Advertising Christ Through Our Writing

I was at my younger brother’s little league game the other day. His team is sponsored by “Kleenex” and “Kelloggs”—and their uniforms proudly show it off. Why do major businesses often sponsor sports teams? They’re looking for some advertising. Think about it: Every time a little kid walks into a public place with his uniform on, he’s advertising the business that sponsored his team. Not only do people notice the business, they also notice that the business did something good for the community by sponsoring a team. So . . . I got to thinking. As a Christian writer, God is my biggest “sponsor.” All Christians have God’s sponsorship over everything they do. That’s pretty cool if you think about it. I also realized that we writers can learn a thing or two from the little league foundation. When God sponsors us, we need to advertise Him through our writing (forgive my business terms). Our writings (if we choose to show them to other people) are like baseball jerseys—people notice them, and when they “advertise” Christ, people notice that, too. If we are Christians, our writing can be used as an incredible missionary tool!

Test Time!

What makes books good or bad? Oftentimes, even we (writers) can’t really tell exactly what makes a book a winner. Sure, we know if there is an exciting plot, excellent imagery, or beautiful, poetic writing. But sometimes we can’t tell exactly what made this book appealing to us—and why it appealed to the people who published it. And if we can’t tell that for ourselves, how will we know how to make our own books or stories winners? I’m the type of girl who has a hard time putting down a book—even if it’s really mundane. I just can’t stand the thought of not finishing something. That has been to my determent, because I haven’t come to realize what it is in the book that makes me not want to keep reading. I just read on, no matter what. So I’ve started an exercise. When I go to the library, I head to my favorite section (definitely the Christian Historical Fiction) and I pick out three books. Two of them are books that I definitely want to read (usually ones that friends recommend or that I have a steadfast trust in the author). Then, for the third one, I pick a random book that I’ve never heard of. I read this book until 45 pages (I found out that this is usually the farthest point a bored reader will read to until they finally put it down). After that, I stop, and I write a paragraph in a designated notebook about why or why not I want to continue with this book. Is it a successful plot? Has the story engaged me from the beginning? Have the characters’ voices engaged me from the beginning? After I write my paragraph, I can use the pros I found in my own stories, and I can make sure not to use any of the cons I found, too. It’s a great exercise—and I’ve even found a few new favorite authors!

Mirror, Mirror!

Have you ever seen a movie in which the acting is terrible? The lines seem forced and unreal, the actor’s tones and facial expressions are either too cheesy and cliché or not dramatic at all, and you go away from the movie theater wishing you didn’t waste ten bucks on the ticket. Believe it or not, books can be the same way. We’ve all read books in which we read something (a phrase, an action beat, even the whole plot) that was unrealistic or poorly written. It leaves us thinking, “No way would a person in real life say/do that.” And when a character in a book is unreal, readers don’t get a chance to bond with him or her. And that’s what the main objective in a book is, isn’t it? I don’t know about you, but if the character is unreal, says ridiculous things, and “giggles” out her words every four sentences (really, how many times do you “giggle” while you talk?!), chances are, I’ll put the book down, because I can’t connect with her. So, what is one of the things you can do to keep from making this error in your own book or story? Mirror, mirror! I got this idea from Christine Tangvald, a wonderful and enthusiastic writer and writing teacher from Mt. Hermon. I had her edit some of my children’s book, and she suggested that I take my work into the bathroom and act out a scene in a mirror. Before long, I was giggling myself because of the ludicrous and highly cliché things that I had put in my manuscript. By doing this, I was able to fix a lot of things and make them truer to every day life. And yes, there were times where I realized I had to spice things up a bit. It also gives some great ideas for those action beats (character’s actions that go before a quote) in which you can’t figure out what to say. Instead of saying, “She/He scratched his/her head” several times, you will be able to come up with things that have to do with the plot. Things come naturally in the mirror. So, print out your work, head to the place in your house with the largest mirror, and act away. First, though, I would highly recommend you do it when family is not around (that’s another story).

An Ultimate Love Story

Writing a book or a story is the beginning of a beautiful relationship between you and your imaginary characters. Don’t even try to resist the urges to laugh at your funny one-liners, cry when your favorite character dies, or obsessively hate your villain. And don’t be too embarrassed if you accidentally call your best friend the name of your main character. But keep these things to yourself, because your family will think you are nuts. Writing wasn’t always this way for me. My name is Esther. I’ve been writing fiction since I was six or seven—not that that writing was anything I am proud of. At thirteen, I wrote my first REAL book. It was short—a children’s book about a young girl with a crazy grandma who drives a rocket ship. It’s the first piece of writing I’m not wholeheartedly ashamed of, because it’s technically pretty clean. I started going to Mount Hermon’s writing conference that year, and I got some great editing. But I wasn’t in love with my writing. It was nothing more than a hobby—almost seemed like school to me at times. There were times my mom forced me to go to the computer. I had this unrealistic dream that I was going to get that book published. I went to Mt. Hermon twice. No interest from anyone. Last year after Mt. Hermon, I had this new idea for a book. As soon as I started writing it, I felt something change. What was it? I fell in love with writing. It just sort of happened—I didn’t try. I found myself waking up before school at ridiculously early times to write a scene. I would goof off during school work dreaming up what would happen next. When I was supposed to be online finding scholarships for college, I would be—you guessed it—writing. And my focuses turned from trying to get published for money sake, to just writing because I loved it and couldn’t stop. I still want to be published, believe me. I’ll be going to Mt. Hermon again in two years to try. But even if I don’t, I won’t stop, because writing is a part of me, and I’m never letting go. I hope that this can be of some inspiration to you.