending
by post and want your manuscript returned.
A simple covering letter with a
short author biography. This needs to include:
Your full name, email address and
telephone number.
Who the book is for (e.g. girls
aged 8-11), and why you have written it (briefly)
The final word count
Any previous writing
experience/qualifications you have
A bit about your Christian
background (if you are writing for a Christian publishing house)
Details of your author platform
(blog/website, email list, social media platforms, speaking
engagements you undertake, other marketing opportunities)
N.B. Don’t forget that publishing is business… money has to be made to pay staff including editors, illustrators and cover designers, proofreaders, reps, distributors, accountants… and of course the bookshops will take their cut, too. There are also overheads: ads, insurance, IT support, rent/rates, equipment/furniture, office supplies, postage/shipping… Plus there is the printing of the book!
These days authors are a large part
of the selling process – they need to be willing to do plenty
of promotion both before the book comes out, and afterwards. Just
saying!
3. The Practical Bit
Good presentation is important. You want
to make a good first impression!
Your proposal needs to be typed in a plain font (this isn’t the time to be creative!), on one side of white A4 paper with large margins: 3cm is fine. Use double line spacing, and number all your pages.
Use paper clips, not staples.
Type your name and the working title of your novel in a header on every page.
Include a title page before your three chapters. This needs to include the title of the proposed book, your name and contact details.
Number the pages of your first three chapters (and your synopsis, if more than one page).
Make sure your manuscript has the correct postage – publishers won’t be paying the excess! It’s entirely up to you if you wish to use a signed-for service or go for standard delivery.
If you want the publisher to return your proposal (should they not want it), put in a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
Phone or email the publisher, to ask the name of the commissioning editor, to whom you will send your proposal (optional, but it helps).
Don’t be in a rush. Publishers tend to be extremely busy. Some have certain times of the year set aside for looking at unsolicited manuscripts, so they may not look at your proposal for several weeks. If you haven’t heard within six weeks, feel free to chase them up, just in case your proposal hasn’t made it to their desk, but don’t make a nuisance of yourself!
Pray!
4. Check, check, check!
Before you put your precious story into
the envelope, have you:
Been through everything over and
over again until you are certain you can not make it any better?
Read it out loud?
Printed it out and checked for
any errors? (It’s amazing what you see in black and white that you
don’t see on the screen!)
Left it alone for a week or two
before reading again?
Going through all these steps is time-consuming, but rushing the process might mean it’s not the very best you can do… and that would be a shame.
Finally, send your proposal and celebrate that you have done it! In due course you may be asked to send in the whole story… but even if this time you don’t get a yes, you will have learned a lot along the way, so well done!
Does that help? I hope so! Any queries,
please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Next week we will look at ‘rejection
letters’, and what they mean. If you don’t want to miss this, you can
subscribe
here.
In the meantime, if you are still
writing your story and all this seems overwhelming, just concentrate
on your writing – you can come back to this at any time.
You may not want to go through
all this process, anyway! You might want to make your story into
an ebook/kindle book, read it aloud, print it off and have it
spiral-bound, or go for self-publishing… there are so many
different ways to get your story into
children’s hands.
There’s a place for publishing, but even
if your story reaches only one or two children, and their lives are
changed, wouldn’t all your hard work have been worth while? I think
it would!
May the Lord lead and guide you as your
write, and as you consider your next step.
Hello again my dedicated writer friends! This week’s creative writing tip is an idea on choosing theme for your next story.
Have you ever read a book and been surprised and delighted that the author (or one of their characters) seems to know exactly how you feel about something? That they put into words something you were thinking yourself?
If your readers feel heard, seen and understood, it will give them hope, bring light into tough situations, encourage them that there is a way through and assure them that they are not alone in their struggles.
In the Write for a Reason Academy we plan a story with one reader in mind. Just supposing you were writing a book for one reader, what issue would you want to address? (If you have any first-hand experience of any of these issues, that would be a great place to start.)
Family struggles
Fear/anxiety/depression
Disability/physical health
Bullying
Exam/school pressure
Living in the shadow of grief
Fostering/adoption
Low self-esteem
Body image/eating disorders
Addictions
Pressure to conform
Environmental issues
Financial pressure/poverty…
… and there are (sadly) many more in this fallen world.
Of course you will be writing a fun story with lots of adventure, humour, a roller-coaster of emotions – and a spiritual issue, too. But in the background, if you can address one of these themes, you will be doing a wonderful thing.
If you have any thoughts, jot them in the comments below, or get in touch. It’s always lovely to hear from you!
Blessings to you all as you write,
Janet
P.S. Most of you will know I set up Dernier Publishing to produce Christian books for children and teens. Last week I attended the Christian Resources Together retreat in the UK. Dernier Publishing, to my surprise and delight, won the ‘Accessible and Inclusive’ award from Torch Trust, for our work in helping children with sight loss. If you would like to read more about the event and the award, you can do so on the Dernier Publishing blog. 🙂
We look at ‘show don’t tell’ a lot here at Write for a Reason, because it is an essential technique for writing engaging stories.
Today
I have some practice for you (there’s nothing like a writing exercise
to help you remember something you have learned!).
First
let’s look at some examples.
1.
Tell: The girl was angry. – This is a simple telling of the
facts.
Show: The girl’s face went red. She clenched her fists and stamped her foot. In this description, we are not told the girl is angry… we see it for ourselves. Or she could put her hands over her ears and scream!
Here’s
another example:
2.
Tell: The cat stalked the mouse.
Show:
The cat crouched low, swished her tail, then
crept towards the mouse.
3.
Tell: The moon shone on the still lake.
Show:
Moonlight shimmered on the unblinking water.
What
do you think? These are only simple examples, but if you look through
your work in progress, you might find a few places where you could
change a simple telling of the facts into a descriptive ‘show’ to
take your readers right there to the scene with you.
OK, now it’s your turn! Here are three ‘tells’ to turn into ‘shows’:
The kitchen looked clean.
The boy felt afraid.
The birds flew slowly.
You
can put these little phrases into a bigger picture if you like, so
they make more sense, if that helps. 🙂
I
hope you enjoy this exercise, and it helps you with your writing.
See
you next week!
Janet
P.S.
If you’d like to subscribe to my emails, so you don’t miss writing
tips, you can
do so here.
Just before we start with today’s creative writing tip, I want to let you know that registration for the Write for a Reason Academy is only OPEN until Thursday (11th September 2019).
Someone’s waiting for your story, that only you can write! I’d love to be able to help you get your novels into the hands of readers. My passion is reaching children with the good news of Jesus through stories, and I know there are so many potential story-writers out there who just need a bit of teaching and encouragement… and so many children out there who so badly need inspiring stories to let them know Jesus loves them, that God answers prayer, that there is light in the darkness, that it’s fun to be a Christian… and so much more.
By the end of the Write for a Reason Academy you will not only have all the tools you need to write your best stories ever… but you will have a complete story plan so you can get straight to work on your next novel!
I set up Write for a Reason in response to requests from writers. This new updated course is the best yet, so I hope you will invest in your talent. Sorry, I’m getting carried away! (But if you’d like to read some testimonials you can do so here.) OK, let’s get on to this week’s writing tip:
As I have been working on the Write for a Reason Academy over the last few months, I have realised how essential it is that we have prayer support if we are writing stories for children from a Christian point of view.
So here are 3 Reasons You Need Prayer Support:
The Lord works through prayer. It’s a mystery, but He has chosen, for the most part, to act through the prayers of His people. How awesome is that? Prayer is a huge responsibility and an incredible privilege. If you are writing with the intention of reaching out to children with the good news of Jesus, what you are doing is vital. Creative writing is a wonderful hobby, but writing to share something of the good news of Jesus through stories takes everything to a different level.
Writers tend to be filled with doubt and overwhelm (tell me it’s not just me!)… so just knowing someone is praying for us is wonderful, and can help us stay on track when things get tough and we’d rather be doing something else. 🙂
We may have a specific difficulty we need help with – a scene that won’t go right, a character who seems a bit flat… or a million other things!
So ask a friend or two you can trust to stand with you in prayer as you write. There may be times when you really need it! Choose someone who won’t dig fun at you, or make jokes about you being the next J.K. Rowling. Choose someone who will support you, however long you take, and will take their role seriously.
And don’t forget to give them updates, so they know what to pray for! Is someone coming to mind? Get in touch with them now, so you don’t forget!
Trust that helps!
Janet
P.S. In case you skim read… the Write for a Reason Academy is now open, until Thursday.Click here to join (or just read more before you decide!). I’d love to be able to be your coach with your writing – to help you get over the doubt and overwhelm! There is so much to learn in story-writing, and I know I can help you. Hope to see you there.
All through the ages and all over the world people have shared stories in their families and communities. True stories; embellished stories; fictional stories – all these can instruct, inspire and encourage us, as well as entertain (sometimes long after the author is no longer with us!).
Let’s
face it, we all love stories, whether they are told in person, in a
book, on the radio/audio, or in visual form on a screen.
Stories
are powerful – Jesus told stories!
Stories can do more than
entertain – they can make us think. In fact, everything we take in
affects the person we
become.
That’s
why Christian stories for children are so important.
Stories
containing spiritual truths are
like seeds, with potential to bear fruit for
eternity.
Not all seeds bear fruit, of
course. Some will end up on the path, on rocks and among weeds. But
some will grow into sturdy plants.
Passing
on the good news through
story
is a vital task. So
make sure you finish the
novel you
are working on right now,
and make it
the very best you can… perhaps
your story
will be a part of your legacy. Perhaps
future generations of
your family will enjoy it
and benefit from the truth
you include!
Maybe even a wider audience? Who knows?
It’s
up to you to put in the work. Will you do it?
