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Write for a Reason

Janet

For Christians new to writing novels for kids and teens. Creative writing tips, encouragement and inspiration from Janet Wilson, writer, speaker, and publisher of Christian fiction for young people. Get ready to take your writing to the next level! You can do it - all you need is a bit of help. Don't miss out!

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September 17 · 8 min
25 Quick Writing Tips for Christians Writing Stories for Kids and Teens
Send us Fan Mail Over the summer I sent out 5 quick writing tips every Monday to my email list. Nothing detailed – a bit like proverbs, perhaps! I have put all 25 into a neat list for you and turned them into this podcast. I hope you will find them useful! If you do, make sure you subscribe to the podcast, and if you'd be kind enough to leave a review, that would be wonderful. Thank you! Every blessing, Janet Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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June 2 · 5 min
5 Basic Essentials for Writing Stories for Kids and Teens
Send us Fan Mail There are many elements we need to get right with our stories, but there are some basic essentials that will make or break our novels. I hope this podcast will help you make sure you have at least these 5 elements just right for your readers! Don't forget to subscribe... and I'll see you next time. Oh, and at the end of this episode I have a very special offer for you, so make sure you don't miss out! Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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May 15 · 9 min
Ten Top Tips for Writing Tight Sentences
Send us Fan Mail Tight Sentences As in every area of art, writing tight sentences is not an exact science, but I hope some pointers in the right direction might help you with your work in progress. The aim of writing tight sentences is to help with clarity and pace, and increase reader enjoyment of your novel. Authors who write tight sentences show their readers exactly what's happening without wandering around. Readers won't be bored or puzzled. They won't have to go back to check who did what, where and when. They will know exactly how the characters feel and the reasons for their actions. Clarity is the key. I trust this will help you with your work in progress! Janet Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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May 1 · 6 min
Surprises in Your Story
Send us Fan Mail Some surprises in stories can be good - some can be bad. Listen in and get some tips for your own novel, to make sure you are thrilling your readers with some great surprises! Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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April 29 · 5 min
A Few Thoughts on Characters
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Write for a Reason podcast. My name is Janet Wilson; I'm a publisher of Christian fiction for young people with Dernier Publishing. If you are a Christian, and new to writing stories for kids and teens, stay tuned for encouragement, creative writing tips and actionable strategies you can implement immediately to become a better writer, and get your books out into the world. Characters are a very important part of your novel - if you don't get these right, you could lose your readers. But how many characters do you need? How many is too many? How old should they be? What is a 'guide' - and should you include one? Listen to this podcast and be inspired! Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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February 25 · 6 min
Tips on Writing Great Dialogue
Send us Fan Mail Some writers are great at dialogue - others find it more challenging. Here are some tips to help you write dialogue that will move your story forward, help your readers to get to know your characters better, and bring in lots of emotion. Enjoy! Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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January 6 · 8 min
Compelling Settings
Send us Fan Mail The setting of our story is important! Janet Wilson of Dernier Publishing (Christian fiction for kids and teens) discusses the importance of choosing a compelling setting to enhance your story, and how it can increase reader engagement. Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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Dec 1, 2025 · 7 min
Descriptions - 7 Quick Tips
Send us Fan Mail Getting descriptions right can be tricky. Janet Wilson of Dernier Publishing gives 7 tips to help you write great descriptions for your stories. Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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Jul 24, 2025 · 5 min
Do You Need an Antagonist?
Send us Fan Mail Do you need an antagonist in your story? Not necessarily! Listen to this podcast episode to find some other ways of introducing conflict into your stories. Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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Mar 18, 2025 · 3 min
Weaving a Message into Your Story
Send us Fan Mail In one of our recent Writers for a Reason Unite groups, one of the things we talked about was weaving a message into our stories. How do we do this gently, with respect? After all, we are not here to persuade, as much as allow readers to think through issues of faith, and make up their own minds. Of course, as Christians, we would love everyone to share our faith! But not everyone will choose to do so, and that’s between them and God – our job is to simply to share our story. This episode will help you think about how you can weave a brilliant message into a story your readers will love. Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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Mar 12, 2025 · 4 min
Divide Your Character into Four
Send us Fan Mail We usually start of with a good idea of what our characters look like. But what about other parts of their personality? Here's a writing exercise for you to do, that will help you get to know your characters better. Try this in your writers' groups as well as on your own! Hear you again soon, Janet Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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Feb 26, 2025 · 3 min
The Changed Character
Send us Fan Mail With your theme and message in mind, how will your protagonist, and any other characters, change during the course of your story? How will they be different at the end, than they were at the beginning? How will you show the difference? Listen to the podcast and get some tips! Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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Feb 5, 2025 · 6 min
Improving the Pace of Your Story
Send us Fan Mail Keeping up the pace in our stories is essential, if we want to hold our readers' attention. This is even more true today than it was a few years ago! So how can we do this? Here are some fun creative writing tips, to help your story zip along at a great pace! Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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Jan 15, 2025 · 5 min
Your Writing Mission Statement
Send us Fan Mail This may sound like a daft question, but knowing who you want to write for, and why, is an important foundation for our writing. We can have what we think is a brilliant idea for a story, but will it resonate with our target audience? This episode will help you narrow down your target audience and get your mission statement sorted... resulting in clarity - and that's a wonderful thing! Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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Dec 18, 2024 · 7 min
Different Voices for Different Characters
Send us Fan Mail Today I have a little tip for you, on writing dialogue. Someone was asking me recently about what mistakes I see most often in dialogue, and one of them is that their characters all sound too similar. The way people speak will denote their character. A bold person, for example, will speak boldly. A timid person will use completely different words, and express them in a different way. The bold person will be direct. The timid person may beat about the bush, go red, fumble and look at the ground. The bold person might fold their arms, stand their ground, and look you in the eye. So show how your characters are feeling, and their personality, in your dialogue, by their actions as well as their words. Listen to the episode and you might glean a few tips for your own characters, and their dialogue. Until next time, be blessed! Janet Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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Oct 8, 2024 · 7 min
Leaving a Legacy with Your Writing
Send us Fan Mail We are leaving a legacy with our writing, whether we are thinking about it or not. So why not be intentional? Listen to this episode and be inspired to change lives with your stories. Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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Aug 8, 2024 · 15 min
Conflicts in Stories
Send us Fan Mail We may avoid conflicts in real life, but in our stories we should embrace them as our best friends, because without conflicts we do not have a story! In this pocast episode we get deeper into conflicts, so grab your writing journal and get ready to take your story to the next level. Oh, and there are a couple of exercised for you to do! Enjoy! Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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Jul 24, 2024 · 6 min
Some Guidelines for Writing Christian Fantasy for Kids
Send us Fan Mail Hi, Janet Wilson here. The issue with writing fantasy, and how we deal with it as Christians, came up in one of our Writers for a Reason Unite meetings recently. One of our members had been reading a children’s book, where witchcraft, magic and spells were included in the story. As Christian writers, we’re not going to be including any of these things, of course… but what about fantasy? What about where a character is taken ‘as if by magic’ to another time and place, for example? Where do we draw the line? Here are some guidelines – feel free to disagree! But let's at least think about these things. Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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Jun 20, 2024 · 26 min
Where Do You Find Inspiration?
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Janet looks at the whole subject of inspiration. Sometimes we have to go out looking for inspiration... it doesn't always come when we want it... here's how, and why. Enjoy! Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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Apr 17, 2024 · 7 min
How Often Should You Write?
Send us Fan Mail What writing times work best for you? How often should you write? The advice write every day is excellent advice! But not for everyone can stick to that, and it can be counter-productive to attempt something that doesn’t work with your current lifestyle. It’s depressing to feel you have failed, and totally unnecessary! Listen to the episode for practical advice for fitting in your writing time with your own personal circumstances... and still get your story done. :-) Support the show Like to do my free writing course, Gripping Beginnings? Or perhaps you would like to join our membership group, for support while you write your novel? Click on this link to find out more. Oh, and do leave a review on your podcast app - it really does help a lot. Thank you! :-)
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