Ask the Authors: Thursday

What one piece of advice would you give an aspiring novelist?

Just focus on the story and write it. Don't worry about the market, don't worry about what the story is for (to be published? to bless friends and family.) If God has called you to write, just WRITE. Leave the rest to Him. -Karen B.

Don’t confuse your success as a writer with your worth as a person. As a child of God, the first has no bearing on the second. - Ann Tatlock

Read everything you can find by your favorite authors, authors you admire, authors who are writing what you absolutely love to read--just make certain they're writers of excellence. Immerse yourself in good writing, and when you know your "passion"--what you want to write--do it. -BJ Hoff

Make the conflict larger. I’d say 99% of unpublished novelists (and a fair chunk of published ones, me included) could have written a better and more engaging book if they’d taken their premise conflict – the one they had when they first dreamed up the idea for the book – and stepped it up a notch or three. – Tom Morrisey

Don't quit your day job. That places too much pressure on you to write what you think the public wants to read, and not the story that's really on your heart. It forces you to churn out one book after another instead of spending time on that one story until it shines. That kind of pressure, I believe, kills true creativity. -Hannah Alexander

Read, read, read (read everything: Christian fiction, NYT general market fiction, biographies, histories, newspapers, magazines, etc.) — and write something every day. — Robin Lee Hatcher

Study the craft. There are so many wonderful books on the craft of writing, writers conferences, university classes, writers guilds, online writers groups, in-person critique groups, one-on-one mentors...the list goes on and on, and every writer can refine and polish their craft while they wait for that elusive contract. -Deborah Raney

Read well.- lisa samson