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Josiah DeGraaf

Story Embers Summit & Marketing Director

Josiah DeGraaf is a writing teacher and literature nerd who fell in love with stories when he was young and hasn’t fallen out of love ever since. He writes because he’s fascinated by human motivations and loves to take normal people, put them in crazy situations (did he mention he writes fantasy?), and then force them to make difficult choices. Someday he hopes to write fantasy novels with worlds as imaginative as Brandon Sanderson’s, characters as complex as Orson Scott Card’s, character arcs as dynamic as Jane Austen’s, themes as deep as Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s, and stories as entertaining as Wayne Thomas Batson’s. In the meantime, you can find him teaching young writers at the Young Writer’s Workshop or writing short stories on his website as he works toward achieving these goals.

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Frustrated Writers Don’t Need More Answers, They Need More Time with God

Frustrated Writers Don’t Need More Answers, They Need More Time with God

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Sometimes I worry that we spend more time talking to peers about the ins and outs of being a Christian writer than we do asking God to help us flourish at it. Chatting about ourselves is easy—it’s one of our favorite hobbies as humans. And if the other person shares our interests, we can ramble back and forth for hours. But when we speak with our Heavenly Father, other concerns tend to crowd in. An ailing family member. A sin we need to overcome. A decision we’re not sure how to make. Prayer is the lifeline that keeps us afloat in the whitecaps. We have no doubts about that! But is it necessary to our writing?

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5 Ways Our Subscribers Use the Christian Storytellers Manifesto to Elevate Their Writing

5 Ways Our Subscribers Use the Christian Storytellers Manifesto to Elevate Their Writing

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Three years have passed since we released our manifesto, but some of you may still be wondering how it can help you thrive. A document like this is pointless if it never translates to action. We recently surveyed our audience to see how signers have applied the CSM to their writing, and today I’m going to highlight the five differences it’s made in their spiritual lives, mindsets, and relationships.

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How to Avoid Cheap Grace When Redeeming a Villain

How to Avoid Cheap Grace When Redeeming a Villain

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Few events showcase the power of redemption as beautifully as the repentance of a hardened villain. But few events undercut the nature of redemption as starkly as a villain who forsakes evil without self-reproach or fallout. Unfortunately, today’s media culture slants toward the latter. At Lorehaven, I’ve pointed out how various Marvel TV shows misrepresent redemption. But those aren’t the only offenders. Pixar’s Toy Story 4, as popular as it may be, never deals with Gabby Gabby’s manipulative tactics. And in the recent Star Wars trilogy, Kylo Ren chooses the light side during the climax without acknowledging the magnitude of his crimes.

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Time Management Isn’t Enough to Build a Powerful Writing Habit

Time Management Isn’t Enough to Build a Powerful Writing Habit

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Finding time to build up a word count is a widespread need in the writing community. That’s why so many articles offer advice on balancing life and writing (including the ones we’ve published on this site). But even if you manage to squeeze writing into your days, you may worry that you’re being unproductive. Your ideas trickle out, so you only type a few sentences, or social media distracts you. That’s happened to all of us, including me.

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Life Isn’t a Hallmark Film, and Christian Authors Shouldn’t Pretend It Is

Life Isn’t a Hallmark Film, and Christian Authors Shouldn’t Pretend It Is

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Stories that focus on the rosy sides of reality are rarely compelling or memorable. They’re predictable—and indistinguishable from other patented plot lines. Just like Hallmark films. Although lighter fiction has a place in today’s market, I’d argue that we need more stories tackling the gritty sides of reality from a Christian perspective. We explored this two years ago with our Tricky Subjects series. And this year we’re addressing it again from a new angle based on the eleventh resolution of our Christian Storytellers Manifesto.

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Three New Directions for Story Embers

Three New Directions for Story Embers

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Two and a half years ago, we founded Story Embers with the goal to train Christian writers to not only be strong in their faith but also in their craft. Over time, God gave us better clarity about who we are as a team, what kind of projects we should be pouring our energy into, and where we need to go to equip as many writers as possible. Here’s how we’re changing our strategies.

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How to Write Stories That Christian Readers Actually Need

How to Write Stories That Christian Readers Actually Need

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Why does Christian fiction as a genre have to exist? Why can’t we ditch the special label and simply write good fiction? In the first installment of our article series exploring The Promise of Jesse Woods, Josiah answers these objections and explains what the book teaches about crafting explicitly Christian themes that resonate with readers.

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