In the first part, I focused on how and why I read such monstrous books. Now I want to touch briefly about their effect on my writing. I think my early attempts at novels, especially Trouble on the Horizon, were unconsciously guided by the large plots, numerous characters, and wide world…
After many ages, I finally finished reading The Way of Kings. If you don’t know, The Way of Kings is a 1000-page fantasy novel by Brandon Sanderson, the first in what is expected to be a 10-book series of giant novels. I should mention that my favorite series of books is The Wheel…
As I’m approaching the end of a major portion of my rough draft, I’ve been reflecting on the single-minded focus I’ve had during this stage of writing. For the last few months, I’ve written next to nothing but Strin & Fred, which has been a change for me. Over the past…
Something I’ve taken to doing the last couple years is jotting down story ideas in a pocket notebook (and also online) when an insight or scene hits me. In high school and college, I tended to fixate on Big Ideas because my focus was largely on novels. What I enjoy…
Life’s busy, what with my job and my kids and my running the youth group and chores around the house, so when I sit down to write in the evening, sometimes my mind is a bit tired. So when I’m working on a big project like Strin & Fred, getting…
As I dig deeper into Book 3 of Strin & Fred, I thought I’d explain how I go about creating this particular story. Trouble on the Horizon started by throwing two characters into a situation they didn’t understand. I didn’t really understand it either, but I had fun figuring it out….
Recently, I was listening to a podcast from the Gospel Coalition and these older pastors were discussing what they wished they had known when they were just getting started in the ministry. They mentioned how young pastors have dreams of changing the world, transforming culture, writing books, and generally leaving…
First, I have to confess that I almost titled this blog “Behind the Curtain of Behind the Curtain,” which would have been ridiculous. Second, if you haven’t read “Behind the Curtain,” my newest short story, head over here to read about it or download it here: BehindTheCurtain-NickHayden. Most of what follows…
Whenever I’m confronted with the task of explaining some fact or idea in a straightforward, clear manner, I get a little worried. I’m good at academic essays, but when I want to condense some important but slippery truth, I tend toward fiction. I was reading Pensees by Pascal a few months…
A glimpse into one reason you don’t see many blogs from me–beside time issues. Not surprisingly, I wrote this a while ago and have been sitting on it for just the right moment…which isn’t coming anytime soon. ~~~ I have trouble pressing the “publish” button. I’m used to writing stories,…
An observation I’ve made recently: Back in high school, I routinely turned to first person for stories, especially comedic works. I had a knack for exuberant characters. Dialogue was my first strength as a writer, so a rambling first person narrator was pretty much up my alley. (Like my short…
I’m convinced most novels are a mixture of random, possibly incompatible ideas. Who knows how many different influences I had while conceiving, writing, and editing The Unremarkable Squire? More than I can list or remember. Still, for fun, I thought I’d list some of the allusion/puns/winks contained within the novel that…