Amazon.com interview with Randy Alcorn about his writing

A publisher asked me last week what my distinctive mission as a writer is. I think it's to probe beneath the surface into the deep longings of people, then to open a door into the invisible spiritual realm so people can see ultimate realities (including God, angels, demons, heaven and hell) with the eyes of faith and imagination.

Publishing Advice and Randy’s Recommended Books on Writing

Books about writing fiction:

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein  

Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne & King  

Scene & Structure (How to Construct Fiction with Scene by Scene Flow, Logic and Readability) by Bickman  

The Complete Guide to Writing and Selling the Christian Novel by Penelope Stokes  

How to Grow a Novel by Sol Stein  

Show, Don’t Tell by William Noble 

Books about writing:

Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace by Joseph Williams and Gregory Colomb

Make Your Own Words Work by Gary Provost  

The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes by Jack M. Bickham  

On Writing Well by ...

The Grace and Truth Paradox: Responding with Christlike Balance (Christian Book Summaries)

THE BOOK’S PURPOSE

• Establish grace and truth as the essential building blocks of Christian spirituality
• Point out the difficulties of manifesting both qualities simultaneously
• Deepen our understanding of the relationship between these two virtues
• Demonstrate the power of grace and truth working in tandem

THE BOOK’S MESSAGE

Grace and truth found their perfect union in Christ, but the rest of us tend to gravitate toward one or the other. Truth without grace breeds self-righteousness and legalism. Grace without truth breeds deception and moral compromise. The key to true Christian spirituality is to integrate these two qualities into life ...

I’m not a published author but feel God has gifted me to write full time. Do you think it is a realistic goal to expect my writing to provide my yearly income?

It takes about 1.5 to 2 years to write a book. Assuming you have a publisher interested in your book, the book would need to sell between 10-12,000 copies in order for the publisher to break even. 20,000 copies is considered a good seller. An established author would need to sell 50,000-250,000 in order to break even depending on the advance, printing, marketing budget, etc.

The amount of money brought in does not usually justify the amount of time spent on writing the book. There are very few full-time Christian writers. It's very rare ...

What is your opinion on pen names?

I think we’re on the same page with pen names. My concern would be in two areas: intent and effect.

Do you use an outline when you write, or do you work with just a general idea of where the story is going, and the characters just tend to take over on the details?

I’ve tried outlining, and it works better with nonfiction for me, since fiction is so organic. While fiction has structure, it’s not as easy to control as nonfiction, because it has a life of its own. Your characters do tend to surprise you, and sometimes attempt insurrections. Of course you are still in charge and occasionally you must remind your characters of this. After all, they owe you their very names, which you are free to change at any time. Sometimes you must even threaten them with extinction.

Do you view your writing as a ministry? Why or why not?

My writing is a ministry, because ministry is service, and every aspect of our lives is to be a service that glorifies our Lord.

Every time I see a story I wrote printed without my permission, I feel cheated. How do I handle this injustice?

Question from a reader:

I wrote a story several years ago and had passed it around to family and friends. As time has gone by I’ve now seen it in print and credited to another person. Every time I see this story, I feel cheated. How do I handle this injustice?

Answer from Randy Alcorn:

What strikes me is how counter-culture and counter-instinct the gospel really is. Paul says to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 6, to persuade them not to sue a brother or sister, “why not rather be wronged?” We tend to think there’s nothing worse ...

When you write, do you try to work each day until you’re “done,” or do you have certain hours or a daily word count goal?

I have no certain hours or word count as a goal. Once I get going on the writing, which is always a monumental struggle because of all the other things vying for my attention, I work until my brain shuts down, or my fingers stop moving on the keyboard. This is the sign that I’m done. Often I work very late, into the wee hours of the morning.

When you write, what sort of theological “puzzles” have you had to sort through to your own satisfaction before you could continue with the story?

One example would be the problem of evil and suffering that plagues Ollie in my novel Deception. Of course, I didn’t resolve that problem, and none of us will, but I had to really ponder it, and think of it in terms of the confusion and anger it might instill in someone like Ollie. Why did his wife die? Why did someone else close to him die? (Not saying who to avoid spoiling the story.) Why do the bad guys sometimes get away with it, and why do the good guys sometimes suffer and die?  Ollie’s road to ...