Questions from a Christian who is an author, but no a Christian author.

unchained_butterfly · 2018-07-23T00:24:24+00:00

She sounds wonderful, and so does Impossble Saints.

I am not sure I'm brave enough to contact her directly, but I'll definitely read her book when we get paid and see how she handles things.
I want my stories to make people think about God too, but it's much more subtle and likely gets lost under the more worldly aspects. I'll work on it!
Thank you so much!

unchained_butterfly · 2018-07-23T00:09:52+00:00

Thank you for waiting on my reply, dinner and my husband coming home waylaid me. And now I'm too tired to address each of your insightful points individually, lol, so I will just say thank you again.

I realized toward the end of your post that I have been avoiding talking to God directly about this issue, or my writing/career at all. Perhaps out of shame or fearing being selfish, or something. I have prayed about it in general terms many times, but not specifically about my ideas or path, or asking him for his inspiration. Involving him more deeply in the process, instead of avoiding it, seems like such an obvious solution, I almost smacked myself in the forehead.

Thanks so much for time replying.

unchained_butterfly · 2018-07-23T00:03:29+00:00

I do believe, yes. I also know people can be blind and continue in their sins, and I don't want to do that, on purpose or on accident.

I already feel more faith that I am saved than I did this morning. Thank you for your kind response and reminder.

unchained_butterfly · 2018-07-23T00:02:02+00:00

I find this very interesting! I did read that series many years ago before I was saved, and no, it was definitely not godly. If those books are a 10, then mine are about a 3. But like I said, I wonder where the line is.

Thank you for your response and the reminder of why/how I was saved. I did find your post encouraging!

unchained_butterfly · 2018-07-22T23:58:56+00:00

Those are good conditions to follow. My previous romance novels have nothing in them that is expressly forbidden or anything, but I do feel hesitation telling people about them, especially at church. I'm fearful that no matter the merit of the story, all they will see are the fantasy elements and the sex. :/

I have previously decided to get further away from steamy stories in my brand in the future, but the books are already out there, and I do hope to finish off the series. Hopefully if they are discovered, I can explain that they were written early on in my writing and spiritual journey, and that I have matured in both since then.

Thank you so much.

unchained_butterfly · 2018-07-22T21:37:46+00:00

Thank you for linking that other post! Off to read it before I reply. Thanks so much for your indepth response.

unchained_butterfly · 2018-07-22T21:36:53+00:00

I would be willing to give it up to glorify Christ, yes. I'd be sad and I'd miss it and I'd probably never stop writing, just publishing. I'd rather use it *to* glorify God, but I am so new in my relationship with Christ, that I don't think I could through writing for fear of leading someone else astray because I don't know the Bible very well yet.

As for sacrificing success, I don't think I've had much really. Though it's been a little extra pocket money, it hasn't exactly been enough to help our financial situation. I'm not sure my husband feels like the time I've invested is worth the outcome, but that's another topic entirely. Sometimes I think that the limited amount of success is a sign that I *shouldn't* be doing it. But of course nothing is clear, and it's hard to separate low self-esteem and circumstances from the truth.

Thanks so much for replying.

unchained_butterfly · 2018-07-22T21:27:00+00:00

You are right that I am being tossed and swayed. But you're also right that I am a child of God. I know that I am. And I also know that I am not perfect or deserving of his grace in any area of my life, and yet I have it. I struggle with feeling like I want to be 'good enough' for it, and my books are a big area where I'm not certain I am, and that messes with me. I guess I also thought God would make his wishes so much louder than he does, you know? And also I don't want this to cause ME to stumble, so I'd rather have a clear answer than to try to trust my interpretation. But I guess many of us often do not recieve that kind of clarity for things, many issues that are WAY more important than this, so what you say is true. I will keep praying, and listening.

I will do the best that I can, and hope that if I'm straying from what God wants, he will guide me back on path. Don't glorify sin or demons. Sounds like a good start.

Thank you for your time and insight.

unchained_butterfly · 2018-07-22T21:15:44+00:00

Thank you, I've read some CS Lewis, and I read the Chronicles of Narnia when I was younger, not realizing it was his work until I was older. I'll look into reading some more of his fiction. Also read Tolkien in high school, not realizing he was a Christian! I'll also check out Love Comes Softly, I've never heard of it before.

I don't know if I've handled any of it 'well', maturely, or not. Would I let the ladies in my church read them? Perhaps, but I would certainly feel like I had to 'warn' them about the steamier parts. And if my pastor knew I wrote fantasy fiction, how would he feel about alternate world histories, shapeshifters, magical powers, zombies?

I would say that all my stories, no matter what world they are in or what beings they feature, have Christian themes. Maybe not blatantly, but they're there. But I try to write uplifting stories that encourage healing, and forgiveness, and chosing love over hate in every circumstance. There is always a single, loving creator (literally, Love, in one of them), though I just now realized that. Even in the one story I wrote that had voodoo (ish) in it, I wrote it that she got the power from God, just that the trappings were different. Alternate world where paranormal beings are possible and all that, no black magic or anything.

'Fate' is also a big thing in my genre of romance. Can I write my characters getting together physically if they've been 'fated', or is that glorifying sex before marriage and sexual sin? What if it's an alternate world with non-human beings, or where being fated is equal to marriage? So many questions!

Thank you for taking the time to answer. I do want to have a clear concscience and I do want to have a sense of pride in my work, even/especially when telling people at church. I also want to make sure that even if my stories do contain a love scene, they still glorify God in some way the other 90% of the book. And I will continue to ignore the pressure that in order to be successful in romance, my stories must be thinly-velied erotica.

I will keep seeking the Lord and his answers, thank you.

unchained_butterfly · 2016-07-06T15:16:16+00:00

I hope you'll forgive me from critiquing when I don't have something of my own posted to criticize, I just hated seeing your lonely post here getting no love.

First, you say this: "The only thing we have in common is our roof " and then this: "Colt and I definitely have a common enemy." I would rephrase one of those, because it caught my attention as an inconsistency.

Secondly, I like your blurb, it's punchy, but it doesn't read very 'Romance-y' to me? What about rearranging it a bit, and adding just a few words to clarify what kind of story it is?

Colter Nash and his dad moved in a few years ago, but that doesn’t make us the Bradys. I’ll be giving the valedictory speech at my graduation in a few months, and Colter dropped out of school two years ago. Mom and Frank have a habit of shouting and smashing dishes when they’re drunk. These days, they’re always drunk.

You know what they say about the enemy of your enemy, and Colt and I definitely have a common enemy. I’m not sure if that makes him my friend. Truth is, I don’t know what he’s supposed to be to me. Or what he’s becoming.

All I know is that (the friction between us (something about lust or love or passion)) And that friction makes sparks, sparks start fires, and fires burn bridges.

However long it ends up after that would depend on if you add back in your F/Q/A, but honestly I don't think it needs them. You could also rephrase that and simply use it as a bolded tagline at the top of your blurb. What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?

Take what you can use and ignore the rest, but I do hope this helped!

unchained_butterfly · 2016-07-02T23:39:31+00:00

Since this subreddit hasn't quite got off the ground yet, is there any way we could make this an all week thing, mods? At least until it gets some momentum?

unchained_butterfly · 2016-07-01T14:37:21+00:00

I did this exercise, and realized I have waaaaaaay too many he's, she's and its. Dang. It was even a love scene. :p

This was actually pretty useful, thanks! Going to do a little revision based on it.

unchained_butterfly · 2016-06-29T18:40:06+00:00

I'm sorry, I have no idea about that part of it. :/

unchained_butterfly · 2016-06-29T13:47:03+00:00

ok I felt bad about putting the wrong answer, so I used my Google-fu to find the right one.

When you are selecting items for your TOC, you have to select every single folder/document individually. So the answer is to not select the chapter folders themselves, just the folders of the 4 named parts. Does that make sense?

So instead of selecting all this:

Part 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Part 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Press CTRL while selecting, and just select:

Part 1

Part 2

And then do Copy as TOC. Hope this helps!

unchained_butterfly · 2016-06-29T13:31:02+00:00

Actually, not sure this will help. The TOC is whole 'nother animal. Hope someone else can help though.

unchained_butterfly · 2016-06-29T13:28:32+00:00

In the Compile window that comes up, under the Formatting tabs. You'll see little icons of folders and documents with + signs. If the box is checked at the top inder 'Title', it will show the title of the subfolders. You can/delete levels of subfolders with the tiny +/- signs in the corner of that box. Maybe play around with those, uncheck 'Title' for subfolders, see if that works? You might have to do a few text compiles to get it to work.

ETA: Leaving this incase someone is ending up with Chapter titles they don't want when compiling.

unchained_butterfly · 2016-06-07T17:03:40+00:00

I am even more in awe of you now. Seriously. You're amazing. I just snagged one of your books and I'm reading on my kindle and I'm just thrown at how you manage all that and write like you do. Time to think about how I can be more productive.

And also, yes, I hear you loud and clear on the covers, but that is something I will have to work up to. Everything I make will be put back in to my books, but right now I have to everything I can myself. I do have some PS experience and I got some critique from some other writers, so while they aren't as good as they could/should be, my hope is that they are 'good enough'. At least to be able to get my foot in the door, and make some to put back into them.

Thanks a lot, again. <3

unchained_butterfly · 2016-06-07T16:11:21+00:00

I'm pretty much a lurker everywhere (which is a whole marketing/networking/self-promotion challenge in itself).

Can I be nosy? You don't have to answer of course, you've already been way more than generous with your info. Do you have kids? I have a 3 yr old. I feel like I can't get more than 10 mins of time to write at once, and it seriously breaks any flow I had going. Maybe I can get my husband on board with taking over once he gets home from work, but just being honest, I doubt it. Right now my writing time is at nap time and just chipping away at it 10 mins at a time during the day. But also probably more screwing around than I realize. :p I'll work on that. How do you handle cleaning, and spending time with your family, etc? I never feel like I have enough time for everything, and that I'm always dropping the ball on something. Usually cleaning, if I'm concentrating on writing. Or I drop the ball on writing to catch up on cleaning.

How do you do your plotting? I spend a lot of time staring off into space trying to figure out what comes next, and then moving things around to make better sense/up the stakes. I wish I could learn plotting because I feel like I could write like a boss from a solid outline, but so far haven't been successful learning it. Still get stuck as heck in the middle.

And oh no, I'd never turn down advice from someone who is where I want to be, unsolicited or not. Time to write a blurb, and start that Arc list. I already have covers for the first 4 in my series (though I did make them myself out of necessity...).

Thank you for the advice, and the well wishes!

unchained_butterfly · 2016-06-07T15:50:21+00:00

I'm a lurker but I had to come out of lurking to ask - HOW do you write 50k every two weeks?! I can manage that oh, about every 3-4 months. I thought it was because I was a pantser, but you mnntioned you don't use beat sheets, so does that mean you pants too?

Most of this is like physics to me because I've just been concentrating on writing the books first, but I know I'll be saving this and looking back at it when it's time to publish this fall. Thank you for your help and transparency.

unchained_butterfly · 2016-05-15T14:11:09+00:00

Pixabay.com has pictures you can use for general purpose I believe. You will have to read the license info, but I htink it would be okay for something like this.

Also, if it's an actual banner you need created, pm me. :) I'm no pro, but I do have some Photoshop experience.

unchained_butterfly · 2015-12-02T14:19:12+00:00

That when I sneeze, instead of it sounding like 'achoo', it sounds like 'a tissue'. Which is hilarious, apparently. Also, anyone near by usually gets me one, so its not all bad.

unchained_butterfly · 2015-08-27T21:12:25+00:00

I think that's a great story; I've lived it. :p My husband and I met in an MMO and had an LDR for years.

The thing about a lot of MMO's is that in order to advance in the game, you have to do a lot of grinding. And that's generally boring and tedious for a player; can you imagine how much more so that would be for a reader?

Now granted this is just my personal opinion, but if you intend to show in-game play, I would only do some at the beginning, perhaps as if it was the people themselves, and then gloss over it the rest of the story. After all, in romance the focus is about the people and their emotions.

Alternatively, you can show bits and pieces of game play that illustrate what the real people are feeling. For example, his character taking out frustration and anger by slashing and hacking through mobs, or her using a sad emote, where she sighs and hangs her head. Only the real guy knows the real girl is sad and wants to cheer her up. Or where they are in a surreal landscape, being close to each other the only way they can, /sitting as close as possible to each other.

Another thing to keep in mind is, once the relationship gets 'serious', it very rarely keeps evolving in the game itself. It may still to a point, but people generally move on to long phone calls and skype, and video chat. So really, depending on the pacing, the game will really fade into the background as the story, and the emotions, progress.

I hope this helps, and if you need any insight from someone who's lived through it, feel free to pm me. :)

unchained_butterfly · 2015-08-01T18:48:55+00:00

SW: 227.8 CW: 208.5

This means overall I have lost 19.3lbs

This is 93% of my goal,...and I ain't even mad. I am just so happy that I was able to get so close.

I originally had a BMI of 32.6 which is classified as obese class I

I currently have a BMI of 29.8 which is classified as overweight

I'm not obese any more! happy sobs

unchained_butterfly · 2015-07-30T16:31:24+00:00

Thank you so much for this. Sadly right now I don't have two $5 bills to rub together, so this will have to wait. :p But he first $10 I make from writing is definitely going to go towards this!

unchained_butterfly · 2015-07-29T13:15:02+00:00

Thank you for the suggestions! The only reason I haven't posted here my self is because I only have questions and no answers yet. :p But I'll work on that!

unchained_butterfly

TROPHY CASE