The Tim Downs interview continued on Family Life Today, so I made a point of listening and jotting down a few notes. One point Downs made was that the Bible is not naive or simplistic and neither should Christian fiction be naive or simplistic. Instead we need to talk about the real world. I thought about

The other night I was talking with a group of friends, and the topic of “safe” fiction came up. Since two of these Christians are moms and the other is a school teacher, they had a vested interest in the topic. At one point, we began discussing The Wizard of Oz, primarily the film version

I hadn’t intended to stay on this subject as long as I have, but I’m glad for it because the discussion has clarified my thinking, namely that I’m uncomfortable with the concept that safe fiction exists. And even more uncomfortable that a certain publisher or bookstore can be relied upon to produce or supply it. I

So I’ve determined my new writing goal: Create no reader confusion. And I’ve also deduced that creating reader curiosity is not the same as confusion. In fact, the former is desirable and a key factor as to whether or not a reader will continue on with my story. Like so much in life, then, there

Yesterday I mentioned some things that cause confusion—conflicting facts, improper motivation, a lack of adequate details to ground a scene, and a lack of foreshadowing. In trying to avoid confusion, however, I’m opening myself up to another novel killer—a boring story. Well, maybe not a boring story but a story told in a boring way. I

We used to know how to complete that line. The review is in! But today it seems there are other words that are more fitting or more common. The review is non-existent, comes to mind. Or the review is pure promotion. Or the review is dangerous. Or the review is tainted. You see, I’m aware of

Turquoise and Red. Or green and purple. Blue and yellow. Opposites on the color wheel. For some reason which I haven’t yet figured out, our culture has fallen into an all-or-nothing way of thinking. It’s all my way—and of course, my way is right—therefore every other way is all wrong. This trend is more surprising

I have just finished - for the second time - John Updike’s classic novel (and the one that made him the literary lion he is today) Rabbit, Run. The first time I read it I was a sophomore in high school and, believe it or not, it had been assigned to the class by a

Critic Irving Howe observed that “Theodore Dreiser has dropped out of the awareness of cultivated Americans” and he was probably right. Dreiser’s turgid prose is well out of fashion, the cognoscenti having gravitated to the cleaner, simpler Hemingway model, and his social concerns have become - or so we would like to believe - irrelevant

I wonder why, I wonder why, I wonder why I wonder; I wonder why, I wonder why I wonder why I wonder! ~Richard Feynman Reply to someone who asked me if I really understood the context of the quote(needless to say I was trying to impress her, she was so pissed off she wont reply after my 2nd email *shrugs*): I