Every writer has a worldview. Emotionally, spiritually, emotionally, socially, politically. My worldviews are pretty much this: this is a supernatural world, this is a sinful world, this is a wounding world and this is a deluded/self-deceived world.
Thus, I cannot write stories that don't have a supernatural factor. True, most Christians believe that the world is supernatural...but perhaps not to the obsessive degree that I do. So while a Christian writer might allow himself to write a mainstream novel without even a whiff of actual spirits, demons, angels, spiritual laws, supernatural events... I tend to feel a novel is a lie if it doesn't include some of that stuff. This is not to say I won't ever write a mainstream novel. But...it'd be a hard go for me to keep the thing straight in a rational world.
It's one of those things folks must come to terms with. Just how supernatural is this world? and Why should humans think it so strange that the world is really way more magical and rooted in the supernatural than we think?
Secondly, I think humans are wounded. Thus I could never in my wildest imagination ever create a character who was not emotionally wounded or a psychological mess. I simply believe life is too difficult for the average person. It's not only that we all know we will die, but we are all deeply aware of how isolated we are from each other's mind. In the deepest part of our soul, we know we should all know each other perfectly and should all be loved.
God gives us all missions and each mission is based on what we feel is important. What I consider important is what makes my worldview. For me, the vision of perfect people and perfect heroes in stories is the main thing because the images are destructive. For me the great evil is deception about what a true human being and the world is like. For me, deceptions at their worst are the slickest and most powerful because they are so powerful and so pervasive...and the deception about how real human beings supposedly behave creates unreal ideas and helps to propagate notions that make people insecure and fake and feel inferior to others. So for me, I am at war against things that are foisted upon the world as "real" or emotions foisted on the world as "acceptable." For other writers, there are different issues therefore different worldviews. We all are called to follow the vision God has given us and to declare what we have seen. To not follow the vision we see or the mission we are called to do...is to be fake and to not submit to one's calling. It means we are hiding some aspects of the truth we are called to declare. When we hide the truth of ourselves and we don't sound the alarm we are called to sound, we have failed our mission. We are all like watchmen and we are called to declare what we see...so when we have Christians who all write the same thing...well, it's bothersome. Our missions in life are more varied than what the Christian publishing world or Christian media and Christian society or Christian politics declares as important. To not share your worldview is to hide your talent in the ground. There is a peace that comes with hiding one's talent...but....well, one has to do what one has to do.
Anyways, am going on about this because I have to remind myself about why I like my books every once in a while and why I refuse to change certain aspects of my character. Constant Tower is full of woundedness. It's a messy world...and yeah, that's how I see this world. Heroes are supremely messed up and no one has that perfect CEO personality or that coffee-klatch personality the secular and Christian world would want us to have. We simply don't. And for me, it would be a dimming of my own light, a committment to untruth for me to write a book with sane folks in it. We humans are not that sane...we are not even half-sane. But there is a pretense and a hiding..and the world likes stories to show this facade. I can't bring myself to do that. Oh well, adelante.
Thus, I cannot write stories that don't have a supernatural factor. True, most Christians believe that the world is supernatural...but perhaps not to the obsessive degree that I do. So while a Christian writer might allow himself to write a mainstream novel without even a whiff of actual spirits, demons, angels, spiritual laws, supernatural events... I tend to feel a novel is a lie if it doesn't include some of that stuff. This is not to say I won't ever write a mainstream novel. But...it'd be a hard go for me to keep the thing straight in a rational world.
It's one of those things folks must come to terms with. Just how supernatural is this world? and Why should humans think it so strange that the world is really way more magical and rooted in the supernatural than we think?
Secondly, I think humans are wounded. Thus I could never in my wildest imagination ever create a character who was not emotionally wounded or a psychological mess. I simply believe life is too difficult for the average person. It's not only that we all know we will die, but we are all deeply aware of how isolated we are from each other's mind. In the deepest part of our soul, we know we should all know each other perfectly and should all be loved.
God gives us all missions and each mission is based on what we feel is important. What I consider important is what makes my worldview. For me, the vision of perfect people and perfect heroes in stories is the main thing because the images are destructive. For me the great evil is deception about what a true human being and the world is like. For me, deceptions at their worst are the slickest and most powerful because they are so powerful and so pervasive...and the deception about how real human beings supposedly behave creates unreal ideas and helps to propagate notions that make people insecure and fake and feel inferior to others. So for me, I am at war against things that are foisted upon the world as "real" or emotions foisted on the world as "acceptable." For other writers, there are different issues therefore different worldviews. We all are called to follow the vision God has given us and to declare what we have seen. To not follow the vision we see or the mission we are called to do...is to be fake and to not submit to one's calling. It means we are hiding some aspects of the truth we are called to declare. When we hide the truth of ourselves and we don't sound the alarm we are called to sound, we have failed our mission. We are all like watchmen and we are called to declare what we see...so when we have Christians who all write the same thing...well, it's bothersome. Our missions in life are more varied than what the Christian publishing world or Christian media and Christian society or Christian politics declares as important. To not share your worldview is to hide your talent in the ground. There is a peace that comes with hiding one's talent...but....well, one has to do what one has to do.
Anyways, am going on about this because I have to remind myself about why I like my books every once in a while and why I refuse to change certain aspects of my character. Constant Tower is full of woundedness. It's a messy world...and yeah, that's how I see this world. Heroes are supremely messed up and no one has that perfect CEO personality or that coffee-klatch personality the secular and Christian world would want us to have. We simply don't. And for me, it would be a dimming of my own light, a committment to untruth for me to write a book with sane folks in it. We humans are not that sane...we are not even half-sane. But there is a pretense and a hiding..and the world likes stories to show this facade. I can't bring myself to do that. Oh well, adelante.
2 comments:
interesting. p1 you might experiment with using slightly larger fonts and or text
true. i could. thanks.
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