When We Don’t Get Things Write

Yes, I used the word “write” instead of “right” on purpose. Today during home school, I reviewed the differences between the two words with my youngest son and we worked on writing sentences for each word. While we worked through the correct use of each word, I pondered with another writing issue. A few days ago, I started reading a new book and discovered early on that the author had made a mistake. This isn’t something new and, to tag onto Maureen’s post, it’s part of the writer in me that I can’t turn off.

Except this error wasn’t a typo or anything simple, it was pretty big—an oversight, I’m sure, but still I thought maybe I was the one who was wrong because I couldn’t imagine this author or publisher would have missed this.

I’ve chosen to go with the grace card on this. I mean, we’re only human, right? We can’t be perfect all the time. We can’t get things right, every time, even when writing novels. I’ve made mistakes in my own stories, so I can’t throw any stones.

There is the element of artistic license, as well—when we choose to change the facts up to fit with our stories.

Here’s a question for you—do you feel that writers have any responsibility or obligation to get the story right—it’s fiction, isn’t it? Often writers include a letter to the reader to explain fact versus fiction, but sometimes not.

As readers, what is our responsibility to understand the difference between fact and fiction? How often do we believe the author, trusting that something we read in a novel is truth (beyond the obvious fictional storyline)?

Thoughts?

Blessings!
Elizabeth Goddard

Time to Read by Elizabeth Goddard

More often than not I run across people who don’t read. It’s not because they don’t have an interest in reading a good novel, it’s because they don’t have time.  Someone went so far as to say it was more about getting hooked on a book or series of books, and then getting distracted from work or life or chores or family. I’ve heard this same “excuse” several times lately from various people.

You’ve heard that we make time for things we consider important.  But it’s difficult to find time even for the important things, isn’t it? So how does one fit reading into a hectic schedule?

It’s true that you can get hooked on a book and then other things get pushed aside. There’s the other side of the equation where the important things interrupt your book world in the middle of a great scene and you have to put the book down.  A painful experience, to be sure.  I understand the mindset that if you never pick up a good book to begin with, you won’t have to feel the pain of putting it down when life interrupts.  You won’t have to worry about neglecting the more important, the more necessary things of life.

Then why put yourself through it? How important is reading for pleasure anyway?

To an addict, reading is as vital to life, to the soul, as air is to the body. Okay, maybe that’s going a little far, but once you’ve experienced where words can take you, time is no longer your master because you become a time-traveler.

Time isn’t your enemy. Time is your friend.

How Books Change Us by Elizabeth Goddard

Someone once told me that when you read a book you should walk away changed in some way. As a reader, I should expect the book to change me, and as an author, I should write a story that will impact my readers.  As a Christian writer,  I can do my best to develop a theme but most of the time that theme grows as the characters come alive during the writing process. Ultimately,  God is the One who directs much about the story that will change someone. By change I mean creating a positive influence on the way a person thinks or feels about various aspects of life. That could be spiritual or otherwise.

This month the Christians Read team is holding a contest over at The Book Club Network and featuring a huge giveaway. We’re having a great discussion with readers if you’d like to join. Reading through the discussions made me think about the way books can change us. Lots of folks have shared how Christians novels, specifically, have moved them in a variety of ways.

I thought it would be fun to share here which books left me thinking for days, even weeks, after I finished the book. This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, because I’d love to believe that every book I’ve read left me a different person in some way. After all, I’ve spent hours in the story world and have potentially experienced new situations through the eyes of the characters–situations I wouldn’t have experienced otherwise.

It goes without saying that the Bible is the not only the most popular book of all time, but has also had the most impact. For this post I’m referring to novels. These are a few that have impacted me the most. I’m sure many of you will recognize these stories and agree.

1)Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers:  This novel affected me in a profound way by opening my eyes to how much God loves us. Of course, my new understanding isn’t anything I can put into so many words, but it’s there. I’m a different person for having read it.

2)Mark of the Lion series by Francine River: It’s easy to understand why she’s a big author, isn’t it? In this series, I learned so much about the Roman Empire and saw so many things within our own society that reflect that of Rome during this period. Scary.  More importantly, I felt like I had witnessed first-hand how a true Christian should react in all situations. Hadassah serves as an example to me to this day.

3)Arena by Karen Hancock: This novel was an allegory of our Christian walk and revealed so many truths that I hadn’t put much thought into before reading this. I thought about the story, felt something move in me emotionally and spiritually,  for several weeks after reading it.

4) Byzantium by Stephen Lawhead: The incredible journey of a Celtic priest and how he lost his faith in God after too many hardships and found it again. I can’t say enough about how often I was brought to tears, especially at the profoundly written conclusion.

Again, this isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, but maybe this will get you started. Care to share which books have impacted you and why?

Books to Movies by Elizabeth Goddard

Summer is blockbuster movie season and my family is looking forward to having something to do that keeps us out of the hot Texas sun. Plus, we’re movie buffs, owning almost as many DVDs a we do books.

Reading Jim Rubart’s post about movies in heaven, and then Mareen Lang’s about the nearly thousand page novel she tackled got me thinking about books made into movies.  One of my all-time favorite books, PILLARS OF THE EARTH by Ken Follett, is nearly a thousand words. I’ve read it twice. But that particular book should never have been made into a movie.

When I learned the book had been made into a mini-series I was ecstatic and at the same time questioned how movie-makers could depict a story spanning thirty-five years. Unfortunately, I can’t say enough about how completely disastrous the mini-series was. In fact, I shared the book with a friend and she refused to read it because she’d tried to watch the mini-series and it was terrible.

Having your book made into a flop of a movie has to be a writer’s worst nightmare. But where does the fault lay? The screenwriters who adapted the book for a movie? The director?

In the end, are there some books that should never be made into movies?

The relationship between a book and movie is story, obviously.  I wasn’t able to discover any sort of statistic on what percentage of books are made into movies, but as you can imagine, the list is extensive and includes the classics, both popular and obscure books, those simply based off the novel,  and even the reverse where a movie is turned into a book—the novelization of a movie.

Every article I read pointed to the IMDB (Internet Movie Database) as the movie authority. You can check there to see if a book has been made into a movie.  Goodreads lists over two thousand pages containing fifty books each of popular books made into movies. In this case, that includes the classics as well as newer books.

Here’s a pretty extensive list of books to movies: http://www.ocl.net/bookinfo/if/movies.shtml

I’ve never heard anyone say that the movie was better than the book, have you?

Do you think there are some books that shouldn’t be made into movies?

Elizabeth Goddard is the award-winning author of more than a dozen novels, including the romantic mystery, The Camera Never Lies—a 2011 Carol Award winner. Oregon Outback releases in July 2012.

In Defense Of Fluffy And Light by Lynette Sowell

I’ve been hearing a lot about books needing a theme, that deeper thread, that “message” that Christian readers like to find. You’ll hear varying opinions on what makes a book have a good “message.” As I’ve listened to opinions on both sides, I found myself feeling a bit defensive. So far, my books have not addressed those hard-gripping, emotionally charged issues that make you feel like you’ve been wrung out and hung up to dry. My heroes and heroines haven’t faced deep problems. I’m willing to say that as a writer, I’m not alone in that. We who write genre fiction, shorter novels, might be looked at as writing something that’s disposable. Here one month, gone the next.

I realize that some readers don’t want, and probably don’t need, the heavy-hitting, gut-wrenching, box o’ tissues read. The world has enough trouble and sorrow of its own that sometimes it’s nice to curl up in someone else’s world.

However, I am reminded that often, as Mary Poppins sang, “a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down in the most delightful way.” We who write sweet and light realize that our characters don’t have the pristine lives as they’d like for us to believe when we first meet them. I’ve enjoyed discovering their little secrets and that yes, indeed, my characters have–gasp–issues.

In Christmas At Barncastle Inn, my contribution to the anthology is a novella called “Christmas Duets.” Sweet and light, it’s my writer’s homage to one of my favorite movies, “White Christmas,” I discovered that the marshmallow world in the winter masked some issues.

Middle school music teacher Marcella Goudreau doesn’t like change. Change came in a big way when her grandmother threw grandpa out of the house the day after Thanksgiving. So she and her sister cook up a plan to get them back together over Christmas. Where else? By singing duets from “White Christmas” at Barncastle Inn. Armand Goudreau and his wife of over 50 years face what many couples do–growing older, starting to grow apart, and not communicating well.

Physician Assistant Sean McSweeney, a veteran whose time in the service is over, works for the Veterans Affairs facility where Armand likes to work out at the gym. Sean is very successful at shutting people out of his life. For him, Christmas is a solitary time because of his fractured family and alcoholic mother. Then he takes Armand in after the man shows up on his doorstep. Armand, though, refuses to miss out on the family’s Christmas gathering at Vermont’s Barncastle Inn, and insists that Sean go with him.

A fluffy and light Christmas read? Maybe just a little. Sometimes, though, that’s exactly what we need, and any “message” goes down easy and settles inside us to do its thing. I hope my readers think so. Merry Christmas to you all, and as you go about your preparations, remember that it’s okay if not everything goes according to plan. Sometimes that makes for the best Christmas ever.

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Lynette Sowell  writes fiction for the inspirational market, from contemporary romance to mysteries. She’s always looking for the perfect recipe for a story–or a great dish–and is always up for a Texas road trip.

A Christmas Journey Home Review by Yvonne Ortega

A Christmas Journey Home by Kathi Macias is not a warm fuzzy novel. Kathi Macias is a master at writing novels that make the readers think and question the depth of their beliefs. In this novel, she doesn’t disappoint her loyal followers.

Isabella, a pregnant woman in Mexico, lost her family to gang violence. She fears the same thing could happen to her and her husband, Francisco.

isabella’s grandfather provides the money for Isabella and Francisco to pay a “coyote” to guide them illegally across the border to the USA.

Meanwhile, Miriam Nelson in Arizona is furious with God because her border patrol agent husband, David, was killed in a skirmish with drug smugglers. Miriam is bitter and wants revenge for the death of her husband.

The desperate situations Isabella and her husband face leave Isabella overwhelmed with fear and wondering if God will take care of them and the child she carries.

Kathi Macias does not condone illegal immigrants. She does make the readers see both sides of the issue and causes them to laugh one minute and cry the next.

Kathi demonstrates the power of prayer and holds the attention of the readers from the beginning to the miracle meeting of Isabella and Miriam on Christmas Eve.

This is a must read and will make a fabulous Christmas present or stocking stuffer. Include tissue with the gift.

Yvonne Ortega  www.yvonneortega.com

 

Official Launch Date–September 15th by Vicki Hinze

Christians Read will be officially launching on September 15, 2011.

We are excited about the official launch of Christians Read.  Each of the participating authors has a deep appreciation for Christian books.  We so look forward to sharing our thoughts with you and to hearing your thoughts and comments.  It is our hope that this project will create bonds and friendships.

Blessings,

Vicki Hinze

Administrator

A New Venture–Christians Read by Vicki Hinze

Wouldn’t it be nice, I thought, if there were a blog where a lot of different Christian fiction authors posted about books–their own and others–about writing (on the weekends) and about daily Christian life?

And wouldn’t it be nice if those authors welcomed other authors to join them, and welcomed readers who comment on conversations to guest blog and share their thoughts about books and daily life in their walks as Christians?

And wouldn’t it be beyond nice if all these people sharing these interests could connect in one place and get to know each other?

Mmm, I thought.  I would be nice.  It would be great.

And so Christians Read is born…

I so look forward to getting to know you all!  Happy reading and many, many…

Blessings,