Your story will stand or fall on the strength of its premise. It doesn’t matter how well it’s written on a line-by-line level. If your premise is weak, the rest of the story will crumble. But what is a premise, and how can you ensure yours is solid? I like to think of a premise in terms of the following simple mathematical formula…

My biggest pet peeve when it comes to Christian fiction is that too many Christian writers see storytelling as a means to an end—preaching a message—rather than an end in itself. When I encounter such writing, I tend to go off on a rant comparing two of the most well known Christian storytellers…

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat down to edit a science fiction or fantasy manuscript, only to discover within the first few pages that the author hasn’t done his or her homework. What I mean by that is, the author has put little to no effort into working out the history, politics, economics, language…