C. S. Lakin

Thinking about Hiring a Copyeditor?

2011-12-12T07:18:00.000-08:00

What does a good editor do?

A good editor will not just point out errors; she explains them, providing you with an education to enable you to perform a stronger rewrite. For instance, if your manuscript includes point-of-view violations—a major reason for fiction rejection—she will offer a thorough explanation of the concept and provide easy-to-understand examples. A good editor will encourage you and compliment you on your strengths, but she will not hold back in showing you where you need improvement or are making repeated mistakes. She does not expect you to know all the book publishing rules for copyediting—that’s her job. But she does try to help you understand some basic underlying principles that you might need to learn in order to be a better writer. A good editor knows your book is your “baby” and that you have poured many hours into writing it, but her goal is to help you make that book the best it can be, and sometimes that requires you, the author, to make drastic changes. In other words, a good editor is “on your side” and wants to help, but she is mostly concerned with getting your book in the best shape possible.

Why do I need a book editor?

If you plan to submit your manuscript to traditional publishers, you should eliminate all possible errors in advance. Manuscript submissions may be rejected for the simplest of reasons. Likewise, you could be unknowingly committing major errors. You have only one opportunity to make a first impression with a publisher; a professional edit will maximize the impression you make.
If you plan to self-publish, you’ll want your printed book to compare favorably with traditionally published books, all of which are subjected to thorough edits; that’s what assures consistent quality from one book to the next. To maximize your self-publication experience, have your manuscript professionally edited and avoid potential embarrassment by correcting all errors prior to printing. Some self-publishing or POD companies include a full edit in their publishing package, but if you can show your book has already been professionally edited, they will usually waive that fee.

What can I expect from a book edit?

Most edits (excluding proofreads) include marking up your manuscript and giving suggestions on how to fix a sentence when needed. You’ll need to address all the marked items on each manuscript page, then address the major concerns in a comprehensive rewrite. This could involve considerable rewriting, depending upon the degree of the problem(s).
An edit alone will not impact your chances of publication. The quality of your rewrite incorporating the editorial advice will determine your level of success. An edit doesn’t excuse you from further work on your manuscript; in fact, the opposite is true. You’ll need to perform a thorough rewrite following an edit to vastly improve your manuscript. Still, there is no guarantee that if you follow your editor’s suggestions and have your book free of errors that it will sell. But you will have a better chance than if you did not have your book professionally edited.
Consider an edit a learning experience. If you’re unwilling to learn, save your money, but don’t expect to be published easily.What is the most important consideration in selecting a book editor?If you plan to submit your manuscript to traditional publishers and hope to avoid rejection, you need someone who has a publishing record and who has clients who have gone on, after using her editing services, to get contracts with agents and publishers. The Internet abounds with editors eager to attract your business, but the overwhelming majority have never actually worked in an editorial capacity for publishers or have written and sold books of their own. Punctuation and grammar are only two of many reasons for rejection. Without actual professional experience, an editor cannot know what those other reasons are. If you are writing a novel, it helps tremendously to have an editor who is a published, experienced novelist. Many editors can fix punctuation, but few editors can really help a novelist with her plot, voice, pacing, tension, and all the other important facets inherent in a novel. If you are just needing a proofread, this isn’t crucial, but if you need a substantive edit or even a content edit, it helps to have an editor who is also an author.
Don’t confuse editing with proofreading. Any decent English professor can proofread your manuscript to correct/identify poor grammar, punctuation errors, incomplete sentences, etc. A professional edit includes all of these, plus a thorough assessment of your manuscript that involves “reading between the lines” to evaluate your focus, cohesiveness, structure, characterization, etc. English professors are not qualified to address a manuscript through the eyes of the publishing industry. Few English professors, if any, have had commercial editing experience.

Why is manuscript format so important?

If your manuscript doesn’t look the way publishers expect it to, they are likely to reject it without reading a single word. Publishers have specific format requirements that will be revealed to you through an edit. An editor will require basic manuscript formatting reflective of industry standards. This gets you, the author, accustomed to formatting your manuscript properly and makes the editing process easier.
My manuscript has already been professionally edited, but there still seems to be a problem. Should I invest in a second edit?
Numerous manuscripts that have already been professionally edited often still have almost as many problems as in manuscripts that had never been edited. What is your manuscript worth to you? If you feel it is still not right and you want to make it the best it can be, then by all means invest in a second edit.

How can an experienced editor detect problems that other editors miss?

If an editor evaluates your manuscript from a purely academic perspective, she will miss issues that are extremely important to commercial publishers. College English professors don’t work for commercial publishers. They evaluate manuscripts from an entirely different perspective than commercial publishers. That’s why many hugely successful novels are not necessarily well written. They are highly criticized by the academic community, but still hit the best-seller lists. Of course, some of what an editor suggests is purely subjective. A critique, overall, is a subjective assessment, and often one critique will vary greatly from another. Some editors feel critiques are worthless for this reason. But readers, agents, and publishers also have subjective tastes–and as with an experienced editor (experienced in the current book publishing “world”), these subjective responses to your manuscript are based on years of expertise, knowing what truly “works” and doesn’t “work” in a book. A good critique does not just reveal the critiquer’s “personal tastes,” but brings attention to the time-tested “rules” or principles that make a book strong and well constructed.

Why is payment in advance a good policy?

To get the best, most accurate evaluation of your work, an editor must be totally honest and candid in her remarks. If paid half up front and the remainder on completion, editors may have a tendency to sugar-coat their comments to assure receipt of the final payment. Remember, you’re paying for honest criticism. You may not agree with everything your editor says about your work. Sometimes the truth hurts, but only total honesty from your book editor will prove helpful.
Are book editors usually qualified across the board or do they specialize in specific areas?
As is the case with most other professions, book editors are typically experienced within only a few specific categories. No one is qualified to professionally edit everything. For instance, a children’s book editor would be of little help in editing a science fiction novel. A good editor will often turn business away when she doesn’t feel that she’s the best editor for someone’s manuscript.

Should I copyright my manuscript before sending it to a book editor?

Current law states that your copyright on your written work is implied and protected without registering with the US Copyright Office. It’s highly unlikely that your manuscript will be plagiarized by anyone.
Could an unscrupulous book editor steal your idea? It’s possible, but highly unlikely. Serious writers rarely wish to write someone else’s idea; in fact, most writers have more ideas of their own than they’ll ever have time to write about. The theft of an idea is essentially a needless fear.

I hope these points will give you the needed foreknowledge to help you decide how to choose a good copyeditor for your manuscript! And if you are not sure your book is really ready for the editing stage, consider getting a critique. Check out this article on the need for a professional critique: http://critiquemymanuscript.com/

What's Your Motif?

2011-11-12T09:50:00.000-08:00

Using motifs in writing fiction is one of the most powerful and evocative ways of getting across your themes in your novel. Few authors use them, and few use them well. My favorite novels of all time are ones that use motifs beautifully throughout their novel, and these elements weaving through their stories tend to stay with me for months and years after I've read the book. Why is that, and just what are motifs and how can they be utilized effectively in fiction?

Two definitions of motif in Merriam-Webster's give a good feel for what a motif is: "a dominant idea or central theme; a single or repeated design or color." Think about a motif as a splash of color that you are adding to your story palette--a very noticeable, specific color that appears from time to time and that "blends in" beautifully with the overall picture you are painting. As an example, you could say that I just introduced a motif in this discussion by using the concept of color to emphasize my theme.

Motifs can be an object, an idea, a word or phrase, a bit of speech--and you can combine these in your novel to create richness. I like to have at least two or three motifs woven in my novel, and I'll give you an example by referring to my contemporary drama/mystery Conundrum.

In Conundrum, my protagonist, Lisa, is searching to uncover the truth regrading her father's bizarre death twenty-five years earlier. Her interest and effort is prompted by her brother's suicidal bipolar condition, which she believes is exacerbated by the myths and burdens surrounding their father's death. So as Lisa embarks on this journey, I brought into play a number of motifs. the first is obvious--the word conundrum, which is the overall theme and serves as the title. The best use of a motif is in your title, and a great title will tie in to your book's theme, often as both a motif and a double meaning. for example--Jodi Picoult's book titles often do this, as seen in Saving Faith ("faith" being both the girl character's name and hinting at her need of being saved) and Plain Truth (where "plain" refers to the Amish people by that name as well as the book's plot wherein the plain truth needs to be revealed in the case of a mysterious murder among the Amish). So, in Conundrum, I open the novel with an actual word conundrum, one that has great symbolism to Lisa's quest. She tells of how she and her brother told conundrums through their teen years, and then I introduce a specific conundrum that serves as another motif in the book.

Lisa's father's speciality was in boolean algebra. Lisa discovers a conundrum based on that algebraic formula of "and, or, or not." What I did, then was take two motifs--the conundrum and the father's profession, and found a way to tie them together--which is a great thing to do. Throughout the novel, Lisa comes across clues that make her think "and, or, or not." Her quest is one big conundrum. and the next motif comes from the actual conundrum she found--where two guards each stand in front of a door, each claiming they guard the door to enlightenment, but one is lying and one is telling the truth. The conundrum requires the puzzle-solver to figure out which door really does lead to enlightenment. You can imagine why I was so thrilled to run across this conundrum, as it represented Lisa's search for truth (enlightenment) but with the confusion of not just many doors but many guards claiming they were telling the truth.

I hope you can see here the motifs at work and how, throughout a novel, these can surface to bring cohesion to a story. You can use an object, like a balloon for example, to symbolize important qualities. A balloon could represent freedom, the need for release. A slow-growing tree could represent faithfulness, steadfastness through all seasons, something a character can be viewing out her window at different times in her life. One of my favorite books, The Art of Racing in the Rain, uses the motif of race-car driving throughout the book as metaphor and symbolism.

So as you plot out your novel, or tackle your rewrite, think of two or three motifs you can weave in, then go back through your book and place them strategically. if you can somehow use the motif in your title, even better. And if you can think of motifs that parallel and/or enhance your overall theme, you will have a book that will be unforgettable. pay attention as you read great novels to see if you can spot the motifs the author has used. you will be surprised how you will start seeing them if you pay attention and look for them. May these thoughts spark some ideas in your head and get you running to your pages!

BTW, you can now get Conundrum as an ebook! Order from Kindle, B&N, or Smashwords! Here are the links:
http://www.amazon.com/Conundrum-ebook/dp/B005WD0GGS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1321122996&sr=1-1

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/conundrum-c-s-lakin/1106862112

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/96692

Life in the "Fast" Lane

2011-07-04T19:13:00.000-07:00

When I started my fast last week, I really hadn't spent any time researching fasting from a biblical standpoint. Years ago I used to fast for six days every few months as a healthy way to clean out my "system" and it always felt great.

But this fast was begun out of desperation. I needed to hear God in my situation, and needed serious intervention. All I could think of was I needed to show God I was downright serious about getting his help now and urgently. I didn't know if what I was doing was right or wrong; I felt a bit like I was giving God an ultimatum--that if he didn't help me, I would continue to fast and either he would step in and show he cared or I would eventually waste away and die.

Okay, I know that sounds immature and ridiculous, but when you are faced with an unbearable need and feel your prayers are hitting the ceiling of your house and falling splat on the ground like dead birds, it can affect your faith. My faith felt shattered and puny. I'm just being honest here.

It wasn't until last evening that I sat down and did some research about fasting as to what the Bible says about it. I found some amazing articles and looked up a lot of Scriptures and it was only then, five days into my fast, that I saw how God's spirit had led me into this intense period of devotion.

Without going into pages of information, I will just make a list of the amazing things I learned about fasting. I will not cite the Scriptures, but these things are with biblical precedent. But I was amazed to see the power of fasting and its uses.

One thing, though, that stuck out to me is something I was already aware of. That Jesus said, "When you fast ..." and proceeded to tell his disciples how they should behave. He didn't say "if." He also said before his death that after he was crucified his followers would fast. And there are numerous accounts in the NT of the apostles and disciples fasting for various reasons. Obviously Jesus felt fasting was an important part of worship. He wants us to do it. But it is important to know why and how you do it. I 'm not going to get into the logistics about how to fast and how to break a fast and all that. That's a whole other topic. But here's what stuck with me:

Many people believe that fasting is to move the hand of God, when in actuality it is to make Satan turn loose the things he is holding. I felt this keen sense that my family was under some sort of demonic hold, a spirit of lies that we could not break.

When we fast, we undo the heavy burden and break every yoke of the enemy. Fasting is an important key to getting the victory over a hard situation that does not seem to respond to normal prayer. This hit home, big-time for me. We had been praying years about certain issues and could not break free through all the hours of agonized prayer we had sent heavenward.

Fasting builds our faith. When Jesus said a particular demon couldn't be cast out except through prayer and fasting, he implied fasting has a particular power over demonic holding. And then he chastised those around them for their lack of faith. Fasting, then, builds that faith.

Fasting is a form of afflicting our souls. It suppresses the flesh and heightens our spiritual sensitivity.

Fasting stirs up zeal and renews dedication and commitment to God.

Fasting produces spiritual results, breakthroughs in the spirit or in personal life, like in relationships and finances. Somehow God imbues power in fasting, a power that can break through intense obstacles and barriers.

You fast when you want a breakthrough in understanding a situation, an answer to a problem, divine direction, discernment of God's will, power to overcome.

You fast when you feel you need to put yourself in a position to hear from God and experience the power of his presence, when you need to break away from a current situation and make a clean start.

You fast when the holy spirit prompts you to. I didn't realize that's what was happening with me. I spoke to a woman who does a deliverance ministry and she felt we were dealing with a demonic attack and bondage. I knew there was something about our situation that seemed beyond our ability to understand or handle. Our prayers were not working and things were getting worse. Our sight grew dark and faith weak, despite amping up our prayers and focusing on God.

Fasting of course is hugely for repentance and turning away from sin. That's what I thought its sole purpose was, since in the Bible there are so many examples of people fasting because of great remorse over their sin. But I didn't realize these other reasons.

I kept feeling mostly that I needed clarity. I needed to take my relationship with God to a higher place, to understand him more. I wasn't asking why all this was happening to us. I just desperately needed to know God cared, that he was in the midst of our situation.

While I've been fasting, many people have reached out to me and given me the words I've needed to hear. It's been like a huge seminar of advice, learning, hearing others' stories and what they've learned in their walk with God. I feel most of it has just slipped over my head, but the love, compassion, ministering that these friends and total strangers have given me this past week has been enormous. Most of those who have called, written, and spent time with me were complete strangers that heard of my need or saw me post for prayer on a loop. I found that touching--that God would move their hearts to stand in affirmation of my fast and continue praying with me and for me. Their love has humbled me and taught me a lot about how I can serve and be there for others. I now know I can fast for them in their time of need, and that God rewards that. Yes, Jesus said WHEN you fast in private, your heavenly Father will REWARD you. That shows me he values that we are sacrificing something precious and hard to do without--food.

One other side note I'll share, since I've done so many fasts years ago before I became a believer. From the moment I decided to fast and made my vow to God to stick with it until he tells me to stop, I have not been hungry. There are a few moments when the smell of food entices me, but as far as real hunger--it's just not there. I feel full all the time as if I've just eaten a meal. I can only say this is more evidence of God's spirit affirming my decision to fast.

So I hope some of these points have enlightened you as well. I would love to hear your fasting story, if you'd like to share a comment. As I'm wrapping up this first week, I do wonder how long I'm going to go without eating. But I feel at peace and have energy and am seeing great insight into my situation and know God is working. However, I'm still praying for the big breakthrough, the big aha moment that I am waiting for, which is why I started this fast. I am waiting and praying for direction, for God to give a word of wisdom and clarity as to our course. I am not asking God to explain why things are happening. I long ago gave up asking "why" to anything God does. But I am asking for God to wholly deliver us from the stranglehold of demonic bondage--of the lies that have infiltrated our hearts and lives. I am living in expectation each moment for the spirit to guide and tell me my course.

People say the holy spirit will make it clear when to break the fast. I am looking forward to that moment. I certainly love food and miss it a lot. But I love God more, and my desire to see him move in a big way right now in my life is more important than food.

Father Along ...

2011-06-08T17:38:00.000-07:00

No, that's not a typo. Since Father's Day is approaching, I thought it might be appropriate to discuss fathers. Two of my recently written novels center around the theme of fathers. I didn't really realize that until I started thinking about this post. Since I grew up without a father, it's interesting how God put this topic in my heart in a big way. Both Conundrum and Intended for Harm are hugely about the experience of having or not having a father in one's life. Yet, the truth is, growing up, I hardly ever thought about it. Not having a father around was very normal for me. When I went to my friends' houses, I rarely saw their fathers, who were either away at work or sequestered in a quiet room in the house far from the noisy kids. So fathers, to me, were fairly nebulous, absent figures.

In earlier posts, I talked about how God gave me the assignment to write Conundrum--which is nearly an autobiography about my father's mysterious death in 1961. To me, it's an unsolved mystery, and although I even researched into it and visited my uncle, whom I hadn't seen since I was ten, I learned nothing that could shed light on how he had died. (You'll have to read the book to see how strange the circumstances were.) But throughout the book, my protagonist, Lisa, explores feelings foreign to her--what having a dad must be like, and what she missed out on. By the end of the book, she comes to feel she finally knows much about this man, but in my life, I draw a big blank.

Which leads me to my latest book: Intended for Harm. I had thought all I was doing was telling a modern-day story of Joseph from the Bible. I had planned to explore the effects of merged marriages and favoritism and abandonment. But God kept pulling me to pay attention to something else. And that was the role of Jacob as a father, in light of his mistreatment by his own father, Isaac. And all this comes front and center in the book as Jacob (Jake) cannot fathom the concept of a father God who cares about him.

I spoke to many who had been raised by absent, abusive, or mean fathers. I began to learn that many people, men especially, have a very hard time accepting God as a father because their own father represents a negative figure. When I talked to a good friend about how she could always be so trusting and positive that God loved her so much and cared about her life, she told me she was raised by an amazing father--one who loved, accepted, and encouraged her throughout her childhood. Transferring that concept over to our heavenly Father was no problem for her. Her trust comes naturally. but it doesn't for many of us. All I had was a critical mother who betrayed and emotionally battered me and my children. She was not a father figure, but she was a parental figure, and so I found that much of my insecurity and sense of unworthiness in God's sight came from her mistreatment of me.

If you were raised by a loving father, give thanks. Tell him how much you love him, and realize he is precious. I wish I had a father I could say those things to. You, in essence, have a "father along" as you journey farther along life's path, which is a sweet gift. Now, at this time in my life, I feel the absence of a father more than I did as a child. I do believe I will see my real father in the next world, as I understand he accepted Jesus right before he died of leukemia, which in itself is an amazing story (for a very devout Jew in hospice in a Catholic hospital). I learned a lot through this exploration of fathers and God as Father. I hope that the deep, troubled feelings my characters process as they deal with their fathers or lack thereof will bring encouragement, enlightenment, and gratitude for the best father in the universe--our Creator and Father of the celestial lights.

Happy Father's Day!

Using a Cinematic Lens in Writing a Novel ~ Part 1

2011-05-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

We just covered a few sessions on first scene structure, and there is so much more to that. However, since I'm gearing up to start teaching workshops at conferences this summer and fall on screenwriting-related topics, I thought I'd share some of the techniques I'll be teaching on. In particular, how to utilize camera direction in your novel to make it dynamic and physically "moving" as opposed to static, which is often the case in scene structure.

Having been raised by a prominent screenwriter/TV producer, I was surrounded by piles of scripts in my house. Even though I read a lot of books as a kid, I probably read just as many screenplays. My mother was often story editor on TV shows (like Mod Squad) or the principal writer/producer/creator (The Rookies, Flamingo Road, The Doctors, Peyton Place, and the list could fill a page). My first job at age ten was collating my mother's Doctors' scripts, which required my pulling out the messy sheets of carbon papers from between the typewritten (yes, using a manual typewriter) pages of script. Each half-hour episode would be about thirty pages, and I had to put the four final copies together for five shows a week, month after month, for my mother to mail to NY from CA.

The first proposal I submitted was at about age twelve, with a story pitch for the show called The Woman from U.N.C.L.E. I still have the rejection letter from the producer--my first of many to come over the years. Although I worked on projects with my mother in developing ideas for TV Movies-of-the-Week MOW) and series "Bibles" (6-12 months' plotting for the show) for which I actually got paid, I never did write a script that sold. My brother went on to become one of Hollywood's top TV screenwriters and will go down in infamy as the man who "shot JR" the years he produced and wrote for Dallas. (Yes, he came up with the idea and wrote the script, never thinking it would become such hot stuff.)

I say all this as a preface to the following material. When you are raised on TV sets and reading scripts your whole life, your writing is greatly influenced by this visual medium. I once had my high school English teacher tell me, "If you can visualize what you are writing as a movie, you will write well." Sol Stein says in his book On Writing: “Twentieth-century readers, transformed by film and TV, are used to seeing stories. The reading experience for a twentieth-century reader is increasingly visual. The story is happening in front of his eyes."

So, writers today are being told "show, don't tell." Those long pages of narrative we used to see in best-selling novels are a thing of the past. You will still see some impressive narration in literary novels today, and a terrific writer can paint evocative and gripping images that tells rather than shows, but for most writers, their books are going to flop if they cannot create scenes that are visually stirring, visceral, emotive, and dynamic. One of the main ways to achieve this is by using camera techniques in your writing.

Since I've used up quite a bit of space just in the intro here, I won't go too deep in this first post about camera technique, but what I plan to do is explore some of the camera angles used in film and show how you can translate that into your novel in a visual way. We are going to look at stationary angles like close-up (CU) shots, establishing shots (ES), Insert, montage, series of shots, and long shots (LS). We are also going to look at moving camera directives such as zoom, pan, angle on, follow, find, and pull back. Once you learn to see your scenes as if you are the director and you specifically choose camera angles and techniques to play out your scene, you will have a whole new perspective on writing.

I often have people say to me, "I could just picture your book as a movie the whole time I was reading it." That doesn't necessarily mean it's a great book when someone says that. But for me, it validates the way I write and the deliberateness of how I write. Before I write every scene, I picture the different camera angles I might use in order to achieve the specific result I want--to make the reader notice what I want her to see, and at the pace I want her to see it.

Once you learn about these techniques, when you read a novel you will be stuck by how many writers write scenes that are flat, have no movement, and feel as if they are being shot from across a room without any dynamism.You will often see two people in conversation in a close up where the camera never moves. The reader often ends up bored without knowing why.

I'm hoping to shake up your world a little with this material, to get you to see how to see your scenes in a new way. I believe once you start practicing these techniques, you will find yourself getting excited and innovated by your burgeoning imagination as you start to see how you can make your scenes much more powerful and evocative. So we'll dig in next time. And if you have a hankering to come to the Kentucky Christian Writers' Conference June 24-25 in Elizabethtown, you can take the complete workshop on this topic. Hope to see you there!

First Scene Essentials ~ Part Two

2011-03-25T05:43:00.000-07:00

To briefly review what I introduced last month, I'll mention the first important elements again (and if you want more elaboration, retrieve that blog entry and peruse it).

Some of the main points discussed involved picking just the right starting place to begin your book. This means the story starts in present action, in the middle of something happening, with your POV character right in the situation and revealing her (or his) fears, dreams, needs, or goals and the obstacle that is in the way and presenting a problem. The visible "goal" of your protagonist needs to be revealed in some measure in the first few pages, and what we'll explore today is the need to establish both the plot question and the spiritual question your book is raising.

You may not have a deeply themed book, but there must be some reason you are writing this story. What is it about? If you were asked, "Why did you write this book?" (and spend months, maybe years of your life doing so!), how would you answer? Hopefully, there is a specific thing you want to say to your readers. It doesn't have to be a "message" or sermon on life, but every story deals with themes on one level or another, and your views as a writer will come through the story, sometimes whether you intend it or not. Better to begin a book with intention--intending to say something and leave your readers with that "take-home" thought when they read the last line and close the book. This ties in with your MDQ or major dramatic query.
I've never seen in any book on writing a novel the importance of setting up your dramatic query or question regarding plot alongside the protagonist's spiritual question. This is something I gleaned from Davis Bunn's intensive workshop at Mount Hermon two years ago. Learning this was a revelation to me, and took my writing to a much higher level. Now, with every novel I write, I begin with this.

The MDQ or major dramatic query is a yes-or-no question you ask at the start of the book. It's a question that MUST be addressed in the first scene, as it sets the stage for the entire novel. It is also called (by Michael Hague) the "visible goal" or plot goal. Your question may be "Will Mary save her brother before he kills himself?" or "Will Frodo destroy the ring and save Middle Earth before Sauron gets his hands on it?" or "Will Dorothy make it back to Kansas or be stuck with those munchkins for the rest of her life?" You get the idea. The are only a few variations of this plot question and they involve the character either getting something or somewhere, saving someone, finding something, or escaping something. Now, the answer that you reveal at the end of the book can be either yes or no. Maybe Dorothy will, after all, end up living in munchkin land, but she might enjoy it, and find her true path to happiness there. You're the writer; it's your choice.

But now we turn to another MDQ, and that's the spiritual question. It's a little harder to pinpoint, but it reveals the heart of your character and the heart of your story. Without it, you might have an exciting plot but will anyone really care about the story, or even read it to the end? Without a spritual question for your protagonist, the answer may be no. When I say "spiritual" question, I am not talking about faith or faith-based stories. Every good story has one. A question that involves the character's spirit--her heart--is what we're concerned with.
Think about Frodo. His MDQ spiritual question might be: "Will Frodo be able to live with himself and his world by the end of the book if he makes the choice to undertake his journey?" or "Will Frodo find peace and inner joy through his journey to destroy the ring, even if it kills him?" Dorothy's spiritual question might be: "Will Dorothy find her place in the world, feel she fits in, feel at home somewhere?" Think about how these spiritual MDQs are raised at the start of the stories, alongside the plot MDQs. Now, what it crucial to realize is that BOTH questions get answered AT THE SAME TIME AND IN THE SAME SCENE at the end of the book! This is amazing, and when done well, makes your book a winner. Dorothy gets home (plot) but at the same time she realizes she's always been home; that here, with Aunty Em, is where her heart truly lives (spiritual).

So before you even start writing (or if you are partway through your novel, stop and consider), write down your two MDQs--the plot and spiritual questions you need to raise in the first scene that will be answered in one of the last scenes in your book. This is what should shape and give impetus to your entire novel--these questions. Your plot arc and character arcs will all begin and end based on these questions. They seem simple, but the reader needs to know what they are. This doesn't mean you state them blatantly (although in my novel Conundrum, I decided to actually have my main character, Lisa, in first person, ask the MDQ in her head--literally and exactly word for word. That worked for my book, and it sure left no confusion on the reader's part as to what the novel was about and what Lisa's plot and spiritual questions were).
So ponder awhile on this, and if you have any questions or need help on determining your MDQs, drop me a line and I'll help (cslakin@gmail.com). Once you get the hang of setting up your novel at the start with these important elements, it will make writing your book that much easier. The MDQs become a beacon of light that guides your protagonist on her long, dark journey to the end of the story.

First Scene Essentials ~ Part One

2011-03-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

Because I read hundreds of first chapters of novels a year as a writing coach and copyeditor, I've been compiling my list of essentials for a first scene. When you think of all you have to accomplish in the first few pages of a novel, you really understand how writing a great first scene requires numerous hours of study, practice, and concentration. It takes examining successful, long-lasting novels to see how that first scene was constructed. Have you ever read a first chapter that took your breath away? Made you cry? Shocked you? If you can accomplish an emotional reaction in your reader that quickly--hopefully by a quick attachment to your protagonist--half your battle is won.

Without sending you into cardiac arrest by listing nearly twenty important items you need in that first scene, I'm going to concentrate on some important ones--the ones that really need to be considered. Some of them are essential "do-nots." And the first one you may already know (but often feel so tempted to fall back on): No back-story.

Okay, we've heard that forever. But it's true. In order to start your story with a punch and draw your reader in, you need to construct a scene happening right here and now (or with something in the past, like a historical, right then and now). Regardless of the semantics here, you get the point. Some writing instructors say things like "no back-story in the first fifty pages." Some editors will be so bold as to say they would be happy if they saw NONE in the entire book. Maybe that won't quite work for your book, but it's safe to say that countless scenes start with a line or two in the present and then, whoosh! There you are reading about the character's early life or marriage or something she did right before the scene started. Which should make you ask...

Are you really starting your story in the right place? More often than not, the answer is no. That's what second and third drafts are for--throwing out your first scene or two. Most of the books I read don't "get going" until page twenty. All that up-front explaining, narrative, setting up the scene, etc., was all great back in Dickens's time (A Tale of Two Cities, for example). But we don't do that anymore. TV, movies, and video games have changed the modern reader's tastes and they want cinematic writing (so says Donald Maass in The Fire in the Fiction).

So how do you avoid the dreaded info dump and back-story? Think about the emotion, feeling, or sensation you want to evoke in your reader. You want to put them in a mood right away. You want to be specific to generate that mood, which means bringing in all the senses and showing your character in the middle of a situation, right off the bat.

And that's the next essential element: establishing immediately (did I say immediately?) the drives, desires, needs, fears, frustrations of your protagonist. Not only do you need to show her in conflict, in the midst of an inciting incident, but you need to reveal her heart, hint at her spiritual need, show her vulnerability, and what obstacles are standing in her way. In the first scene? Oh yes. Yes.

On top of all this, you must give the reader some idea of what the book is about--the theme or point--what they are getting into and why they should care. A tall order? You bet. But think--why are you writing this story anyway? What is the one thought, message, idea, conclusion, or feeling you want your readers to take home with them when they finish reading your book and set it down? Whatever that is should be set up in the first few pages, even if just a hint of a promise of what to expect. If your book is about forgiveness, then something about forgiveness or lack thereof must be an important element of your opening scene.

So, once you have all this in mind, think what scene would best set up your premise, plot arc, character arc, theme, and mood. You may have to write a bunch of different first chapters, as I sometimes do. Sometimes it's not until you near the end of writing your book do you get the right idea for the opening scene. You might be like John Irving, who starts every novel with the last line of his book and works backwards (yes, he does!). But he's onto something there--do you see? He knows exactly where he wants his readers to end up--plotwise and theme-wise. He already knows the end of the story and the take-home feeling he wants to evoke, so he sets about figuring how to lead that back to the start. Maybe that technique will work for you.

I'll go more into detail later this month about first chapters and all the structural elements that need to be set up. But for now, think about the heart of your story and the heart of your character. Once you find a way to put her heart right out there from line one, in a scene that throws her at odds with her world and shows how she reacts, you are on your way.

Intention as a Theme

2011-02-01T08:43:00.001-08:00

As I begin the upward climb to the big finale of my latest novel, Intended for Harm, I've been dwelling more and more on the themes of the book and how to bring them out in a powerful way. As with all my books, I am prompted to write this particular story because a key idea drives me--whether it be about jealousy, revenge, greed, grief, or betrayal. Intended for Harm, a modern-day story of Jacob and his family, is all about the wounds we receive in life (emotionally) and the lies we come to believe as a result.

Each of my nine main characters--Jake, his first and second wives, his six children--have suffered, much as we all do in life. I always aim for a psychological study of human nature--what are our core needs and what happens when those needs aren't met. With more than 400 pages written so far, I've come to care so much about these wounded, hurting people and have found my title (reflecting my main theme) becoming an interesting concept to ponder.

The title of the book comes from Genesis 50:20: "What you intended for harm, God intended for good, for the saving of life..." This is a little bit of tweaking on my part, but the gist is there. We often look at the hurtful experiences in our lives as harmful, and they are. They hurt. And sometimes the person doling out the hurt does intend our harm. There's no denying that is a reality in our world, in our fallen state.

But God is above our petty, sinful nature. He is perfect, omniscient, and leads us for our good. Most of us are familiar with the verse in Romans 8 that says all things work for the good of those who love God. We read in Hebrews 12 how he disciplines us for our good. Good things come from endurance; suffering builds character.

I've been thinking about intention. Human intention versus divine intention. How God never intends harm. He knows the plans he has for us, to give us a future and a hope, for good and not for harm. God intends good things for us, but sometimes, like the Bible says, we direct our own steps and come to harm. Which gets me thinking about my own actions and the intentions behind them. When I speak or act, what exactly are my intentions? Are they to honor and lift up God? Are they to encourage others and help them? Or are they self-serving, stemming from pride, a need for attention, or a desire to push ahead of another?

It was God's intention from the beginning of time to provide a way out of sin and death, and everything he did as time moved forward was meant to realize that intention, culminating at the cross. If we truly believe God intends good for us, shouldn't that shift the way we see trials and disappointments in our lives? If we know, in the long run, that God intends us to become more like his son, so that we can live with him forever in perfect love and gratitude, shouldn't we think a bit before complaining about our life?

I know I have a lot to learn to get to a place of acceptance. I still grumble, worry, experience envy and disappointment. But under it all, I know God is doing a work in me, however painful, and his intention is for my good, not my harm. If I can remember this each day, my path will feel smoother and my trust and appreciation will grow. That is my prayer today for us all.

Not-so-sudden Flash about Sudden Fiction

2010-12-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

I've been enjoying this strange, intriguing journey of writing short scenes in my new novel, Intended for Harm, inspired by a book I had read many years ago: Palm in the Hand stories by Japanese Nobel laureate Kawabata. When I began plotting out my novel and knew I had to unveil a family drama over a period of forty years, I saw immediately how to construct it--inspired by Kawabata's intriguing style of creating complete short stories that filled roughly one page.

I've always loved short stories and admired the craft. Writing a short story is much harder than a novel; you have to boil down everything you mean to say and imply in the fewest words possible. Flannery O'Connor, Raymond Carver, and Alice Munroe are my top favorites; they are able to capture a slice of life in a short scene that tells so much more than is put in words. Implication, to me, is the most powerful and artful way of writing, and so I envisioned my novel as comprising each year as a chapter, with a handful of short scenes that would cover about fifteen minutes of time--my version of a palm in the hand story.

Silly me--I had thought Kawabata was the creator of such an amazing idea. I didn't know that authors like Hemingway, Vonnegut, Kafka, and Chekhov had also written in this manner on occasion. And I didn't even know that the current rages of "flash fiction" and "sudden fiction" were describing this very thing. I looked up these terms and discovered flash fiction is usually for a short piece between 300-1000 words, whereas sudden fiction is over 1000 words. Maybe sudden implies a longer lengthy moment than flash. Not sure who came up with these definitions, but the term "flash fiction" is thought to have been coined by the 1992 anthology of that name.

Of course, my scenes are not exactly sudden fiction, since they are not complete stories in themselves, but I do try to create the sense that each scene is a complete vignette or slice of life in itself. The challenge for me is to come up with an ordinary moment, not a string of key, suspenseful, benchmark moments in the lives of the Abrams family. Rather, I want to take a slice out life, fifteen minutes out of an ordinary day, and reveal the emotional landscape of the characters at that moment. Sure, I am putting in conflict, unspoken needs, hidden fears, unvoiced dreams. But instead of a continuity of time, where one scene generally flows close in time out of the previous, all these scenes are separated by many months. Which creates a huge writing challenge. The tendency for many writers would be to slop up the scenes with massive amounts of back story to catch the reader up to the present moment. but that would weigh down the story and defeat the whole structure. Instead, it takes careful thought to move the reader along through the years at a fast clip, building character arcs and aging characters, yet keeping some sort of flow to the whole thread stitching it together. Needless to say, it's a great challenge but seems to be working.

I would encourage readers to pick up Kawabata's book and read these beautiful tales so full of life, pain, and poignancy. In a hurry-up world, it makes sense that flash fiction has come into vogue, with its many online ezines and other outlets for writers to post their stories. Again, I will reiterate my belief (and maybe some of you are tiring of hearing it)--more isn't necessarily better. In fact, less is almost always more. if you can learn how to be succinct and moving by trimming to to the bare essence of a thought, a moment, a glance, you can produce a powerful effect. Sometimes just a few words can have more force than 1,000. So think, mull, choose carefully. find the best word, the best phrase, the best paragraph to say what you mean. And then say it in less words. Perhaps if all writers wrote one short piece of flash fiction each week, and then polished it to perfection, it would help train us to be better word handlers, and not just throw out the first things that come to mind onto the page--which are almost always dull, cliche, and uninspired.

That Controversial Topic: Word Count

2010-11-20T02:28:00.000-08:00

From time to time I make a comment on Facebook about Word Count. Granted--and I need to get this out of the way first--some authors are under contract. Some very much need to schedule themselves to write a certain amount of words each day in order to meet a pressing deadline. I get that. Although I will still argue that's a skewed way to look at writing a novel. Why not make it a goal to complete one scene or chapter a day? That's how I set my writing goals, but I will now explain why I don't worry too much about sticking to them.

I try very hard to steer as far away from word count observances as possible. Sure, from time to time I check my word count. It helps me to see, when I think I'm halfway through a novel, just how many words I may end up with. My novels range from 75k words to 130k words. This new WIP is looking like it's going to far pass any previous books in word count. But that doesn't matter at all. A book should be as long as it is supposed to be to tell the story properly.

I have some strong sentiments about the whole word count issue, and they are pretty negative. Why? Because we live in a world that puts emphasis always on quantity, not quality. More is better. And even more is even more better. Writers tend to brag and compete. "I wrote five thousand words today." "I wrote five thousand words today standing on my head and cooking a gourmet dinner for eighteen people." And so it goes. How does it make most normal non-superman-type writers feel? Just plain lousy.

Another thing: It's not just society, but our churches have, sadly, become works-driven. You are a good Christian if you can write a long list of all the "things" you do to prove you are faithful. I enjoyed listening recently to a CD on this topic. The speaker asked a number of old-time, very faithful believers what they would say to God when they got to heaven when he asked this question: "Why should I let you in?" Believe it or not, yes, these people all answered with variations of the same answer: "Oh, well, I've been attending church faithfully for sixty years. I led Bible study for decades. I supported missionaries and donated to xxx causes..."

Horrors! Do you see the problem here? And the very wrong answer. There is only one correct answer as to why God should allow you, me, or anyone into his kingdom, and that is this: "Jesus died for my sins and paid the entrance price. I do not, on my own merit or because of anything I did, deserve to be here."

What does this have to do with word count? I am not going to stand at heaven's gate and say to God: "Well, I wrote an average of 3,000 words a day, to prove I was faithful." Do you really think God cares about your word count? What if you feel called to write, but it takes you a lifetime to pull together a short little story that burns on your heart to write? That must mean you have failed! This nanowrimo month, although a good exercise in discipline (National Novel Writing Month, where you commit to writing an entire novel in the month of November), is only more grist for the grinding mill--the mill that grinds your soul and creativity into a million little pieces.

I can't tell you how relieved I felt when listening to two hugely successful best-selling, Pulitzer-prize-winning authors at the Book Expo in New York who said that they took 4-5 years to write each book. That made me feel good. I had been writing a very difficult novel and it was stretching into a full year to complete. I felt like I was slipping. But I needed a lot of time to think and plot out the story. And this is my last beef about word count.

I have heard many writers say that the important thing is just to write. Make yourself sit down each day and push yourself to write something. That if you just keep writing thousands and thousands of words, inspiration will follow. I completely disagree. I've noticed that writers who pump out thousands of words end up having very little of interest to say. Again, it's quantity over quality. I will say again for the thousandth time: I would rather write one beautiful, powerful, moving sentence than 5,000 boring, nothing words that don't reach a reader's heart.

It would be nice to believe that inspiration and beautiful, powerful writing can be accessed like a water pump--just turn it on full bore and let it gush, and at some point something good will spill out. Then you can throw out most of the other stuff and keep the good stuff. I rarely hear anyone talk about mulling, thinking, musing, ideating. I remember reading how Tony Hillerman often lay on his couch for hours with his eyes closed. That was the bulk of his work. I am much the same way, but instead of lying on the couch, I take long walks, talk out my plots and ideas and characters, sometimes in prayer with God, other times just talking out loud to myself somewhere secluded where no one but my dog hears me (and he doesn't mind).

I would like to encourage all the writers out there to stop and think. Yes, spend more time thinking. Avoid using those distasteful words (word count) and focus more on quality, on planning, on letting ideas simmer. And when you sit down and write, don't set some arbitrary goal of how many words you should stuff in your document. Aim to write with passion and concentration, with sincerity and significance, slowly, deliberately. And if all that comes out of the effort is one great sentence or paragraph, allow yourself to see that it a great end goal.

Sometimes more is said with less. In fact, I truly believe absolutely: more is better said with less words. The right words. Take time to chew your words, taste them, spit out the ones that aren't just right and only settle for a sentence that says exactly what you want it to say. You may not get it first time around, in a first draft, but don't zoom through, typing away. Stop and ponder what you are trying to say, how you want it to sound. Let the spirit fill and lift you as you write, for if you zoom ahead mindlessly, you leave the spirit behind. And it will show.

Intended for Harm

2010-11-16T14:07:00.000-08:00

Intended for Harm. That's the title and theme of my new novel. I'm now about fifty thousand words into it, but have only just begun this family saga. As always, I learn a lot as a book progresses. It's as if while I write, its secrets begin to spill out. Not just characters' secrets, but the subtext that probably comes from my subconscious. We are told to write what we are passionate about, and to create characters that have something to say or that portray something important.

I was given a huge burst of inspired creativity one afternoon as I sat on my deck overlooking the redwoods and the creek. I knew one of my characters--Leah--seemed a lot like water, and I started seeing images and qualities of water and how that metaphor fit her personality and behavior. It struck me at that moments that Jacob, too, had an "earth" quality--wood. Years ago I studied a bit about five elements acupuncture, and thought how treatment of illness was related to how balanced or imbalanced someone's elements were in relation to their health. There is a fascinating correlation to the natural elements, seasons, and cycles, and health. You can have too much metal or not enough fire. Suddenly, all nine of my characters could be associated with an element, and that element grew into a metaphor and symbolism for that character. Since I'm first a poet and love language and metaphor, this eye-opening idea flowed into pages of notes and now that I'm deep into the story, I've been discovering how these characters are entwined with their element.

People often ask writers how much of themselves they put into their characters and story. Apart from my mostly autobiographical novel Conundrum, I usually don't consciously put myself or those I know in my books. But of course, I draw from the hurt, frustration, and disappointment I've experienced in life. I've had dreams dashed, been betrayed by family, lost hope. I found it odd that Romantic Times, in giving Someone to Blame a glowing review, said the book was well-researched, which I suppose referred to to the topic of suicide and grief. I had another reviewer say I must have experienced this type of loss to have written it so well. But I haven't. I've known friends and family who have attempted and committed suicide, but I didn't research it, nor did I really think about those people. I think that an author who has experienced many different pains in life can pull from those experiences and morph them into different stories.

My high school English teacher told me all those decades ago that if you are a good actor and can immerse yourself in the role of your characters, you can be a terrific novelist. I think that's true. When I write in a character's point of view, I just let go of myself and become the character--feel and think the way they do. Although some friends have trouble doing this due to feeling tainted or spiritually attacked (regarding dark characters), I don't. I find it fascinating to delve into the psyche or mindset of a character, understand their motivations, fears, desperate needs. I always know I am not them, and the reason I am doing this is to create a moving, believable story.

So, those are my thoughts this day as I work on my novel. I'd love to hear what goes through your mind as you write and create memorable characters.

Partnering with God in Writing

2010-10-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

Here's the thing. I hear different opinions on this topic, but I've come up with my own intuitive and convicted understanding of how the gift and anointing of God works, at least as it pertains to writing. Perhaps the basic principles apply to other giftings as well.

An editing client of mine wrote me last week expressing concern over what she should do to try to sell her book. She felt guilty even querying an agent, for that seemed to her as if she was not trusting God to open the door for a book sale. It equated as lack of faith. She was confused, didn't know where to apply faith and how that should look.

I felt confused too when I started writing for God instead of for me. Just how much was my responsibility and how much was God's to get my books sold? If I self-published, was I copping out and exhibiting a lack of faith that God would open a bigger door that might allow my book to reach a wider audience? Or was the opposite true--was my holding out for a "real" publisher just arrogance on my part? (A good question for me, since I'd been trying for 23 years to get picked up by a royalty-paying publishing house.)

We who feel called to write and know we must, have little trouble deciphering the truthfulness of that call. We have to write. We can't NOT write. We also feel God leading us to write about certain things, in specific genres, or to a particular audience. Those nudges are often fairly clear. As I become more in tune with God's leading and rely on him more, those signals come across loud and clear. If you get to the point where you are looking to God to help you with every stage of the writing process, praying for his leading and inspiration, you will find he does show you just what you should be writing about.

But it gets a little fuzzy around the edges when we start trying to figure out the nuts and bolts of our efforts to sell and market our work. So many of my friends and clients tell me they only query one agent. Why? Because they feel guilty about querying more. Why? Because they feel maybe they are showing a lack of faith or are afraid they won't discern God's will. Here's what God showed me.

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon tells us to sow our seed day and night. For how can we know which one will sprout and grow, which one might produce fruit? The verse says "Don't let your hand rest." This does not conjure up a picture of a farmer heading out into his field and dropping one lone seed on the ground and then going inside to watch TV, trusting God will do a miraculous work and produce a hundredfold crop overnight, something like Jack's magic beans that grew into a beanstalk. No, the picture I get here is tireless, persistent, consistent effort, day in, day out, night and day (OK we're not talking workaholic here, but in planting season, you have a window of time in which to get all your seed planted and so you have to press hard until you've done all you can).

So, God showed me this Scripture early on when I wondered just what kind of effort I was to expend in trying to pitch, sell, and market my books. Instead of querying just one agent, I queried every single one I thought might like my books. I widened my range and threw my seeds wide, not knowing which ones God would make grow. I ended up unexpectedly with two terrific commercial agents (when no one in the Christian market would even read any of my work). I wouldn't have gotten these agents had I kept a narrow aim. I started attending writers' conferences, reading books and surfing the Web to find out what I could about publishers and editors who might like the kind of books I wrote.

God partners with us, and this is just one way. We put out the effort, he makes the seeds grow. He does expect us to do some of the work, not just write. How can he bless our efforts if we make no effort? We are not supposed to bury the talent in the ground but put it somewhere it will multiply and double. Granted, some of the seeds won't grow. But, as Solomon said, we don't know which ones will, so we have to do our diligence and let God do the rest. And there's always the caveat of balance. You still have to eat, do the laundry, take care of family responsibilities, help those in need. That's a given.

Partnering in this way is the same with actual writing, which I'll get into in the next post--how we hone our craft and bring to bear all our writer's tools, then watch the Holy Spirit step in as we write and work with us. Partnering with God is an amazing process. The more we let go, trust him, let him lead, and most importantly let go of our ambitions and pictures of what we think our writing career should look like, we get to see God maneuver events and people for his will to be done. I don't know about you, but it blows my mind to see God at work and I'm humbled to know he partners with me and uses me to accomplish amazing things. He rarely lets me in one his plan or time schedule but that's okay. When the surprises come down the pipe, it's a great praise to him. He knows from the beginning where we will go and our expected end. And I find that quite comforting.

The Heart of the Story

2010-10-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

I've been pondering lately about what makes a fantastic story, and also thinking a lot about the things Donald Maass discusses in his book The Fire in the Fiction. Because I want very much to reach my readers' hearts with powerful stories that will make them rethink their lives and values, I spend a lot of time considering the themes of the books I write, especially while in the planning stage.

I'm working on a new book entitled Intended for Harm, a modern-day interpretation of the story of Jacob and Joseph. I've always related to Joseph (read my blog entry on playing dominoes in jail with Joseph), since he too suffered a horrible family betrayal and also was so mistreated by so many people when all he wanted was to do good and please God.

So as I began plotting my new novel and all the pieces started falling into place, I kept asking myself: "Just what is the heart of this story?" "What am I really wanting the reader to think about and take away with them when they finish reading this book?" As I prayed about this, I kept getting tugged away from Joseph--who I thought all along this book would center on. God kept bringing me back to Jacob. "What about him?" I kept asking.

As with all my novels, I like to take as much time as needed to let ideas and themes grow organically in my mind and heart. I do not push myself to hurry and get a plot figured out or characters summed up easily. I mull over my ideas and characters sometimes for months until there is clarity of purpose. It feels as if I get given all the ingredients for a great soup, but I just don't have any idea of what I'm really making or what aftertaste will linger until I actually let the pot simmer for a long time and then taste it.

I finally got to the "aha" moment in developing this book when I realized it was about Jacob I was meant to explore. Here was a young man despised by his father. His father preferred his twin brother, and he made no attempt to hide it. Jacob hung out with his mother, and was a more sensitive son. But I saw in my Jacob a man who runs away from his past steeped in confusion and lacking peace. For, men who have abusive or absent fathers consistently struggle with believing in a God who could truly love and accept them for who they are.

This became a huge revelation to me as I discussed my book idea with others. God connected me with people who had the same story of the husband or father or brother. I began to see this almost-epidemic situation of men who could not and did not believe God loved them because of being unable to relate to a loving father figure (and often these men have mothers who are overbearing and judgmental).

My Jacob, then, wrestles with God--not in the way the biblical Jacob did, but in the way that is too prevalent today--wrestling with the concept and acceptance of a God who loves them. Especially when things go wrong in life, when dreams fail and tragedy strikes, this ugly lie of the enemy powerfully sinks deep into the heart of men who fear judgment and who feel they can never measure up. Despite knowing what the Bible says, despite realizing their feelings are completely unscriptural. Those things don't matter. What is experienced in the heart forms the truth of their perception. I know now it is time to dig in and write the book. I know exactly what story God wants me to tell.

I had this image yesterday appear in my mind--of the earth's fiery molten core. How the outer landscape of the surface of our planet has been molded and shaped by the activity of the core's heat. Our stories on the outside, on the surface of our plots, show a landscape of life. there are valleys and mountains, deserts and prolific forests. Yet, what creates all the diverse terrain is the hot core, a place that burns so hot it would melt everything in proximity.

That is how I see a powerful book, one that has fire in the fiction. The deep core of our stories must burn with heat, with passion to tell something important. That is--if it's important to you to tell those kinds of stories, the life-changing kinds. From the great burning unquenchable fire springs forth all the elements of a beautiful story--what we read on the surface. But when a writer truly taps into that fire and lets it be the force the molds and forms the landscape of her story, it will be a powerful one indeed.

Microtension adds a FACElift to your writing - Part 3

2010-08-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

I've been discussing the elusive concept of microtension--making every word enticing, every phrase evocative. Microtension makes your novel stand out among a crowd of well-written but mostly prosaic construction. How many times have you read a book that is structured well, has pretty interesting characters, a compelling plot--yet reads flat and same-old same-old? It happens to me weekly. In fact, nine out of ten novels I read I have a hard time finishing, even if all the right elements are in place--just because the writing is mundane, boring, or predictable.

In the first two blogs on the topic, we looked at the F in FACElift--fresh. One component of beautiful microtension line by line in a book is trying to make each sentence fresh, new, different, giving a glimpse of the world through your character's eyes that's just a bit different. I liked Donald Maass's explanation in his workshop of how you can have a character relate to her setting in a special way. Have her see something differently than anyone else would, even subtle things like the quality of light, or notice an object that seems insignificant but has great symbolism to her.

Today we're looking at the A in FACElift--authentic. I originally thought artistic would be a better choice, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized authenticity is what really clinches the relationship between reader and author. Authenticity is all about being real--having characters that have an honest, revealing look at life and themselves. And it's also a quality of the writing itself, which is not easily explained. Instead of talking at the reader, telling them what is happening, how someone is feeling, great microtension is shown in an authentic presentation of information. It comes across often raw, poignant, bare, void of pretentiousness.

There's a great moment in Lisa Samson's book Quaker Summer, where her protagonist, a rich, sheltered Christian woman, has volunteered to help paint an urban kitchen, her first attempt at volunteering to help those less fortunate. She's wearing expensive clothes and so the director of the facility shows her a box of clean, used clothes in which she can find something to wear to paint in. The thoughts that go through this woman's head are simple, but so raw and honest, they have stuck with me for over a year after reading the book. She fingers the clothes, knowing they are clean, yet she senses their contamination. They've been worn by dirty people. Poor people. Black people. At this realization, her character is struck by her own bigotry and hypocrisy. It's a tremendously powerful moment and all written in very short simple sentences. Yet, the moment is empowered with microtension through this authenticity.

I just finished reading a terrific best seller: The Art of Racing in the Rain. What makes this book so rightly deserving of acclaim is the great authenticity of the character's voice and the author's writing style. Enzo is one of the most real human voices I've read--honest, humble, spontaneous. And this is a strange thing to be saying because Enzo is a dog. Yes, a dog tells this story about his master, Denny, whose life completely goes to ruin around him and yet conquers through adversity--all with Enzo at his side. There are such fantastic moments in the writing, where we sense Enzo's honesty--his self-denigration ("Sometimes I hate what I am so much"), his frustration at not having opposable thumbs so he can get out of the house and not starve from neglect (not Denny's fault), and his utter joy in the thrill of running. I cried so much at the end of this book, not because I'm sentimental about dogs (I am), but because Enzo's humanness and authenticity struck at my heart, showing me the beauty and pain of being human on this earth.

If we writers can capture that kind of honest authenticity in our writing--through our characters' thoughts and through narration--our writing will shine. Look at your work and examine the quality of authenticity. See where you can rewrite to be more human. If Garth Stein can do it with a dog, then it can certainly be done with actual human characters.

Next month we'll look at C for clever and how to make your sentences clever without being corny.

Microtension Gives Your Writing a FACElift

2010-06-01T18:56:00.001-07:00

Thus we move off the theme of themes and into something nebulous that agent Donald Maass touts as essential if you want your book to sizzle. I looked up numerous articles about microtension to see if I could glean more on the topic other than what I heard straight from the master's mouth at his Fire in the Fiction workshop a few months back. As a result, I've come up with my own exploration of the topic.

Microtension--what is it? It's a line-by-line tension in your writing that, according to Maass, has nothing specifically to do with voice, writing style, plot, structure, or frankly anything you could call a component of writing. It is both a bit elusive and illusive. But I know great microtension when I see it and it transcends genre. As in all fantasy worlds, the only way to see a mysterious phantasm clearly is to glance at it askew. So I've come up with four main points that I feel will get a writer closer to grasping the nuance of microtension. A FACElift for your writing: F for fresh. A for artistic. C for clever. And E for evocative.

In this post, I'll talk about the letter F. Fresh:

What makes writing fresh? Break it down. What makes a sentence fresh? When you read a fresh sentence, you pause and say "Ah!" This is not due to a revealing plot point but more in line with a beautiful turn of phrase. It's taking an ordinary sentence or paragraph and giving it a fresh approach. How do you do that? There are many ways. I agree with Donald Maass that the true heart of great writing is when the author gets deep in touch with his/her own heart. It may be difficult to bring in your passion to every line you write, but why not? Why settle for a bland, mediocre sentence? Why settle for a boring word or passive sentence structure with a lot of weak words that clutter up your intent? This is NOT to say you should replace every simple word with a $50 word. If you do that, your writing will smack of pretentiousness. I can almost always tell a writer's first novel by how many words I have to look up or are used incorrectly for some magical effect that falls flat. A simple word is not often a boring word. In fact, sometimes the more simple a word, the more powerful. Less is always more. Trust me. It is.

I'd like to give some examples of beautiful, fresh writing that creates microtension. Simple language with fresh approach. Of course, this spills over into our other three points of artistic, clever, and evocative, but once we are done with all four letters, you will see they make a kind of soup. And a great soup is a conglomeration of wonderful spices and vegetables and meat, creating a taste sensation that you often can't define into its separate bits. So it is with great microtensioin. It is all four of these things, but they are each uniquely specific.

Here's a bit from Pat Conroy's The Prince of Tides. Opening lines. That's often where you will fine a fresh bit of microtension. But I'll give you some other lines from the middle of the book, just to show how it can and must weave through your writing like a golden thread.

"My wound is geography. It is also my anchorage, my port of call. I grew up slowly beside the tides and marshes of Colleton; my arms were tawny and strong from working long days on the shrimp boat in the blazing South Carolina heat. Because I was a Wingo, I worked as soon as I could walk; I could pick a blue crab clean when I was five. I had killed my first deer by the age of seven, and at nine was regularly putting meat on my family's table."

Simple words, but fresh. How? Conroy tells us so much in the first five sentences of this story. Every word counts. He sets a mood, creates a history, implies something wrong [the word wound], and paints pictures that tumble off the page and sweep us into his story.

Here are some other lines from this book [they are a bit graphic and are spoilers, so continue with care]:

"Floyd Merlin backed up, firing, screaming. All pandemonium was loose in that house, and the smell of death and the sweet odor of brain and the radio playing a song by Jerry Lee Lewis made Floyd Merlin know just before he died that they had chosen wrong when they chose the house of Wingo."

"Then my family fell apart . . . and the radio played on without the slightest trace of pity . . .In less than a minute we had killed the three men who had brought ruin and havoc to our home, and established their incumbency in the heedless ordinance of nightmare. In our sleep they would rise from the dust of our terror and rape us a thousand times again. In immortal grandeur they would reassemble their torn bodies and burst into our rooms like evil khans, marauders, and conquerors, and we, again, would smell their breath in ours and feel our clothes ripped away from our bodies. Rape is a crime against sleep and memory; its afterimage imprints itself like an irreversible negative from the camera obscura of dreams. Through our lives these three dead and slaughtered men would teach us over and over of the abidingness, the terrible constancy that accompanies a wound to the spirit."

Conroy could have only played out the dreadful scene--which he did in breathtaking and horrifying fashion--but he then had his protagonist, Tom Wingo, process what his family had just endured. Tom's observations are stark honest and raw. Fresh. And, of course, it is the author's storytelling we are experiencing--writing that grips you with every word. It is fresh in it's style, its voice, and its narrative. sure, it is also artistic, evocative, and clever. But when you read fresh writing, you feel as if you have never read anything quite like it before. The writing sinks deep into your soul and awakens something that seems to lay dormant most of the time. Fresh stirs.

We'll look at another great writer of "fresh"--John Le Carre, in The Constant Gardener, in the next post.

Conundrum

2010-01-28T10:48:00.000-08:00

I feel like I just got off a roller coaster. The ground is still shaky--and so am I. Finishing Conundrum, my ninth novel, was an extremely hard accomplishment. The writing aspects of it weren't any more difficult than my other novels, albeit the many plotlines and timelines were a bit complex. But the emotional journey sure had its ups and downs. Because I drew so much from my past, my dysfunctional family, and the hardest and most painful time in my life, I had to wrestle throughout most of my writing with staying both absorbed and detached as I wrote.

The best writing comes from drawing from our hearts--emotions, feelings, memories--and infusing our stories with these elements so that a richness of story comes across. I struggled daily with allowing myself to dive deeply into pain. I needed to draw from that well to tell my story, but I also needed to insulate myself from the piercing coldness that ached and threatened to hinder my ability to write objectively--which is needed when dealing with the nuts and bolts of basic story-telling. I did not want to rant, gush, or whine, nor did I want my protagonist (a lot like me!) to do likewise.

Exploring the themes of my novel, though, helped me in many ways. I was able to distance myself from my entire betrayal experience and look at it from many angles. I was forced to tear apart all the different converging and muddled emotions and study each one. Where had the pain and hurt come from and why? What did I learn? My theme was truth--can it be found? Was it worth pursuing? What if uncovering truth hurt others or self in the process? It was an interesting theme to explore and expose. We have been taught that a search for truth is not only noble but essential for emotional and spiritual well-being. Yet, sometimes truth is a matter of perspective. And sometimes uncovering lies while searching for truth is a bit like hefting massive boulders out of a hole and then dumping them on your feet--or on someone else's.

My father's death remains an enigma. I may never know how or why he acquired leukemia after wishing himself to die. It posed an intriguing conundrum for me, as I had rarely ever thought of my father throughout my life. My protagonist, Lisa, was able to lure out hidden memories of her father, and in her search for truth, felt a connection with this man who had died when she was four. That didn't happen for me, although my research sent me to NY where I reunited with my uncle after forty years and listened to amazing stories about my father. My uncle gave me a handwritten letter my father wrote shortly before he died--the bulk of which is part of my novel. His handwriting eerily looks just like mine.

It may take a long time for me to process what I learned on this journey. I wanted to create a book that also showed how right it is to separate from toxic family members. So many people have experienced betrayal at the hands of loved ones, but, out of some sense of obligation, continue to pursue relationships with them, which are harming them beyond belief. Jesus told us not to give what is holy to the dogs, or throw our pearls before swine. God showed me that our personal integrity, dignity, and self-respect are precious pearls and we must not let others trample them and us. Jesus said people like that will turn and rip you to pieces. And they will, should you give them the chance.

This does not mean we are unforgiving. We love and forgive and pray for salvation for those who have betrayed us. But God directed me to write this novel for a reason, which, I believe, is to assure those who are suffering that it is not only all right but essential to cut such poisonous people from our lives in order to survive and thrive. And we have children who likewise need to be protected.

My prayer is that this book will be an inspiration and provide healing and encouragement for many. It is brimming with conflict and pain, but it is also hopeful and full of healing. I grumbled a lot when given this "assignment," but I know, in the end, it will bless someone. Maybe even me.

Writing Themes-Slicker than Slick

2009-09-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

As we continue the topic of using universal themes in writing, here's another movie just chock full of 'em. Not many comedy movies do such a brilliant job of juxtaposing humor with heavy issues, but City Slickers is a gem of an example. Half the time you don't know whether to laugh or cry--if you're paying attention.

There are two big themes happening in this movie. The most obvious is related to Mitch, Phil, and Ed and their midlife crises. They go off on adventures and try to find thrills to offset the growing truth that they are not getting any younger and maybe the best of life has passed them by. Mitch voices the problem when he says, "what if this is the best I'll ever look, the best I'll ever be, the best I'll ever do--and it's not very good?" The theme, then, is: how do we find true meaning and happiness in life--is it something we need to look for outside...or inside ourselves? Can true happiness be found, or do we just have to settle for a mediocre life and learn to live with it? This major theme is closely tied up with the second one, and by answering the latter, the former is solved.

The second theme is presented by Curly, the trail boss. In his enigmatic way, he looks hard at Mitch and says, "do you want to know what the secret of happiness is?" Mitch says yes and Curly holds up his finger. "It's this," Curly says. "One thing." "What? Your finger?" Mitch says. Curly explains the secret of happiness is different for each person--you have to go figure what it is, but when you do, you'll know it--and you'll be happy.

It may sound trite and simple, but when the three friends run into real danger and have to make tough choices, they find that being true to who they are and what they believe in is what leads them to their "one thing." For Mitch, it's risking his life to save Norman, the calf, as he's swept downriver. Yet, it's bigger than that. Mitch is suffering from feeling unimportant, that his life is meaningless, makes no difference to anyone, doesn't matter. But when he saves Norman, his act mattered--maybe just to a cow, but the symbolism to Mitch is huge. He made a decision and gave it all he had because he believed it was the right thing to do. He wasn't standing on the sidelines anymore but engaging in life.

Ed deals with his anger at his delinquent father, and Phil deals with his compromised and squelched life. Their problems aren't miraculously solved by going on a cattle drive, but they do learn the true secret of happiness--and it had nothing to do with seeking out the greatest adventure or challenge "out there." They discovered, to their surprise, that happiness was in the last place they would ever imagine--inside them. Rather than look outside to find happiness, Mitch learns that he needed to change his attitude. "I'm just going to do everything better," he tells his wife when he gets home. There's a bit of Zen philosophy here--the collect water, chop wood realization that joy can be found in simple unimportant tasks, because even those kinds of tasks have value. This reminds me of the Scripture: "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31).

There's an interesting little bit at the end, when the three friends bring in the herd, to the surprise of the cattle ranchers. When Mitch, Ed, and Phil are told the cows are going to market to be butchered and wrapped in plastic, they get upset. But they're told, "it's not like those cows have anything to live for. This is what they're bred for; they're not an endangered species." Mitch jokes: 'well, Phil doesn't have anything to live for either, but we're not going to kill him." This is a nice subtle tie-in with the movie's theme, implying that we humans do have purpose--we're meant for more than mindless wandering from one place to another. And just as those cows have their place in the universe, so we too have a place--we just need to look inward and find out what it is. And, for a follower of Jesus, it means we entrust our lives to him and ask him to show us that purpose, the higher purpose and path our lives are meant to take. Thankfully, he's not like Curly, leaving us puzzling and confused. He himself charts our path and leads the way. And as I traverse this inhospitable desert of life without a map, that thought comforts me. For me, that's what Curly's pointing finger is all about--pointing up to the only one who knows the way. That may be my personal interpretation, but, that's what a well-written movie does--lay out the theme so you can apply it to your life. City Slickers does just that.

More on Writing with Themes-A Little Pig Goes a Long Way

2009-09-07T17:17:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought such a simple, small children's book would have become such a blockbuster movie? A lot of children's movies are entertaining and funny for all ages, but Babe excels in a number of ways--not just in the quality of the animation and acting, but because there are some great themes going on here.The most obvious one has to do with one's "purpose" in life.

Babe, spared by fate, finds himself confused and alone at Farmer Hoggett's farm. But he soon learns that every animal on the farm has a purpose--and so he goes about trying to discover what that might be. The theme is woven throughout the many characters--Rex the dog is in charge and has a noble purpose, but he feels ashamed that, because of a tragic occurrence, he cannot fulfill his purpose as well as he used to. The duck, on the other hand, is desperately seeking purpose, because, as the mean old cat cruelly informs Babe: those without a purpose end up like Roxanne--a duck cooked and steaming hot on the Thanksgiving table. But, by the time Babe learns he has "no purpose," he has already demonstrated to Farmer Hoggett his wonderful sheep doggie skills.

Babe experiences a saving twist of fate, for Farmer Hoggett is a keen believer in divine purpose. His character is concerned with everything having a place, everything functioning efficiently. The symbol that ties in with this theme of purpose is "the gate." Using this subtle but powerful element, the writer of this story keeps us coming back to Hoggett tweaking his gate. His aim is to have the gate close with a gentle touch and lock with the least amount of extra effort. Likewise, he wants his farm to run smoothly, and part of that involves his dogs herding the sheep into their pens for various reasons. When he sees how Babe has acquired a knack for herding these sheep effortlessly, his attention rivets on Babe. Here is a pig with a destiny--with a purpose. Perhaps it is an unusual one, a strange and aberrant one. But Hoggett is not one to give a hoot what anyone else thinks--even when hundreds of people are laughing at him as he strides out into the arena with Babe as his "sheep herding dog" to compete in the time trials. He doesn't enter Babe so he can get attention or laughs, or to become famous or notorious. He enters Babe because it makes perfect sense. Babe is an excellent sheep dog, despite his porcine nature, and it is only logical for him to compete and earn the recognition deserved for his skills.

Hoggett is a man of few words, but we do get a sense of the affection he has developed for Babe when the pig appears sick and won't eat. Hoggett lapses into a sweet song and dance to cheer Babe up, which is just what Babe needs to fight off his depression and meet his destiny. Hoggett and Babe bond in purpose, and there is nothing so powerful as two linked together in such a manner. By the end of the movie, Hoggett's gate closes perfectly, and Babe ends his sheep dog trial--to the astonishment of the now-silent audience--with Hoggett only making one simple move: lifting his hand to close the gate behind the sheep Babe has properly herded into the pen.

The audience in the stands jumps to their feet and cheers--and those watching the movie feel the same exhilaration. Babe and Hoggett have faced all odds and humiliating jeers and the weight of others' disbelief in them. But they shine victoriously because they proved faithful to their calling. They found their purpose in life and grabbed it by both hands, despite every possible obstacle and discouragement. This theme is huge when you realize the movie is not about a pig that just happens to have some special skills--that's not the theme at all. Because Babe explores a universal theme that each one of us struggles with daily--how to find our purpose in life and fulfill it--this movie met with enormous success. Once you realize there are two kinds of stories--stories "with a purpose" and stories "without a purpose" you will understand what you need to make your novel a breakout success. Take a lesson from Babe--in your own life and in your writing--and look for the universal theme that needs to be expressed, however masked, in your story.

Continuing on Writing Themes: Nell

2009-08-04T17:15:00.000-07:00

Here's an amazing movie. Brilliant on so many levels. The plot itself is wonderful and enough to drive the story. But we see again another story where there is a theme underlying the plot. It's not just about a girl who has spent most of her life in isolation. In Nell, we are put face-to-face with the question about our place in the world--what is considered normal and sane in the way we live our lives. Two forces fight over Nell--those who want to let her keep her freedom, intent on proving that she can not just survive but thrive without society. And the others, those in "authority," who insist Nell cannot care for herself, that she has to have others tell her what to think, eat, dress, how to act, and how to live that is not just acceptable, but healthy.

If you haven't seen the movie, Nell is a young woman raised in the back country, who had never encountered or interacted with any people other than her family (don't want to do a spoiler here). A delivery boy discovers her right after her mother has died, leaving Nell bereaved and alone. A doctor is asked to go talk with her, and thus begins the story of how Jerry, and then Paula, live on the property and study Nell, trying to communicate with her and assess her mental and emotional state. Does Nell need to be put in a State home? Or can she live on her own. Who has the right to decide?

Nell threatens the established norms, and as Jerry and Paula take her to court, in despair over her fate, Nell actually speaks up--in her strange manner of talking (because her mother, who had a stroke that impaired her speech, raised her with a warped version of English). To everyone's shock, Nell presents herself, with the help of Jerry's translating, as an intelligent, intuitive person. But, most importantly, she understands the heart of life--what scares us, what moves us. Nell tells us that she knows small things--her world is small. And that her listeners know big things, there in the city, in the big world. Yet, she sees how no one will look each other in the eye. She sees everyone's hunger for connection, for love, and asks why their world hasn't given them either hope, love, or answers. She tells them she knows what it's like to love and to lose those she loves. She makes it clear she is no different than anyone else. But she can accept that those things are part and parcel of life.

In this beautiful haunting speech, she reveals she knows far more than most of her listeners. She has a wisdom that comes from reflection and true living. She doesn't just live in her world, she embodies it. She puts her opposers to shame with her honesty and compassion--something starkly lacking in those seeking to constrain her "for her own good."

One of the minor characters, a deputy, has a troubled, depressed wife. He is racked with pain, unable to find a way to help her, to show her how to find joy and peace in her life. Yet, when this woman meets Nell, she finds the help she seeks. Just watching Nell, talking to her, and being comforted by this young woman, is the cure she needs. And there's a poignant moment in the movie where this woman looks at Paula, the State psychologist sent to assess Nell, and she says "you were the first one to need her."

Nell brings out many things in the people around her. They think they are there to help her, but the opposite is true. They each need to learn something about their fears and hangups, and Nell mirrors them innocently back to them. Everyone who gets around Nell is changed, just by virtue of her genuineness.

So, what theme is going on here? I see it as this: Nell is considered helpless and unfit. Society is needed to tell us how to live and function, and we must be a compliant participant in order to not just survive, but to enjoy life. Life has rules and we're meant to follow them. Rules=happiness. The theme is that these are falsehoods. That sanity, happiness, functionality have nothing to do with society, but have to do with your heart. That you can throw out every rule that doesn't speak to your heart, because, in the end, those rules will not serve you or anyone else. That you have to face your fear and your pain to get to the raw truth of who you are. And that's too scary for most people, yet Nell, of all people, is there. She embraces her pain and loss in a beautiful acknowledgment that this is life--in all its beauty and despair. She challenges each one of us--can we live so honestly? How's that for a BIG theme?

Continuing on with themes in writing: Strictly Ballroom

2009-07-31T14:57:00.000-07:00

I can't resist talking about my favorite movie--well, my entire family's favorite movie. We have to get our fix, watching Strictly Ballroom, nearly every time we're all home for a weekend. Although we can mouth and act out every line (can't quite master all the dance steps yet!), we never tire of this movie. We sit, absolutely transfixed, as we watch Francesca and Scott dance the Paso Doble. There are a few movies that hold the same fascination for me--and they all have one thing in common. A few are City Slickers, The Three Amigos, Signs, Nell, and one I've already discussed--K-Pax.

Despite the variety of genre, style, writing, and tone, these movies have one very clear thing in common--a recurring universal theme that drives and weaves through the movie. Authors can learn a lot from movies, but it's important to look beyond the spoken word--the dialogue presented--to see what's really going on. And that's what happens in a great book. The universal themes waver just below the surface, occasionally rearing their heads when a character voices a question or makes a choice. Admittedly, The Three Amigos falls short when it comes to building and weaving a theme, as the "El Guapo" speech given by Steve Martin at the end of the movie really serves as a rallying cry to embrace a theme in a last moment's spark of inspiration. But it deserves mention. How can you easily forget his brilliant words:

"In a way, all of us have an El Guapo to face someday. For some, shyness might be their El Guapo. For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo. For us . . . El Guapo is a big dangerous guy who wants to kill us. But as sure as my name is Lucky Day, the people of Santa Poco can conquer their own personal El Guapo . . . who also happens to be the actual El Guapo."

You could get expansive and talk about how, throughout the movie, The Three Amigos really did have to face their "various" El Guapos--literal and emotional, since they lost their nice gig at the Hollywood studio. Hey, they did get to make off with their dazzling costumes. But enough of our friendly Amigos.

I often ponder why Strictly Ballroom holds so much sway over our hearts and attention. Why can't we get enough of this movie, even after having seen it dozens of times? Back to the Future is like that too. When you walk by the TV and it's on, it drags you over and forces you to sit down, mesmerized by every word. It's not just fun entertainment and snappy dialogue. Strictly Ballroom is rife with theme. Sure, it's a fairy tale--the ugly duckling makes off with the handsome prince, despite all odds. But it's so much more than that.

Francesca, in a fit of frustration, mouths off a string of Spanish words, leaving Scott Hastings befuddled. She wants to dance with him in the Pan-Pacific competition, breaking the rules and dancing their own original steps, which is blatantly sacrilegious inthe world of professional ballroom dancing. She translates the phrase: "A life lived in fear is a life half-lived." This theme becomes Scott's awakening, his challenge, and ultimately his victory. It is the nectar the two drink, and the hope they embrace. It is the magical phrase that frees Scott's father from his "prison" and mends his parents' long-damaged relationship. It is the glue that binds, and the icing on the cake. Nearly every character in this movie experiences both what it's like to live a life in fear, and how empowered they are when they take a stand and face down that fear. This movie's brilliance is perhaps lost under all the makeup, costumes, and the histrionics of Shirley Hastings, but it's more than just the riveting music played during the Latin dance final that makes you want to jump to your feet and stomp your way around the living room. Your heart is soaring because the movie's theme successfully reached its target.

We'll delve more into universal themes in my next blog entry. But think about the movies you love and why they touch you. See if you can find a universal theme that has been silently guiding the movie along. Then see how you can uncover the themes of what you are writing, and find ways to thread them through your story. You just might make someone jump out of their chair and dance around the room!

Being Born Upside Down

2009-06-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

[NOTE: this was posted a while back, but I wanted to revisit it]
The first time I read the last few pages of G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy, my heart pounded in awe. If you haven't gone out and bought a copy after reading the last two posts, I hope you will after reading this one.

Most of us are born upside down. I propose God planned that huge metaphor, wondering if some of us would "get"it. Some of us are born breech, but we'll excuse that small exception to the rule. Chesterton wrote: "All the real argument about religion turns on the question of whether a man who was born upside down can tell when he comes right way up. The paradox of Christianity is that the ordinary condition of man is not his sane or sensible condition; that the normal itself is an abnormality."

He sums up his book focusing on the ultimate idea of joy. Once again, he presents a thought I had never considered, but once I read it, made me say yes! He compares the joy of a pagan--or let's call him an unbeliever or one who doesn't know Christ--to the Christian in the matter of joy. "To the pagan," he says, "the small things are as sweet as the small brooks breaking out of the mountain; but the broad things are as bitter than the sea. When the pagan looks at the very core of the cosmos he is struck cold . . . . The mass of men have been forced to be gay about the little things, but sad about the big ones." What is he saying? That for the agnostic, joy is confined to small, fleeting moments of time: the birth of a child, a wedding, graduation day. The rest of a pagan's life is a great sadness and grief; its "desolation is spread through an unthinkable eternity." I lived most of my life that way: waiting for those small, isolated instances of joy, working hard toward some nebulous day in the future when I would be truly happy--when I won the lottery, or made a killing on my first bestselling novel, or married the perfect man, fill in the blanks, add your own wishes to the list. This is the way of most people in the world. Wanting, hoping, wishing, and maybe, at the end of life, looking back on a few treasured memories, little tiny pockets of isolated joys.

Conversely, for a Christian, grief and sorrow are small pockets in the big scheme of things. Melancholy "should be an innocent interlude." He says man is more himself when joy is the fundamental thing in him, and grief the superficial. This is what he means by being born topsy-turvy. "Christianity satisfies suddenly and perfectly man's ancestral instinct for being the right way up; satisfies it supremely in this: that by its creed, joy becomes something gigantic and sadness something special and small. The silence [above us] is not the heartless silence of an endless and aimless world. Rather the silence is a small and pitiful stillness like the prompt stillness in a sick-room." He emphasizes this: "Joy . . . is the gigantic secret of the Christian."

Sure, we suffer small moments of pain in this very brief, futile life we live. The Apostle Paul says the creation was subjected to futility by God for one reason--to learn hope. He calls this life a slight affliction that is momentary and light. Even the most horrific things we can think of--losing a loved one, suffering a debilitating injury or illness--in the light of eternity with God in a perfect world, reduce down to a small, little sadness. Can you imagine having to live your short life with the pain of losing a child in an accident? How will you reflect on that life, six billion years from now, when pain, mourning, death are all memories like the wisp of a dream upon awakening?

I heard a pastor once describe our lives here on earth as a kind of pregnancy. Like being in the womb, we spend a short time in the dark, completely clueless, preparing for the life--the real life--to come, where we will see truly, experience the bigger world. So it is with us now, here on earth. We are preparing to strip off mortality for immortality, corruption for incorruption, to be born into real life, something we, in our blind, dark wombs, cannot barely fathom. We are not just biding our time, but God is teaching, training, and molding us into the image of His son. That way, when we enter the kingdom, we won't suffer shock.

Chesterton writes: "We are perhaps permitted tragedy as a sort of merciful comedy: because the frantic energy of divine things would knock us down like a drunken farce. We can take our own tears more lightly than we could take the tremendous levities of the angels . . . perhaps the laughter of the heavens is too loud for us to hear."

History as Mystery

2009-05-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

As I stare down the imposing novel I am attempting to write, Conundrum, I wield my vorpal sword in hand. Snicker-snack it goes, one two!...oh wait, that's used to fight the Jabberwock, my son... Jabberwocky and many other poems are finding their home in my new novel, an unravelling mystery based upon the bizarre tailings of my father's death in 1961. Usually I have no problem plowing through my index cards of scenes, progressing steadily to the finish. But this work is an unruly child, full of deceit and intent on pain.

So, I'm taking it slowly. My past response to trauma and conflict in my family has always been stupor. After a big fight, all I could do was curl up in a small dark space and sleep. My mind would go numb and I found it difficult to think of anything at all. So, I encounter this strange haze I must fight to write this book. Not only is it huge in scope, theme, and plot, but my heart goal is to explore betrayal, of which I am the foremost expert (I say with undaunted confidence), and somehow make this story resound in grace and redemption.

I think I've grown beyond anger and the desire to retaliate. I think I've been blessed with a forgiving spirit, in answer to my prayers. I didn't choose to write this book--God woke me up at 3 a.m. a month ago (after praying for days about what to write next. I really wanted to get back to talking pigs and hoptoads, but God knows the plans he has for me.) When I woke, I saw clearly my first chapter--everything in it--the themes, the subthemes, the setting, the protagonist (me, mostly), and the title of the book.

Conundrums are brain teasers, puzzles. My brothers and I spent years quizzing and challenging each other to solve these strange scenarios that made no sense. Clearly, I couldn't have picked a more apropos title (thank you, Father!) for the insoluble mystery surrounding my father's death. For how can someone just decide one day to die, and give himself leukemia? But that is one of the stories I was told after my father died at age 33, leaving my mother to raise three small children. I was later told he--a mathematician at Lockheed--had for some reason volunteered for a dangerous experiment. Supposedly others in his department had volunteered and they all died shortly thereafter of leukemia.

It wasn't until this year that I started questioning and researching. Which led me to reconnect with my uncle--my father's only blood brother--to learn more. He never heard of such an experiment, and was close to my father. He sent me an enigmatic letter my dad had written before he died, revealing that the fairy tale marriage between my parents was a sham and a cause of great pain for him. Of course, Lockheed and the government tell me no such experiments took place. But as I prepare to fly out to NY this month to see my uncle and cousin and learn all I can about my father (of whom I know almost nothing), I've turned this personal history into a mystery that will find no clear solution, because real life is like that. Everyone in this book either lies or has been lied to. And although my protagonist wants to save her suicidal brother with truth from their past, she finds she can only save herself, and by the skin of her teeth.

So, this inner and outer journey blurs the line of truth for me as I weave fact into fiction. On this side of Paradise, I doubt I will ever know the truth. I hope someday I will be reunited with the father I never knew--and then I will hear his story. For now, my hope is that I will produce a book that will help others who have been betrayed by their family, reveal something about bipolar depression, and pray that something redemptive will rise from the ashes of my own pain.

Sometimes I wonder why God moves us to write certain stories. I've talked with others who have found healing and peace through the exploration of putting their story into words. My books have always taught me many important things, and often serve a s a mirror to my viewpoint and imperfections. When writing The Map Across Time, I was startled when I realized Adin and Aletha, twins, together made up my whole personality, but apart reflected the disjointedness I often suffered. The eyes of my heart are often enlightened. My prayer is for all writers to experience such growth and insight as they tell their stories.

Zondervan Contract and Playing Dominoes in Prison with Joseph

2009-04-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

I'm not one to blog much about strictly personal things. My site is more for exploring God, writing, and fantasy. But after twenty years of submitting agented work to publishers, God has kindly dropped a book contract in my hands. It's funny to reflect on this. I had just finished the second fantasy book in my series when I went to ACFW and chatted with Jim Bell. "Jim, I'm going to take your mentor clinic at Mount Hermon in the spring. Whoops--I don't really have anything suspenseful to share." So, I got the idea to write a psychological suspense for CBA (the other contemporary books were ones I'd written years ago for the commercial market). But I had an idea brewing.

I wrote one novel loosely based on Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians" (also sometimes called "Then There Were None"). I thought it might be a great trademark to take her novels and twist then. So my next obvious choice was "Murder on the Orient Express." I wanted to set it in a small town with people quick to blame and distrust a newcomer. I originally planned to make Billy Thurber really evil, but as I wrote, I kept feeling he was redeemable. I won't give away the plot, but I will say that evolved into more than a story just about how quick we are to judge, weaving in themes of faith, hope, security, and forgiveness. So that's how Someone to Blame was born.

Since writing STB, I've gone back to fantasy, finishing book three in the series and book one in my new YA sci-fi time-travelling-camo-alien-dog adventure. Okay, sorry, I didn't warn you about that. After Madeline L'Engle died, I spoke to so many people who had read A Wrinkle in Time and loved it. I read it as a child, when it first came out, and my daughters read it when they were young. I wrote Time Sniffers as a tribute to that book. It has some similar but different elements, and for an older audience and chock-full of science and physics trivia. (Take a look at the sample chapters on my Web site.) Just think of "The Breakfast Club" meets "The Philadelphia Experiment," and throw in some Star Trek and the movie "Dragonfly." I bet you can't tell me what the lowest note in the universe is. Hint--it comes from a black hole in the Perseus Galaxy.

So, I am so humbled, thrilled, and beside myself (yes, that's me, standing over there across the room!) Here I was writing fantasy and God yanked me aside and said. Oh, BTW, I have a completely different book for you to write (which was so much fun) and then you can go back to fantasy where you belong! (Go to your corner and sit on a toadstool!) I am plotting out my ninth novel, which is a commercial psychological contemporary mystery, but I do have four more books in the fantasy series and an untold number in Time Sniffers to write.

So, for any of you who are frustrated and depressed that you are not published yet, I say, try to enjoy the writing journey while you sit in your prison alongside Joseph. I always pictured myself playing dominoes with him, hoping Pharaoh would hear about our predicament. You know the rest of the story. In God's due time--perfect time--after Joseph spent two years wondering what was going on and why God set him on this path, Joseph was remembered and brought out of prison to do great work. I believe God wanted to give him a season of testing, but also teach him patience and trust in Him. (He did have a bit of a cocky attitude back there with his snazzy coat.) So I think God needed to do some work in him. I know for a fact He did with me. It took me twenty years to get out of jail, but I did have something Joseph didn't have-- a window looking out at the world. Through it, I watched and learned all I could about this writing life and, more importantly, this godly life that includes seasons of uncertainty, of feelings of abandonment. God is good. That's what you learn.

I love it that in the Bible God doesn't say, "I have plans for you." God says, "I KNOW the plans I have for you." This nuance is so huge to me. This means he not only has the plans, but knows He has the plans. Now, that may seem silly, since God knows everything. But, it's just that HE wants us to know that He knows. And that is very reassuring to me.

Get on your dancin' shoes and praise the Lord!

2009-03-05T20:38:00.001-08:00

I don't often write in my blog, but I put on my favorite Yes song: Onward (the lyrics are on the left side bar of my blog.) This song is my prayer. The words are simple. When we were living up in the snow, I kept praying to God to lead us to a church where people really praised God--not just halfheartedly sang along with corny cowboy praise songs. No offense, everyone has a different style and taste in music. But Maranatha Christian Center believes wholeheartedly that when the Bible says so shout to the Lord, clap your hands in joy, sing your heart out to God with a song in your heart, dance and play your instruments, they mean it! You get on your feet annd clap and cry and sing out to God with all your heart. No one tells you when to do it, or that you should sit down. I always feel like I'm in school, when people up at a podium say "Now you can sit, now let's all stand."

I picture King David dancing and leaping around dressed only in his undergarments, all because he couldn't stop loving on God. His wife, Michal, watched on in embarrassment, ashamed for him. All she could see was that he was making a fool of himself in front of the people he ruled. The Bible says her response to his behavior caused her to "despise him in her heart (2 Samuel 6:16). But David chastised her, saying he danced to the Lord and would not relent.

I can just picture his face, his incredulity. No one--not even his wife--was going to take away his joy. He knew the joy of the Lord was his strength. The first time we went to Maranatha, I though: Never in my life had I ever been in a room with so many people so joyful over what God was doing for them. These are not people who are well-off, sitting back on their laurels, and enjoying the prosperity gospel so popular today. These are people who've seen the bottom and the hard knocks of Satan's onslaughts. They know who gets them out of bed each day and helps them face life without fear and bondage. And they praise God for each day they make it through in faith without stumbling. I'd never been so loved up and hugged in such a short span of time. It took my breath away. I left that first afternoon with tears in my eyes. I felt like God had given me a vision of Paradise--that I had been allowed into the courtyard of his worshippers and I felt so unworthy. It was a very humbling experience--to know I had been missing this kind of gratitude and opportunity to shout my praise to God.

God answered our prayers. We had a list of churches we'd planned to visit. This was only number two on the list. When we left church after that first service, we looked at each other. I hemmed a bit, since we'd agreed to go church shopping, but I just had to hint. "Hon, I really like this church. I mean really." Lee smiled and I knew just what he was thinking too.

God made it so clear. We have never felt at home at any church. Sure, we'd attending some nice places with some friendly people and with pastors that gave some good sermons. But we never fit in or felt right. But more than that, God's presence is so palpable in that place. The church invites Him in, and He shows up with a passion for His people. I just praise God for moving us hundreds of miles and leading us to this place that feels like home. I feel like I've come home after years of wandering and my soul is nourished. God knew what we needed, knew we needed a place where we could find Him and face Him straight on, no roundabout meandering paths. Just the Highway of Holiness stretched out clear and unhindered.

Thank you, Father, for taking our hands and leading us through that door. Surely your spirit is in that place. If you ever wanted to know what the angels sound like in heaven when they sing and praise God, just come visit Maranatha Christian Center in San Jose, CA. Or better yet, join on in.

Quotables

2009-01-02T20:29:00.001-08:00

I thought I'd take a break from all the heavy thinking I'm doing while writing Time Sniffers and share some hilarious quotes. Thinking about matter, dark energy, and time travel has got my brain spinning. You'd be surprised at some of the strangely funny things famous people have said. Let's start with Isaac Asimov:

People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.

If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.

And here's some from Einstein:

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?

Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.

Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater. [sorry, but I don't buy that one!]

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

And from physicist Richard Feynman:

If I could explain it to the average person, I wouldn't have been worth the Nobel Prize.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.

I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy.

You can see, now, why I'm getting little writing done--having so much fun researching physics and reading all these very deep theoretical quotes from the great minds of the world. :)

Red Light, Green Light

2008-10-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

As I was walking my dog today, all the wild things going on in my life came tumbling down around me and this silly game I played in elementary school popped into my head. Do you remember how it went? Someone stands at the finish line and everyone else lines up at the start. The leader yells out "green light" and you run as fast as you can. Then when she yells "red light!" you have to stop on a dime and wait, for if you make a false move, you're out.

That's exactly what a life of faith is like. Now that I realize it, it makes me laugh. All year long I'm praying for a door to open, to move to the Bay Area to be closer to our kids. And, if it's not too much trouble, to get Lee a great job with a builder where he will be appreciated, but can still go do his own projects. And, hey, while I'm at it, I ask to move before the snow piles up, because I don't want to go through another winter up here. And, it'd sure be nice if some agent somewhere wanted to try to sell all my fantasy books and not just one. And right now would be a good time . . . and on the list goes.

So, all year, we are praying, working hard to make ends meet, I'm writing like a big dog, trying to finish my third book in the fantasy series and edit full-time and landscape part-time and it's "red light" forever. Wait, wait, wait. I am hunched over, like a runner at the gate, listening for the starting gun. Wait, wait, wait. Work dries up as the economy takes a dive (and is still diving fast!), and we are sweating this, wondering how God will move us and put us where he wants us and when. We're forced to start looking for change or we'll lose our house. All the jobs that were so neatly lined up to get us through the next year fall through the cracks in one big rush, like a toilet flushing down the drain. All the ducks that were lined up in a row just disappeared under the water and have refused to come back up for air.

So, I start calling contractors in Santa Cruz. I'd like to live near there, so I can walk to the Mount Hermon Writer's Conference each year :) So I Google and get a list. It turns out the first contractor on the list (and completely out of alphabetical order) just happened to be not only a friendly, easy-going guy, but he just lost his lead man and needs someone. We talk and a few days later, he asks if Lee wants to come down and work. So Lee goes down this week and it looks like a big door. At the same time, I get a random flurry of e-mails from an agent I had contracted years ago with one of my contemporary novels. She took a look at my Web site and read about my fantasy books and told me she was so impressed, she wanted all three books done and in her lap by next week. The publisher I've been praying to buy my series (and have been in regular contact with) just happens to be this agent's first choice for my series--and she just awarded them a big auction, so feels she can make an impression. Not that I'm trying to jinx my chances, but even if nothing comes of this, here's the "green light." That means run--fast! Lee runs (well, drives carefully) down at 2 a.m. to start work at a new job. And I write like a maniac to finish the last eighty pages of The Land of Darkness so I can send three complete novels to this agent. We have to look for a house to rent next week, and . . isn't is just a God thing that the only neighbors we have up here have wanted to move into our house from day one, so we have renters for our house.

While the green light is still blinking, I'm running through those doors. I'm exited to see what house turns up that will be the the right one to rent. I'm prepared for the red light, for it may take awhile. I can wait. I know that green light is coming.

So it is with faith. We wait on God. He's the leader. He gives the lights and tells us when to go. If we jump the gun and decide our own rules, things get muddled and disaster results. We have to remember if we let him give us the signals and go and stop when he says, we will make it to the finish line. And that's the goal. To run across that line, waving our arms in joy, and laughing at how fun it was to get there. Now if I can keep that attitude in focus, I'll make it without too many trip-ups!

Willing Obedience

2008-06-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in awhile, having work piled up to the gills, but as I was out walking Sweetie, I thought on the scripture in the book of Hebrews that talks about obedience--particularly Jesus' obedience to God's will. Oftentimes I reflect on the passage that speaks of Jesus qualifications as our high priest and king. We feel this deep sense of gratitude and relief knowing that he suffered and was tested in all things (but without sin) so that he can be a compassionate and understanding high priest who pleads on our behalf. Never can we whine that he just can't relate to our suffering.

Here's an interesting fact that you may not have considered: Jesus suffered excruciating pain on the cross. We can't even imagine how horrific that pain .must have been. Not just the physical pain, but as Hebrews 12:2 states, he suffered the shame and humiliation of dying a criminal's death, carrying with it the curse or scourge meant for us. The word excruciating comes from the Latin words: ex--from, and crux--cross, or "from the cross." That word was created as a result of Jesus' suffering, to describe that pain, and we use it today without even realizing this word's origin!

So--back to obedience. Hebrews 5:8 says that "Jesus learned obedience from the things he suffered." That phrase always rattles around in my mind, the heavy implications touching my heart. Jesus learned a lot of things as a human on earth. Who would ever think he needed to learn obedience? And how does suffering teach us obedience? So, I ponder that when I am going through a tough time, I don't question and lose faith. My task is to remain obedient to God, no matter what. Jesus learned obedience by being faithful. Surely it was easy to be obedient when all went well, but when he was put under this extreme trial, he learned by doing. He saw what it felt like to remain true and steadfast under fire. We learn something when we go through an experience, so too Jesus learned obedience through suffering.

Other scriptures drift into my mind: "Become obedient as small children (1 Pe 1:14)....He (Jesus) became obedient to the point of death (Phil 2:8)... Hypakoe (Greek) translated as obedience also means submission. Jesus submitted to the point of death--submitted to God's will for him. If we read the next verse at Heb 5:9 we see that Jesus' obedience made him perfect. Telios (Greek) does not mean perfect the way we understand it today. Perfect, in this sense, means complete. Until Jesus suffered and learned obedience through that suffering, he was not made perfect. Something was missing, or incomplete. For him to be the perfect mediator and savior, he needed to learn this important lesson. So although Jesus was a perfect, sinless human, God determined he was not yet perfect until he suffered. Now he is complete and "completely able to save those" who exercise faith in him.

These are just some thoughts milling through my mind. I am glad, so glad, to know Jesus understands my times of anguish. That he is compassionate. I so want to fall into those loving, caring shepherd's arms and be comforted. Someday I will. I wish I didn't have to wait a minute longer. But there are some things I still need to learn--and obedience through suffering is one of those things. I firmly believe one of our main reasons for being here on earth is to learn that compassion that results from obedient suffering. All the trials we go through here will make us complete and perfect, as God keeps working to transform us into the likeness of his son. Amen to that!

The Gift of Betrayal

2008-03-03T08:15:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've been thinking about betrayal, as I have experienced its vicious hand in my life, perhaps more than others have. But who's to say? Nearly everyone with whom I've shared my story has one of their own--sometimes just as shockingly horrid. Something I heard on a tape many years ago stuck in my heart--that we are all meant to experience betrayal sometime in our lives in order to learn how to forgive. The speaker also warned : "Be careful, for if you pray to God to teach you forgiveness, what do you think He will do? Why, He'll send you fifty people you can't forgive." Believe me, I don't pray anymore to learn how to forgive. But I do pray constantly for a heart that truly understands how I've been forgiven.

Forgiveness is the toughest act on earth. It feels fantastic when we can look with compassion into the eyes of someone who not only hurt us but feels no remorse for their cruelty. I settle for pity. I think of my miserably unhappy, bitter mother, with whom I have not spoken for five years now, and remember a time I used to imagine punching her in the nose, longing for the opportunity to deck her flat. Okay, this is hard to admit, as I am not a violent person; rather, I feel I am quite loving and compassionate. But when someone has hurt your children terribly, ripped away their security, their home, told them horrible lies and tried to coerce them with bribery to turn on their parents, it is difficult to keep your hackles down and not ball your hands into fists. Never mind all the years of passive-aggressive behavior, the constant efforts to break apart my marriage, and the hurtful criticisms that turned me into an insecure, self-berating individual, and led my husband toward self-destruction.

So how did I arrive at pity? Of course, it was God, foremost, who worked in me. I don't know if, for some people, God just gives them a forgiving heart and takes away their pain. Perhaps. But, I'm more of the mind that forgiveness is a process and effort we have to go through, maybe for years, with His help. I feel it's a matter of altering perception. Instead of looking at myself as a victim, I look at the perpetrator of cruelty as a victim. Surely, they are suffering for their actions. God promises: "the wicked are like the tossing sea that cannot keep still; its water toss up mire and mud. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked" (Isaiah 58:20,21).

When I understand that those who inflict deliberate harm on others will never feel peace in their heart, it softens my anger. I do feel sorry for my mother and brothers, knowing they have to look in the mirror each day and face the damage they've done. Peace, according to the Bible, is a gift from God. Jesus said he would give his followers real peace--not like the world gives it. Peace is a fruit or by-product of God's spirit, which is only given to those with receptive hearts. So, try as they may, the wicked can only achieve peace in the worldly sense: fleeting, superficial, false. How can I not feel pity for someone whose trespasses weigh heavy on their hearts? Who know nothing of divine forgiveness?

Some have said the hardest command in the Bible is Jesus' warning at Matthew 6:14,15: "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your father forgive your trespasses." We don't get a choice in this matter; we're under strict orders to forgive. Well, that doesn't mean you don't feel the hurt or anger or sadness--those things remain. But we are supposed to view people the way Jesus did: as sinful and needing mercy and compassion. And not holding their sin against them. We are to let it go, release its power over our hearts.

Whenever I feel unforgiving I recite Hebrews 12:3, which urges us to consider him (Jesus) who endured such hostility against himself from sinners so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. None of the horrid betrayal that I experienced can compare to Jesus' suffering at the hands of cruel humans. And yet, he begged for God to forgive those murderers because they really didn't know what they were doing. Well, didn't they? They sure seemed to know exactly what they were doing, so what did he mean? That's something I need to think deeply about. For when people do mean things to us, deliberately, they, too, seem like they know exactly what they are doing. But Jesus implies they don't. That maybe if they could see the big picture-- that God loves them and wants them to experience peace and healing through repentance--then they would not act the way they do.

And we are meant to ponder on how much God has forgiven us. We deserve to die--forever--but he has promised us endless life, abundant life in peace, just by accepting it freely--as a gift. Oh, but the only catch is this: we have to make an effort to conform our thinking and life to the image of Jesus. That's hard, but it's for our good. For in doing so, with the help of God's spirit working within us, the anger and hurt transforms into pity and compassion. It refreshes our souls.

More and more each day, I can think of my mother and brothers and note how the hurt and anger have faded. I don't feel like punching my mother any more, but I'm not yet ready to embrace her--although if she came to me and asked my forgiveness I would surely give it to her. Yet, we are to forgive without expecting the offender to apologize--ever. That takes divine work in our hearts and I thank God for giving me the gift of betrayal so that I can see that powerful work going on within me. The wicked and unrepentant will be destroyed one day. Do we truly want to wish that on anyone? Rather, how much better would it be for all those unhappy people to surrender to God and find peace? I still pray on occasion for God's wrath to vindicate me, to smite my enemies--and then I pray for forgiveness for such mean thoughts. Someday, thankfully, I won't think that way anymore, I will (as Paul says) "be blessing and not cursing." I'm not there yet, but I'm on my way, thanks to the merciful God we serve!

A Plethora of Snow

2008-02-03T15:46:00.000-08:00

In the last two weeks I've spent about 25 hours shoveling snow. I've watched my backyard fill like a bowl to overflowing as the snow is now higher than the fence and has erased all the boundaries separating me from my neighbors. Small, light flakes of white keeping drifting down, constant, unending. Who would think they could pile up and cause such a weight as to collapse my carport cover and destroy my truck? White, innocent, pure snow--with a powerful whack behind it! Alas, I must now go shopping for another truck.

So, as I sit in my office writing my new fantasy book, The Land of Darkness, (maybe I should call it The Land of Whiteness), the snow keeps piling higher and higher. Life, as we in Chester know it, has come to an almost screeching halt. It takes all the effort one can muster just to get out and snowblow the driveway and unbury the car to slip and slide to the market to get food. I feel like I'm in Narnia, where it's "always winter and never Christmas."

I think of how fragile our planet it; how a few degrees climate change can hurtle us into another ice age or raise the oceans 20'. I believe the earth is on a course of destruction, due to human selfishness. But I am glad to know that in the Bible book of Revelation, the returning King says he will "destroy those who are destroying the earth (Rev 11:18). I point this out to people, but most glaze over: Only in this recent time have humans had the ability to literally destroy the eart. A century ago, man's wars could wreak havoc on local areas, but now we can blow up the entire planet many times over with our wonderful inventions! God forsaw a time when humans would have this capability, and says at the time he destroys those destroying the earth he will also "reward those who fear your name, the great and small." Makes me think of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, who referred to herself humbly before the Wizard as "Dorothy, the small and meek." [I digress] Surely we are all a bit responsible for destroying the earth by the cars we drive and the pollution we emit from the energy sources we use.

But clearly God does not intend to destroy everyone. I believe there is implied an intent: a careless, selfish unconcern for the stewardship God has given humans. Jesus gave us the low-down in the parable of the wicked tenants. We have been given his precious property to caretake, but we have treated it badly. It is a joy to know, then, that "the meek will inherit the earth" and that they will dwell there in peace, with no one to make them tremble. Perhaps part of our task will be to clean up the planet, beautify the places that are now squalor and filth. I'd be glad to volunteer! Maybe my landscaping skills will come in handy...

It will be many months before I see green again in the land around me. I am sick of all this white, to be sure. But the snow is a reminder to me of the purity of God, and his power. How easily I can be buried by just this one element. I am, as always, at his mercy. Something I am very grateful for, as "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 10:31).

In a Fairy Tale Darkly

2008-01-18T09:48:00.000-08:00

Prompted by a recent online discussion over a specific doctrinal interpretation, I began thinking about the way God chooses to reveal himself to us. For years the conflicts and disagreements over scripture distressed me. I kept thinking how easy it would be for God to make everything clear: have one definitive true religion that stood out from all others, with no contradictions or misunderstandings. That he could have had the Bible written as a rule book, along with a statement of who he is, and outlining in easy-to-understand sentences just what lay ahead for us.

Instead, God inspired dozens of writers over hundreds of years to relate their personal experience with him, revealing his qualities of loyalty, faithfulness, mercy, and intolerance for evil. When we see how lyrical and poetic the Bible is, with its allegories, songs, prose, metaphors, similes, symbolism, we start to realize the Bible is an amazing onion of many layers, with so many verses and accounts typifying others, foreshadowing and implying and resonating with other passages. It is a deep well with no bottom, allowing the seeker of God to journey and never reach the end.

As I continue on this God-seeking journey I am beginning to greatly appreciate these things. The accounts in the Bible stir my imagination, touch me emotionally, and cause me to meditate and ponder on who God is. We truly live in a fairy tale. God gave us a life with one purpose: that is to spend our days seeking and groping for him, and with the promise he would let himself be found by us. He puts the need in our hearts and let's us do the rest. This is a most wonderful way to get to know a personal, caring creator--for as we journey toward him, he inserts himself alongside us, showing us he is there, teaching, guiding, disciplining. All the things a loving father would do. For we would not consider a father very loving if all he did was give us a rule book and then sent us on our merry way.

We wander through the dark, seeking him, and what he hopes for, more than anything else, is that we will reach out a tentative hand and feel around for his, and that once we find it, we grip it tightly and never let go. As the 23rd Psalm says, he leads us beside still waters, into green pastures, and makes us lie down. Now, have you ever made your dog lie down, especially when she resists? You push gently, sometimes rearrange the legs, or even pull them right out from under her, to make her lie down. I chuckle, because that's how we are. Sometimes God just has to pull our legs out from under us to make us lie down in peace. And once we are there, comfortable in the warm spring grass beside our little creek, we realize how delightful it is, and how silly we were to resist and distrust our loving shepherd. He invites us to rest in him, for he knows how tough the journey is.

Stranger in a Strange Land

2007-12-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

"The simplest truth about man is that he is a very strange being," Chesterton writes. "almost in the sense of being a stranger on the earth." This morning I felt like pondering on the universal loneliness we all feel. We've heard the expression, "no man is an island," yet we do feel like islands. I heard a sermon the other day where the pastor said there are more people now living on the earth than have ever lived in all of history, and you would think because there are so many people out there, one would never be lonely. Yet, loneliness and feelings of isolation plague humanity more than ever before.

Here's how Chesterton describes it, in his book The Everlasting Man: "Man has much more of the external appearance of one bringing alien habits from another land than of a mere growth of this one. He cannot sleep in his own skin; he cannot trust his own instincts. He is at once a creator moving miraculous hands and fingers and a kind of cripple. He is wrapped in artificial bandages called clothes; he is propped on artificial crutches called furniture. . . . Alone among the animals, he is shaken with the beautiful madness called laughter, as if he had caught sight of some secret in the very shape of the universe hidden from the universe itself. . . . It is not natural to see man as a natural product."

This feeling we experience has no place in the theory of evolution. For, if humans developed naturally out of the natural world, there would be no strange sense of alienation. But God created us to know him, long for him, and to need him. He put a God-shaped hole in our hearts that nothing will plug except the intimacy gained with him. One of my favorite scriptures is in the book of Acts, chapter seventeen, where Paul tell the Athenians that God made out of one man all humans. And that He fixed both the length of years that they should live as well as the boundaries they would roam in--to what end? So that they should seek God and actually grope for Him, so that they would find Him--although He is not far off from each of us.

That is the source of our apparent loneliness. We are meant to be lonely without God, so we will grope for him. I love that word--so rich in image. As a blind man gropes for a wall or a table to hold onto. We are fumbling around in the dark, our hands outstretched, feeling the edges of a confusing, blurry world, longing for something solid and trustworthy to lean on. To rest in.

I just finished writing my sixth novel, Someone to Blame. I found myself returning over and over in the book to the theme of safety, and our striving to feel safe in a turbulent life that offers no protection from pain and suffering. How grateful I am to know God is holding me in His everlasting arms and that no matter what cliffs I fall off of in this life, He is there to catch me--faithful, true, loving, gentle, kind, merciful, forgiving. We will run out of words to describe Him long before He runs out of amazing qualities!

Nature: "An Excited Repetition"

2007-10-31T21:17:00.000-07:00

On to Chesterton, Part II: In Orthodoxy, Chesterton poses something I had never thought of before (imagine that!). He looks at the repetition inherent in nature and says, "the mere repetition made the things to me rather more weird than more rational. It was as if, having seen a curiously shaped nose in the street and dismissed it as an accident, I had then seen six other noses of the same astonishing shape . . . . So one elephant having a trunk was odd; but all elephants having trunks looked like a plot." He goes on to say that nature seemed to be an excited repetition, "like that of an angry schoolmaster saying the same thing over and over again." Aplot indeed.

He felt as if God were trying to drill some understanding into his head. One of my favorite lines (which my lunatic Moon quotes in The Wolf of Tebron) is, "The recurrences of the universe rose to the maddening rhythm of an incantation." He says the fingers of grass, the crowded stars, and the sun were clamoring to be noticed by way of repetition.

Now here's what I find interesting: Some people, he states, suppose repetition signifies something dead, like a piece of mindless clockwork. "People feel that if the universe was personal, it would vary," he says. But variation is due to dying and breaking down, losing strength, fatigue. Poetically, he states, "The sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to a lifelessness, but to a rush of life." He compares this to children with abundant energy, kicking their legs in rhythm because of their excess of life. I love this:

"Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, 'Do it again,' and the grownup person does it again and again until he is nearly dead. For grownup people are not strong enough to exult in monotony."

Do we get this? What a concept! Listen: "But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God say every morning, 'Do it again' to the sun, and every evening, 'Do it again,' to the moon . . . . It may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never gotten tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we." In summation, "The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore."

How many times have we watched a spectacular sunset and oohed and aahed as if it were the first one we'd ever seen? Earlier this week I saw a double rainbow in the sky, after a heavy rain, with the mountains and lake majestic behind it. I was awed to tears, even though I had seen rainbows like this a dozen times before. "Do it again," I whispered. "Do it again and again."

The Doctrine of Conditional Joy

2007-10-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

G. K. Chesterton wrote in his book, Orthodoxy, "The things I believe most now are the things called fairy tales. They seem to me to be the entirely reasonable things . . . . Fairyland is nothing but the sunny country of common sense."

Sounds strange--fairyland reasonable and common-sensical? He goes on to talk about this spirit of law pervading the realm of fairy tales, "a way of looking at life." Let's take a look at two aspects he proposes.

First, all that takes place in a fairy tale is centered around the docrtine of conditional joy. The word if is paramount. "The fairy tale utterance always is, 'You may live in a palace of gold if you do not say the word cow'; or 'You may live happily with the King's daughter if you do not show her an onion.' The vision always hangs on a veto. All the dizzy and colossal things conceded depend upon one small thing withheld. All the wild and whirling things that are let loose depend on one thing that is forbidden.' "

Are we surprised that such rules tug at our very heartstrings in anticipation and curiosity? When we realize that these unpsoken rules seem to mirror our existence we know why they resonate. As Chesterton so duly noted: "In the fairy tale, an incomprehensible happiness rests upon an incomprehensible condition. A box is opened and all evils fly out. A word is forgotten and cities perish. A lamp is lit and loves flies away. An apple is eaten and the hope of God is gone."

The whole crux of our existence, our entire paradigm, revolves around this doctrine of conditional joy. Humans were given this clear choice: to not eat from a particular tree, for it represented God's right to set the rules. Overstepping was not just an act of disobedience, it caused the whole infrastructure of creation to come tumbling down. Thankfully, from the one act of rebellion all hope of God was not truly lost. At that very moment God produced a remedy for humanity--and guess what--it was another doctrine of conditional joy. We are all so familiar with the scripture: "That God so loved the world he gave his only-begotten son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16). We do not have to search the ends of the earth for a talking frog, gather a bushel of grain from a haystack, or fetch the princess's ring from the bottom of the sea to be given the greatest reward a King has ever offered. All we are required to do is believe in the Son, serve and honor him loyally and faithfully. I, for my part, am glad of the kindness in such an easy, joyful task.

Next post we will examine the second part of Chesteron's observations about fairy land--the curious mystery of repetition. I close with this quote: "I left fairy tales lying on the floor of the nursery, and I have not found any books so sinsible since."

G. K. Chesterton and Fantasy

2007-10-09T16:30:00.000-07:00

After many years away from writing fiction, I knew it was time to return. I had writen three commercial novels that went everywhere and landed nowhere, and I felt quite discouraged. All my agents had promised me great success; they gushed about my unique writing style and voice. They were puzzled as to why they had failed to get a publisher to sign me up as the next best thing since chocolate. I tired of writing about flawed humans and their angst. I gave up.

Living without writing grows into an illness that seems to permeate every corner of life. My creativity and enthusiasm dwindled away and I ran on empty. In my heart, I knew I was called to write, that it is a gift that I was squandering, but I could not face the thought of laboring and giving birth to yet another weighty novel, only to be rejected once more.

I prayed. I did not pray for motivation to write another novel. I prayed to God to show me what to do with this gift and how to use it to recover my floundering life. I was drifting in a sea of hopelessness and depression, after having gone through some terrible tragedies in my life. I needed rescuing. So God sent me a life raft, in the form of a little book by G. K. Chesterton: Orthodoxy.

How could this slim book written in 1906 about Chesterton's discovery and embracing of Christianity possibly change my writing life (and the rest of my life, for that matter)? It is due to one chapter he entitles, "The Ethics of Elfland."

I had always loved fantasy books; I read them voraciously and have since I was a child. Reading Ray Bradbury inspired me to start writing my own fantasy short stories when I was about nine. I had always wanted to write a fantasy book, but felt it would be an indulgence, a waste of time. For what good were they? Nice, silly escapist books that could not contain the power and truths I so very much yearned to express in my writing. Boy, was I blind! If I had just taken the time to see how fantasy had molded my life, my dreams, my code of honor, my values, I would never accuse fantasy of being so impotent.

So, after months of intense prayer, asking God to help me write again, show me what to write, I found Chesterton's book and--lo and behold--he had written this mind-blowing chapter on the importance of fantasy.

I will just mention a few things in this post and continue in the next, but here are some of the words that spoke to my heart and changed my life:

"We all like astonishing tales because they touch the nerve of the ancient instinct of astonishment . . . .Here I am trying to describe the enorous emotions which cannot be described. And the strongest emotion was that life was as precious as it was puzzling. It was an ecstacy because it was an adventure; it was an adventure because it was an opportunity . . . . It was good to be in a fairy tale."

Chesterton shows how, when he was young, the world contained magic, and that somehow, that magic implied a magician--someone who conjured up all the wonder in the world and gave that wonder meaning. He speaks of how we lose that wonder, how we forget we are living in this magical, awesome world, and what fairy tales do for us is return us to that wonder we have lost. When I read that, I was like a woman dying of thirst, only just realizing that thirst was there. When I had finished reading the chapter, I knew God had spoken to my heart. He said, "write fairy tales. Tell the world about me in the wonder you see and feel and touch. For in doing so, you will rediscover your own wonder and find healing for your soul."

I cannot state enough how true those words have been, how this writing journey of the last two years has not only healed my heart and made my spirit soar, but has brought me to know God more closely than I could have ever imagined.

I will end for now with this beautiful statement by Chesterton: "That life is not only a pleasure but a kind of eccentric privilege." I try to live with that awareness in my heart each day, and response properly--with appreciation to the great conjurer of the universe.

Curling and Writing From a Christian Worldview

2007-09-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

You may be wondering what curling--the sport not the hair activity--has to do with writing books to reveal a Christian worldview. When I happened upon a game on television (was it the Olympics?) I found it truly bizarre. Men skating on the ice and sweeping brooms in front of a granite stone. What on earth were they doing?

Well, for some reason, this image came to me this morning as I was puttering about my landscape jobs. I have been trying for months to smooth the way for editors to understand the fantasy market. CBA publishers have a long way to go to "get" this genre and why, how, and in what way they need to pursue it. Upon returning from the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) conference in Dallas, I was energized and encouraged by the willingness of many there to take a look at fantasy--not just mine, but books of other authors as well. That is a big change, even from April at Mt. Hermon.

Back to curling. Sending out your fantasy book is like throwing the stone down the ice. These heavy (44 pound) granite rocks are hurled toward "the house," as the goal is called. Why is it called curling? Oh, it is thought to have been started in Scotland, and the Scots word "curr" means a low rumble, for as the stones race down the ice over the "pebble," they do make a roaring noise. Pebble is created by water droplets deliberately created on the ice's surface, hence the roar. The sweepers use brooms that momentarily melt the little bumps and are thus able to affect an alteration in the direction of the stone, helping lead it toward the goal.

So, here we are, intrepid fantasy, sci-fi, futuristic, speculative fiction writers, trying to head toward the goal of publication in a publishing climate that hardly knows we exist. We are the sweepers and the hurlers, sending out our books with focused attention, trying to make a roaring noise, and sweeping the bumps along the way to smooth the road, not just for ourselves, but for those to follow.

I am continually surprised to see the glazed-over look on editors' faces when I discuss fantasy with them. It is as if I live in a fantasy world myself--a place where the publishers are wearing strange glasses that blind them, and out of my mouth comes only gibberish. A few seem to be waking up from a deep Sleeping-Beauty-type slumber and are starting to see the facts: that 300 million people went to see the first Narnia movie--the first so-called Christian fantasy film to hit the theatres. That many of those viewers also loved reading Narnia, and have few, if any, books they can turn to for that fantasy fix. Never mind the gazillions who have read LOTR and those Harry-you-know-who books. Seven of the ten biggest selling books in history were fantasy books. Theatres are being flooded with fantasy movies. I went to a movie (a fantasy) last week and, for the first time ever, 4 of the 5 trailers for upcoming films were in the fantasy genre and most adapted from fantasy books.

The most important thing to me is this (and editors are starting to feel God's nudge): that there is a wide-open mission field out there--a "place" consisting of millions of people who only read fantasy or sci-fi. We so need to get books into their hands that are well-written, entertaining, imaginative, but that gently represent a Christian worldview. By infiltrating the fantasy market with these kinds of books, books that inspire hope and point to a God who cares, we will scatter seeds far and wide, and let God do the rest.

So, keep casting your stones out on the surface of the ice, and in the course of many days, weeks, or years, they will come back to you. That's a scripture, isn't it?

The Wolf of Tebron and Dogs

2007-09-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

For those who haven't heard of my Christian fairy tale called "The Wolf of Tebron," (and that is many of you!), I would like to introduce you to "Sweetie," the basic inspiration for my fantasy novel. I am especially fond of dogs, and I don't have to say anything more to you dog-lovers out there. Some of you don't know the deep joy that comes from having a furry, loyal companion who always cheers you up just by existing. That's an amazing gift, and I believe God intended it that way. Do you really think it is a coincidence that "dog" is "god" backwards? Well, at least in English...

What motivated me to write this novel was this: I love the idea of using fantasy as a vehicle to tell the redemption story of Christ. C.S. Lewis did it well for children in the Chronicles of Narnia, but I had a problem with Aslan, the lion. A big problem.

OK, we know he's not a tame lion, but he also rarely shows up in all the books of the series. He makes an occasional appearance, and yes, he does give his mortal life to save humanity. That's powerful. that's essential. But I felt it lacking, for the God I know isn't like that. He is, well, more like my dog, but better. I saw God as someone who stayed right by my side--through trials and joys, through fears and confusion. Watching over my while I sleep, keeping me fed and warm, and teaching me all along the way the things I need to know, even things I really don't want to know about myself. So that is Ruyah, my wolf. A timeless wizard accompanying Joran on his quest to rescue his wife from the clutches of the Moon. At first Joran doesn't want to trust him or even be around him. But as the story progresses, Joran becomes quite attached and falls in love with this ponderous, funny, exasperating wolf who refuses to abandon Joran, even when ordered to. And in the end, the only way for Joran to survive the chaos at the shore of his dreams is for Ruyah to sacrifice his life. And not only that--Joran must kill him with his own hands.

I think, for me, that became so much more powerful a story. Because God is and does all those things for us. And there is some poignancy, if I could call it that, in imagining we wield the hammer and the nails to put Christ on the cross, that we have to strike a deliberate blow and claim responsibility for his death and embrace that pain in our own arms in order to welcome him into our hearts. Of course, Ruyah dies, but in three days he is rasied again, this time incorruptible and glorious, no longer a mere wolf, but a triumphant wizard who now can vanquish the darkness.

Well, now that you want to read the book, you'll have to wait until I can get it published. If you are desperate, I do have it in pdf format . . .

Here's one last cute image. When Lee and I were ready to pray thanks over dinner one evening by the TV, we bowed our heads and grabbed hands. And then we felt a paw rest on top of our grasp. There was Sweetie, head bowed, still and respectful while we said our prayer. I think her prayer was a little different and went something like this, "Wow, that chicken sure looks good and I really am so cute. Look at my thumping tail and soft, brown eyes. Surely there is a piece on your plates for me." The Bible does say that ALL creatures know their maker (Job 12:7-9). Is it possible that we humans are the only ones who haven't a clue?

I asked Sweetie and she said : "duh!"

Welcome to Fairy Tale Central

2007-09-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome intrepid travelers, weary from the weight of the passing world. Enter here, where there be dragons, and find refreshment for your souls. For those who have wandered astray and find yourself in these winsome woods, know that mystery, magic, and adventure await you. And worry not, for there are clear streams of pure water to refresh you, and a table laid out in the courtyard of the King. For these are his woods, and it is he who calls you to come and drink of life's water free...

This blog is an open forum and I invite one and all to comment and share. Pull off your shoes and dip your feet in the cool stream that meanders through this meadow just outside the wood. For we still have a very long way to go, and sometimes the night is filled with horrific sounds and cries. But we know we are not alone, and that we are under the protection of the King. And we are loved. Oh yes we are.

If you are wondering what the buzz is all about in Fairy Tale land, read the posted articles. As G.K Chesterton wrote in 1908 (and you will hear a lot of him on this blog): Every man has forgotten who he is....We are under the same mental calamity; we have all forgotten our names. We have all forgotten what we really are....and we forget we have forgotten."

In this magical, real world in which we find ourselves journeying, we have moments when we realize we have lost our way. The stars we thought guided us home only led us into a great, dark pit from which we cannot extricate ourselves. As the apostle Paul cried out: "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" We can no more rescue ourselves from the futility of this life than we can lift ourselves by our bootstraps to get out of the pit. But there is hope, and it is couched in the power of myth and tale.

C.S Lewis defined myths as "lies breathed through silver." J.R.R. Tolkien, while working on his Middle Earth trilogy, believed in the "inherent truth of mythology."

"Just as speech is invention about objects and ideas," he told Lewis, "so myth is invention about truth. We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming a 'sub-creator' and inventing stories, can Man ascribe to the start of perfection that he knew before the Fall."

Lewis added: "the story of Christ is simply a true myth; a myth working on us in the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened."

On my website and in this blog you will read about the power of myth and fantasy, of fairy tales and why they are desperately needed now, in our cruel and callous time. We writers of fantasy are a vast army, and the sound of our boots trampling on the road to the great city is barely heard for the cacophony of the revelers and disrupters. But if you put an ear to the ground, you will hear a steady beat, a pulse, like a merging of hearts gaining momentum. And when we enter through the open gates, there will be no stopping us. For already inside the battlement walls are throngs of hungry, thirsting people. People who have been waiting a very long time for water that will never leave them parched ever again. For what they have tasted out there only hinted of what could be, and what they have read out there only sparked a need for something they cannot identify, and it has set loose a raging fire in their souls that refuses to be quenched.

C.S Lewis put it this way: "Fairy land arouses in [the reader] a longing for he knows not what. It stirs and troubles him (to his life-long enrichment) with the dim sense of something beyond his reach and, far from dulling or emptying the actual world, gives it a new dimension of depth. He does not despise real woods because he has read of enchanted words; the reading makes all real woods a little enchanted."