More than Writers is the blog of the Association of Christian Writers, with daily posts on any aspect or aspects of writing and faith, in any degree of combination. I have the pleasantly mind stretching task of thinking of something for the tenth of each month, and so far have produced:

• What Are Words Worth?: on the surprising value of liturgy.
• Of Re-reading Books There Is No End: on returning to a previously-read book.
• The Final Front Ear: why I love science fiction.
• A Time for Gathering Words: for those weeks when you feel you’re not accomplishing anything.
• Accents clear and still: phonetic transcription of accents. Don’t.
• My enemy’s enemy – not always my friend: the ethics of ghostwriting, and why Matt Hancock’s choice betrayed them.
• … that you are mindful of him?: on AI and what it might mean for writers.
• Letting language die: how language can change and sometimes a formerly perfectly good should just be allowed to die without fuss.
• There’s no defence against thick readers: parables – always so clear-cut in their meaning …
• Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words?: how to do dialogue.
• When I consider thy heavens …: getting wonder into your world.
• The Cows of Cambridge: the creative application of the unexpected.
• The Ninth Commandment: the truth, and why it matters.
• Pulling A Picard: if you’re going to criticise, get it right.
• Family Matters: where and who are your characters’ families? Who do they love?
• Image Management: how not to over-explain, and trust your readers’ imaginations.
• Other People’s Shoes: putting yourself in them.
• Recording Inspiration: the life-changing advent of voice recognition!
• Innocent As Doves: publishing scams, and how to spot them.
• A Science Fiction Season: no, I haven’t given science fiction up – I’m just, um, not writing any. At the moment.
• The Mysterious Case Of The Missing Baby: unexpected story inspiration. Maybe.
• Communication – Who Needs It?: why manufacture conflict when it can just happen naturally?
• The Structured Acts of Apostles: the three-act structure.
• Lucre, Not Always Filthy: you are worthy of your hire. Yes, you are!
• Chapters Of Life: trust the author to deliver the goods, no matter how harsh the journey.
• How Big Is Your God?: if you’re going to challenge orthodoxy, improve on it.
• Twists In The Tale: spitting on a crucifix: not always bad, apparently.
• To The Letter!: applying a Line of Duty-style interrogation to the sense of your plot.
• Behind the Lines: balancing the elements and keeping them bubbling equally.
• Charles Dickens Never Wrote A Single Novel: laying the groundwork.
• Ready, Aim …: on not getting distracted from your target.
• Live With It: on not getting a TV series.
• One On A Scooter: Christmas songs: the good and the really, really bad.
• Bring Me My Coloured Coat: fiction that reflects reality but still has a resolution.
• Someone Might Steal My Idea!: and why would they want to do that, if you actually think about it?
• A Taste Exact For Faultless Fact: authenticity, and how to fake it.
• When Readers Don’t Get It: rolling with the critical blows.
• Hitting the Wall: suggestions for those days when the words just don’t.
• Digital Daily Bread: the latest is not always the greatest.
• Splinter of Ice: how a writer can – nay, must – be dispassionate.
• What Can Possibly Go Wrong?: expecting the unexpected and making it work.
• Don’t Fear Flaws and Fallibility: your characters need to be imperfect.
• Is It About Space?: what is your story “about”?
• Right Place, Right Time: the vital role of serendipity.
• Not All the Words (Please): less is more.
• Say It Loud, Say It Clear: getting right what many Christian memoirs get wrong.
• Don’t Say What You Mean: say what you mean to say by saying the opposite.
• The Labourer is Worthy of Their Hire: If you think hiring a professional is expensive, try hiring an amateur …
• Would the Opposite be Surprising?: Does your hero have flaws? Are you taking steps to correct them? If so, stop it at once!
• Exegeting Reviews: how not to let them go to your head, or your heart.
• The Album Challenge: strangely, no religious ones.
• Triangulating on Jesus: how to have Jesus in your writing without having Jesus in your writing.
• It’s A Kind of Magic: magic – authorial and stage.
• Kicking Away the Blocks: making sure your writing really stands up.
• I Must Become Less …: on ghostwriting and what the future might hold.
• The Stalingrad Madonna: light and humanity in the most inhuman and darkest of situations.
• Suffering Sorted – Not: on suffering, and why “theodicy” and “idiocy” might look so similar.
• Born Again Again: theological gold in Doctor Who.
• Pondering These Things: letting memory and experience inform your imagination.
• Ecumenical Canned Cheese: memories of the greatest house group ever.
• The Rubber Sheet Theory of Prayer: setting the world straight on how prayer works.
• Ultrasound Church: the church of Acts 2 – exemplary? No, not really.
• Heroic Factasy: when history is better than fiction.
• Unless the Lord Sells the House …: faith, fiction and flat sales.
• Misdirection: when not to be wholly straightforward.
• Slapped Around the Head: … by the Holy Spirit, no less.
• Magi and Mountains: “many paths to the top of the mountain” – so wrong, yet to almost right.
• Cool Yule Compromise: don’t hide your light under a bushel, but maybe turn it down a bit?
• The Baby in the Bark Lodge: the Christmas message for people who have never seen a desert, have no idea what a shepherd or a stable is, have never heard of the Emperor Augustus …
• The Swings and Roundabouts of Grace: God’s grace as shown in Abingdon’s Michaelmas Fair.
• Truth and Beauty: drawing the line between telling a good story and fibbing.
• Scribble, Scribble: testimony upon the second anniversary of going full time.
• Under the Law: why we should make life harder for our characters.
• Silencing the Echo Chamber: on embracing dissenting opinion.
• Senses of Purpose: the places we have in the world.
• Explaining the Hope: on not just taking stuff for granted.
• Answers in Time and Space: how I learnt to respect a Creationist.
• Feet of Clay: the fallibility of our heroes.
• Seeing the Big Picture: on the effect of context.
• The Other side of Advent: layering your stories.
• Coming Second: sidekicks and supporting roles.
• Mary Sue: making your characters fallible.
• Want to See a Trick?: on misdirection.
• Cracking Spines for Cracking Reads: why books never grow old.
• Poetry Emotion: the rhythm of language.
• Location, Location, Location: when the setting becomes a character.
• Fools for Christ? Or Just Idiots?: on not appearing stupid.
• Ghosts in the Machine: on ghost writing.
• How It’s About It: telling old stories in new ways.
• A Review of Reviewing: responding to bad (and good) reviews.
• Chewie, We’re Home: using imagery.
• Prologues, In General: use sparingly, if at all.
• To Boldly Sow: getting the message across without bring preachy.
• Logical, Captain: more on plotting.
• Plotting In A Fallen World: plotting.
• Doris Lessing & Miss Lydgate: avoiding the snare of perfectionism and just finishing the darn thing.
• Sweary Sweary Bleep Bleep: on Language, as my maiden aunt might say if I had one.