Brilliant

Box Office

Facing the Giants

Facing the Giants was never on the top of my “To Be Watched” list. I had heard almost nothing about the movie until my friend Kelly invited a group of people to watch it together. The DVD player in the living room broke, so we moved to the bedroom—eleven of us—and piled on the bed, the chairs, the floor, and even the...

Author By Night

Author by Night by Dan Walsh

In my case, this column should probably be called “Author by Twilight.” Let me explain.

My first novel, The Unfinished Gift (Revell), has been on the shelves of bookstores and available online for a month. For any author, just getting published is a dream come true. To have your first book picked up by a major publisher, another dream. To have it published as a hardback . . . well, I got three dreams for the price of one.

Write Real

Why Should Christ-Followers Read Fiction?

Two years before I penned my first novel, a Breakpoint transcript dated May 23, 2000, transformed my life. In it, Chuck Colson discussed the power of fiction to change culture. He chronicled the success of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, how a simple story did more to abolish slavery than any didactic treatise.

Making A Scene

A Compelling First Page

The first page of your novel can make the difference between a browser buying your book—or putting it back on the shelf. Most browsers check out the first page before deciding to buy. That gives you about twenty seconds to catch their interest. Would your first page close the sale?

For Writers

On-Time God

Fresh from finishing a correspondence course on novel writing, I headed off to the Write to Publish conference, a proposal for my new novel in hand. My instructor had assured me that my story was...

Short Stories

Years ago an Amish man and his wife spent their days struggling against poverty. They had four children under the age of five. Even with both Dad and Mom doing all...

This was the moment. The apex of our relationship. The point I knew would come, but hoped to avoid. I imagined spreading my arms wide and letting myself fall. After I said the...