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(A discussion of my own approach to developing character goals, part 2) Short Story Character Goals I take a big-picture, plotter approach to developing the goals of characters within novels. But...
(A discussion of my own approach to developing character goals, part 1) In the audience of a long-ago Christian writers’ conference, I sat entranced before a panel of book editors describing the types...
Back in 2010, when my newly acquired agent asked for the genre of my debut novel (The Third Grace), I identified it as literary fiction. He immediately corrected me: “No, no. We’ll call it...
Symbols of the Old, Old Story Reused in Literature When you read a novel or short story, do you sometimes suspect the author is trying to say a whole lot more than the words on the page? I’m no expert...
In The Third Grace, my character Ebenezer MacAdam owns Incognito Costume Shop and individually recommends rentals based on a client’s personal character. He says, I’d like to think the...
My favourite destination is known as the “City of Lights,” and God is called the “Father of Lights.” Merely coincidence? Hmmm, I think not . . . Paris, to me, is heaven on earth! I invite you to...
I was born for uptown living. True, the view from the maternity ward of the Mennonite village that first heard me squawk showed only flat Canadian prairie—not a mall in sight. But my parents soon...
Let’s have a conversation with Aglaia (aka Mary Grace Klassen), main character in the book The Third Grace. She’s a designer at Incognito Costume Shop (rentals for parties, stage, and...
Greek mythology tells of ambrosia, the food of the gods bestowing immortality, but I’d give up my place at Zeus’s eternal table for a bite of French gastronomy any day. My salivary glands activate...
Are you planning a day trip to the countryside or visiting a farm? Go prepared! I was a bred-in-the-bone uptown city girl, attended a large Canadian high school, studied in the Twin Cities...
I’ve been to Paris half-a-dozen times in the last two decades and can’t wait to lose myself again in its ancient, cobbled streets. I used to travel by schedule, but with scores of museums and...
Fresh cover, same award-winning story . . . QUESTIONS ABOUT ME (DEB) AND MY NOVEL (Adapted from an Author Interview by Michelle Griep) A licensed pilot, speaker, cattle herder, academic editor...