Write for a Reason

Send us Fan Mail There are many elements we need to get right with our stories, but there are some basic essentials that will make or break our novels. I hope this podcast will help you make sure you have at least these 5 elements just right for your readers! Don't forget to subscribe... and I'll see you next time. Oh, and at the end of this episode I have a very special offer for you, s...

Send us Fan Mail Tight Sentences As in every area of art, writing tight sentences is not an exact science, but I hope some pointers in the right direction might help you with your work in progress. The aim of writing tight sentences is to help with clarity and pace, and increase reader enjoyment of your novel. Authors who write tight sentences show their readers exactly what's happening witho...

Send us Fan Mail Some surprises in stories can be good - some can be bad. Listen in and get some tips for your own novel, to make sure you are thrilling your readers with some great surprises! Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings ? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more....

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Write for a Reason podcast. My name is Janet Wilson; I'm a publisher of Christian fiction for young people with Dernier Publishing. If you are a Christian, and new to writing stories for kids and teens, stay tuned for encouragement, creative writing tips and actionable strategies you can implement immediately to become a better writer, and get your books out in...

Send us Fan Mail Some writers are great at dialogue - others find it more challenging. Here are some tips to help you write dialogue that will move your story forward, help your readers to get to know your characters better, and bring in lots of emotion. Enjoy! Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings ? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for supp...

Send us Fan Mail The setting of our story is important! Janet Wilson of Dernier Publishing (Christian fiction for kids and teens) discusses the importance of choosing a compelling setting to enhance your story, and how it can increase reader engagement. Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings ? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support whil...

Send us Fan Mail Getting descriptions right can be tricky. Janet Wilson of Dernier Publishing gives 7 tips to help you write great descriptions for your stories. Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings ? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on yo...

Send us Fan Mail Do you need an antagonist in your story?  Not necessarily! Listen to this podcast episode to find some other ways of introducing conflict into your stories. Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings ? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a...

Send us Fan Mail In one of our recent Writers for a Reason Unite groups, one of the things we talked about was weaving a message into our stories. How do we do this gently, with respect? After all, we are not here to persuade, as much as allow readers to think through issues of faith, and make up their own minds. Of course, as Christians, we would love everyone to share our faith! But not everyone...

Send us Fan Mail We usually start of with a good idea of what our characters look like. But what about other parts of their personality? Here's a writing exercise for you to do, that will help you get to know your characters better. Try this in your writers' groups as well as on your own! Hear you again soon, Janet Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings ?...

Send us Fan Mail With your theme and message in mind, how will your protagonist, and any other characters, change during the course of your story?    How will they be different at the end, than they were at the beginning?    How will you show the difference? Listen to the podcast and get some tips! Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings ? Or perhaps you would like...

Send us Fan Mail Keeping up the pace in our stories is essential, if we want to hold our readers' attention. This is even more true today than it was a few years ago! So how can we do this? Here are some fun creative writing tips, to help your story zip along at a great pace!  Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings ? Or perhaps you would like to join our membe...

Send us Fan Mail This may sound like a daft question, but knowing who you want to write for, and why, is an important foundation for our writing. We can have what we think is a brilliant idea for a story, but will it resonate with our target audience? This episode will help you narrow down your target audience and get your mission statement sorted... resulting in clarity - and that's a wonder...

Send us Fan Mail Today I have a little tip for you, on writing dialogue. Someone was asking me recently about what mistakes I see most often in dialogue, and one of them is that their characters all sound too similar. The way people speak will denote their character. A bold person, for example, will speak boldly. A timid person will use completely different words, and express them in a different w...

Send us Fan Mail We are leaving a legacy with our writing, whether we are thinking about it or not. So why not be intentional? Listen to this episode and be inspired to change lives with your stories.  Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings ? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find o...

Send us Fan Mail We may avoid conflicts in real life, but in our stories we should embrace them as our best friends, because  without conflicts we do not have a story! In this pocast episode we get deeper into conflicts, so grab your writing journal and get ready to take your story to the next level. Oh, and there are a couple of exercised for you to do! Enjoy! Support the show Like to do my free...

Send us Fan Mail Hi, Janet Wilson here. The issue with writing fantasy, and how we deal with it as Christians, came up in one of our Writers for a Reason Unite meetings recently. One of our members had been reading a children’s book, where witchcraft, magic and spells were included in the story. As Christian writers, we’re not going to be including any of these things, of course… but what about fa...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Janet looks at the whole subject of inspiration.  Sometimes we have to go out looking for inspiration... it doesn't always come when we want it... here's how, and why. Enjoy! Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings ? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on th...

Send us Fan Mail What writing times work best for you? How often should you write? The advice write every day is excellent advice! But not for everyone can stick to that, and it can be counter-productive to attempt something that doesn’t work with your current lifestyle. It’s depressing to feel you have failed, and totally unnecessary!  Listen to the episode for practical advice for fitting in you...

Send us Fan Mail Asking who you want to write for and why may sound like a really daft question, but when you think about it, it's absolutely foundational to writing a successful story.  Listen to this episode and see if you agree! Oh, and grab your writing journal and a pen, because there's a writing exercise for you. :-) Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Begi...

Send us Fan Mail Show not tell is an essential part of creative writing. We all know we need to show not tell, but how exactly do we do that? Here are some ideas to help you. Enjoy - and let me know what you think! Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings ? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this l...

Send us Fan Mail Starting a story is great - finishing is even better! In this episode Janet gives 7 tips to help you keep on track and get your story done. Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings ? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your po...

Send us Fan Mail Dialogue isn't like real speech - it takes a lot of work! Check you aren't making these three common mistakes with dialogue... And if you find this episode helpful, subscribe to the podcast, and leave a review. Thank you! :-) Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings ? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Write for a Reason podcast. My name is Janet Wilson; I'm a publisher of Christian fiction for young people with Dernier Publishing. If you are a Christian, and new to writing stories for kids and teens, stay tuned for encouragement, creative writing tips and actionable strategies you can implement immediately to become a better writer, and get your books out in...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Write for a Reason podcast. My name is Janet Wilson; I'm a publisher of Christian fiction for young people with Dernier Publishing. If you are a Christian, and new to writing stories for kids and teens, stay tuned for encouragement, creative writing tips and actionable strategies you can implement immediately to become a better writer, and get your books out in...