Category Archives: writing

Considering the audience

I know if I write a series of mystery novels (or at least one) with a religious undertone, that series will have to live up to certain audience expectations. I don’t think I’d want the novels to be too racy; that could offend the core audience the novel might appeal to. Rough language is also …

May 28, 2010 – 2:23 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , | Comments (0)

On the other hand, I wrote a commentary in record time

Aside from my creative writing woes, the words keep flowing easily when it comes to writing sermons and commentaries. Last week, I wrote a Torah commentary on extremely short notice and had it done in just under four hours. That’s not bad for around 2,000 words. Not only that, but the Torah commentary in question …

May 12, 2010 – 11:50 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Writing for kids

One of the unique opportunities my day-job at my church has given me recently is the chance to adapt some of Stan’s messages into children’s lessons. Taking complex material on the names and titles for Yeshua is heady stuff and hard to get across to kids without a lot of thought about their developmental level. …

April 17, 2010 – 11:39 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in creativity, writing | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Writing a new commentary

It was as natural as putting on an old set of shoes. It was nowhere near as challenging as, say, medical assistant school. I’m speaking of my return to writing a Torah commentary this past Shabbat. I had only a week’s advance notice, but all I needed as a few hours to review the parashah …

April 17, 2010 – 11:30 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Title absconded by Hollywood!

It had to happen eventually; it was a title too good to mess with. I revealed on my blog some time ago that the title for my supernatural murder mystery dramedy was Thirty Minutes Or Less: A Pizza Delivery Mystery. I worried about making it public, but I also knew it was rather obvious and …

March 29, 2010 – 11:36 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

RIP Robert B. Parker

It’s been a fact since January, but I only recently found out about the death of mystery novelist Robert B. Parker. Parker was a huge influence on my back in the late 1980s when I was in college and trying my hand at mystery novels; his Spenser series was hot at the time and I …

March 3, 2010 – 12:18 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Laptop novel-writing

When all you have to work on is an old laptop, one would think novel-writing becomes a lot more unpleasant. However, I’ve actually made some progress since making the switch. And there are a couple reasons for this. First, I hooked up my wireless PC mouse to the laptop and suddenly it’s a lot easier …

February 4, 2010 – 12:42 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Conspiracy theories…

Ever wonder how prenatal vitamins actually affect the unborn? While I’m not one to entertain many conspiracies in life, it’s good to have a curious mind that asks such weird questions when it comes to being a writer. Something as simple as a question like that could easily lead to a great premise for a …

January 20, 2010 – 1:20 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Picking up knowledge where you can

As a writer, it’s always important to pick up knowledge where you can find it. I once had a roommate who had the worst case of dry skin ever (or so it seemed) and he was constantly in search of a better eczema treatment. At the time, it grossed me out; but now, I have …

January 20, 2010 – 1:16 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Unique perspective

Being a writer gives one a unique perspective on topics as mundane as quick trim celluslim reviews to as exotic as the effects of poisons on the human body. With suspense/mystery writers, all of it usually adds up to figuring out how to effectively kill someone in a way that will mislead the reader to …

January 20, 2010 – 1:12 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Focusing on research

When I’m not surfing to places like http://www.bestonlinedegrees.org to help my wife consider the best place to get her next degree … that’s right, she just finished her bachelors! Go, Andie! Anyway… I’ve discovered just how important good research is to everything from sermons to novel-writing. One needs to deeply understand all that is possibly …

January 20, 2010 – 1:08 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Tight writing schedule

I’m going to have a tight writing schedule for the next few weeks; I have one more sermon and one more commentary ahead of me, back to back. However, after that, I have no idea when I’ll be teaching again. So, I should finally find some serious novel-writing time right about then. That’s news so …

January 20, 2010 – 1:04 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)