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by Eva Marie Everson @EvaMarieEverson Did you know that George MacDonald (1824 � 1902), a man with errant hair, a wild beard, and piercing eyes, mentored Lewis Carroll ( Alice�s Adventures in Wonderland )? That he was a pioneer in the field of �fantasy fiction��that piece of literature set in other worlds? Places where a writer�s imagination runs free and a reader�s is set to flight? Did you know he influenced writers such as Lewis, Tolkien, L�Engle, and (most likely) Twain, who disliked him at first blush. But did you also know  that in addition to being a fantasy writer, MacDonald�whose spiritual life was influenced by the Congregational Church, Calvinism, Catholicism, Presbyterianism, the Free Church, and the Episcopalian Church�was, himself, a controversial preacher? A writer of apologetics? That he penned some of the most lyrical words to God our modern eyes should chance to read? Allow yourself just a few moments to read his poem from  Diary of An Old Soul: All things ar...

by Eva Marie Everson @EvaMarieEverson In his book,  Unless It Moves the Human Heart,  Roger Rosenblatt makes a thought-provoking statement:  Writing is the cure for the disease of living. The book is an exploration into the journey of a class Rosenblatt taught titled �Writing Everything� and these are among the words he spoke to his students. He went on to say, �Doing it may sometimes feel like an escape from the world, but at its best moments it is an act of rescue.� How true �  Just recently, as I spoke with a fellow writer/author-person, we commiserated on how, with the ink dried on our literary contracts, we are often forced to work in spite of wanting to do nothing but crawl into the bed, draw the covers over our heads, and sleep the days away.  �But,� I said, �In a way, when I am writing fiction, I get to live out someone else�s life. Their misery. Their joy. I cannot control the rudder of my own boat at times, but I am always in control of my characters�....

by Eva Marie Everson @EvaMarieEverson In her book,  The Writing Life,  Annie Dillard penned these words: Putting a book together is interesting and exhilarating. It is sufficiently difficult and complex that it engages all your intelligence. It is life at its most free. Your freedom as a writer is not freedom of expression in the sense of wild blurting; you may not let rip. It is life at its most free, if you are fortunate enough to be able to try it � A few days ago I took a few moments to chat with a fellow author. We had no agenda. We were not trying to encourage each other or critique each other or any of the other things that takes place when writers manage to find the time to chat. We were simply talking. In the call, one of us mentioned our current work, specifically talking about that moment when, in the throes of fingers flying across the laptop�s keyboard, we feel that we have suddenly taken flight. That instance when, with all the creative juices swirling in full mo...

by Eva Marie Everson @EvaMarieEverson I recently taught a continuing fiction class at St. David�s Christian Writers Conference, which is held each June at Grove City College, a picturesque institution of higher learning tucked along the eastern border of Grove City, Pennsylvania. Participants�limited to eight�were to bring the first thousand words of their work in progress (WIP) as well as a letter from their protagonist to whomever. The letter should begin, I instructed them, with  Today is my birthday �  Who the character writes the letter to is entirely up to the individual writer, I said.  Allow me to be honest�this was the first time I added this exercise to my continuing class (but it won�t be the last). The results were astonishing. Class participants expressed how much they learned about their characters, simply by writing a letter in the pen and through the mind of their main character.  Know thyself,  the ancient Greek aphorism goes. Sometime later, So...

by Eva Marie Everson @EvaMarieEverson American author and screenplay writer, Ray Bradbury, said, And what, you ask, does writing teach us? First and foremost, it reminds us that we are alive and that it is a gift and a privilege, not a right. Years ago, I attended a mega church located north of Orlando. The number of attendees was such that the church held seven services each and every weekend beginning on Saturday evening at 5:00.   My habit was to arrive at 4:30, sneak in the side door, and then sit in the semi-darkness of the auditorium while the praise and worship team warmed up for the night�s service.  I have been jealous of those with a talent for song my whole life. I used to make deals with God: make me a singer and I�ll never ask you for anything else. Or: make me a singer and I�ll only sing for you. Either God knew I might possibly be lying or He just isn�t in the deal-making business.  My belief was that when a person had a talent for singing (or drawing or an...