Customer Reviews

What the Wind Picked Up: Proof that a Single Idea Can Launch a Thousand Stories

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New writers have many fears. One of those fears is someone stealing a writing idea. The novelists of ChiLibris, a group of multi-published Christian authors, wrote What the Wind Picked Up, to put that fear to rest. All the stories in this book contain the following five elements: the first line-"The wind was picking up", the last line-"So that's exactly what she did", a case of mistaken identity, pursuit at a noted landmark, and an unusual form of transportation.
The result? Stories that start with the same sentence, end with the required sentence, and showcase the talents and imaginations of the twenty-two authors who contributed to this book. While the stories share the same five required elements, the similarities end there. The settings range from an animal shelter, to Europe, the Philippines and various places in the US, past and present. Some, like Stephen Bly's Reinventing Love are humorous, while stories such as Nancy Moser's Where Is Thy Sting, deal with love and grief. Some of the genres covered are: fantasy, romance, humor, suspense, and mystery.
What the Wind Picked Up puts to rest the fear that someone will steal an idea. Even when given five common elements, two of them required in specific places, the stories that result are unique. Lesson? No one can really steal an idea, for we all think, and write, differently.
An added bonus is the Writing Advice section of the book. The last nineteen pages contain writing advice from the authors of ChiLibris. The authors are also donating the royalties of the book to Samaritan's Purse.
What the Wind Picked Up is a good collection of short stories and advice by some of the best Christian writers today.

Isn't it great how one idea can blossom into so many different areas.

Each author has picked up the original theme and taken into a completely different direction according to his or her talents and direction as writers.

This is truly an enjoyable book of short stories!

Being personally acquainted with one of the authors, I had a special incentive to purchase the book. However I discovered that a single idea can indeed spawn a multitude of diverse short stories, some with happy endings, some with endings that made my skin crawl. Altogether, an excellent reading experience!