What if you are saved/rededicate to Jesus mid-wip?

nance, maybe I haven't had enough caffeine today, but I'm not sure I understand your post.

Are you saying that you've had an experience of Jesus that's caused you to rethink all your mss, and that some of them no longer fit your new perspective?

Well, it may mean a bit more work, but...definitely no contest. (I'm thrilled for you!)


And the 'timing' of things is no accident (from God's perspective). That writing served a purpose, even if only practice, or the 'kicking-off point' for a new direction. Plus, you now have an added dimension of experience that will allow you to write convincingly as you introduce characters of both perspectives into your various WIPs. I suspect it'll make for a finished product of more depth in the end.

I'm not sure about the gist of your post either, but it sounds like congratulations are in order -- may I be among the first to offer them?

Best wishes for your spiritual journey Nance.

While the congratulations are being offered, let me voice a note of sadness for the loss of the stories that apparently you shall no longer write. I don't understand what has suddenly changed your mind to believe that non-Christian girls and their thoughts are no longer worth writing about, but as there are far fewer Christian girls in the world than non-Christian ones (presently 32% and dropping), I can only regret that this is so.

crazynance said:

I think I am going to have to seriously edit my completed wip/ totally shake out the 2 girls experimenting in wicca, and one wip might actually survive unscathed.

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I am not sure how this relates to being born again. Are you glorifying it in the process? If so (even if you WEREN'T a Christian), I would caution you against preaching in your stories. Don't preach about nutrition, don't preach about politics, don't preach about the rain forest, don't preach about jellybeans. It is not your job as a 'story teller' to interject your personal beliefs into the story. This is commonly referred to as... dun dun duuuuun AUTHOR INTRUSION! And most readers find it jarring.

I would suggest you go back over your manuscript and see if you unintentionally glorified something you don't condone. If you did, than you have let some form of author intrusion happen. This should be edited out anyway.

There are all types of people in this world, and eventually, some of the less desirables will play a part in your stories (unless, of course, you are satisfied with relatively dimensionless stories that has no diametrically opposed viewpoints to work with). Just because your character does something--lets take 'murder' for example--does not mean you condone their actions. It is pretty hard to have a 'murder' mystery, without a 'murder'.

Anyways, I am happy to hear about your news! And wish you some luck in figuring out how you want to proceed with your WIP.

crazynance said:

YES ^_^

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Then I'm very happy for you.

You might just want to trunk the books you don't feel right about with your new perspective, and look at them again in a month or two. And maybe start something brand new to go with the brand-new way you feel.

Ruv Draba said:

Best wishes for your spiritual journey Nance.

While the congratulations are being offered, let me voice a note of sadness for the loss of the stories that apparently you shall no longer write. I don't understand what has suddenly changed your mind to believe that non-Christian girls and their thoughts are no longer worth writing about, but as there are far fewer Christian girls in the world than non-Christian ones (presently 32% and dropping), I can only regret that this is so.

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Ruv, I think you've characterized this inaccurately by assuming she now thinks "non-Christian girls and their thoughts are no longer worth writing about." What she means, I think, is that her perspectives have changed on maybe why people think what they think (both Christian and non-Christian), so that would change her writing overall. I feel confident that she will continue to include non-Christians in her writing--a variety of real-life characters have their place in good writing.

ETA: Oops, cross-posted with crazynance.

Pat~ said:

What she means, I think, is that her perspectives have changed on maybe why people think what they think (both Christian and non-Christian), so that would change her writing overall.

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But why would changing what you believe about your life change what motivates the thoughts of others? That's politicisation, isn't it - recasting the motives of others to make our own motives look better?

My concern here isn't a writer's choice in what she writes -- we all follow a fickle muse. It's the suggestion that ideology can or should impede empathy. That bothers me on humanitarian grounds -- and because empathy is perhaps a writer's most important faculty.

Deb Kinnard said:

I'm not sure about the gist of your post either, but it sounds like congratulations are in order -- may I be among the first to offer them?

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I will second that!

crazynance said:

Ruv... the point is that my Muse isn't fickle at all. *stops to dance around kitchen some more* ... and if you basic starting point is love, instead of previously cynicism or anger or depression.. it will affect your writing.

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Nance, that's very good advice, and thank you for the reminder. I agree that we can always write productively from love.

I personally believe that cynicism, anger and depression are just forms of love thwarted. Sometimes you can do some judo on them to pull the love out - and that's often a far more useful thing that keeping them in their stagnant and thwarted forms. I know that Christians often achieve this with prayer -- and non-Christians may use prayer and other means to achieve this (my own means are somewhat different and involve a combination of self-examination, ridicule and compassion, but I'm a fairly perverse sort of creature ).

Notwithstanding all that though, some writing is exploratory... a journey that the writer himself must grow to undertake. Under those circumstances we can often start with the wrong questions, or the wrong way to answer them. This can lead us down some unviable avenues and it's this that I meant in saying 'fickle muse'. I don't believe that Christian writers are exempt from this - and judging from some of the Christian writing I've critted I'm pretty sure that they're not.

Now, if you'd like to claim that Christians are both better writers and more productive than non-Christians I'll be glad to entertain the idea but will need to see some evidence... But I suspect that's not what you're claiming.

Anyway, my conclusion: we can always write from love and that produces some of our best story-telling, but we don't always find our best stories that way.

Hooking this back to your original post - write what you want to write of course. I can entirely understand if your passions lie elsewhere now - if you feel that you'd been asking the wrong questions or trying to answer them poorly. But I would still greatly regret it if you thought less of the non-Christian world as subjects, or viewed their motives differently in the light of your conversion.

Nance,

Let me add my congratulations as well. Unlike the church of Ephesis mentioned in Revelation 2, you've remembered your "first love", and that's an exciting thing!

As a writer, I often hear that you have to be "true to your story". But as a Christian, I know that there is nothing more important that being true to Jesus Christ. Let the Spirit be your guide, and your "muse" will follow right along.

Roger J Carlson said:

As a writer, I often hear that you have to be "true to your story". But as a Christian, I know that there is nothing more important that being true to Jesus Christ. Let the Spirit be your guide, and your "muse" will follow right along.

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Ouoted For Truth.

Writing and Decision

I've been reading the commentary with interest. I'm not sure any of us doesn't bring our own views, mindset, faith decisions, and many other items of mental/emotional baggage into our writing. This can be either a bad thing or a good one. Writing from an emotional place where you are willing to be honest -- to expose the joys and the pains resident in your own soul -- this makes for some of the more powerful writing out there.

A plus is that He who dwells with us and in us, begins to inevitably affect our writing. Something to party about. We write from this perspective and we can no more disown His influence than begin to write in Urdu.

Now, you Urdu-speakers out there, please accept my pre-apology.

.سائن ان کریں. اردو. اعلٰی تلاش · ترجیحات · زبانی آلات · ایڈورٹائزنگ پروگرام

Bartholomew, you CAN'T leave us hanging! What'd'ja say?!

Congratulations and welcome, Nance.

I would suggest you go over your WIP, and pray about what you've written in each chapter, page, paragraph, sentence, and/or word if you have to, and ask God what He thinks about it.

Don't just assume your WIP has to change. Bring it to God and let Him decide. After all, He knows what you've been writing. All truth is God's truth, and every perfect gift is from above as it is, so that which is good and true in your story (and I don't mean just the roses and rainbows - but even the darkness rightly described) is still good and true - and approved of.

Ruv is right. Your characters still have voices of their own. Just because you've converted, doesn't mean your teenage Wiccan dabblers have, or have to. Be honest before God and invite Him to redeem your work. Your story may require Wiccan teenagers, and to turn them into the prototypical all-American white Christian apple-pie eating pieces of sweetness would be parody at best, and derivative at worst.

God's really quite an Author Himself (wrote the number one bestseller of all time, didn't He?), so He'll have good input on what you say.

Congratulations on your decision, Nance!

Like Roger said, as a Christian, being true to Christ is more important than being true to story. If the Spirit of God is placing this conviction upon your heart, then by all means listen. In the end, you'll find your story to be more glorifying to the Lord, and also possibly more satisfying to you as its author.

Best wishes to you on your journey, both as a writer and as a child of God.

callalily61 said:

Bartholomew, you CAN'T leave us hanging! What'd'ja say?!

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You'll never know.

crazynance said:

Ruv, you sound like an amazing person beeteedubs, and I really enjoy your posts.

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Er, thank you. I wish I knew what a beeteedubs is... I have some mental picture of a beet-root crossed with a rapper.

I will defo put it to God to see which Philistines will be butchered and which will be put to work...[that was a gory story...] I can't stop reading the Word, and have to force myself to 'help Martha' in the kitchen etc... I know why Mary was rooted at Jesus' feet.

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I can't speak for anyone's god and certainly not yours, but I can't imagine that anything you know or have already learned need go to waste if you're writing to tell the truth and help people.

Very best wishes for your writing and your path.

Er... Ruv 'Beeteedubs' Draba.