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Ingredients Of A Good Story

Whether on blogs or in conference writing instruction or how-to writing books, it seems to me there is much more discussion about point of view and avoiding passive verb constructions and steering clear of forms of “to be” than there is about what ingredients go into a good story. · Rebecca LuElla Miller

Speculative Politics 2: Perspectives From Marc Schooley

Author Marc Schooley explains why he believes the Church has over-entangled itself in politics. Yet he agrees much with his fellow Marcher Lord Press author Kerry Nietz’s perspective about how stories and authors touch on politics. · Marc Schooley

Reading Is Worship 7: More Than A Story

Do you suspect that claiming a story must have higher “purpose” somehow cheapens its quality? Or do you agree this actually makes stories more truthful and beautiful? · E. Stephen Burnett

Check For Chips

My real question is this, can great writing and compelling stories really be marginalized? · Rebecca LuElla Miller

Christian Versus Secular Novels

Never Ceese author Sue Dent: When I started out in publishing I’d never once heard the market divided up into the two very specific categories of Christian and Secular. Genres, yes, but not Christian or Secular. · Sue Dent

Reading Is Worship 6: Curing Weirdness-Idolatry

How can we fight inclinations to idolize “being weird” for its own sake? We must see fantasy “weirdness” as normal in the Bible (and even in our culture), ask God to help us reach out to critics, and remember why we love fantastic stories. · E. Stephen Burnett

Reading Is Worship 5: Identifying Weirdness-Idolatry

Brothers and sisters: loving speculative stories is not about you. Or us. Or the genre. Or, especially, Being Weird. That’s especially vital to recall after last weekend’s controversy over cosplay at the ACFW awards banquet. · E. Stephen Burnett

Now It’s The Readers’ Turn

This early stage is to determine the top three entries which will be included in next week’s poll, so visitors may hit the thumbs-up button on as many of the entries as they wish. You might ask yourself if you’d like to keep reading. If yes, then that entry might deserve a thumbs up. · Rebecca LuElla Miller

Share Your Crazy Conference Stories

Here at Speculative Faith, we’re reader-centric. But for those who have attended writers’ conferences such as ACFW, what crazy stories might you share? · E. Stephen Burnett

Fall Writer Challenge

By way of reminder, here’s the way this particular challenge works: I’ll give a first line, and those who wish to accept the challenge will write what comes next–in 100 to 200 words, putting those in the comments section of this post. Readers will give thumbs up to the ones they like the most · Rebecca LuElla Miller

Circle Of Life

I hold onto my experiences, mentally filing them away. And when I write about a character in the same situation, I pull them out of my heart and mind, and live them all over again: osmosis from reality into fiction and then to the soul of a reader, the grand circle of literary life. · Grace Bridges

Reading Is Worship 4: Craft-Idolatry

Before discussing industry changes, editors, and manuscript proposals, we must love God’s Story and great stories more than their craft. Otherwise we may be vulnerable to other story-related idolatries. · E. Stephen Burnett

Onward, Words!

God places value on words. He is a Writer, through clear instruction, stories, and more. Thus, our words and stories should remind us of His. · Yvonne Anderson

You’re As Relevant As A Wimpy Mustache!

Here’s the funny thing about pursuing relevance–if you’re trying to be it, you probably aren’t. Coolness can’t be faked any more than singing with Auto-Tune makes you a vocalist (sorry T-Pain), or growing a handlebar mustache makes you a man (though I envy any man who can pull it off). · Christopher Miller

Writers Slay Dragons (and You Should Too)

The truth is, the dragon is real and living among us. But what is this dragon really up to? What’s his goal? Is he merely trying to slow us down in our life journey? Is he simply keeping us from taking chances, fulfilling our dreams or doing great things for God in this world? · Christopher Miller

Shallow Reasons To Support ‘Narnia’ 2

Why do some force shallow, over-“spiritual” allegories on the “Narnia” stories — to the extent of claiming Aslan’s tent equals the Tabernacle, the Professor’s house equals the church, or the wardrobe equals the Bible? · E. Stephen Burnett

What’s A Work Of Fiction To Accomplish–Revisited

The question is this. Does a piece of fiction impact a reader more by ambiguity and the ensuing discussion, or by clarity? I’ve never heard a discussion about whether or not Aslan was a redemptive character. Did Lewis create a less powerful character as a result of making him clearly good, clearly redemptive? · Rebecca LuElla Miller

Reviewing Speculative Faith Reviews

Writing more blog entries lamenting the lack of good Christian sci-fi and fantasy novels doesn’t correct this problem. Instead, read Christian SF novels and write reviews. Not just for The Cause, but to help others worship God. · E. Stephen Burnett

Shallow Reasons To Support ‘Narnia’ 1

Flawed, over-“spiritual” defenses of the “Narnia” series are not only annoying, but ignore the stories’s central beauties and childlike wonder. Even worse, such approaches ultimately make readers worship God less. · E. Stephen Burnett
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