Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts

Overcoming Fear

12:35 AM


Here is a parable for writers:

Writers are like a man whose wife has compelled him to diet. One night he wakes with a craving for chocolate. He turns softly in bed to see if his wife is deeply asleep, then slowly slides out of bed and down the hall to the kitchen. He wrestles gently with the wrapper, slides the chocolate down his throat, regrets the sweetness. Somewhat brazenly he returns to bed, only to find that all is still very quiet.

In a nutshell, writers, and specifically writers trying to create for God's glory often write hesitantly because of fears from many directions. These fears create a lack of confidence that stifles our energy and we give up, only to make another run at it some time later, with similar results.

When we think about writing, the greatest obstacle that we face is not one of flat characters, uninspired language, or any other technical element. It is not practical considerations such as how to make a living. Rather the greatest obstacle between us and God-honoring art is fear. We fear that that we would spend hours on a piece that is our soul, only to have those outpourings flutter through the world like a plastic grocery bag flung through autumn and eventually blown up against a chain link fence to trap leaves and garbage, totally unnoticed.

Even before that terror, we fear that when we sit to write, nothing will bubble up from the dark unknowns of creativity—that we will sit like a barren woman longing for a child. What would it say about us if the well of creativity has run dry? What if there is nothing left this time? Is it not better to rest on the successes of the past?

Then there is the fear that even if writing happens 'successfully' the writing itself will have no real value, that it won't matter for anything in the long run. For the Christian, there is always that question lurking in the shadows, "Is what I am doing worthwhile in an eternal sense?" And this question, while valid and important in an age wholly given over to trivialities and the desperate search for novelty, keeps us in doubt as we approach our craft. Doubt of this kind will slow our thoughts and inspiration to a trickle, and knowing this, we fear even more.

Attempt to define what I'm doing

10:37 PM

There is a tension that I feel every time I think about writing. Part  of me says, "I want to do this as a Christian, for God's glory. I want everything that I write to point to Him." Then another part of me says "No you don't." The first of these I understand and embrace. Here's what I mean by the second. 

By identifying myself as a Christian writer, I run the risk of instantly being marginalized or lumped into the same category as writers of Christian pop fiction. A lot of the fiction that is being written by Christians has to do with heavy-handed preaching, loose copying of secular fiction (except that someone gets saved at the end), or ineffective attempts write good prose. It's kind of like Christian radio in that sense. What ends up happening is the power of the gospel is watered down or completely lost, and the only people who end up reading it are Christians who buy it because it is a 'Christian thriller'.  I don't want to be thrown into that group by announcing my intention to write Christian fiction/poetry. To be perfectly honest, I am hesitant to tell people  at my church that I am interested in writing because so often they ask me if I have read the newest novel by Frank Peretti. To be fair, I have read some of his novels and they are not bad. They are just in no way what I am getting at. I want to write fiction that will invite those who know nothing about Christianity to read along. I also want to write stories that will invigorate Christian readers. Hopefully it will be stories that will make people think, and maybe even squirm a bit.

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