When I first began delving into the world of storytelling theory, I felt like a delighted dragon hoarding glittering gems of knowledge. But when I… Read More »Four Basic Questions that Simplified My Approach to Storytelling as an Editor
In so many stories, joy is the happy ending held hostage, waiting to be set free by the hero.
In this story, joy is the hero.
I love road trips. As a member of my family’s bluegrass band, I’ve spent a fair bit of time staring out the windows of my family’s ancient converted passenger bus.
The thing about this bus is that it likes to chill out below the speed limit on the highway, which means most of the other people on the road have to pass us. It also has four seats facing backwards, which makes it easy to see through the windshields of all those passing vehicles.
While The Voyage of the Dawn Treader travels upwind of so many expectations of how a good book is supposed to behave, the result is one of the most achingly beautiful stories I’ve ever known.
As authors, we do our readers no favors by giving them false confidence in easy victories. If we want to encourage them to hold fast to righteousness and life, we need to write stories that show truth’s triumph over evil’s strongest arguments—not its weakest.
Storytelling is an opportunity to experiment with life. We get to try on characters’ worldviews for size and experience how they play out in action.… Read More »Experiment on Your Characters (How to Make Readers Think)
Thought-provoking stories don’t just make us wonder whether the characters are going to learn their lesson. They push us to pursue truth by putting us in situations where WE don’t yet have the answers.
As an author, the best way to do this is by forcing your characters to confront dilemmas where every option comes with a devastating cost.
There’s something deeply satisfying about a story worth chewing on. As much as we appreciate a great story’s offer of an escape, we also hunger for meaning to follow us back into real life and transform the way we see the world.
When we remember our favorite stories, we often think first of the climactic battles, traumatic events in the backstory, and world-rocking inciting incidents. But often,… Read More »The Power of Small Moments: The Little Things that Make a Life
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a story of discovery because it is a story of desire. Longing is the wind that fills the… Read More »Longing & Curiosity