Who we are.
Ok. Most of you have gotten the general gist of what I’m going to say via email or IM. But I thought it might be good to type this post, just to solidify some ideas, and to get everyone else’s.
First of all – we are the new Inklings! :) Mara pointed out that we need an original name, though – we can’t go around saying “I’m a Thunder in the Attic”. So she came up with one that I liked quite a bit – but I’ll let her post her idea. (Hurry Mara!)
I told you all, via a longwinded ramble that led up to the invitation to the blog, about Tolkien and Lewis and their needing to write what they wanted because it simply wasn’t out there. Their writing was beautiful, deep – and it pointed people to God. Now, look around you at the literary landscape of today. There are a lot of well written things (though there are also a lot of poorly written things that people think are good). But how many of them actually point you to God?
We want to follow in the spirit of the Inklings. We want to write Christian fantasy – perhaps with mention of God, perhaps without it: but we want God to be there, present in our writing.
There is a lot of very dark stuff out there. There can be darkness in good writing – after all, we are portraying a struggle between darkness and light. But light shall always conquer; light is stronger, even (and especially) when it appears the weaker. Evil should not overwhelm any story. I know I sometimes find it fascinating to write about darkness; but delving too deeply into the mind of evil is a dangerous thing, both for the writer and the reader.
We need to put stuff out there that fights this. We need to write about the light. We need to portray truth in all its beauty, and beauty in all its truth – and since these two things have their source in God, since God IS truth and beauty, we will be implicitly directing souls towards him.
That’s how I see it – that’s the call I feel, the reason why I’ve been given a love for writing. Recently in the Coffee House (the REAL one, on Nano ;) ), there was a discussion about writers who are ‘dabblers’. The people who have an idea, and that’s as far as it gets.
Dabblers don’t annoy me, as they do some people. What irks me is being taken for one. “Oh, you’re a writer? That’s nice.” “Give me the first autographed copy of your book.” (This is sometimes serious, but not very often. They don’t believe the book is ever going to be there.) But the things is – none of us are dabblers. I think we are all serious about our craft – because to us, that’s what writing is: a craft. It’s not always fun. Sometimes it’s a struggle. Sometimes – heaven help me – I HATE to write. I can’t make myself sit down at the notebook or computer and type the next paragraph, the next sentence. But we keep going.
Very (very) recently, a friend said to me: “So we study our craft, and build each other up, and know that giving the world truly great Christian fiction is a calling; something for us to strive towards for the rest of our lives. … And we all of us know that our stories are far from perfect; only God is perfect! But we keep learning and growing, and every step of reaching for perfection makes us better! Oh, it's a beautiful thing, indeed!”
Ok. The friend was Keesa. :) But she stated it so very eloquently, and so perfectly captured it, that I had to quote her. :D
The Inklings – a group of close friends with common interests, but first and foremost a common PURPOSE. Sound familiar? :)
Anyway. A few last things. (Don’t worry, the post is almost over!) First – COMMENT. We need to share all our ideas – add your own, or just say something like “Yeah, that sounds about right.” Comments are important!! Second – I think it would be cool to gather all our ideas etc and type them into one, well-written post, and have a link to that post on the sidebar. :) (And perhaps with the story behind the site name, eh? *winks at Lyn*) Also … does the subtitle look a little … boring? ‘The torch passes’ is cool, but do we want more up there? And FINALLY, a common question has been: What do we POST about?? I’m gonna type another post like this one (perhaps a little shorter … *grin*), giving my ideas etc; and we can just talk about it and see what happens.
Anyway. I am so insanely excited about this. *grin* But enough from me – your thoughts. (And if you’re terribly longwinded, go ahead and skip the comments to make a new post. ;))
First of all – we are the new Inklings! :) Mara pointed out that we need an original name, though – we can’t go around saying “I’m a Thunder in the Attic”. So she came up with one that I liked quite a bit – but I’ll let her post her idea. (Hurry Mara!)
I told you all, via a longwinded ramble that led up to the invitation to the blog, about Tolkien and Lewis and their needing to write what they wanted because it simply wasn’t out there. Their writing was beautiful, deep – and it pointed people to God. Now, look around you at the literary landscape of today. There are a lot of well written things (though there are also a lot of poorly written things that people think are good). But how many of them actually point you to God?
We want to follow in the spirit of the Inklings. We want to write Christian fantasy – perhaps with mention of God, perhaps without it: but we want God to be there, present in our writing.
There is a lot of very dark stuff out there. There can be darkness in good writing – after all, we are portraying a struggle between darkness and light. But light shall always conquer; light is stronger, even (and especially) when it appears the weaker. Evil should not overwhelm any story. I know I sometimes find it fascinating to write about darkness; but delving too deeply into the mind of evil is a dangerous thing, both for the writer and the reader.
We need to put stuff out there that fights this. We need to write about the light. We need to portray truth in all its beauty, and beauty in all its truth – and since these two things have their source in God, since God IS truth and beauty, we will be implicitly directing souls towards him.
That’s how I see it – that’s the call I feel, the reason why I’ve been given a love for writing. Recently in the Coffee House (the REAL one, on Nano ;) ), there was a discussion about writers who are ‘dabblers’. The people who have an idea, and that’s as far as it gets.
Dabblers don’t annoy me, as they do some people. What irks me is being taken for one. “Oh, you’re a writer? That’s nice.” “Give me the first autographed copy of your book.” (This is sometimes serious, but not very often. They don’t believe the book is ever going to be there.) But the things is – none of us are dabblers. I think we are all serious about our craft – because to us, that’s what writing is: a craft. It’s not always fun. Sometimes it’s a struggle. Sometimes – heaven help me – I HATE to write. I can’t make myself sit down at the notebook or computer and type the next paragraph, the next sentence. But we keep going.
Very (very) recently, a friend said to me: “So we study our craft, and build each other up, and know that giving the world truly great Christian fiction is a calling; something for us to strive towards for the rest of our lives. … And we all of us know that our stories are far from perfect; only God is perfect! But we keep learning and growing, and every step of reaching for perfection makes us better! Oh, it's a beautiful thing, indeed!”
Ok. The friend was Keesa. :) But she stated it so very eloquently, and so perfectly captured it, that I had to quote her. :D
The Inklings – a group of close friends with common interests, but first and foremost a common PURPOSE. Sound familiar? :)
Anyway. A few last things. (Don’t worry, the post is almost over!) First – COMMENT. We need to share all our ideas – add your own, or just say something like “Yeah, that sounds about right.” Comments are important!! Second – I think it would be cool to gather all our ideas etc and type them into one, well-written post, and have a link to that post on the sidebar. :) (And perhaps with the story behind the site name, eh? *winks at Lyn*) Also … does the subtitle look a little … boring? ‘The torch passes’ is cool, but do we want more up there? And FINALLY, a common question has been: What do we POST about?? I’m gonna type another post like this one (perhaps a little shorter … *grin*), giving my ideas etc; and we can just talk about it and see what happens.
Anyway. I am so insanely excited about this. *grin* But enough from me – your thoughts. (And if you’re terribly longwinded, go ahead and skip the comments to make a new post. ;))
posted by Rosemary | 8:17 AM
5 Comments:
The story behind the site name is yours and Liz's to tell. I would make it so much more boring than you would.
And could you explain more clearly what this:
"I think it would be cool to gather all our ideas etc and type them into one, well-written post, and have a link to that post on the sidebar."
means? I am not entirely sure what you are talking about.
*grin* Indeed,Lyn. ;) I wasn't planning on letting you tell it. :P
Meh. That didn't make as much sense as I thought it did ... basically typing a post like the one I just did, except everyone's ideas instead of just mine, and less of a rambling thing. And then perhaps putting it in that subtitle that currently only says 'The torch passes'. OR: I was thinking we could link our individual sites/blogs on the sidebar, and under the same heading those are under (does this still make sense?) also link the 'Who we are' post.
More understandable? :?
*grin* Hi Gen. :)
Oh. Hi. *grin* I posted that without reading the other posts. What I mean is, your idea about *all* of our ideas is a good thing to add to the torch thing, although I don't quite know what you mean, but 'The Torch Passess..." is cool, so don't change it.
Savvy? *grin*
lol. Savvy. ;)
Post a Comment
<< Home