How Writers Find and Develop Story Ideas: Creativity, Faith, and the Writing Process

From Edie: Tim Suddeth shares how how writers find and develop story ideas through creativity, faith, observation, and intentional practice. Discover practical ways to grow ideas into compelling stories that connect with readers.

How Writers Find and Develop Story Ideas: Creativity, Faith, and the Writing Process

by Tim Suddeth @TimSuddeth

Gardening has been a part of my life ever since I grew up on a peach farm in rural South Carolina. (And no. Not all of SC is rural.) Everyone in my extended family and our neighbors had their gardens. Even my tobacco-spitting, 92-year-old grandfather.

Each year, Dad planted an acre-sized garden just after Mother’s Day. He would plow up the field and raise the rows. Then he dug a small hole, while I dropped the seeds, being careful to drop just the right number. After that came the waiting for them to come up. And hoping they’d outgrow the weeds.

Gardening is a great example of faith. You put the seed into the ground, then you wait while God does what he has done since creation in bringing our crops up. Even when our faith falters because of a lack of rain or whatever. But you trust this year’s crops to the same God who has been faithful in providing in the past.

It takes that same effort, patience, and faith to develop an idea into a story. Like a gardener planting seeds, writers begin with a simple seed or idea. It sits hidden in our brains, joining and growing with additional ideas until we have something we can develop on paper or screen. Because no matter how great an idea seems in my head, it’s only after I develop the idea that it becomes the fabulous story it was intended to be.

Worldbuilding for Writers: 5 Essential Questions to Create a Believable Story World

From Edie: Learn worldbuilding for writers from the master—A.C. Williams—with 5 essential questions to create a believable story world. Build depth through history, culture, setting, and systems for stronger fiction.

Worldbuilding for Writers: 5 Essential Questions to Create a Believable Story World

by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author

Get your fandom flags out, people. Today we’re talking about some of the practical aspects of worldbuilding. We know why worldbuilding is important, whether you write speculative fiction or not, but there is more to worldbuilding than just coming up with imaginative settings.

It’s one thing to BUILD your world. It’s something else to USE it after you’ve built it. 

So, to start, we’re going to look at five essential questions to ask yourself about your story world. These questions are vital to try to answer so that you have enough foundation to actually construct a functional world where your story can take place. 

Is God Calling You to Write a Book? How to Start Writing and Finish What He’s Placed on Your Heart

From Edie: Today Mariah Taverna helps answer the question, "Is God calling you to write a book?" Discover insight on how to recognize His leading, overcome fear and excuses, and start writing the message He’s placed on your heart today.

Is God Calling You to Write a Book? How to Start Writing and Finish What He’s Placed on Your Heart

by Mariah Taverna

Is God calling you to write a book? How do you know? Did He speak to your heart, or speak to you through His Word? Did He inspire you through another person? Give you a dream in the middle of the night? Or do you simply sense that knowing deep down in your knower that God is inviting you to write for His glory?

Is it one of those hidden desires in your heart that you can’t seem to shake? Does it always find its way back to the forefront of your mind? Do you rejoice inwardly when you see another author holding their book and think, “That will be me one day”?

Networking for Writers: How to Build Meaningful Relationships at Writing Conferences

From Edie: Beth Fortune shares insight on how to network at writing conferences by building meaningful relationships, connecting with other writers, and creating lasting friendships that support your writing journey. Bet sure to check out Beth's newest book, link at the bottom of this post!

Networking for Writers: How to Build Meaningful Relationships at Writing Conferences

By Beth Fortune @BethKFortune

I stumbled into writing. I’d been a speaker and Bible teacher, and it wasn’t until a speaker came to an event at my church that I realized there was a big world of writing that I’d yet to discover. Before the event I went to the speaker’s website where I saw the tabs—ABOUT ME, SPEAKING, CONTACT ME, WRITER’S DEN. Curious to know more about this person I clicked open WRITER’S DEN and a new world opened to me.

Dipping the Quill Deeper: The Pain & The Glory of an Author's New Book

From Edie: Join Eva Marie Everson and discover why writing progress can feel painful—and why it’s worth it. From drafting to editing, learn how growth, perseverance, and faith shape better books and stronger writers. And don't miss her newest book, Miss Beth Bettencourt. I'm in love with it in some many ways!

Dipping the Quill Deeper: The Pain & The Glory of an Author's New Book

by Eva Marie Everson @EversonAuthor

I attended the Pinnacle Christian Writers Conference this past weekend as a faculty member. Part of that role was to take part of a Q&A panel. For a stretch of time, I sat on stage with Christian literary greats James Scott Bell, Angela Hunt, DiAnn Mills, and Chris Fabry (how did I get there?).

One of the questions asked by the audience made me smile.

Is progress as a writer painful?

Pleasing God vs. Pleasing People: How Christian Writers Can Share Truth in a Changing Culture

From Edie: Heidi Gray McGill helps us wrestle with the question of whether we're writing to please God or people? Discover how Christian writers can share biblical truth with clarity and conviction while reaching readers in a changing culture without compromise.

Pleasing God vs. Pleasing People: How Christian Writers Can Share Truth in a Changing Culture

by Heidi Gray McGill 

I remember sitting in our American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Charlotte meeting via Zoom, notebook open, expecting to walk away with a few helpful writing tips. Cindy Sproles always brings something thoughtful and practical, so I was ready to learn. What I heard that day stayed with me in a way I did not expect.

She shared research from the Barna Group about church attendance. In the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, the overwhelming majority of school-aged children attended church or Sunday school. Today, that reality has nearly reversed, with many children growing up having never stepped inside a church. For some, the only context they have for God’s name is hearing it used carelessly.

Before You Speak or Write: How to Hear God Clearly and Communicate from Overflow

From Edie: Great insight from Kennita Williams about our attitude Before we speak or write, learn how to hear God clearly and communicate from a place of overflow. Discover simple, faith-based steps to bring clarity, purpose, and impact to our words.

Before You Speak or Write: How to Hear God Clearly and Communicate from Overflow

by Kennita (Kay) Williams

“April showers bring May flowers.”

It’s a phrase we’ve heard for years, a reminder that what feels like inconvenience or discomfort can be preparation for something beautiful.

But what if we looked at it a little differently as communicators?