Principle of Good Writing 

Writing is difficult, especially when you’re capturing a complex character or personal message that you want to communicate to your Christian audience. Understandably, there’s tremendous pressure to deliver beautiful prose or elegant poetry with innovations, and yet remain accessible to readers. In order to create a manuscript that you and others will love, you must start the writing process first, and you must also keep yourself motivated enough to bring your praiseworthy story or inspiring collection to fruition.

1. WRITE: The first step to complete your manuscript is simply to begin writing. This might be an obvious first step for some, but many Christians with a calling to write or publish may not be sure where to begin or what to write. If you find yourself in this category, you may benefit from reviewing the list of suggestions on the following pages. On the other hand, if you already have a book idea, it’s time to get started. You might have the next great Christian novel inside you, but as you well know, writing takes time and effort. The sooner you set aside the hours to begin researching your topic and putting your message into words, the sooner you’ll have something to publish and reveal to believers around the world. By completing your manuscript’s first draft, however meager and mismatched when finished, you will not only demonstrate your dedication to your writing career, but you will also give yourself the satisfaction of holding a tangible document in your own two hands, one that you can turn into something truly great.

2. REWRITE: So you’ve completed your first draft, what next? Now, you must comb through your prose or poems line by line, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, in order to tie together all your loose ends, ensure your facts are accurate and make certain your characters smoothly transition from one chapter to another. As rewriting gives you the opportunity to highlight your message and bring your characters to life, this phase of the process can become quite rewarding. As you read through the first draft of your manuscript, you’ll not only make new discoveries and add deeper nuances to your content, but also cut unnecessary tangents that serve only to bog down or confuse your overall flow.

3. REVISE: Next comes the editing process, which many writers dread. Naturally, correcting your own grammar, fixing typos, hunting down dangling modifiers and detecting comma splices can feel like a tedious and uphill struggle. Moreover, many writers have become so familiar with their own plot and characters that they’re likely to read right over spelling, punctuation and grammar inconsistencies without noticing them. To circumvent an editorial mishap that could later earn you bad reviews and perhaps even halt the publication of your book, some authors start new projects altogether in order to return later to their former manuscript with fresh eyes once they’ve adequately forgotten its phrasing by heart. However, hiring a copyeditor, such as those employed by CrossBooks, may be your best bet to get a truly fresh perspective from an outside audience.

4. LEARN: Remember, writers are always learning. Whether through research or unflinching honesty that leads to deeper relationships with God, writers must absorb information wherever possible, exploring avenues of a personal and social significance. Just writing your manuscript is a great opportunity for expanding your artistic and emotional landscapes. Now, once you’ve completed the writing and revising process, we are here to help you find the best publishing solution for your book. At CrossBooks, we are committed to helping more Christian writers publish and achieve their goals for their books, whether the goal is commercial success, personal achievement or the outreach to readers around the world. We are always accepting manuscripts and will be ready and willing to help publish your book whenever you are prepared to do so. And, once you finish your first manuscript, you’ll be that much more experienced so that you can begin your next work with greater confidence and motivation than ever before.

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