For the one who is afraid to begin. For the one who is stuck in endless calculation and planning. For the one who is afraid to make the first brush stroke for fear they are not prepared. For the one who is afraid to set the first stone for fear it will create the wrong foundation. For the one who is afraid of making mistakes and having to backtrack and rethink. For the one who is afraid to begin for fear of having to begin again. And again. And again. This is for you. — Lord, I want to begin, but I do not know when, or how, or if now is the right time to. I do not know if I am prepared enough or even if I should have taken this much time to prepare. I like to be efficient, to not have to backtrack, to get...
Epic Fantasy in Nazareth
Image from Pinterest Behold, young man, and may the gods avert the omen, but you have been born into times when it is well to fortify the spirit with examples of courage.” – Tacitus Most of our lives would make pretty boring novels. (maybe 2020 changed that, but let’s just ignore that for the moment, yes?) True, there is a certain drama in the everyday ups and downs, but it amounts to no more than your ordinary contemporary novel. Which is why people read and write contemporary novels. It’s relatable and shows us the important moments that do happen in our everyday lives (and that’s why I wrote this story ). However, for those of us who read or write more fantastical and “exciting” genres, like epic fantasy, coming back to the Normal World after closing a book can feel dull. Yes, it’s wonderful that we don’t have those monsters...
Humility and Obedience as an Artist
Artists are powerful. Whether they are painters, poets, writers, actors, or musicians, artists wield a power that echoes the creative forces of God. While artists cannot create out of nothing, they do have the ability to recreate reality through mirroring reality in a way that follows the norms of their particular craft. All humans are artists in that they “are entrusted with the task of crafting their own life: in a certain sense, they are to make of it a work of art, a masterpiece.” (Pope John Paul II, Letter to Artists, 2). Yet, an artist in the traditional sense has a greater focus on creation and creativity in regard to what is beautiful. This does not make the traditional artist a better person than someone who is not a traditional artist, but I believe it does give the traditional artist an extra responsibility; rather than simply being responsible...
Get Back in the Boat
You’ve been out all night, all week, all month. It goes the same for all of us. We cast our buckets to the creative wells of inspiration tucked deep in the heart and the mind and once, and we pull. We pull up a catch of emotions and thoughts all tangled together and rearrange them on a page in something called story. Some days it’s light work, and though we’re working alone, the encouragement and prayers of others seems to grow hands and make our job easy. We pull and pull and our buckets overflow. Other days it’s hard work, and our two little arms hardly seem strong enough to pull up a bucket that just reveals itself to be empty. It seems like a game of chance. Yes, there are strategies. Write consistently. Plot the scenes. Re-inspire yourself. Keep a schedule. Pray for help. Yet every day is...
What God Taught Me About Writing
I’m convinced that writing for God is one of the scariest and most challenging things in the world to do. Why? Because when you invite God into your writing process, suddenly, you aren’t the only one calling the shots anymore. You aren’t the only author any longer. There is a much greater Author there with you, and he’s just as interested as you are in your character’s arc and personality type, that plot twist that’s going to shock readers, and what your story’s theme is. To quote Plot Versus Character: “…where there was once only one power…now there are two.” Writing has always felt like a tug between two powers to me, between structure versus spontaneity, rules versus intuition and art. It’s been between what should work and what does work, what I want the story to be and what it actually is. And it’s especially apparent between what...