This apocryphal story is about what happens when a busy man hurries
home to attend his daughter's piano recital while his mind is on the
disappointment of not getting a promotion at work. He considers whether he
would have had more career success if he hadn't spent so much time with his
family. He feels they don't appreciate the sacrifices he makes for them. His
rage grows as the weather worsens and when he calls out to God for answers, to
the wrong questions, he ends up in the hospital after his car goes off the road
and turns over several times.
When God Whispers Loudly reminds me of the classic movie,
It's a Wonderful Life, starring James Stewart, in that the husband in both
stories gets a chance to look into the future to see the past.
I was moved as I read the story because I remember how my
three children grew up so fast while I struggled with my job. I justified my
time away from them by telling myself I was doing it for them. If I had it to
do over, and with what I know now, I would do it differently.
This story is available as an e-book only and would be about
ten pages if printed. However, as I read it, I couldn't help thinking it has the
feel of a longer book. I could see it being expanded into a novella or even a
novel by fleshing out the characters and gradually introducing the plot.
I bought this book based on the recommendation of a member
of one the book writing groups I belong to. It tells how to write movie scripts,
but the friend who told me about it said the same principles could be used to
help make novels better. Since I was about halfway through my latest book, I decided
to hold off on writing until I studied the techniques described in this book.
Snyder, a successful screenwriter who died in 2009,
describes how every good movie script is organized. It is an easy-to-understand
description of 15 beats along with a description of each beat and how many
pages one should have for each beat. Examples are included to make the material
even easier to understand.
I could see right away how to apply the techniques to novel
writing. However, there are two follow-up books, Save the Cat Goes to the Movies and Save the Cat Strikes Back, that I think I better read before
finishing the novel.
I bought a Kindle when it first came out and I'm on my third
one now. The first book I bought for my Kindle was a Bible. I remember at the
time I ordered it how nice it would be to have a digital edition of the Bible,
one that would allow me to search and quickly find readings to follow along
with my pastor. But, as it turned out, I couldn't use it. Why? Because it was
organized like a book, not a Bible. It worked fine for those who read books
from start to end. We don't normally read Bibles that way. I looked around for
another, but finally gave up. Soon after, I found a Bible app that worked fine
on my smart phone.
Recently, my church introduced its members to the Common
English Bible and my Sunday School class began to use it, too. I took a chance
and checked for a Kindle edition. I was pleased to see that this one contains
easy-to-use navigation. The table of contents allows you to link to any book.
At the beginning of each book, there is a link to each chapter in the book.
With the Apocrypha, the table of contents is pretty long, but it is fairly easy
to navigate. You can also use the next chapter and previous chapter toggle when
needed. Overall, I'm quite pleased with this Kindle edition of the Bible.
This is the story of Martha Carrier and her family, and how
Martha was charged with witchcraft and hung in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts for
refusing to admit she was a witch. The story is told through the eyes of
Martha's ten-year old daughter Sarah.
We've all heard about the Salem witch trials, but often what
we hear is so whitewashed we forget the seriousness of what happened. Though
fictionalized, this account of the trials and the events leading to the arrests
was taken from historical documents and stories the author, a descendent of Martha Carrier, heard from her
mother and grandmother. Even though you may be uncomfortable reading it, all
Americans should read it so that we don't forget what happened.
The hardships of the time, independent of the charges of
witchcraft, were eye-opening and made me thankful for growing up in a time of
comfort and leisure. At the time, even the youngest children were expected to
pull their load in the field as well as in household duties. The parents had
more children to provide more workers,
and because so many died because of disease.
The squalor of the prison where the Carriers were kept was
unbelievable. Martha, her three sons and one of her daughters ended up in
prison, leaving her husband Tom to care for the younger daughter and the farm.
He also had to provide food and clothing for his wife and children in prison.
Prisoners had to pay for the manacles they were forced to wear. The crowded
conditions made the filth worse.
As a Christian, I found it difficult to read about how the
Puritans crucified the men and women accused of being witches in the name of
the church. Prominent ministers added credence to the allegations. What was
ironic about it was that the reason the Puritans came to the United States was
to escape intolerance. The witch hunts didn't last long, but twenty people were
put to death because of the mass hysteria and misunderstands of the time.
This is the story of what happens when
Dr. Jeremiah Raphael Harel, a California University art professor, searches to
understand why his brother Matt was killed in Dharamsala, Northern India. Matt
had been a Christian missionary in Dharamsala where he lived with his wife and
child. Luckily, Matt's wife, Sue, was in the states to have their second child
when the attack occurred. Harel goes to Dharamsala at the request of Sue and
his parents to get details about the killing and to clear Matt's name. The police
claimed Matt had stolen Tibetan religious antiquities and smuggled them out of
the country.
Rather than clear Matt's name, it's
not long before Harel is attacked and also suspected of being involved in the
smuggling of antiquities. The police tell him to leave the country or be
arrested. He leaves, but now he must clear his name, too. The only thing
significant he learned before being booted out was that Matt had been asking
questions about the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. (The book is set in the
future, two years after the death of the Dalai Lama.) Based on what Harel had
learned from a former student who was now studying to be a Tibetan Buddhist
priest, the reincarnation was expected to happen in Australia.
Harel goes to Australia, along with many
other characters, both good and bad, and the action gets more intense. The
story involves Chinese, Korean, Australian, American and Indian characters. We
get a look at Buddhism, militaristic Christians, the making of a Bollywood
movie and Aboriginal art. Characters include Buddhist priests, Christian
missionaries, academics and students. I enjoyed learning details about a
variety of subjects, but mostly I liked following the characters along the
emotional roller coaster on the way to the conclusion.
What’s happened in Pecan Spring over the last few weeks has given us
all a great deal to think about—especially me, since the tragedies struck so
close to home.
Reichs, Kathy, Bare Bones
AS I WAS PACKAGING WHAT REMAINED OF THE DEAD BABY, THE man I would
kill was burning pavement north toward Charlotte.
Tolstoy, Leo, Anna Karenina
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its
own way.
Rachman, Tom, The Bathtub Spy
I consider this body, mine, refracted under the steaming bathwater:
my swaying chest-hair, legs bent to fit the tiny tub, lumpy kneecaps thrust
near my chin, elegant feet concluding in inelegant toes, a row of potatoes at
a group photo.
Mills, DiAnn, Breach of Trust
Librarian Paige Rogers had survived more exciting days dodging
bullets to protect her country.
Diaz, Junot , The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Our hero was not one of those Dominican cats everybody’s always going
on about—he wasn’t no home-run hitter or a fly bachatero, not a playboy with
a million hots on his jock.
Kent, Kathleen, The Heretic's Daughter: A Novel
THE DISTANCE BY wagon from Billerica to neighboring Andover is but
nine miles.
Stockett, Kathryn, The Help
MAE MOBLEY was born on a early Sunday morning in August, 1960.
Karon, Jan, Home to Holly Springs
A preacher with a lead foot, driving a red Mustang convertible with
the top down, could make a state patrolman pretty testy.
Bunn, Davis , Lion of Babylon
He exited the church’s double doors and surveyed the gathering.
Lickel, Lisa J., The Map Quilt
Sasha Edwards crouched behind the huge maple, its burnished, drying
leaves rustling in the night wind.
Williams, Shawna K., No Other
Stop shaking. Crouched next to his small oak desk, Jakob clenched its
side to steady himself, and took in a deep breath. (Sorry, I had to include
two sentences for this one.)
Clash of the Titles' monthly clashes have received a makeover!
Our focus is now onnovels new to bookstore shelves. COTT's readers will always have the most up-to-date information on the best and newest Christian literature. Also... Thanks to you, our faithful readers, Clash of the Titles’ new unpublished authors literary contest has been christened—
THE OLYMPIA
The path to publication in novel length is the most difficult a writer will embark on. For most, it’s a steep, uphill climb littered with deep crevices and seemingly insurmountable boulders. Often, it feels as though the summit of that mountain is on the move, keeping one toehold ahead of even the most relentless writer.
Ancient Olympia, Greece *Attribution
In classical times ancient Olympia was the site of the original Olympic Games. It sat at the foot of Mount Olympus, the tallest, most formidable mountain in Greece. The first Olympic Games were held in honor of Zeus, but at Clash of the Titles, we give all honor to the Most High God and wish every contestant His greatest blessing!
Authors, submissions for The Olympia pen October 29, 2012. For preliminary details, please visit The Olympia page.
If you would like more information on how to be a part of our monthly New Releases Clashes,
Life hasn’t been easy for Jeanne Bettencourt, a widow approaching
thirty and struggling to provide for her eight-year-old daughter. But hope
arrives in the form of the Helena Rose, a steamboat she unexpectedly
inherits from a distant, departed relative. Jeanne’s father had captained a
similar vessel and taught her how to pilot a steamer along the banks of
Memphis. She’s looking forward to a renewed livelihood on the mighty
Mississippi.
However, as plans are made, news comes of another heir to the Helena
Rose -- a tough man named Clint Hardin -- and a clause in the will that
says claimants of the estate must live aboard the boat. Jeanne, a Christian
woman, makes it clear she won’t stay with a man who is not her husband. But
both are desperate for work, so they agree to keep their distance as Clint
occupies the lower deck and Jeanne takes the captain’s quarters.
As they restore the Helena Rose, the slowly softening Clint
becomes attracted to Jeanne -- who is now being courted by a wealthy plantation
owner. With her family and future at stake, the desires of Jeanne’s heart are
duly complex. Only her simple faith can navigate her through what’s about to
happen.
About Gilbert Morris
Gilbert Morris is among today's most popular
Christian writers, his books having sold over seven million copies worldwide. A
former pastor and English professor, he specializes in historical fiction and
won a 2001 Christy Award for the Civil War drama Edge of Honor. Morris
lives with his wife in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Q and A with Gilbert Morris
What is your writing method? Do you write in the morning? At night?
All day? How long do you write in a single session?
I have no set schedule for writing a
novel. While I am working on it, sometimes it goes easily, and I just pour on
the coal. If it goes badly, I have to spend more time on the text. Naturally, I
love it when the words seem to flow!
How do you do your historical
research?
I think it can be easy to do
too much research, just as it can be a mistake to do too little. Some writers
are so anxious the give the historical background, that they forget the story.
My own problem is to do a good job with research and with the story.
How do you manage to keep your dialogue true to the time period
without allowing it to sound stilted?
Reading a great deal of Dickens, for
example, will carry over into the writer’s work. There is a danger that all of
a writer’s characters will sound alike,
which makes for bad fiction. I always try to find some characteristic that will
set a character apart, perhaps bad grammar or a pronounced regional accent.
You used to follow the same storytelling technique of the late Sidney
Sheldon—told your stories on tape to get the rough draft down, and then had
them transcribed to start your writing process. Are you still using this technique
for your current books?
Yes, I do dictate all my books. I take the
outline and the list of characters, and put each chapter on a cassette. Then I
have a lady take the tapes, type them out, and send them to me. Of course, when
I get the hard copy, that’s usually when the hard work of revision rears its
ugly head! My daughter Lynn, who has written some fine novels, helps me with
this stage, for which I am profoundly grateful.
In many of your books, you
feature a strong female main character that suffers from flaws and weaknesses.
Why do you write about women in this way?
I try to give all characters, both male and female,
young and old, flaws and weaknesses. That is human, and if a character is perfect that is totally unbelievable!
Look at the great
classic novels by the great novelists. All of them set forth characters, who,
in one way or another, are flawed. It is the job of the novelist to dramatize
the characters as they attempt to overcome these flaws.
Your novels have a number of female
characters with red hair and green eyes. Is that based on a real person?
Got lots of red hair
in my family, so I always like redheads! No green eyes. I just get tired of
trying, in a book with forty characters, to give them eyes that differ. Blue,
brown, green. What other colors can eyes be?
I did say of one
shady character, “He had eyes the color of spit.” Now, really, that character
had to be evil!
What fascinates you most about 1850s Mississippi?
It was a dramatic time in American history. The Civil
War, the rise of modern transportation, the beginning of our industrial growth.
How did you decide to set your story on a steamer?
When I was a boy, I lived for a time in Helena,
Arkansas. The river then was still thick with the sternwheelers, and I would
sit for hours on the bank of the river and watch them, and riding on one was a
thrill.
When you’re writing a series such as the Water Wheel series, how do
you decide which characters to carry over into the sequels?
I usually make this decision before I begin the
first novel in the series. Some generational sagas lend themselves to stepping
from one book to another, others I like to confine to one book.
I have a signed a contract to do a trilogy about San
Francisco in the 1850s. That opens up the door for a family to go through (1)
the gold rush of 1849, (2) the rise of rich people and how they are brought
down, and (3) the earthquake and how the family survives and strengthens.
What book project are you
working on next?
I am working on
Book #2 of a series called Western Justice. These three westerns are set
in Oklahoma Territory shortly after the Civil War. Judge Isaac Parker had 200
marshals to keep order, and many of them were killed in line of duty. The most
famous of these is Heck Thomas, but if you’ve seen TRUE GRIT, you get the flavor of the series. Romance, action,
Christian doctrine!
What is the one thing that you want to
leave readers of The River Rose
pondering over?
As in all my books, I want my readers to see how
vital it is to serve God no matter how difficult that might be.
Do you have a long-term
plan for your novel writing? Are you planning to retire, or can we eagerly
anticipate dozens more Gilbert Morris stories?
I am working on
three series at the present time. One will deal with the men and women who
serve in different branches of the service.
Another is the
second novel about a young woman, Jordan Lee, who serves in the military, then
in the House of Representatives.
The work I most
enjoy is a series of mysteries featuring a man and a woman—and two cats. I’ve
written three of these, and have had a blast! They are my favorite novels. The
next one will be entitled Desperate
Housecats.
This story begins in Memphis, December 18, 1854. It is about
what happens when Jeanne Bettencourt and Clint Hardin each inherit half the riverboat
Helena Rose.
Jeanne, a widow with a six-year old daughter, Marvel, was
working as a chambermaid in a hotel, and just barely making enough money to get
by. Her parents died in a tornado that destroyed their steamboat before Marvel
was born and her soldier husband was assumed dead.
Clint was a machinist, singer, and boxer. He had seen Jeanne
and Marvel when he sang for a town Christmas festival, but was surprised to see
her again in the lawyer's office when they learned a distant relative of theirs
had died and left them the cargo steamboat.
With Jeanne's experience as a pilot on her parent's boat and
Clint's experience as a machinist, they go into business together delivering mail
and carrying cargo. The business becomes successful quickly, partly because of
help from a gentleman friend of Jeanne's, George Masters, a frequent guest at
the hotel. The rest of the crew consists of Ezra who had worked on the boat for
the previous owner, Vince, a friend of Clint's and Roberty, an orphan boy
Jeanne rescued from a beating. A stipulation of the will was that they had to
also take the dog, Leo, which they all loved.
There were many complications in the story which made reading
even more interesting. At one point, when I thought the story had reached a
satisfactory ending, another major problem popped up. It was difficult to put
the book down because I wanted to find out what would happen next.
This is a Christian novel and there are references to God,
the Bible, and Christian life. I appreciated the way this was handled and I
liked that one of the main characters was further along in spiritual
development than the other. This allowed the reader to observe the growth and,
yes, there were a few tears along the way.
Overall, an excellent read and I highly recommend it.
I received
a complimentary copy of this book for review from B&H Publishing Group. I
was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are
my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's
16 CFR, Part 255. The book was then donated to my church library.
Writers look
for ways to grab readers and the best place to start is with the first
sentence. This time, we're showing the first sentence of other books and
letting you the book and author. The only prize for getting them all right is
that you will have read a bunch of good first sentences. I'll post the answers next week.
What’s
happened in Pecan Spring over the last few weeks has given us all a great deal
to think about—especially me, since the tragedies struck so close to home.
AS I WAS
PACKAGING WHAT REMAINED OF THE DEAD BABY, THE man I would kill was burning
pavement north toward Charlotte.
Happy
families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
I consider
this body, mine, refracted under the steaming bathwater: my swaying chest-hair,
legs bent to fit the tiny tub, lumpy kneecaps thrust near my chin, elegant feet
concluding in inelegant toes, a row of potatoes at a group photo.
Librarian
Paige Rogers had survived more exciting days dodging bullets to protect her
country.
Our hero was
not one of those Dominican cats everybody’s always going on about—he wasn’t no
home-run hitter or a fly bachatero, not a playboy with a million hots on his
jock.
THE DISTANCE
BY wagon from Billerica to neighboring Andover is but nine miles.
MAE MOBLEY
was born on a early Sunday morning in August, 1960.
A preacher
with a lead foot, driving a red Mustang convertible with the top down, could
make a state patrolman pretty testy.
He exited
the church’s double doors and surveyed the gathering.
Sasha
Edwards crouched behind the huge maple, its burnished, drying leaves rustling
in the night wind.
Stop shaking. Crouched next to his small oak
desk, Jakob clenched its side to steady himself, and took in a deep breath.
(Sorry, I had to include two sentences for this one.)
a. Bunn, Davis ,
Lion of Babylon
b. Kent, Kathleen,
The Heretic's Daughter: A Novel
c. Stockett,
Kathryn, The Help
d. Williams,
Shawna K., No Other
e. Karon, Jan, Home
to Holly Springs
f. Tolstoy,
Leo, Anna Karenina
g. Lickel, Lisa
J., The Map Quilt
h. Diaz, Junot ,
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
h. Mills,
DiAnn, Breach of Trust
j. Rachman,
Tom, The Bathtub Spy
k. Reichs,
Kathy, Bare Bones
l. Albert,
Susan, Bleeding Hearts (China Bayles Mystery)
The Laurel Award is expanding, and we know you’ll be excited about it.
We are creating a NEW annual literary contest, and it’s strictly for unpublished writers!
Also, authors will no longer need to be a previous Clash Champion in order to compete for the crown.
Submissions for this contest open October 29, 2012,
but first we must name it. That’s right! We want your help naming this exciting, new branch of Clash of the Titles. After reading about it, please take a moment to click on which name you think most fitting for this contest—The Spartan OR The Olympia. (Use survey below.)
About this new contest:
All never before published writers of Christian fiction may submit their work.
$10 Entry fee.
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