Summer is Over...

... or at least, very nearly. It's been an amazing summer, I don't mind telling you. Great weather, plenty of rain (the Ozarks are a rainforest right now, compared to this time last year), exciting events - no complaints!
I won't bore you with the details of my entire summer, but I will take a few moments to talk about Realm Makers, which was definitely the highlighting event!
If you didn't hear about it beforehand, Realm Makers was the first-ever writers conference specifically designed for Christian writers of speculative fiction. And it. Was. Awesome. I met some amazing people, had the privilege of shaking the hands of people I'd previously only met online, and had a great time enjoying the company of a whole troop of people just as crazy and creative and nerdy as me!

We were able to get all three of the Lost Scribes together, which is a rare treat these days. Elyn (far right) rode up to St. Louis with me (second from left) and my friend Michaela (second from right), and Heather (far left) came all the way down from Michigan. In this picture we're hanging out at the Friday night costume dinner with Becky Minor, the reason we even had such a thing as a Realm Makers conference. So a huge thank-you to her for an awesome weekend!

You may have noticed in the first picture a bit of a steampunk theme - at least on the part of Michaela, Elyn, and myself. That wasn't entirely intentional, but it ended up being pretty cool. Pictured here is the pile of weaponry and other steampunk accoutrements we brought along. Michaela made the ray gun herself - yeah, she's cool that way. And for the record: you should have seen the looks she got when she waltzed through Steak & Shake on Saturday still wearing the sabre, ray gun, and bowie knives - with Elyn and me tagging along, acting like this is perfectly normal. We laughed about it for most of the trip home.

Oh, the people we met! In this picture with me is none other than Kathy Tyers! I was so excited to meet her Friday night at the costume dinner/awards banquet (yes, I was there when they announced this year's winner of the Parable Award and the Clive Staples Award, which was awesome), but the coolest part was on Saturday, when I walked down to the lobby to find the Kathy Tyers sitting at a table talking to my mother. Seriously - can it get any cooler than that? (Mom was our chauffeur for the weekend, in case you're wondering why she was there. She said she wasn't going to turn us loose in St. Louis, so apparently she either doesn't trust us, was worried we would be so overloaded with excitement that we couldn't find our way home, or suspected we might just choose not to come back.) So Saturday I got to enjoy a long lunch break with my mom, two of my best friends, and one of my favorite authors.
Among other personages with whom I made acquaintance over the weekend were L.B. Graham, author of The Binding of the Blade series; Brian Davis, author of the Dragons of Starlight series (and with whom I sat down and had a lovely chat about my novel The Sword Masters of St. George's Academy); Jeff Gerke, commander-in-chief of Marcher Lord Press; and of course Becky Minor, author of the Windrider Saga.
Best of all, I got to see Grace Bridges, leading lady of Splashdown Books, again - this time officially as "my publisher"! Yep, she made the trek all the way from New Zealand to be at Realm Makers. I also got to meet a lot of the other Splashdown and Avenir Eclectia authors too - Deborah Cullins-Smith, Kat Heckenbach, Travis Perry, and Robbyn Tolbert. I'll admit, I was a little intimidated about meeting Robbyn. She's the one currently working on Song of the Wren-Falcon, helping me get it ready for publication, and for some reason that just really, really freaked me out. But with the help of my friend Heather ("Help" in this instance indicating Heather dragging Robbyn over to me by the hand, shoving me towards her, and saying "Now talk to each other!"), we broke the ice and started getting to know one another.
Let me just say that, having met and talked to Robbyn, I feel totally at peace entrusting her and all the rest of the Splashdown crew with my manuscript. Don't get me wrong - I wouldn't have submitted my novel to Splashdown at all if I was worried they might mess it up - but still, it's my baby, you know?
Now though, I have every confidence in the world that by the time it's done, Song of the Wren-Falcon is going to be absolutely the best novel that it can possibly be. And it's going to be good for me as a writer, as well as for the novel itself. I'm not going to be allowed to get away with any cheap tricks or short cuts (which, I confess, I did use here and there in SotS - yes, I know it's not SotS anymore but that's way simpler an abbreviation than SotW-F).
But more on that in another post. For now, back to Realm Makers.

So, we three Lost Scribes (say - someone should write a song about that!) were milling around at the costume banquet, and all of a sudden who should we spot but a man with a cybernetic left arm?! Naturally, we had to tell him about our character Skylar, and get a picture with him.

Here we are, being epic - because it's Realm Makers and we can do that. ; ) Later, as the three of us were geeking out about the fact that we'd found Skylar, we realized that Ben Wolf (the cyborg gentleman who graced us with his presence in these pictures) doesn't look at all like Skylar in the face... but he does look a lot like our character Hezekiah in the face. And, were Hez a decent human being in any basic capacity, we decided that we could easily imagine his personality being similar to Mr. Wolf's. So we got to met two of the characters from our shared novel, rolled into one master of writing conference ceremonies/magazine editor.
Which brings me to another highlight of the weekend! On Friday, Ben Wolf and Andrew Winch, the executive and senior editors of Splickety Magazine, respectively, gave a talk on what flash fiction is, and how to write it. (Flash fiction is what Splickety Magazine publishes.)
At the end of the talk, they announced a contest: write a story of 500 or fewer words and turn it in to them by noon on Saturday. The winner would get published in the first edition of Havok, a new imprint of Splickety coming in January.
So, instead of sleeping like we should have done Friday night, Elyn, Michaela, and I all stayed up most of the night, woke up abominably early Saturday morning, and spent most of the time during the morning lectures scribbling stories instead of taking notes. We all got them turned in, and settled down to wait eagerly for the announcement of the winner, set to take place at 5:00 pm.
It finally rolled around, and they started announcing the runners-up. Elyn made the finals, with her story Wolf Myth!
I didn't make the finals, but I was just glad that I would be able to say I entered the flash fiction contest at the first-ever Realm Makers conference.
But then they announced the winner... and it was me!!! I literally almost fell over. I had no expectation whatsoever of winning, so hearing my name blindsided me completely. Which turned out to be a problem, since they then asked me to read my story aloud to the entire assembly of conference attendees. Elyn says I read it a little too fast. I imagine that to mean something along the lines of Twitchy from Hoodwinked. But oh well.
So, that means that if you subscribe to Havok, you can expect to see my story, The Mermaid's Pocketwatch, in the inaugural issue!
It was a great way to wrap up an utterly fantastic weekend. I'm so glad I got to enjoy it with so many of my closest friends, authors I've loved for years, my publisher and new colleagues, and new friends made.
Come to think of it, it made a pretty nice finale to the summer. Here's to next time!

If you've actually made it to this point in the post, you're amazing. I know, it was insanely long. I should have done a three-part series or something.
I still don't have internet at home (another one of those ridiculous details about my summer that I won't bore you with), but I've got things arranged so that I should be able to get to wi-fi at least a couple of time a week now. Most of the posts this fall will probably be scheduled as a result, but I'll try to still reply to comments and post at least every week or so.

I hope everyone's summer was wonderful, and I'm looking forward to this fall. God's doing some cool things, and I'm excited to watch them unfold.

How was your summer?

Realm Makers - the moment we've all been waiting for!

Christian writers, get ready for a history-making event:

The first-ever Christian Speculative Fiction Conference!

On August 2-3, 2013, writers, editors, and publishers from around the world will be gathered at the University of Missouri, St Louis, for the first-ever Realm Makers conference - a writers conference for lovers of the question "what if?", whose faith is the top priority.

Click Here to visit their homepage and get all the information you need.

~*~

I am so excited about this, I don't know how I'm going to keep it together until August. Grace Bridges, leading lady of Splashdown Books, is going to be there, as are spec-fic pioneer Jeff Gerke of Marcher Lord Press; Chila Woychick, editor of Port Yonder Press; L.B. Graham, author of the Binding of the Blade series; Kathy Tyers, author of the Firebird trilogy; and more! (And of course, for those who may care, you can meet me too! ; )

There's also going to be a costume ball on the first night of the conference, which promises to be absolutely fabulous!

If you register before June 1st, you can take advantage of an early bird discount. Registration costs go up after that, so no dilly-dallying!

5 Things Writers Live in Fear of...

... but don't have to.

In spite of the fact that we spend our days battling fire-breathing dragons, fending off hordes of evil vermin, rooting out spies and traitors, and embarking on impossible quests doomed to almost certain failure, all without a moment's hesitation, we writers do have our own set of fears to face - fears so deep and dark and ominous that at times they can leave us almost paralyzed.
Some of these fears are well-founded. Others, not so much. But we still live and suffer with them. So my goal for this post is to talk about some of the things that make us otherwise stalwart writers turn pale and trembly and, hopefully, put a few of those unfounded fears to rest. Here goes. (The list is arranged in no particular order, by the way.)

Fear #1. Rejection Letters  This is probably the single biggest fear of new writers (and possibly some not-so-new-ones as well). Waiting for the first one is the worst. Many writers (myself among them) have the idea that that first rejection letter will somehow crush all their hopes and dreams, brand them as a failure, humiliate them beyond recovery, and possibly even send them into deep mourning.
The Truth:  Writers, sometimes we write things that simply aren't up to par. It happens, and there's no shame in that. Listen to the radio or watch the news regularly, and it won't be long before you hear about some product being recalled because of factory defects - from companies with entire teams of designers, engineers, supervisors, and product testers who are supposed to prevent things like that happening! You're doing this on your own. It happens.
Sometimes the publisher simply doesn't need what you've written right now. Say you submit a fantasy short story to a magazine; you have no way of knowing that the editor just received 50 fantasy short story submissions last week and has already got plenty to keep him well-stocked for the rest of the year. Your story might be great... he just doesn't need it right now.
You're not branded. A little embarrassed, maybe. Branded as a failure, no. About a year after receiving my first rejection letter from an online magazine, I went on to receive my first acceptance letter - from the very same magazine. Just because an editor rejects a piece of your work doesn't mean he or she is rejecting you as a writer.

Fear #2. A Stolen Manuscript  Many writers are absolutely terrified by the thought of doing all the hard work and pouring their soul into a manuscript, only to have it stolen and published by someone else. Some writers are afraid that another writer will steal their work; others are afraid of submitting their work to a publishing house, worried that the publisher will steal their work.
The Truth: Ask yourself what another writer would stand to gain by stealing your novel and submitting it to a publisher under their own name. Unless your name is Ted Dekker or Beverly Lewis, there's no guarantee the novel will be accepted. Even if your name is Ted Dekker or Beverly Lewis, your name is your strongest selling tool. Someone submitting Ted Dekker's newest manuscript under the name Francis Anderson still isn't guaranteed the attention the same manuscript would get if it had Ted Dekker's name attached. If someone wants to make a dishonest fortune off of you, they can make way more money by spending 20 minutes online and stealing your identity than they could trying to publish your manuscript.
A publisher has way too much at stake to steal your manuscript. Even if they think it's fabulous, destined to become a hot best seller, it's in their best interest to deal honestly with you, the writer. Publishers are in business to make money. Stealing a manuscript isn't going to get them far in that department. No writer is going to sit quietly by and let their book be stolen and sold out from under them. It won't be long before the internet is abuzz with the news; the authorities and lawyers will be brought in; no writer will ever entrust that publishing house with their work again. By the time the dust settles, that publisher has lost way more money than they ever could have gained with a pilfered novel.

Fear #3. A Stolen Idea  What if someone hears your story idea, steals it, uses it to write a novel, and sends it to the publisher before you do?
The Truth: The human imagination is an amazing thing, in that multiple people can be prescribed identical story guidelines, and the resulting stories will be nothing alike. My friend LoriAnn once held a writing contest on her blog to demonstrate that very principle. She gave the readers the first line of a story, the last line of a story, and a set of elements and phrases the story had to contain. It was remarkable to see the variety in the submissions.
So even if someone does hear your story idea and use it for themselves, it isn't going to end up the same - unless of course you gave them a detailed, point-by-point outline of the entire thing. Which, of course, is entirely preventable. Just keep your detailed plot outlines to yourself! Save it for when the book is published and let your audience read it for themselves.

Fear #4. Losing Years of Work  If your computer crashes, or gets fried in a lightning storm, or your house burns down, what will become of your writing?
The Truth:  Be afraid. Be very afraid. ; ) Just kidding. While this fear is actually very legitimate (I have lost work to both a computer crash and a lightning storm on separate occasions) this situation is entirely preventable, and there are a host of safeguards you can set in place to indulge your paranoia to your heart's content. In this case, paranoia is a good thing because it leads to preparedness.
My personal strategy consists of backing my laptop up onto two separate 2GB flash drives. One of the flash drives stays at the house, the other comes with me everywhere I go. That way, if the house burns down while I'm gone, one flash drive is still safe with me. Conversely, if I fall in the river and destroy one, the other is still safe at home. Occasionally I'll email a piece of my work to a friend or to my parents' computer for additional security, and there are tons of online backup services available for very little cost. Having a hard copy printed out is never a bad idea either. That way if the electricity goes out or the internet crashes, you still haven't lost everything. In my opinion, you can't be too careful when it comes to protecting your work. On one occasion my friend Heather even ran back into a building with a tornado bearing down on her to rescue the disc she had stored her writing on. There should be some kind of writer's medal or award for dedication like that. : )

Fear #5. Running out of Ideas  As a writer, your ideas are the life of your calling. What happens if you run out?
The Truth: If from this moment forward I never had another story idea, I would still have enough to keep me busy well into my sixties, possibly longer. That's not an exaggeration. I've already resigned myself to the fact that I will be leaving many unwritten story ideas behind me when I die.
Now, I'm sure not everyone is the same way. Still, let me ask you this: Did you become a writer because you just thought it sounded like something fun to do, so you sat and waited for an idea to come? Or, did you become a writer because you had something inside you that just had to be written and wouldn't let you have any peace until you wrote it? I'm guessing it was the latter. You write because it's just in you to write. Your brain is designed to concoct these things. It's just the way you're wired. You can't help it.
Yes, even the most highly creative person goes through dry spells, when the creative juices just won't flow. I've had plenty of those spells, and to this day they still scare me a little bit. But they don't last forever. Sooner or later something will spark a story idea or inspire a perfect line of poetry, and you'll be off again.

In Conclusion: You may not struggle with all (or any) of these fears, and that's awesome. But I know I did for a long time, and having someone lay them out in the open for me would have been a relief and a blessing. I hope this post can be that blessing for someone else.

What do you fear as a writer? Is there something you used to fear that you've since gotten over?

Rules of Good Fiction... and When to Let Them Slide

As writers, it's important to learn and understand the rules and principles behind what makes good fiction. It's important to apply those rules and principles to our own writing. It's important to be able to recognize those principles when other writers use them (or fail to use them) in their writing.

But it's also important not to let our knowledge of those rules ruin our ability to enjoy a good story.

As we start to really gain some knowledge of how the writing world works and how fiction works, it's easy to start getting a Barney Fife attitude about it. We get all swelled up with confidence and self-importance and next thing you know we're standing at the ready to pronounce judgment and doom on any pleb so foolish as to break one of the sacred laws that form the code of good writing.
We writers have a tendency to get tunnel vision and focus way too much on the rules, however. We often conclude that a book is terrible because the author broke this rule and that rule and how did such doggerel ever get published? If you're still in the frustrating process of trying to get published, such cases are doubly infuriating because you, of course, know much better than to ever commit such literary sins so you should be getting published instead of these buffoons! (That J.R.R. Tolkien--who does he think he is?)

I hear ya, and I feel your pain. Truly I do. But calm down for a second and ask yourself: Did you enjoy the story?

Sit down and pick up your favorite novel--the one you read over and over and never get tired of. Start reading it with nothing in mind but finding writing mistakes and literary sins. It may be a few chapters before you find one, or you may find one a paragraph in. Gasp!

Now pick up one of those enduring classics--you know, that book that's been on the NYT Bestseller list for the last 300 years. Do the same thing: start reading it with finding literary sins as your sole purpose. How long does it take you?

So let me ask you this: have a few broken rules destroyed your ability to enjoy that favorite novel over and over? Have they dampened the success of that enduring classic?
At the end of the day, novel writing is an art, not a science, and what makes a great story is just that: a great story, not a perfect adherence to the rules of good fiction.
Lord of the Rings, Pride and Prejudice, and Sherlock Holmes don't endure and remain popular because their authors followed all of the writing rules flawlessly. (Come to think about it, have you ever heard any work of fiction praised in the media for that reason?) They remain popular because they tell an epic, inspiring story, or because they speak a bold message to the culture, or because they challenge readers to think in new ways.

Once you know and understand the rules of writing, it is hard not to notice them in other people's writing. And I'll admit that once in a while a book does make it to publication that I simply can't stand to finish because the quality is so poor. It happens. But those cases are rare--almost as rare as the book that contains no mistakes of any kind whatsoever.

So chill out, Barney. Alright, so they broke Ordinance 4861 Section a.) Paragraph 3 of the Good Writing Technique Manual. But they told a great story, didn't they?

And isn't that what you read the book for in the first place?

The Book Apocalypse?

Recently I was talking to a friend of mine about Falls the Shadow (if you have no idea what that is, Click Here) and told her that my co-authors and I had based the story on the premise of technology gradually phasing out first hard copy books, then written text all together. Very few people in our story world can actually read, because technology advanced so far that information could be downloaded directly into the human brain without them having to read and learn it themselves.
My friend then asked me a very interesting question: "Do you think that could happen for real? Could technology eventually replace hard copy books and make them completely obsolete?"
I was a little taken aback. To be honest, in spite of the hours I've spent working with my coauthors on Falls the Shadow, I'd never seriously considered the possibility of such a thing happening in the real world. I think it's a legitimate question, though, especially since the advent of the e-book. So here is my attempt at an answer.

Barring 1.) the Second Coming of Christ and 2.) another world war or natural cataclysm destroying the bulk of modern electronic technology, yes--I do think that technology will gradually make hard copy books completely obsolete.
New and better e-readers are being put on the market every time we turn around. The self-publishing world is exploding now that anyone can publish their own book electronically at virtually no cost. A book that would cost $14 or $15 in print can now be purchased electronically for only $2 or $3. If things continue at this rate, I think it's only a matter of time before hard copy books are a thing of the past.
But there are some things that have to happen before that can fully come to pass.

1.) The pre-ebook generation has to die out. A vast percentage of this generation has already joined the ranks of avid e-book users, but there will always be some (like myself) who simply can't come to terms with the idea of curling up in a chair next to the fire or stretching out in a hammock under a tree with a piece of electronic equipment. As more people switch to e-readers and more children are born into the e-book generation, though, the staunch hard-backers will become fewer and fewer.
2.) Bookstores will either close down completely or switch over to become strictly online stores as e-book sales drive them out of business.
3.) Schools, colleges, and universities will switch from hard copy textbooks to e-textbooks sooner or later. If the economy stays bad and schools keep suffering as a result, I'm betting it will be sooner.
4.) Public libraries will shut down due to a combination of lack of interest and lack of government funding.

Hard copy books will be around for many, many years to come, even if only in private collections, yard sales, flea markets, and antique book shops a few decades down the road. I don't think they're all going to vanish by 2020... or even 2030. So don't feel like you need to rush out and start feverishly buying up books before they disappear (although if you're like me, feverishly buying books is just a way of life : ).
Please don't get the idea that I am anti-ebook or anything like that. I think the e-book and e-reader are both great pieces of technology that have made reading 'cool' once again in society and might actually have some good influence on literacy statistics in our culture. I have nothing against e-books as a concept... they're just not for me.

In spite of everything, I daresay that even if hard copy books do become totally obsolete in the future, there will always be a few people who just have the bug--the bug that will only let them be satisfied with good old leather and paper and ink.
There will always be a mysterious few with a streak of something--of rebellion perhaps, or love of antiquity, or maybe just a strange kind of wisdom--running through their character, inexplicably urging them to collect and preserve something everyone else left by the wayside long ago.
And then what a story waits to be written about them!

Are the lines between speculative genres becoming blurred?

Lately the speculative genres of fiction are growing a great deal in popularity. So, with competition on the rise, spec-fic writers are all trying to make their own contributions distinct, unique, and original. Experimentation is a natural first step on a quest for originality.
The result? New genres and sub-genres of speculative fiction are making their debut and getting a pretty good reception. Writers are looking at established concepts with completely new perspectives and new approaches. And they're beginning to experiment with crossing and combining different genres.
My friend Heather has started introducing steampunk concepts into some of her fantasy stories. My own fantasy WiP has some sci-fi-like concepts in it regarding the story world's technology and scientific developments. Falls the Shadow, a multi-author novel I am privileged to be a part of, fits into the steampunk, science fiction, alternate history, and futuristic genres, all with no trouble.

So what does this mean for speculative fiction as a whole? Are the lines between genres blurring? Is this a bad thing?

Readers, what do you think about this trend? Do you think it will make it harder to find a book you want to read if there is one particular speculative genre you like and one you don't?

Writers, what do you think? Have you experimented with crossing genres in any of your writing?

Is your writing too flowery?

"Now ain't that purdy? I don't know what it means, but it sure does sound elegant." ~Cap Rountree, from "The Sacketts"

"That's beautiful... no idea what you just said." ~Riley Poole, from "National Treasure"
*
Ever felt this way while reading? The words all sound so beautiful and rich, and they flow together so perfectly and elegantly... but you have absolutely no idea what the author or speaker is talking about? The meaning is lost in a flourish of fancy wording?
It doesn't happen too often in contemporary fiction any more, for a number of reasons. The average American's vocabulary is shrinking markedly, for one. And, with competition in the writing industry becoming more fierce all the time, writers have less room to get away with literary sins like using over-flowery language.
But in a lot of older fiction, and in much of the work of beginning writers today, flamboyant, flowery language abounds. And while it usually sounds gloriously elegant and beautifully crafted to the ear, a reader trying to follow the meaning of the words can find himself or herself frustrated, irritated, and confused.
So why use flowery, overwrought wording when clear, concise English would do just fine? Well, there's an answer for that, but it's rather complicated.
When it comes to older fiction, it's a tough call. The wording might truly be excessively fancy, or, depending on the age of the book, it might just be the product of a different era with a different and wider vocabulary. English has come a long way in the last 700 years, remember. Words and sentence structure that sound completely archaic and nonsensical to us today were just common household language four or five centuries ago.
As for today, though... well, that's another story.
There are lots of possible reason why a writer might use flowery language in their writing. They might be trying to sound intelligent and intellectual and think using fancy words will help them. They might be trying to paint a vibrant and dramatic word picture and using flamboyant wording is the only way they know to do it. They might be trying to make their prose seem strong and well-crafted when it's actually rather weak and uncertain. They might think it will impress editors looking for some skillful word-use.
I'll talk about each of these briefly in this post, but if anyone has any questions or comments to add, feel free. The comment box is there for a reason. ; )

Excuse #1: Trying to sound intellectual.
Bottom line: It's about what you have to say, not about how you say it. Any goober can learn a bunch of fancy words, affect a stuffy accent, and act like they're smarter than everyone else. The real intellectuals with something meaningful to say don't have to use fancy words to get their point across. The best communicators in the world get their messages across in clear, concise, understandable words that anyone can follow.

Excuse #2: Trying to paint a vibrant and dramatic picture.
Bottom line: I'm a writer, so I understand the need and the desire to paint dramatic pictures with words. It's part of what makes our writing interesting, right? Right. However, f what you're describing isn't really all that dramatic, no amount of flowery language will help that. For example: don't describe sunsets. Just don't, okay? Unless you're describing the strange effects a nuclear explosion is having on the appearance of the sunset, or your character has been blind his entire life and is miraculously able to witness a sunset for the first time, or something equally astounding, just save yourself the trouble and don't describe it (and that goes for sunrises too). The sun has been rising and setting every day for the last 6,000 years, which to comes to roughly 2,190,000 sunsets and sunrises since the dawn of time. No offense, but I doubt very seriously that you have anything original to say in describing it. Now, you speculative writers out there, if you're describing some new aspect of a fictional world you've created, and it's something the readers have never seen before, by all means describe it for them! But don't think you need flowery language to do it. If you're describing something new, original, interesting, and important to the story, the readers will find it interesting. Even without the use of a hundred four-syllable adjectives.

Excuse #3: Trying to shore up weak prose.
Bottom line: I've said it before--Don't put a Band-Aid on a wound that needs stitches. If your writing is weak, deal with the problem at its source. Study grammar and sentence structure. Read some good books on the craft and skill of fiction writing. Learn to write tight, clear, and concise prose that stands on its own feet without the aid of crutches like flowery words.

Excuse #4: Trying to impress editors.
Bottom line: It won't work. Period. They'll see right through it. Trust me.

Why do you think so many writers are tempted to use flowery language? Do you struggle with the temptation? If so, what do you do about it?

Wine and Fiction - Have we turned art into science?

Several months ago I was home sick on a Sunday and was flipping through television channels (since putting in a DVD would have required getting off of the couch). I came across a documentary about wine making and, since it was the only thing on that struck me as remotely interesting, I watched a few minutes of it.
Up to that point, I had considered wine-making to be a relatively simple process:
- Pick the grapes.
- Smash the grapes.
- Let the grape juice ferment.
- Put fermented grape juice in barrels and let it age for a few years.
- Voila. Wine.
Okay, so there has always been a little more to it than that, but you get the idea. As I watched the documentary on it, though, I was blown away by how complex and delicate the wine-making process has become over time.
The vineyards are monitored constantly as harvest time approaches, waiting for the exact moment when their internal sugar content is just right. When the sugar content level hits that perfect magic number the supervisors are looking for, they start picking and pick around the clock until the harvest is complete. The grapes are rushed straight into the processing facility where they are pressed and the juice is poured into vats. The sugar content of the juice in the vats is also monitored with pinpoint accuracy. If the sugar level falls below the desired number by even a single percentage point, the supervisors may call off the harvesting process until the grapes ripen further.
The entire process is that way--monitored with painstaking precision, start to finish. I understand that wine-making is an art that's been around for millennia, but I can't help wondering if the craft and skill in the art has been carried too far. Has an art been forced into becoming a science?
Now, maybe the precision of the modern process makes modern wine taste far better than vintage. I've never tasted wine, so I wouldn't know.
What I do know is that I see hints of a similar trend in the art and craft of fiction writing.
In the days of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and L.M.Montgomery (all of whom are considered masters of their craft), good characters, a good plot, and a good feel for storytelling were enough to make a novel an international hit. In spite of literary 'sins' such as the use of omniscient point of view and long passages of author narrative, The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Anne of Green Gables were successes in their hay day and are still popular today.
Writing was simpler then. Today, story narrative has to be embedded so deeply into the main character's psyche that the readers think they are that character. Every little action, every feeling, every thought, has to grab the readers in a choke hold or else risk being 'distant'. Every scene and every plot point has to be highly calculated for effect and possible repercussions, as though the writer is about to launch a missile rather than just tell a story.
I believe there are a lot of contributing factors behind this trend--too many to discuss in this post. And while I agree whole-heartedly that fiction writing is an art that requires skill and hard work to master, I worry that the art itself is slowly being lost to the science we've made of the skills.
Underneath the science, the formulas, the step-by-step processes, and the calculations, storytelling is an art. A gift. An ability and style as unique as the storyteller.
It was an art before we made it into a science. Let's not lose sight of that.

Do you storytelling is in danger of becoming a science rather than an art? Or do you see today's formulas and calculations as simply refining the art?

Announcing Spearhead Books

I am not an e-book fan. I don't have a problem with them as a thing in themselves, and I guess being able to store a kabillion books in a half-inch-thick device is good (until said device crashes... don't get me started). It's just that personally, I would much rather stretch out in a hammock or curl up in an armchair with a book--a real book, made out of things like paper and ink and leather--than with a paper-thin electronic device. That's just a little too Trekkie, even for me.
However, no one can deny the enormous growth in the e-book market. E-books have actually started out-selling hard copy in some places. And with anyone able to self-publish their book on Amazon and new books becoming available daily, the choices for readers are literally endless.
So how does a Christian reader who wants a well-written story and godly content standards ever choose which book to read? Well, that's why I'm pleased to announce the inception of Spearhead Books:

A professional writers' guild (led by the Miller brothers, Christopher Hoppers, and Wayne Thomas Batson), dedicated to providing fiction that meets high standards in all aspects, from the skill of the writing itself to the content.
A starting point for anyone seeking quality Christian fiction amid the endless sea of e-books floating around in cyberspace.
Click Here to check out their "About Us" page and learn more about this exciting new project. Personally, I'm thrilled. I think it's a fantastic idea, and I hope God blesses this effort richly as it gets its start.

What do you think about this idea?