Write to Ignite - Lynn Dove

In my opinion, the hardest part of writing, is typing that very first sentence for an article, blog or book.  A blank page is my nemesis.  It begs to be filled with word pictures that will somehow illicit an emotional response from the reader.  Once I have agonized over that very first sentence and my page is no longer blank, I can start to formulate my thoughts and start the creative process of actually writing.  The word "ignite" by definition is the first step of fire-lighting.  Once the flame is lit, the task then becomes keeping the fire stoked. That first sentence is the initial spark, and the story builds upon that to become an inferno.

I don't know if it's a conventional way to write.  I have attended writing workshops where I was taught that characterization is paramount.  I've also been taught that plot structure is the essential component to writing a story.  I am not negating either as important, but I liken the way I write to the way I paint, haphazardly and with wild abandon!  I choose my colours with carefree spirit and splash them on abstractly.  Sometimes there's no rhyme or reason to my activity and then surprisingly a pattern develops and as more word colours flow, or drip over the white canvas, I become more and more frenzied and inspired to complete the word painting inside of my head.  (It is my editor's job to add the finishing strokes so that as an artist I am kept humbled :)

Just like a painting should invoke some kind of an emotional response from whomever looks at it, inspired writing should ignite a passionate response from readers.  Reading should never be a boring activity.  If the reader is not engaged emotionally with the writing in some way, negatively or positively, then a writer has failed in their attempts to write to ignite. 

It is my passion as a writer and as a Christ Follower to use words to draw people to respond to Christ.  To ignite their interest by sharing my faith openly in my books and in the articles and stories I write is of great importance to me.  I have tried to write in the secular realm, but have failed miserably.  It's not my passion, Christ is, and so I write to ignite that same passion in others.  To do otherwise goes against the specific calling I have as a Christian writer.

 Lynn Dove is the award-winning author, of the YA “Wounded Trilogy”- a contemporary Christian fiction series with coming-of-age themes.  A wife, mom, grandmother, and free-lance writer with articles published in several magazines and anthologies including Chicken Soup for the Soul books, her blog, “Journey Thoughts” is a Canadian Christian Writing Award winner.  Readers may connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and at lynndove.com