Choosing a Biblical Writer as Role Model

By Les Stobbe, Literary Agent
2010 FCWC Faculty

Who is your writing model?

As part of celebrating 90 years as a magazine for writers the Writer’s Digest introduces the “secrets” of best-selling writers whose writing appeared in the magazine. For decades many of them have become models for writers.

While I agree that we can learn a lot from these writers, early on in my writing career I decided to focus on biblical writers as my primary role models. I loved the transparency, the honesty of David; the lofty, God-centered writing of Isaiah that inspired Friedrich Handel, composer of The Messiah; the purpose-driven writing of the apostle John; and the reader-focused writing of the physician Luke, which inspired my address, “Earning the Right to Be Published.”

Yet it is the apostle Paul that I turn to most often when considering my writing style. I never get the feeling that he is writing solely for the sake of spilling his guts or unloading information. In every letter he figuratively looks the reader in the eye and focuses on issues raised in a communication that came to him.

Consider his opening statement in Romans 1:8-10:

“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times, and I pray that now at least by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.”

In the next verses he continues interacting with the Romans before he gets to what he has heard is troubling them.

That’s why I chose to interview the apostle Paul on becoming “The Authentic Christian Writer,” one of my workshops at the Florida Christian Writers Conference.

Writers Broken by God - Les Stobbe

By Les Stobbe
Literary Agent
Tryon, NC

What experiences do people remember?

In the run-up to football’s Super Bowl a sportswriter did research on what the sporting public remembers and came to an amazing conclusion. He discovered that it is the failures of winning teams and high performing athletes that people talk about.

He cited the example of the Red Sox losing the final game of a World Series because a ball trickled through the first baseman’s legs in the ninth inning, giving the New York Yankees new life and letting them win.

He speculated that even after winning 18 straight games in the 2007-2008 season, what would indelibly stamp the New England Patriots in the memory of football fans nationwide was the loss to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. That they actually came within less than three minutes of winning their 19th game does not count—they lost. That bitter loss will haunt Patriot’s fans for decades and be mentioned by sports commentators for many years to come.

Yes, we revere Joseph for his leadership in the court of Pharaoh, but isn’t it his being thrown into a pit by his brothers and sold as a slave to traders passing by that really grips us emotionally?

We rejoice at David dispatching Goliath with a single stone, but the most vivid scenes are David’s seduction of Bathsheba and Nathan’s confrontation of David over his actions. We read Psalm 51 because we can relate to the explosion of raw emotions leading to repentance and acceptance by God.

We may be envious of Job’s wonderful time as a rich man with a successful family. But stuck in our minds is the image of him sitting on an ash heap scraping at his sores.

Would Jonah’s trip to Nineveh have been memorable if gentle breezes had taken his ship to that great city? Instead we sympathize with him as he realizes he’s the reason the wind is threatening to sink the ship and empathize with him as he is thrown overboard?

As editor and agent I have had to turn down many manuscripts because they are only a presentation of ideas without the context of life’s struggles and brokenness before God. So rejoice when God lets you experience suffering, rejection, brokenness, for once you have experienced the reality of God’s presence during those times you have a message for others.

But take your time to process what God has been teaching you—your writing before you have experienced the full range of God’s healing process will still reflect remnants of confusion and anger.

Les Stobbe has been an agent for 16 years, with a focus on adult fiction and non-fiction. Most of Les’s publishable proposals are coming via recommendation from clients, well-known authors, and editors, often at Christian writers’ conferences.

He is looking for those fresh voices in both adult fiction and non-fiction who above all know how to tell a story with truth embedded in it. While he is convinced that outstanding writing by fresh voices ought to be a priority consideration when a manuscript is evaluated, he is well aware that breakthrough writers typically already have a platform.

He is happy to provide outlines for both fiction and non-fiction proposals at lstobbe@windstream.com. Since he moved into the digital age years ago, Les expects all queries and proposals will come as one document attached to an e-mail.

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