I’ve been thinking about the planner vs. pantser debate a good bit lately as I’m starting work on one novel and gearing up to do revisions on another. If you’re not familiar with these terms when it comes to writing your story — “planner” is probably pretty obvious, someone who plans things out before they write. “Pantser” refers to someone…
In the beginning was the Word. That’s the opening of the biblical book of John in the New Testament. But it’s also the truth regarding one of my favorite forms of storytelling–filmmaking. I recently attended the third annual Christian Worldview Film Festival in San Antonio, Texas. I’ve been attending Christian film festivals since 2007, and I’ve seen the world of…
Since it’s been forever since I shared one of my fanfics with you, I take a moment to share another story from the academy days saga with you. Enjoy the absurdity! Once Upon a Time or Of Kingdoms and Haircuts “Once upon a time, in a magical kingdom far, far away, there was a wealthy, brave, talented, noble, intelligent, daring,…
For over a month now, I’ve been seeing post after post, on blogs, on Facebook, on Google+, and elsewhere, berating the recent movie release 50 Shades of Grey. People have observed the immorality, the condoning of abuse and unhealthy relationships, and the just bad storytelling. They complain that the film and the book that came before it are twisting God’s…
There’s a lot of discussion and disagreement among writers about whether a story should have an intentional theme or message, or whether every story even needs to have one. Some say that a story can be more honest and well-crafted without a single, intentional theme, and others say that a unified message makes a story stronger and gives it meaning.…