Writing Superheroes – Lynne Collier

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

NaNoWriMo – Dec 4

Dec 4th Well, here I am with my NaNoWriMo winner’s certificate! I started out on November 1st with a rough idea for a story, but I hadn’t done the outline or decided on character names or anything. When they said, ‘Write an entire novel in a month”, I took it rather too literally and hadn’t prepared anything! Along the way I discovered I needed an outline. All I had was a beginning idea and an ending. I had no middle. The middle is the entire story – what was I thinking?! But I read a very important coaching tip and decided to just keep that front and centre as I plodded on; Just Write. I tried to ignore the editor in me who sounded a lot like my English grammar school teacher, and I wrote, and wrote, and wrote… The final day I was so tired, but as I neared the finish line I was super excited to see the prize so close. I watched the word count click 49, 999 – 50,000. I felt like I’d run a marathon, but I stayed awake long enough to print out my certificate. It’s a great feeling, to reach the finish line in whatever you set out to accomplish, whether it’s a novel or a new recipe for chocolate brownies.

When I got to the middle part of the novel I just kept going. I started researching names at first, for my main characters, but the rest of them in the middle got the first name that came to mind – just write! Some of them will need to have a name change as I revise, or I’ll find myself in trouble with the first name of an antagonist being someone I know! It’s funny how that works. As they say, “Don’t tick me off. I’m a writer and you may end up in my next novel – and I may just kill you”. The plot unfolded all on its own and my characters became real. For my first try at fiction, I am actually proud of my attempt. It will have to wait for now, though.

The novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo is one of a series of novels I’ll be publishing starting in Spring 2016. Before this book is published, I hope to have two more short non-fiction works published and a fantasy. So maybe, if God has this in His plan as I see it in mine; I’ll have this novel published just in time for the next NaNoWriMo.

Thank you to all who supported me through this endeavor, especially my family who ate goodness-knows-what some nights, lots of fast ‘food’, had to put up with dirty dishes in the sink all month, and me endlessly talking about NaNo. You’re all the bestests!

Signing off on my NaNoWriMo posts till next year. God Bless,

Lynne

NaNoWriMo Day 30 – I DID IT!

I made it! I wrote 50,000 words in thirty days and validated my novel at 5pm. I am officially pooped and I’m going to make a cup of orange tea, and pet my cat – and also watch The Walking Dead again because I don’t remember half of what happened last night I was so exhausted!

I will give you the run-down on my last day tomorrow. Thank you all for the words of encouragement here and on Facebook and Twitter.

Have a great night. Word count to date – 50, 075

Lynne

NaNoWriMo Day 29!!!

coffee-149719_640 — I can do it – I can do it – I can do it!

Day 29 Sorry I’ve been MIA for a few days. As I posted in an earlier blog, I had to take Friday off to go out of town for an appointment. Yesterday I just wrote like crazy, trying to get my word count up to at least 45,000 so I wouldn’t have too much still to do tomorrow. Today is my Sabbath day, so I took it off for church and family and didn’t write. (That took a lot of discipline!) I hope to get to bed on time for a change and start tomorrow early. I have a lot of words still to write!!!!!! Thanks to Sandy Hall and others in the NaNoCoach forum, I know it doesn’t have to be pretty – it just has to be. I will take a half hour for breakfast and a half hour for lunch, but I will probably not break for dinner until I’ve verified my novel and won this challenge. I’ll let you know on Tuesday how I did and what time I finished.

So, I promised you more tips on this blog. Here goes;

Writing an Outline for Your Novel

This is the outline I found easiest to follow, taken from several writer’s magazines.

Act 1 The Status Quo. Your hero’s everyday life.

The Catalyst. A call to action.

Denial. Hero rejects the opportunity.

Guru. The hero gets a mentor.

Acceptance & Action. First threshold of change.

Act 2 Trials. Finding friends and foes.

Edge of the Abyss. Decision of second threshold.

The Plunge. Faces the greatest fear.

The Pay-Off. Hero gets a reward of some sort.

Act 3 The Way Through. On the way home. Maybe being chased.

True Test. Hero proves they learned their lesson.

The New Normal. Returns home, transformed.

I hope that helps some of you who are like me and just starting out on the fiction journey. There are a lot of good magazines available for writers. I usually find mine at Chapters. I love flipping through the magazines and deciding which to buy – don’t you?

Well, tomorrow’s the day. I’m at word count 43,950. Just over 6,000 words to write tomorrow before the verification deadline! (Must remember to stop to eat, and pet the cat. Wait – no, she’ll remind me).

Lynne out till Tuesday.

Finding Love in Unexpected Places

Ben with a new friend at the Toronto Zoo

Dancing on the Bus, a short story I wrote about finding love in unexpected places, was accepted to be included in a recently published book called, Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon, the third in a series of short stories and poems.

My story is about being accepted and loved as a child, by total strangers. Later, as a mother, I saw that same love and acceptance for my own children. (Side note here; the picture is of my son from the story, showing love and acceptance to another child he met that day for the frist time. Paying love forward never fails).

On Nov 27th, 2015, I will be one of the hosts for the Virtual Book Launch of Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon. If you read this post in time and can join us, the launch is from 12-11pm, Ontario time. I will be ‘live’ from 8.30-9.

Secret Word for the scavenger hunt is: FAILS

Lynne

PS – Although the launch has passed, you can still view it on Facebook using this link.

NaNoWriMo Days 23 & 24

Day 23 How do you organize your outline? I asked a few colleagues that question and received several different responses from them all. I didn’t organize my outline before I started writing (Pantser) and that slowed my writing quite a bit. As I mentioned earlier, I had to go back over some segments to cut and paste so I could keep track of who was where and doing what. So the suggestions I received were very helpful in trying to help me do just that. Sticky notes seems to be the favourite, with spreadsheet close behind. But my favourite, and the one I’m now using, is to list my chapters in order with titles before I start writing. This tip was given to me by my NaNoWriMo writing buddy. Thanks, Melanie! I admit I’m a little late doing this, but since I gave my chapters headings, I’ve been able to stay on track with my story. I also wrote out my characters’ names and pertinent information on file cards and stuck them on the office bulletin board. If you haven’t started your novel yet, I’d like to suggest you at least put your outline somewhere handy where it’s easily accessible. I wasted a lot of time rummaging through my manuscript to find out where my supportive characters live! Do you have a tried and true method to organizing your writing?

Lynne

Day 24 I just finished writing my final battle scene – phew! I’m exhausted and I didn’t lift a single sword. I basically wrote about fighting ALL day. I fed the cat, made a conference call to one of my pastors, fed the birds, talked to my son for a bit then wrote about blood and guts the rest of the day (and into part of dinner time). Once my husband went to bed I took up the final battle scene once more (my writing that is) to get it finished. Total word count to date: 35,816. That means if I still take Sunday off, and I have to take Friday off to go out of town with my daughter all day and do a virtual book launch in the evening, I’ll need to write at least 3,500 words each day including the final day on Monday! I know from recent experience I need 7-8 hours of sleep to work at peak performance. Trust me – your brain won’t work well if it doesn’t get enough sleep and people will think you’re a zombie – not good. Tomorrow is the part referred to as The Payoff part of the novel. A nice change from today. Sleep well and long.

Lynne

NaNoWriMo Day 22

"Mother loved to entertain" — “Mother loved to entertain…”

Day 22 Today I thought I’d share with you a small excerpt from my NaNoWriMo novel. Please keep in mind it’s a hurried first rough draft and will probably be edited to shreds later.

“Cassy searched the small gathering for her mother. Stepping sheepishly across the marble floor she heard her mother laughing loudly from the vicinity of the stone fireplace. Her mother had a haughty laugh which could be heard all over the downstairs rooms when she was entertaining guests. Mother loved to entertain and the wealthiest people vied for invitations to her dinner parties. Cassy made her way through the crowd who didn’t seem to notice her torn clothing – or her presence for that matter. They were busy flaunting their designer gowns and silk suits, and waving their hands so everyone would notice their newly acquired gold trinkets. Everyone appeared to be called Darling.”

This is from a scene from Act 1 of a superhero story. Until now I’ve only written non-fiction, so I’m very excited to see how the story ends! Word count to date: 31,043. Pleasant dreams everyone.

Lynne

NaNoWriMo Day 20

Day 20 The more I write of my novel the more I realize that what I really want to write – what I feel compelled to write, is allegorical fantasy/fiction (a parable or fable with a message in it). I’m thoroughly enjoying my superhero novel, but I find myself fighting the urge to put a message in there somewhere. Before NaNoWriMo, I started writing an allegorical fantasy story, and even now, as busy as I am with this project, I find I’m jotting down notes for the other. My heart is in finding the redemption of the character more so than the story itself. But the story is necessary for the reader to see the redemption at the final page. So here I am, looking for ways to show the redemption of my protagonist in a superhero story. It must be time to watch Iron Man again. Have you found your true passion in your writing? In your life? I hope you have. Word count to date 27,614. Have a wonderful weekend.

Lynne

NaNoWriMo Day 19

Day 19 How much do you need to describe your character’s appearance? I asked my son how he approaches describing his characters;

“I intentionally never described Nevaeh’s appearance in detail. Partially because it wasn’t necessary, but also because I didn’t want to make people see my idea of “attractive” when they pictured her. I just described her as “attractive” and let people decide for themselves what that meant. Guys could picture loved ones. Women could picture themselves or someone they admire. If I’ve written the character’s personality right, then people will picture her as a beautiful person without me needing to describe her features.” – Benjamin T. Collier, referring to his female protagonist in The Kingdom.

I used this approach to describing my characters unless, as Ben explained, the external details will later be revealed to be of significance to the story. For example, I wrote the clothing transformation from dreary to expressive that my female protagonist went through, to ‘show-don’t-tell’ her inner transformation from depressed to confident. So, usually, it’s unnecessary to describe all the physical features of a character. Leave that to the reader’s imagination.

My blogs through the first half of NaNoWriMo were mostly subjective. During this second half of the process I’m hoping to bring you some useful writing insights too – as well as my personal struggles and triumphs. On that note, today was grocery shopping day and I added some Christmas shopping in there too and lunch at Boston Pizza. Word count? I’d rather not say.

Back to hitting those keys at breakneck speed tomorrow! Good Night from the NaNo Novice.

Lynne

NaNoWriMo Day 17 – Costumes

Day 17

‘Costumes’ was the word of the day. I had to narrow down a list of seven then decide my hero’s superhero name and add a costume description.

I wanted the superhero name to fit her personality and super powers.

Then the costume had to look the part. Modern – not tights and a cape type! She’s getting her pieces at a staff discount, so they had to be regular everyday items.

I managed to get it done, but I’m a little late to bed. Feeling good about the writing all the same. Good Night from Ontario, fellow writers and readers.

–added after NaNoWriMo: I named my hero after a bird because of her transformation during the story. Here’s the rough draft of that scene–

“She went to the dressing room to try on her costume pieces; taupe skinny jeans, her fawn-coloured t-shirt, fitted long brown leather jacket, and her long pull-on boots with a low heel. Cassy put some extra pieces together to make the costume more special; wrist bands with extra pieces she’d sewn on to hold knives, a leather belt to hold the ball-bearings in a pouch and wooden balls on a thick leather thong, leather ankle bands large enough to go over the boots and hold more knives, and two leather belts to crisscross her chest and hold a short staff behind her back. All she needed now was a mask!”

Lynne

What Is Christian Speculative Fiction?

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