About Sharon A Lavy

Christian Fiction Writer, Book Reviewer, Child of God

Traveling Light

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Sharon A Lavy

I used to take a small suitcase full of books when we traveled. If you are a reader like I am, you’ll know that it’s difficult now days because the airlines want to cut down on the amount of luggage they accept on flights. And now husband likes to fly Charley on cross country trips and then I really have to pack light.

Traveling with our small plane “Charley”

So what would you do to pass the time on a long flight?

Husband began to notice people using e-readers. He investigated them and told me to purchase a kindle2 for Mother’s day one year.

Now my Kindle is old, and the on/off button is wobbly. I don’t know how much longer it will last. Should I replace my Kindle with a Kindlefire? Or one of the many other e-readers available?

I downloaded the kindle app on Husband’s iPad2. But honestly? I still preferred the screen of the kindle2. It was easier on my eyes. But I used his iPad2 for other things. And when the new iPad came out, we ordered it. Let me tell you, the new retina display is wonderful. On the kindle app, I was able to choose an ivory screen. Reading on the iPad is wonderful.

In fact I now download non-fiction books to study the craft of writing, marketing, social networking, and many other interests. It was hard for me to actually study on the kindle2 and I rarely use it anymore.

So naturally, when brother-in-love wanted to know what kind of an e-reader to buy his wife to take to Florida, I knew just what to recommend. Husband and I raved about the virtues of the iPad and how we used ours for many things. And, we said, it makes a wonderful e-reader. Problem solved. What’s not to like?

It turns out sister-in-love is not interested in all the bells and whistles. She doesn’t want to learn to use email. She doesn’t want to learn to surf the internet. She never uses the computer at home.

There is no one size fits all solution to any problem. And an iPad makes a pretty expensive e-reader if you know you will never use it for anything else.

Instead of extolling the virtues of the iPad, I should have investigated the actual need. It’s the only way to give truly helpful advice. And we finally recommended the basic kindle.

Brother-in-love took his wife shopping. She could purchase any e-reader she wanted. And guess what she picked out? You got it, the basic kindle.

You can be sure the next time someone asks my advice, I will ask more questions, to help find the best solution for them. Which might not be the best solution for us.

Do you have an e-reader? How did you choose?

Are Reader Questions Helpful?

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Sharon A Lavy

After my first avid reading friend told me she had made a vow not to read fiction until the end of the year and hoped by then her desire to read fiction would be gone for good, my thought was, I would never try to convince my friend she should read fiction if she has a conviction against it. I know my life would be very dull without fiction.

Because I could see a reason to relieve any guilt other Christians might have about reading fiction, I became interested in the discussion questions in the back of some of my Christian friends’ novels. They always seemed to reveal the author’s motives in writing that particular story. The questions bring out the growth in the characters as they lived through the events of the story, and as they became better people.

In asking around about lessons on writing reader questions … what type of questions to ask, I learned some of my author friends are required to write the questions but admit they never read them and don’t know why they are asked to provide them.

I never found those lessons. So, I’m not sure how I did it, but I came up with 9 questions for the back of my book.

Last week a writing friend stopped in. I had one proof copy of my book left. A few years back she was writing fiction and it was awesome. Her words take on a lyrical quality. In fact she wrote the most awesome story I have ever read about the murderer Barabbas who was spared crucifixion at the time our Lord was sacrificed for our sins. So I know at one time she understood the place of Christian fiction in our lives.

She took the book knowing it was fiction, but thinking she could read it—for me. And she did give me some points and suggestions for three different changes, which I appreciated. But she couldn’t get past chapter eight because to her it read like a romance. And she had decided a few years ago that reading romance stories were not good for her mind. In fact she has not read fiction at all for several years. So of course she never made it to the discussion questions. I did not know my friend had quit reading fiction when I asked her to read it. And I did not try to convince her to finish it.

Earlier, my sister read a PDF copy of this story, and her words to me were: “Thank you for letting me read your book. At first I thought, ‘Oh dear, this is a Harlequin Romance’—but as the story progressed I realized it wasn’t. I cried when [unnamed character] died. I was on the edge of my seat while Birdie was running through the tunnel. I could picture it all. You have several subplots that make it interesting, but more important, you have several messages about Christian living.”

I’m still trying to come up with a basic template for discovering how to write the best discussion questions for any given book. Do you have any suggestions?

What’s In A Name?

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Sharon A Lavy

A novel often goes through several working titles

Writing is re-writing, and that includes book titles, the name of a book.

It’s been said that the title is the number one element of a book. If potential readers are grabbed by the title, they turn to the back cover, then open the book and read the first page.

Since ancient times, fathers have been careful about the names they give their children, knowing that it becomes their identity and will affect each child their whole life through.

So also do our titles reflect the perception others will have of our stories. Many books go through several title changes during the creation of the story. My current manuscript certainly did.

Because I thought the book was about false accusation (it is part of the story), and since the character, Danni Wagoner, was victimized, I began with the working title of Danni’s Story.

Danni was deceived by someone she thought was a friend, so the title changed to Deception.

Then a brainstorming session with an editor brought out that all my stories seemed to have a theme running through them of a woman’s dream. Hence the change to Violated Dreams.

Then as the story progressed we had a final title change to Through Fiery Trails, or so I thought.

Yes, I realize a publisher will likely change a title, but I expected this to be my last change while it was a working title.

While the story never changed, my understanding of it did. More brainstorming revealed I was focusing on the wrong character for lead. I must have known this at a deeper level, because my elevator pitch was not about Danni at all, but rather her Old Order German Baptist friend. This character had to choose between following the expectations for women born and raised in this group and the pull of her heart strings, knowing she was in a position to help her friend get to the bottom of . . . who-dun-it.

So that made the story Evalena’s Dilemma, or as we are now calling it, Through The Deep Waters.

I still like the earlier titles (except for the generic ones with the women’s names). But all is not lost, for they can be used on future books.

Q4U: How have you chosen the titles for your book(s)? Are they just an afterthought? Are you emotionally attached to the first one you gave the book, back when you first dreamed of the story?

Christian Fiction ~ Oxymoron?

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Sharon A Lavy

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net/

We were on our way to The Duck Pond restaurant in Warsaw, Indiana. Our husbands visited in the front, and we ladies sat together on the bucket seats of our friend’s new Honda mini-van. And that’s another story. . .

But on this day, my friend turned to me and said, “I promised I wouldn’t read anything that wasn’t true for the rest of the year.”

She shook her head and looked down at the boot on her foot. “And then my ankle gave out.” She grinned then. “I could just see God looking down with a chuckle wondering what I was going to do now. But I’ve used this time to really get into the Word.”

I shared with her how I’d learned to get more out the Scriptures in my own daily devotions. I was sure the things I had learned were nothing new to her. And I was ashamed that I had to be this old before I learned.

“It’s good to take a break from reading other writing,” I said. “But you’ve made a big commitment to go for half a year.” I half-way admired her for it.

“Oh, I hope by the end of the year I can make it permanent. My mother always told me fiction is just a bunch of lies.” My friend looked at me expectantly. We belong to the same denomination and she knew I was a writer. “Reading got me through the hard times when my children were growing up,” she continued. “But I’ve leaned on fiction too much.”

“I know you need to keep your promise, but what about the stories Jesus taught?”

“And you think those weren’t real stories?”

“I know the parables were based on true principles,” I told her. “That’s what novel writers are taught. Any properly written novel will be based on a true principle.”

We changed the subject after that. But I can’t quit thinking about it.

Is Christian fiction an oxymoron?

By definition, Christian fiction is a story that illustrates a Christian world view in its plot, its characters, or both, or which deals with Christian themes in a positive way.

The novels of Francine Rivers have touched hearts and changed lives. Christian fiction is not written to replace the Bible, but to turn hurting, seeking people to the Word, to Jesus, and to God.

The combined efforts of many Christian writers have enriched our world. For some of us, it is our mission field. Our way of blooming where we are planted.

The Apostle Paul used the whole chapter of I Corinthians 14 to show that worship should not just be for my own benefit. That I should desire gifts that benefit the whole church. #1 In ways that they can understand. And #2 in ways that build up the church. Then, the apostle tells us, God will bring the sinners and they will also be convinced.

Sharing the Scriptures

God may use me to touch just one soul. He may use you to touch another. And he is reaching out to my friend in a different manner.

What are your thoughts?

Learning From Attending Writers Conferences

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Sharon A Lavy

The first writers conferences I attended were at locations near SW Ohio. Pleased by the way I was received and welcomed by fellow writers, I learned a lot.

I figured the agents I met at those first conferences would not be interested in my genre but I approached them anyway. When I went into the three-minute speed dating room, the first words I said were, “I have never pitched before, so I am here to practice.”

This never failed to get a positive response. And for a deep introvert like me, that was encouraging.

Now several years later, have I learned everything I need to know? Have I learned enough? Can I forget about going to writers conferences? I don’t know about you, but that would never work for me. The networking alone is invaluable.

I’ve bought into the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, and in this post I want to focus on benefits of the annual trip my friends and I take to the Blue Ridge mountains and the conference held in May.

We spend time with forever friends. (I didn’t get enough pictures this year.)

Fellow writer Hope Daugherty

Ohio friends meet at the banquet.

We re-connect with established writers.

Yvonne Lehman

Eva Marie Everson

And we get acquainted with new ones.

Torry Martin

Some of us meet with our agents.

Diana Flegal

Mary Ellis shared the banquet meal with her editor at Harvest House.

Kim Moore

We rejoice when friends win awards.

Linda Rondeau

We enjoy the beauty of this place.

Steeped in peace and beauty

A rose by any other name would be as sweet.

We are refreshed by the people, the classes, the meals . . .

Banquet table setting

Main course at the banquet

Sweet white coffee.

Q4U: Have you ever attended a writers conference? If so, what is your favorite memory? What was the take home value for you?

If not, I encourage you to find one near you and go for it.

Will Reading Fiction Turn Men Into Sissies?

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Sharon A Lavy

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Upon learning I’m a novelist, many brethren (opposite of sisters) tell me they don’t have time to read, especially fiction. My brother-in-love, bless his heart, wants to write “real books.” My friend Torry Martin, who works for Adventures in Odyssey, doesn’t have time to read fiction.

Hey, my grands listen to Adventures in Odyssey. I’ve listened to the books on tape when traveling with them. Okay, okay, that’s not reading. But, it is fiction. It is story. And, we get totally immersed in them.

So, this brings up a question. Is fiction reading something only for women and children?

Not according to the Art of Manliness.

“Whatever the reason, cognitive studies are beginning to show men might be short-shifting themselves by avoiding the fiction section in the bookstore and library. Today we make the case for why you need to put down those business books every once in a while and pick up a copy of Hemingway.”

Scientists have discovered fiction stimulates and improves the functions that allow us to survive in society. Unfortunately, men received the short end of the stick when it comes to the ability to socialize.

“Most of your success as a man,” says Dr. Keith Oatley, “whether in love or work, depends on your ability to socialize adroitly. We’ve all heard the phrase, ‘Success depends not on what you know, but who you know.’ As much as you’d like to think that’s not true, it is. You can be the most skilled and talented whatever in the world, but you’ll likely labor away in obscurity if you don’t know how to reach out and share those talents with others.”

The brains of boys and girls are the same in the womb, but a male brain changes at birth. (I learned this from Dr. Gary Smalley. Didn’t everyone?) In order to deal properly in our world, and in our respective roles, most male brains are good at dealing with stuff, while female brains are typically better at dealing with people.

While this might explain why women often prefer fiction over non-fiction, men probably have the most to gain from reading fiction.

Instead of seeing fiction as a bunch of made-up, waste-of-time baloney, looking at it as a simulator allows both men and women to exercise and strengthen the ability to socialize. Men, every time you pick up and read a novel, you’re molding yourself into a better, more socially adept man.

Mystery novels particularly exercise the mind. Whenever you read a Dashiell Hammett novel, you’re guessing right along with Sam Spade about what the subtle gestures or the words really mean. Is the suspect or witness just saying something to throw you and Spade off the trail? Reading fiction is wrestling with reading the minds of the characters and taxing and fun at the same time. Literary critic, Lisa Zunshine, says the mental workout you get from reading a detective story does for the brain what lifting weights at the gym will do for your physical body.

When asked if there is a special type of fiction that men should read, Dr. Oatley’s response was to read whatever interests you. The result is the same when reading highbrow Russian novels or lowbrow dime paperbacks.

“Our studies show that the effect fiction has on the mind is independent of literary quality,” says Dr. Oatley.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

He recommends reading a wide variety of fiction, which allows us to get to know more people in more circumstances.

“Read those Louis L’Amour and Michael Crichton novels without any guilt. You’re helping yourself become a charismatic social-dynamo.”

So, men (or women ), what novels have you read lately?

Is Reading Fiction . . . Safe?

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Sharon A Lavy

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Stories have always stimulated our minds. Thousands of years before computers were dreamed of, people told stories and passed them down from generation to generation.

Our earliest record of fiction comes from the morality plays of the eleventh century. Typically, these allegorical dramas followed a story line where the antagonist tempts the protagonist to sin. And, much like our inspirational fiction of today, the protagonist finds peace, salvation, or hope, through the grace of God.

The belief in metamorphose is old. Today’s writers call this the character arc of the protagonist. The writer asks the reader to think and feel. With the suspension of disbelief, our minds reach out. As readers of well-written fiction, we think it could happen. Psychologically, the story becomes part of us. We realize we too can change.

With the origin of fiction, people thought literature could change and improve our actions. Today we turn the assertion into a question. If reading can change us, is reading fiction . . . safe?

As we learned last week, our brain doesn’t make a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life. Just as in dreams and memories, the same neurological regions are stimulated. (Have you ever had a child tell you about something horrible that happened last week and start crying as if it had just happened?)

In his book, Such Stuff as Dreams, Keith Oatley proposed that reading produces a vivid simulation of reality, one that “runs on minds of readers just as computer simulations run on computers.”

And just as my grandsons’ piloting skills improve when they spend time in a flight simulator, so people’s skills of understanding themselves and others should improve when they spend time reading fiction.

Fiction gives readers an experience found only on the page. As we read, we can enter fully into the thoughts and feelings of fictional characters which simulates the feelings of other people.

Dr. Oatley notes, “I liken fiction to a simulation that runs on the software of our minds. Just as computer simulations can help us get to grips with complex problems such as flying a plane or forecasting the weather, so novels, stories and dramas can help us understand the complexities of social life.”

So what exactly is fiction? Contrary to popular opinion, the word doesn’t mean untrue. The Latin word, fingere means to make. The Greek word, poesis also means to make. Both fiction and poetry come from the imagination, on the part of both the author and the reader.

Novelist Henry James said fiction is a direct impression of life. Robert Louis Stevenson didn’t agree with that statement. A novel, he said, is a work of art.

Oatley researched the effects of fiction on readers. He tested for empathy and understanding of others’ minds.

Participants looked at photographs of people, showing only the eyes. For each image, they chose the most appropriate of four words, “joking, flustered, desire, or convinced,” to describe what they thought the person was feeling at the time the photo was taken.

Regardless of personality type, people who preferred fiction had greater empathy than those who read mainly non-fiction. The more fiction people read, the better they were at having empathy for others.

Which leads us to our third question: Will reading fiction turn men into . . . sissys? Thoughts?

Until next time, . . . Sharon A. Lavy

Does Reading Fiction Affect Your Brain?

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Sharon A Lavy

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Annie Murphy Paul raised the question earlier this year with her article: Your Brain on Fiction posted in the New York Times Sunday Review. As readers and writers, we need to know the answers to the questions raised by her article.

In this day of instant gratification, with our children and grands fixated on computer games and other digital distractions, is reading dead?

According to Neuroscience’s findings on how reading affects the brain, perhaps we should encourage the old-fashioned virtue of reading stories.

Or should we?

For further research, I ordered first one book and then another.

Keith Oatley’s Such Stuff as Dreams, Brian Boyd’s On the Origin of Story, Tilottama Rajan’s The Supplement of Reading, Lisa Zunshine’s Why We Read Fiction, Lewis Mehl-Madrona, D.D., Ph.D.’s Healing the Mind Through the Power of Story

To read Keith Oatley’s blog go here.

While waiting for the books to arrive, I printed out 50 pages of web articles on the subject. I searched the brain’s known language regions, like Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area. Fascinating stuff for me, it brought back memories of pouring over Dad’s medical books as a child.

It was worth it. Now to compress all this information into a 500-word blog post.

Can you say brain overload?
#1. Does reading fiction affect the brain differently than reading non-fiction?

#2. If so, is reading fiction . . . safe?

#3. Will reading fiction turn men into sissies?

Neuroscience shows the Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area of our brain affect how the mind interprets written words. Other parts of our brains are involved as well.

No wonder the experience of reading can feel so alive. (At least for those of us who love novels.)

While words describing smells like “apple pie” or “vanilla” or “vomit,” cause a response from Broca and Wernike, the language-processing areas of our brains, these words also affect the parts that process smells and scents.

Anne describes using brain scans to reveal how stories stimulate the brain and can even change how we act in life. I’ve condensed and paraphrased her content.

Volunteers read while scientists scanned their brains with a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine. As the readers looked at the words cologne, bacon, and eggs, their primary olfactory cortex lit up. The words describing objects such as car, or building, left this part of the brain dark.

Motion words activated sections of the brain other than those for language processing. Participants read sentences like “Gritting his teeth, he ran after her” and “He grabbed her forearm.” Interestingly enough, these scans showed stimulation in the part of the brain which coordinates body movements. When the action described was arm-related, the stimulation was concentrated in one part of the motor cortex and in another part when the action concerned the leg.

Fiction, in the form of a novel, examines the social and emotional world of mankind through created characters. We have documented how the brain responds to words of smells and textures and movements as if they were the real thing.

While we read, our brains treat the interactions among fictional characters the same as if we, or someone in our real life, has experienced them.

Which leads us to the next question, “Is reading fiction . . . safe?” What are your thoughts? I will discuss the answers in my next post.

Find Your Writing Passion

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Sharon A Lavy

Some writers try their wings to see if they can make it as writers. They give it a year, five years, maybe even ten, thinking if they aren’t published by this time they will give it up. Why waste your time, energy, and money on such a hard and often thankless occupation? If you can quit writing, DO IT NOW now, and put yourself out of your misery.

Others write because we must. Writing helps us think and remember information. Writing helps us generate ideas and organize our thoughts. We write to make sense of the world.

What is your passion?

What is something you alone can share?

A lesson from page 210 of Stein on Writing, used with permission from Sol Stein:

“I ask you to imagine yourself on a rooftop, the townspeople assembled below. You are allowed to shout down one last sentence. It is the sentence that the world will remember you by forever. If you say it loud enough, everyone in the world will hear you, no matter where they are. What one thing are you going to say?”

Is your sentence one that could have been said by any person you know? If so, revise it until you are convinced no one else could have said that sentence.

When you have reworked your original sentence, consider these additional questions:

Is your sentence outrageous? Could it be? Is your sentence a question? Would it be stronger as a question?

Would the crowd below cheer your sentence? Can you revise it to give them something they’d want to cheer?

Suppose the person you most love in all the world were to strongly disagree with your sentence. Can you answer his or her disagreement in a second sentence?

Has your second sentence weakened your first? It usually does. If so, make it stronger than the first.

You now have the option of choosing one of the other sentences. There may be value in combining and condensing them.

You look down and see only one person, your greatest enemy, who says, “I didn’t hear you. Would you repeat that?”

Can you alter your sentence so that your statement will be enemy-proof?

Suppose you found out that the only way to get your message across would be if you whispered your sentence. How would you revise it so that it would be suitable for whispering?

Look at all the versions of your sentence. Is there a prior version that is actually stronger than the last? Can the virtues of one be embodied in another? And most important, which sentence now strikes you as the most original, the one least likely to have been written by someone else?

This exercise will direct you to a theme or expression of a theme that is uniquely yours.

Q4U: Most writers are introverts. If this is true for you, what subject will prompt you to talk or write?

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Author Archives: Sharon A Lavy

About Sharon A Lavy

Traveling Light

Are Reader Questions Helpful?

What’s In A Name?

Christian Fiction ~ Oxymoron?

Learning From Attending Writers Conferences

Will Reading Fiction Turn Men Into Sissies?

Is Reading Fiction . . . Safe?

Does Reading Fiction Affect Your Brain?

Find Your Writing Passion

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