Roland Mann's Blog, page 18

Chick-Fil-A and Jesus

The recent big brouhaha surrounding Chick-Fil-A really put me ta thinkin’. Actually, I didn’t think too much about it until I started seeing such hateful posts pop up on Facebook…and then I started hearing a lot of hateful comments in … Continue reading →

Controlling Your Writer’s Cave

During my recent trip to Chicago to lead writing workshops at Karitos, I had the opportunity to talk to the mom of a young writer. Seems young writer had enjoyed one of my workshops (yea, me!) and had said as … Continue reading →

Secret IDs are so passé

One of the things I try to teach my students when creating characters is how important it is that the hero carry around some sort of secret, and not just a boring little secret like he wet the bed until … Continue reading →

Political Rants Can Hurt

Sometimes you can sit and listen to hate for only so long. I’ve been chewing on the following for some time. But when I read that Ellen Barkin (I don’t even know who she is—but she’s apparently an actress) tweeted … Continue reading →

You Can’t Teach Motivation

It’s nearly impossible to be a writer today and not have attended a writer’s conference of some sort, even if it is simply as a speaker/presenter. I would definitely say it’s impossible to be a writer and at least not … Continue reading →

Tales of the Dim Knight

So I read Tales of the Dim Knight on the recommendation of a writer friend. We’d been talking about superhero prose and the lack of Christian superhero work. I’d already read Leaper (my review here) and that was it. But … Continue reading →

Control the Language!

At writer conferences, fledgling writers are always looking for the magic bean, the “secret” that published writers have and they don’t know yet. And while they know in their heart that no such thing exists, they still search for it. … Continue reading →

Mess’em Up!

One of the things I’ve noticed over time in teaching character at Full Sail University, at Writers Conferences and at other assorted writer functions where I read and give feedback or otherwise comments on a writer’s work, is that writers … Continue reading →

The Big 7 Trip

So this coming school year will find Brett in the 7th grade. Uh…wow. When did THAT happen? As one of the coming of age rituals that FBC does, all the incoming 7th graders get to take a trip—thus, “The Big 7 Trip.” … Continue reading →

The Rise of the Graphic Novel

When I first started my blog, I figured I’d be reviewing books about once every fourth entry or so. That was every two weeks when I was writing here twice a week. Now that my entries come once a week, … Continue reading →