My Manifesto

(Disclaimer: This post is highly biased.  If you're not fond of or offended by my religion, worldview, or feelings, I'll get back to the actual story writing/updating part of this blog soon enough.  That said...)

"Why do you write?"

Oh, how many authors, friends, family members, and faithful fans have asked me this question.  Here, I, with an attempted manifesto, will attempt to answer that question with the best of my eloquence.  Of course, if you, reader, still have an unanswered question, feel free to email or comment below.  A good debate is always healthy.  :)

All in all, I write for the glory of God.
Simple as that.

"But how can you do that when your stories don't include Him?"
Here, you're assuming that for a story to glorify God, He, in His full omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient glory, must be present in the story.
That's simply not true.
I do not blatantly shove God into peoples' faces due to my belief that that's not necessary to glorify God nor is it a wise evangelism strategy.  Also, if God's glory is such a big deal to you, then 1.) congratulations and 2.) please don't make me short-sell my God by putting Him in words.  Never, though I've tried, can I express the love I have to God.  I'm not skilled enough - God is too grand - to put in words the joy of surrender and hate in self-reviling.

"Well, if you don't have a God figure in your story, then at least make an ultimate good and an ultimate bad with good prevailing."
Ugh, please don't tell me what to write.  That's like a plumber ordering a chef to include banana, garlic, and...oh...Coke in his crockpot chicken when, really, tomatoes, onions, and pepper would be best.  It's not that I know what is best in the end, only that I know what I, personally, would like.  x)
Also, I have to say I personally don't like this writing plot because 1.) it's as cliché as the phrase "cut and dried" and 2.) it's a total lie.  Most humans are upheld to some extent by God's grace, making them socially "good", and even the most pure of us Christians are tainted with sin, making us socially "bad". To create a perfect character and match him against a ruthless killer it to create a situation wholly impossible to relate with.

"Well, if you can't do THAT, then at least get your protagonists to stop sinning so much!"
Then answer me this: without sin, where is the plot?
Is Edmund didn't betray his siblings to the White Witch, where would the plot be?  It wouldn't.  If Bilbo had just told Gandalf that he had found the ring instead of lying, where would the Lord of the Rings be?  Ding, ding, ding, you guessed it!  It wouldn't.  :)

All right, enough of the rebuttals.
If the content included in my stories happens to offend anyone...
   1.) I'm sorry.  My apologia is above.
   2.) Never read Twilight.  x)  And...
   3.) Maybe you shouldn't read my story.  If it causes you to sin in some way, just don't.  I can wait for you to mature spiritually, to get exposed to more sin in the world, to know how to define right and wrong more easily, and you can too.

That being cleared out of the way, let me make it expressly clear:
Glorifying God in my writing comes down to doing what I like to do to the best of my ability.  I do also include morals and Biblical undertones that make my story different from adventure/romance/mystery fluff that you can find anywhere today.

I also write to express my emotions.  The wings of my written words really do take me places I can't go with my human tongue.  Sometimes, I'm just so confused or distraught, I can't get my words out straight.  A pen, paper, and five minutes of time will help me express myself so much more clearly.  A pen, paper, and a few more minutes than five can also help me express love, gratitude, and respect.

I write to work.  If I didn't write, I'd be a very bored creature.  ;)  Who knows?  There may be a little dough involved as well.  :P

Don't forget; I write for fun too.  I love writing.  That's why I take the time to blog here; that's why I put off school for my writing.  (Shame, I know.)  Words crafted in a story are beautiful things, capable of bestowing wisdom and adrenaline and transporting us to places we'd rather be.  They give experience, teach us lessons, and do it all in the crafted package of a story.  Ahhh, it just makes me smile to think of how much fun writing is - to see a notebook filled with old scribbles of ideas, the thrill of beginning a new story, the fun of having a stare-eyes contest with a blank page, the characters that start as strangers to you and become your best friend by the final period, the interest of lying in bed and playing story scenes in your head until they are crystal clear, then getting up and writing something down before you forget the words, then realizing you were up until two in the morning, writing.

You out there, across the Interspace, let me tell you a little something-something:

THE LIFE OF AN AUTHOR IS AMAZING.

Write on!
Clove