Brilliant

For Writers

Chocolate-Covered Lies

My favorite fiction tool and my favorite desserts share a common theme: they’re chocolate covered. Chocolate-covered strawberries. Chocolate-covered éclairs. Chocolate-covered Death by Chocolate cake. Craving some chocolate goodness yet? In fiction, my favorite chocolate-covered writing tool is the lie. It’s more bittersweet than a decadent dessert, but understanding chocolate-covered lies...

Genre Happenings

The English Victorian Era

To many people, the Victorian era, the period during Queen Victoria’s reign (1837–1901), was a time of stiff manners and unbending rules, tea parties and rose gardens, steam engines and dirty streets, bustles and stiff collars. Those are true, if limited, characterizations of the era. At its most basic, the Victorian era was a time of great change. And though The Irish Healer predates the Victorian period by a...

DiAnn Direct

Symbolism in Writing: Part II

Last month we began a discussion about symbolism and how a writer can incorporate meaning into her storyline. A symbol is a physical item than takes on a psychological meaning. One way symbolism is used to deepen the meaning of fiction is through animals and nature. David Colbert writes: “Early Christianity reveals a Celtic pagan belief that a ‘stag lost and regrew its horns, which was a...

The Well Writer

The Resilient Writer

I’m a full-time counselor for nursing students. I’ve been a practicing social worker for thirty-two years, and I’ve seen many people who struggle with the difficulties and unfairness of life. I bet most of you reading this article have endured and overcome trials in your lifetime. Some of you have a higher level of resiliency than others. One way to judge your resilience is to explore a situation after you’ve come through it.

Author By Night

Suit Yourself

That I have made a living in the publishing industry for some thirty-odd years is proof that I have acquired, written, edited, published, and sold what others wanted and asked for. I have helped publish a number of very successful books and series that were not necessarily what I might be looking for as a reader myself—a devotional for mothers, for example—but I knew that the material would meet a strong...