10 Favorite Christmas Movies: Let’s Share!

AuthorAppleton on December 8, 2014

Leading up to Christmas, my wife and I always look forward to watching Christmas movies. I have seen a lot of them, from older classics to modern ones. But a few titles really stand out to me and demonstrate the rich value of this season and how good Family-Focused fiction can be.

If I consider Christmas movies as pieces of art, here are my top picks and my reason behind each selection:

  1. It’s A Wonderful Life (Always my number one favorite because it reminds us that life is about the people we touch).
  2. Christmas in Connecticut (A humorous story. My wife first introduced me to this one and I love it!)
  3. A Christmas Carol (with Patrick Steward portraying Scrooge).
  4. Miracle on 34th Street (the 1947 version)
  5. Holiday Inn (I love old movies and this one is a worthy classic!)
  6. Home Alone (Can I just say LOL?)
  7. Christmas Shoes (A modern film that achieved a great feat: it is only the second film that brought me to tears).
  8. A Christmas Wish (This little-known film feels low-budget but has a unique story and humorous moments that carry it forward).
  9. The Original Christmas Classics (Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, etc.)
  10. White Christmas (Another not-to-miss old classic).

Question: What are your favorite Christmas movies? Have you watched all the ones I listed?

Santa Claus: his proper place in Christmas?

AuthorAppleton on December 1, 2014

“Ho! Ho! Ho!” Yep, that is the sound of old, jolly Saint Nick. Only presently he is commonly known as Santa Claus. He is a giver of bounteous gifts and delicacies. He lives in a castle, according to some tales. But is this his proper place in Christmas?

I found this painting titled “The Spirit of Christmas” and, honestly, I love it. The artist is Greg Olsen and he really captured the spirit of how Santa figures in Christmas for me. Here is the link to his full painting: The Spirit of Christmas.

Christmas is a beautiful time of recognizing the history behind the Christ child and of all those who followed later. The most famous being Saint Nicholas. The giving of gifts that reminds us of God’s gift to the world. The showing of compassion that follows the example of Christ. The beauty of the Christmas decorations and lights, reminding us that God created beauty and wants us to enjoy it.

The proper place of Santa Clause is at the feet of the Christ child. The myths that surround him need to be tailored to honor the true spirit of Christmas and to honor the Christian tradition for which Saint Nicholas stood. Santa Clause is a fantasy story, wonderfully imagined, but today he is commercialized with his values lost in the mountain of toys. Looking to the mood of Olsen’s painting should remind us of Santa’s true place in Christmas.

Question: What place does Santa Clause hold in your Christmas traditions?

Subscribers: My early Christmas gift to you!

AuthorAppleton on November 24, 2014

Nothing keeps you connected to the content on my site like subscribing to my Email list… And this week I released a new product, an Ebook on writing, as a Thank You to all my subscribers. But that is only one reason you should be on this list.

Here are 3 benefits to subscribing to my email list.

  1. Weekly blog posts straight to your inbox, focusing on Family-Friendly Fiction
  2. The Writer’s Scrapbook: 10 Tips to Fantasy Storytelling eBook for Free! This little book is packed with writing advice that I’ve gleaned over the years. This is not your typical book on writing. I take it from the perspective of a Christian author trying to create meaningful content.
  3. Exclusive content offers and updates related to writing and my novels.

The Writer’s Scrapbook. I am so excited to put this Ebook in your hands. Many, many people have asked me for writing advice and have questioned how I can write fantasy as a Christian author. Packed into this short book is potent advice I have formulated to encourage you to understand the writing process and even how worldview impacts the stories I create.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner! I have some cool posts planned and a couple of fun announcements coming soon.

Thanksgiving inspired fiction: What if?

AuthorAppleton on November 17, 2014

It’s amazing how historical events shape present-day culture. One example being Thanksgiving. Are writers taking full advantage of historical inspiration for fiction narratives?

The above picture is from the animated movie Free Birds. I felt it was appropriate because it was a humorous take on Thanksgiving. The turkeys hijack a time machine and travel back to the original Thanksgiving. Their goal? To take turkey off the menu!

This simple film had me thinking about the endless possibilities we have with fiction. There is a lot of lost opportunity here. What about fiction based around Christmas and even Easter? I love to ask the question “What if?” With these two words you reveal a universe of possibilities.

What historical narratives would you like to see fictionalized?

Will God open these RV Bus doors?

AuthorAppleton on November 12, 2014

Today I found an RV bus conversion on Ebay that looks like it will fit my family’s needs perfectly. As it turns out the owner is a Christian and a Pastor down in Oklahoma.

My wife and I would covet your prayers. Please pray that God will open these doors. We’ve been waiting for something like this for the past two years.

The price is perfect. If it is not this one I am sure God will make that clear, but for now I need to come up with the funds necessary for a purchase this size. I’m hoping to avoid financing charges because here in Connecticut the insurance cost would skyrocket on something like that.

At the moment this is a bit up-in-the-air but I always get this sense of spiritual freedom whenever I’m moving in the right direction and this bus does feel like the right decision. My family will travel full-time with me as we tour the country and share my books with youth from coast to coast.

If you are curious to see the inside of the bus, take a look at the pictures at this Link!

3 Interesting Ways for a Villain to Die!

AuthorAppleton on November 10, 2014

In most contemporary fantasy fiction there is a primary villain, and by some means the hero must kill that villain. The beauty of fiction, however, is the ability to take inspiration from historical events to produce an unexpected plot. Like when I was writing my first novel Swords of the Six… I wanted something different for the villain’s end.

Here are three ways for a villain to die!

  1. Killed by the hero
  2. Betrayal
  3. Suicide

A great example of the first option would be Narnia where Aslan slays the White Witch. The second option was very effectively portrayed in one of my favorite novels Star Wars: The Last Command when Grand Admiral Thrawn is killed by his trusted Nogri bodyguard. And as for suicide I found it to be a powerful way to show how remorseful Kesla was for his sins in Swords of the Six. I derived the idea for Kesla’s end from how King Saul of Israel fell on his own sword when he knew that the Philistines had overcome him.

Question: What are some of your favorite examples of how villains died in fiction?

4 Reasons Why I think Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys helped shape family fiction

AuthorAppleton on November 3, 2014

Were you one of those readers that got hooked on the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mystery series? It is important to understand what made those mysteries so accessible to us and here is why:

The Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy mystery stories drove home traditional family values with characters who were morally upstanding. (Quite the contrast to the majority of contemporary fiction.) Growing up I recognized that something about those series grabbed people in an extra powerful way. Interestingly, here are four areas where they differ from most contemporary fiction:

  1. Both series showed strong-willed characters who were passionate about helping people, including saving people in need.
  2. Nancy, Frank, and Joe treated their fathers with the greatest respect and had strong relationships with them.
  3. Nancy, Frank, and Joe chose friends who were responsible and motivated.
  4. They also LOVED to read and research.

We need more fiction like that. We need NEW fiction like that. Unfortunately the book industry leaders think they know better. I’ve been told that in order for young adult fiction to sell it needs to do much the opposite of these things. Specifically the adults must be inconvenient annoyances.

My response to this? What is the purpose of those books? As an author I want to motivate and inspire. But most publishers want to follow the trends. Well, I pray that God keeps some of us authors from doing that so that you, the reader, can be convicted, inspired, and motivated to uphold good family values.

Question: Do you think authors should cave to popular wisdom, or write the stories that encourage readers to stand for what is right?

How your content impacts the globe

AuthorAppleton on October 27, 2014

It surprised me the other day, when conversing with an Egyptian friend of mine, to find out that back when Wonder Woman and The Hulk shows were playing on TV they were running internationally. Just like American kids, she was fascinated by those superheroes. I guess I had still thought of Egypt as an out-of-the-way corner of the world where media only recently became so impactful. It was a fun and enlightening conversation. It got me thinking on how our creative content influences people on an international level.

Content that promotes gratuitous violence, sexual promiscuity, lying, and foul language will breed those shortcomings in the societies they impact. Conversely, content that encourages self-control, godly behavior, and faithfulness will encourage those qualities in the cultures they reach.

A couple years ago I received an email from the first fan of The Sword of the Dragon series in South Africa. As it turned out, a bookstore down there had started carrying my novels and people were loving them. It amazed me to realize that the fictional characters I’d created were quite literally my ambassadors to corners of the globe that I have never visited.

In the same manner, creatives around the world have been sending their own ambassadors. It has been thrown into hyperdrive by the advent of the digital age. And those ambassadors can either impact the world for good or for evil. Artists, parents, authors, producers, and bloggers… in this digital age, what kind of a world do you want to make?

Question: How do you see content creators impacting the world?