“How can you write another historical series?” “Where do your ideas keep coming from?” Ah, so many times I’ve heard these questions. My immediate inclination is to shrug and say “got me.” But that isn’t fair and all the writers who shared their skills and training with me would roll their eyes and shake their heads.
I think one thing necessary to write lasting fiction is to start out as a storyteller. I love to hear stories. My Dad was a storyteller, so I came by it honestly. My mother said some of my early words were “read to me.”
So this has been going on for some time. As soon as I learned to read, I always had my nose in a book. And then I started to write my own stories, leading into the dream of someday writing horse books for young girls. I got my first pony, Polly, when I was five so loving horses has gone on for a long time too. Have you ever read a book laying on the rump of a full-sized horse?
Another thing my parents taught me was the value of tools. I grew up on farms, and tools of all kinds were essential, from a small screwdriver to a bucket to a tractor or a dishpan with soap and water, a broom and a dustpan.
Writing books uses tools for sure, from tablet and pencil to computers and everything in between. Anything to save your ideas – because one thing has not changed: an idea not saved is an idea lost. Get your idea down on something, even if you have to wake up in the middle of the night to do so. A box, a drawer, a pocket, a phone, a computer, a jar, paper of any kind, containers of any kind. I once used lipstick on a mirror, a friend used water-soluble marker on the tile around her bathtub.
One of my favorite tools is my rule of ten for brainstorming.
Needed: something to write with on paper. I find this more portable than a computer.
- Number from one to ten down the side of the page, skipping lines.
- Set a timer for two minutes.
- Write down ideas by the numbers. Scribble whatever you can come up with.
- 90 seconds is push time.
- Stop when the timer goes off.
- Read your list. You will be amazed at what you came up with.
- Repeat with one of those ideas you wrote so quickly.
Rule of Ten is great when used with a group or alone. Great tool for kicking your brain back in gear.
Many authors form brainstorming groups. Writing is such a solitary life that getting together for critiquing and brainstorming is a major gift we can share. Online or in person, getting together is priceless. I know of some groups who use Zoom; I was a part of a group like that for several years.
AT MORNING’S LIGHT by Lauraine Snelling, Kiersti Giron
Narrator: Libby McKnight
Christian Historical Fiction with Romance Set on the Frontier of Midwestern America
In her new homeland of Iowa, she must risk heartbreak and uncertainty for her dreams to flourish.
Maya Bredesen and her husband plan to journey from Norway to a new life at her cousin’s boardinghouse in America, but on one last fateful fishing trip, a fierce winter storm steals away her husband. With her dreams for the future crushed, Maya is left grieving on the voyage to Iowa, accompanied instead by her brother, who plans to finish his seminary degree.
Arriving at a boardinghouse spilling over with orphans and a newly married couple, Maya struggles to find her place amid the chaos. A new friendship develops between her and Eben Miller, the reserved, kind farmer next door, but just as Maya begins to recover from her wounded heart, more tragedy engulfs her. As she and Eben weather trials together, can they overcome the difficulties this new land holds when it seems so far from becoming home?
This Christian fiction historical read by Lauraine Snelling paints a heartwarming story of family and love on the Midwestern frontier for readers of frontier romance, Janette Oke, and Tracie Peterson.
Christian Romance | Christian Historical [ Bethany House Publishers, On Sale: December 2, 2025, Paperback / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9780764243530 / eISBN: 9781493451340 ]
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About Lauraine Snelling
Lauraine Snelling is the award-winning author of more than one hundred books, fiction and nonfiction, for adults and young adults. Her books have sold more than five million copies. She makes her home in Tehachapi, California.
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