Category: Writing A Novel

Writing Fantasy || Premise

What is a Premise?

A premise is the foundation of your story. It’s a single sentence that reflects the core of what happens to the characters because of the events. Your story supports this premise. If you know your premise before you start writing you’ll find it easier to write because your underlying thought drives your work. It will also help you remain focused on what you’re writing and the idea you want to convey to your readers.

Why is a premise so important?

Once your premise is solid, you can then begin to create a storyline that proves it. Let’s say for example you want to write about truth. Your premise could be as simple as “Honesty is the best policy”, then write a story supporting that. What do you want your reader to know about being honest, and why is it so important?

If you don’t yet have a story in mind and you’re still looking for a place to start, try Proverbs for a short, simple sentence that conveys an idea that inspires you, or a quote from a favourite movie.

 

Examples of a compelling premise

 

“When your beliefs are at war, does love stand a chance?”

The End Begins by Sara Davison, The Seven Trilogy, Book 1. Click on the book for more information.

Writing a compelling premise. The End Begins by Sara Davison

 

“Groundhog Day in space.”

Singularity – by Benjamin T. Collier. Click on the book for more information.

Once you have your premise, you can go on to writing your logline. Stay tuned…

Til next time, remember you are loved by the One who created you in His image.

Lynne

 

(note: I’m an Amazon affiliate and receive a small fee for using their images when I promote someone’s work.)

Do You Ever Dream Of Being An Elf?

Do You Ever Dream of Being An Elf?

“Do you ever dream of being more than you are? Being a super-hero who can do marvellous feats for others and for God? Someone who can vanquish evil by a spoken word? Well- You Are! …We are all part of something bigger than ourselves; a supernatural world which exists parallel to ours and which few of us see but which interacts with ours in a constant battle for Mankind.”

This is the introduction to my new book —

 

‘The Fellowship of The King – A Christian Geek’s Guide to Kingdom Purpose‘

Click the book to find out more.

Find Your Christian Life Purpose

What on earth does that mean? That’s a leading question because not all of the book is about this earthly realm. Half of it is about you in a different realm! The first part of the book is discovering how God uniquely designed you before you were born, to be an ambassador (a representative) for His Kingdom. How He gave you specific natural abilities, a specific personality, and ultimately Spiritual Gifts chosen for you to carry out the assignments He has for you on earth—should you chose to accept them.

Find Your Fantasy Alter-Ego

The second part of the book is a fun spin about who you might be in a fantasy realm, your uniqueness translating into a world of fiction and what your missions would be there for the king. It takes you through discovering your race, your choice of weapons, your class (occupation), creating a shield, and your code for the kingdom. Who do think you would be and what mission would you accept for the king?

Lynne Collier --my fantasy alter-ego from THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE KING
Lynne Collier –my fantasy alter-ego

The book’s a prelude to my upcoming Speculative Fiction novels set in a fantasy realm but written from a Christian perspective. More about those in the coming weeks.

I wrote this book with my son, Benjamin T. Collier, also a published author, who writes amazing novels of fantasy and science fiction (mum’s bragging rights). We had a lot of fun writing this together and putting the different aspects of humankind and fantasy characteristics together to explore the seen universe and the unseen realms of fantasy. He’s the one who wrote most of the second part of the book, and a good friend of ours, Kirstie Shanks, designed the cover and the artwork. It’s a blessing to be able to work with such talented people who are dear to me and follow after God.

If you’re not inclined to geekdom yourself hopefully you’ll still enjoy the reality half of the book and discover what God has for you in His divine wisdom. It also makes a great gift for a geeky friend. The ensuing conversations could be quite hilarious! You may find you have more in common than you think.

Til next time, know you are loved by the One who created you in His image—and remember:

“Think outside the box. Unless it’s a Tardis –

Always choose the Tardis!”

– Lynne Collier, ‘The Fellowship Of The King’  #christiangeek #christianlifepurpose

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Lynne

Resources

Benjamin T. Collier

Kirstie Shanks

How to Boost Your Writing Career with Short Stories

Break into the writing realm, or boost your writing career by submitting a short piece of work to an anthology. They usually consist of short stories, poems and nonfiction ideas. It gives you the chance to work with an editor and get valuable feedback on your writing skills. Plus, you’ll meet other authors, personally or virtually, and maybe make new friends.

Find 2-3 writing groups who publish collections of work and join the groups. They’ll likely have an annual or bi-annual call for submissions for a new book.

Earlier this year I sent away five submissions altogether and was excited to have two of my pieces chosen. I write Christian Speculative Fiction and Christian Fantasy stories, so both anthologies are from Christian groups.

Anthologies make great gifts for all ages. I’m delighted to share with you the ones I”m in this year —

Christmas – Stories and More by Inscribe Christian Writers Fellowship

Christmas with Hot Apple Cider compiled by N. J. Lindquist

Til next time, know you are loved by the One who created you in His image.

~ Lynne

What Is Christian Speculative Fiction?

What Is Christian Speculative Fiction?

Robot in outer space staring at the sun and planets.
Art by DrSJS

“Biblical [Christian] Speculative Fiction is speculative fiction which uses Christian themes and incorporates the Christian worldview…”  — Wikipedia.

In many of the modern Christian fiction novels, the characters are mainly Christian and act on guidance from God with no overt or miraculous divine intervention. There is almost always a non-Christian character who eventually becomes ‘born again’ and the emphasis is biblical and doctrinal, as in Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins’ Left Behind series. It differs greatly from speculations on the Bible and Christianity found in fictional work such as Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.

An example of a story which portrays a biblical and doctrinal emphasis but also features miraculous intervention would be Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness which features demons, angels, and spiritual warfare.

Examples of stories which reflect a Christian worldview without explicitly Christian references would be The Lord of the Rings by RR Tolkien, C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, and G. K. Chesterton’s The Ball and the Cross, which are overtly miraculous in content.

So, in a nutshell, Christian Speculative Fiction is any fiction genre which gives a Christian worldview and can incorporate fantasy, science-fiction, dystopia, and other genres which invite us to connect with our Christian beliefs ‘outside the box’.

In the last few years, new venues have opened for the Christian Speculative Fiction genre. More recently, Enclave Publishing (formerly Marcher Lord Press) and LoreHaven have created a platform for writers of Christian Speculative Fiction.

Til next time, know you are loved by the One who created you in His image, which includes that magnificent imagination of yours.

Lynne

Just for fun–Check out LoreHaven’s post about Star Trek Discovery

5 Easy Ways to Create Income From Writing

Want to know 5 easy ways to create an income from writing?

After two years of little in the way of sales from my first book, I was wondering if anyone actually makes a decent income from writing. I realize if I could just write more, that would increase my income, but who’s got time to write more?

 

Income From Writing
How Do I Create An Income From Writing?

  

Here’s how I did it – I took what I’d already written on my social media and made it into a book!

Seriously. That’s what I did. All my blogs about writing, my posts about my life, my tweets of writing tips and coaching, my pins about my interests, all became tidbits to expand and form into a book! It was a lot of fun, and I’m using these methods to write more books. So, I wanted to let you know how to use what you’ve already written and get started with that income too. Still with me but wondering how the heck I did that?

Here’s How I Used These 5 Simple Ways to Create Income From Writing 

  • From Blog To Book – The Novel Author’s Workbook I created an Etsy downloadable 99-page workbook from blogs I’d written over the course of a year on how to write fiction, as I was doing the research. It takes the author from the beginning premise and outline of a novel, through to publishing and marketing.
  • From Pin To Print/Nonfiction — Hosting a Shire Party is a simple ebook about a cosplay party I had. I wrote about creating easy costumes, food, and games, as I pinned the photos from the party.
  • From Tweet To Tutorial – Your Write Voice For His Kingdom is a course I wrote from tweets about my workshop notes as a Christian Life Coach and writer’s coach. I coach students through the decision process of becoming a writer and how God has equipped them to write for His purpose.
  • From Post To Published – Life at White Rose Shire is an ebook in-progress of a collection of devotionals which I’ll be posting on my blog under a sub-heading and later publishing as a Kindle devotional book.
  • From Muse To Memoir — Raising Benjamin Frog – A Mother’s Journey With Her Autistic Son is a print book from notes I wrote originally for my earlier blog posts on Autism. It chronicles my son’s journey from birth to age 29, and his success as an author.

And that’s how I used 5 simple ways to create income from writing– from ebooks, print books, and tutorials.

A simple way to get to that 50,000 word count for NaNoWriMo!

If this is something you may be interested in doing, I’ve explained all the social media methods in my business school at  White Rose Writers School.

 SIGN UP  to get news on all the new courses as well as exclusive cheatsheets, writing tips, resources, and other insider goodies!

Another Way to Create Income From Writing —

Ann-Margret Hovsepian has a full-time income from her writing and engagements. She shares her success tips on her blog ‘You Asked Me’:

https://annhovsepian.wordpress.com/2014/05/14/you-asked-me-5/

 

I hope you found something useful here. Let me know.

Til next time, know you are loved by the One who created you in His image.

-Lynne

Resources

Devotionals

White Rose Writers on Etsy

Middle Earth Party on Pinterest

Collier Christian Writing Academy

White Rose Writers School