Creating a Page-Turner, Part Two
Characters

You must create likable characters, or at least someone the reader can tell why they're like they are if you're to write an interesting novel. It's better if they're realistic and have depth and complexities. But it's also important to be consistent. If they change their habits, appearance, or reactions, the reader needs to understand why. It's not enough to tell yourself people in real life behave erratically, because fiction has to also be believable. 

Your main characters need to have clear goals. Ask yourself what drives them, what do they really want, and build your story from that. It's also good to have at least one secondary character that's memorable. For me, it's often the character that quips one-liners or the main character's confidant or adviser.

In addition, consider the number of characters you're going to introduce. You don't want the reader needing to stop to figure out who someone is as I did in a recent book. Even if the book is part of a series, you'll want to give a sentence to remind the reader who the character is when the person walks into the first scene. However, give the background information and histories woven into the story and not as standalone narratives.

And finally, it's good to have the main character(s) change by the end of the story. They need to have learned some important lessons and changed for the better. That's always more satisfying to the reader. Give them a reason to pick up your next book, and the best reason is they couldn't put this one down.

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Uncle Sam

1897 cartoon

The first record that can be found of the cartoon figure of Uncle Sam appearing in print came on March 13, 1852, in the New York Lantern Weekly. However, legend says it came about much earlier during the War of 1812. Of course, Uncle Sam's initials are U.S., and he's used to represent the United States.

The term "Uncle Sam" actually appears in a 1816 book written by Frederick Augustus Fidfaddy. The Adventures of Uncle Sam, in Search of His Lost Honor is written as an allegory. However, this 162-page book didn't include the caricature of newspaper fame that we associate with Uncle Sam today.

Even earlier than this, the name was used in oral history. In 1813, Samuel Wilson, a meat packer in New York whose company supplied barrels of beef to United States soldiers during the War of 1812, stamped the barrels with "U.S." However, the soldiers began saying the food came from Uncle Sam, and this was reported in the local newspaper.

Later on, cartoonist, Thomas Nash (1840-1902) popularized the image of Uncle Sam by creating the figure with a white beard and stars-and-stripes suit that we know today. He is also credited with drawing the modern image of Santa Claus and the elephant and donkey to represent Republicans and Democrats.

Although Uncle Sam's history is riddled with legends and uncertainty as well as facts, he is likely older than most people realize. He's also lasted a long time in political cartoons and is likely to last much longer.

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You Can Be Holy

Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy (1 Peter 1:16).

We can be holy. The Bible says so. This not a source of pride, because it doesn't come from us at all but from Christ working in us and through us. First, we must be washed clean by accepting Christ as our Savior and by His blood which He shed for us on the cross, washing away all our sins. That's all our sins - past, present, and future.

Then, we must surrender to the workings of the Holy Spirit within us, allowing Him to make us more like Jesus. We can't just give lip service to following Christ. We must give him our hearts and let Him change us into new people. We may still make mistakes occasionally, but we desire to be perfect and strive to please God above all else.

The devil loves for us to use our humanness as an excuse. It gives him a crack in our armor to work on and enlarge, and it keeps us from trying to be the best we can be. Thinking you have to sin is a lie. It's only true if you rely on your own power and not God's - if you remain self-centered. When you aren't committed to living a holy life, it will be difficult for you to live a Christian life at all. Don't sell yourself short (you are a child of the King), and more importantly, don't belittle God. He's led many a person into a holy life. All we have to do is surrender, trust, and obey.

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in the heavens is perfect (Matthew 5:48).

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Creating a Page-Turner, Part One
Point of View

How do authors create that novel you just can't put down? Of course, there has to be action and interesting situations. However, an engaging novel can't be based on just action. It has to pull the reader in and make them care about the hero and heroine. How is this done? Making realistic but likable characters is a start.


But involving the reader emotionally also demands more. First of all, be careful to show whose point of view you're in, and if you switch points of view, have some way to signal that to the reader. I use the method I like as a reader. I use a line or symbols to show the break. This is different than the extra spacing I use to denote a passage in time. In my traditionally published Appalachian Roots series, the editor maintained the dark line I originally had in the manuscripts. In When Winter Is Past set in colonial Pennsylvania, we used stalks of wheat. In With Summer's Songs, I chose a line of musical notes; and in the new release, Promise, we used a cow and fence to go with the rural setting.

Like me, most of you have probably read books with head-hopping, or changing points of view at random. It's irritating and slows the reader at best, and it can be downright confusing. It also signals to me that this is a novice writer, regardless of how long they've been at the craft. I believe readers deserve the best for their time they spend in reading our books and the money they invest in buying them. We should constantly be working to hone our skills and grow as an author. Then, we will deserve the fan base and following we want.

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Remembering the Alamo

After a thirteen-day siege, the Alamo fell captive to Mexican troops on March 6, 1836, during the Texas Revolution. Somewhere around 200 Texas volunteers had held off an army of 3,000 Mexican troops led by Santa Anna until then. Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie were among those killed during the battle. The Mexicans quickly executed the handful of men that surrendered at the end.

The cruelty of the Mexican troops during and after the battle motivated other Americans to volunteer to fight with the Texans and helped lead to the Mexican defeat on April 21, 1836, at the Battle of San Jacinto. Remembering the Battle of the Alamo may have also helped spur the American victory in the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. 

Many movies and television programs have been based on the events at the Alamo. The Texas government purchased the former mission and land surrounding the battle site, designating the chapel as an official Texas State Shrine. Today, the Alamo, located in San Antonio, is the most popular tourist site in Texas.

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Open the Door to Your Heart 

Behold, I stand at the door and knock: If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come to him, and will sup with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:20).

I wonder how many people ask Christ to come into their lives and save them without opening up their hearts for Him to do so. They want salvation and want to go to heaven when they die, but they don't want to make too many changes, and they certainly don't want to give up control over their lives. If you don't open the door to your heart, where do you think He will come in to? As a church marquee said, "If you want to get into heaven you must let Christ come into you."

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10).

When we ask Christ into our lives, all our sins are washed away, and we become clean, new. However, keeping us clean is an on-going process, because, in our humanness, we have a sinful nature. To become the person we were created to be, we need to surrender completely and allow the Lord to work in our lives. If Christ doesn't own our hearts, then the enemy does.

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of you flesh.... (Ezekiel 36:26).

God wants tenderhearted people, and Christ will soften our hearts and fill them with love if we let Him. If we want to be new people in Christ, we need to let the Holy Spirit do His work in us. Have you allowed Christ to perform heart surgery on you, or do you still retain you hard heart of stone? You'll never be pleasing to God until you do have that heart transplant.

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see You
I want to see You
("Open the Eyes of My Heart" by Michael W. Smith)

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Finishing

This week, I read a post from another author which said that a large percentage of writers start a manuscript and never get beyond halfway finished before they stop. Usually, they never pick it up again. She went on to give tips about how to avoid this. I was taken aback at first, but on reflection, I've also seen some of this. I wonder if these writers aren't writing for the wrong reasons.  

Since I began serious writing, I have never failed to finish a manuscript, because there's a burning desire in me to do so. I have such a passion for what I'm working on at the time that there's much more danger I will put in fourteen or more hours of writing a day to the neglect of other things I need to be doing. So far, I've completed twenty-one manuscripts and published seven. I write them faster than they can get published.

In many ways, I've been in training to be a writer my whole life, and I love it. I never run out of story ideas, because I have four to six playing through my mind at any one time. My problem is finding the time to write them all. When I get a new one written, others have taken its place. But what a blessing, what a joy!

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