The Accidental Application
A few years ago, my younger brother attended an incredible writing workshop called GoodLit that is hosted annually by the Wedgwood Circle - an organization that seems to be doing some wonderful work.
On his recommendation, I applied last year. I wasn’t selected, which is not surprising.
Looking back, I found the questions they asked insightful and helpful. This year, I went through the process of filling out the application again. Unfortunately, I submitted it before I realized that they are not looking for fantasy or science fiction. Got to read the FAQs carefully. Oops. But, since I’d already written my responses, and since I think they were informative, I’ve decided to share them here with you. Hopefully the one or two of you will enjoy it!
Author/ Bio Summary: Please tell us about your writing life. When did you start writing? Why do you do it?
Growing up, I was never the storyteller. That was my older brother. I was never the artist. That was my younger brother. But then I had kids. Those little girls kept asking me to "tell them a story." Well, I was stuck.
How could I say no?
I started by stumbling my way through the Three Little Pigs -- reskinned, of course, as the Three Little Princesses. That seemed to work. I kept going. As I was praying for my oldest daughter, the question came to my mind -- would I rather that she grow up to be a rebel who truly learns her need for salvation, or a Pharisee who never does?
With the question came an answer. Neither. I began noodling on the idea of a story in which a girl is ALMOST perfect and is offered the choice between an almost perfect score of her own making or the perfect score of another. From this grew a setting - a city driven by the Game, in which each one's score is all that matters. From this setting grew other characters -- a condemned criminal who would act as a foil for my heroine's decision. From this grew a world.
I have kept on writing for the past ten years, exploring the Broken Realm of the world of Pera and the people that fill it with interest and conflict.
The more that I've written, the more that I've come to learn that it is quite simply good for my soul to do so. My children have enjoyed my stories. My daughter - now 17 - is a God-fearing young woman who strives for excellence, knowing that her identity in Christ is secure. I write to meditate on the deeper realities of life. I write to be able to read my stories aloud to my children and hear that moment when the joke lands and they laugh out loud! I write for the satisfaction of capturing a mood or a moment or a scene or a world. To be able to take something that exists in my own mind and share it with others so that they can see it as well is an act of worshipful subcreation that brings me great joy.
Current Journey: How has your journey as a writer been so far? Where have you been encouraged and/or discouraged?
As a serious-amateur writer, I feel that I have been walking the "Path of Mastery" for the past decade. I'm currently forty-two years young, and I began to write my stories when I was in my early thirties. On the Path, one starts with Unconscious Incompetence. Check.
But thanks to a good education and thirty years of reading, I feel that I quickly moved to the next stage - Conscious Incompetence. I knew I wasn't much good. In the words of Wesley from the Princess Bride, "It was a fine time for me. I was learning to fight. I'd fence anyone and anyone could teach me!" Fortunately, I made some good friends and found some good mentors who were very generous with their knowledge. In this state, I'd say that I finished my first draft of my first book. Reading it back, I realized that there was something there, but that it was far from what it could be.
The next step was "Conscious Competence". Here, the work begins to be good. But each word requires effort. Habits - good or bad - are formed. Many abandon the journey. By God's grace, I've pressed on. I've had the dark days. I've questioned why I'm even bothering with this. I've asked myself if I'm just "adding to the noise" of modern literature. I've bleakly wondered whether I should continue if my own mother won't even take the time to read my work. Through this Valley, the Lord has led me.
I know that I write because it is good for my soul to write. I know that I write for the Audience of One. I know that - if I am successful - I will be adding one more voice of worship to the Choir that includes angels. I know that I can use my journey to encourage others. Writing - starting and finishing four books - has built endurance in me. It has given others the freedom to say, half-shyly, "I'm writing something, too," after which we have a great conversation and share the joys of sub-creation together.
I don't think I've yet arrived at the final step on the Path to Mastery, which is "Unconscious Competence." Brandon Sanderson - whose web-based advice has been so valuable - suggests that you need to write about six books to really get out of the amateur stage. This year, I hope to finish my fifth novel-length story and have a half-million words on the page. Only one more book to go after that.
And yes, I have plans.
To be more pointed, I've been encouraged whenever I've focused on the good fruit produced by writing in my own heart and life. I've been discouraged whenever I've taken my eyes off the work to look toward the "reward." It is good for me to write. Whether anyone ever reads my work is in the hands of others. I trust the Author to tell His story with my life and my work.
Previous Journey: Do you have any previously published works? If so, please list each work and how it was published (under an imprint, independently, etc.). And don't worry if you've never been published!
The Red Queen's Last Mask - First Draft: January 2019 - 111K words
The Outcast's Errand - First Draft: September 2021 - 120K words
The Lost King's Secret - First Draft: September 2023 - 112K words
The Paths of Wind and Stone - First Draft: September 2024 - 130K words
Target Market/ Audience: Who is your audience? How did you choose this target market?
My audience is young women and men who are coming of age and want to read stories of adventure and redemption. My audience is middle-aged men who grew up on J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and want good books to read aloud to their children. My audience is grandfathers and grandmothers who want a good story with recognizable characters where you can cheer for the good guys and root against the bad guys. My goal is to write an alternate world (like Tolkien or Lewis or Rowling) that my audience feels that they can step into and explore for themselves, along with the characters.
I chose this target market because my daughters are young women who are coming of age. I chose this target market because I am a middle-aged man who grew up on Tolkien and Lewis who enjoys reading aloud to his children. I chose this target market because the grandparents in my life have told me that they like reading (and re-reading) my work.
I believe that the best stories are written for a very focused and specific audience rather than a "marketable demographic". It's entirely possible that this will make my stories less profitable, but I firmly believe that it will make them better. And, since I don't need the income, I'd like to write good stories. My goal is to write a story that will transcend generational boundaries and that my readers will think is worthy of recommending to their children long after I've gone home.
Explain Your Work: How does your work shape the broader culture? We look to support projects that are ”good, true, and beautiful for the common good.” How does your work do this?
Parabolistic Eucatastrophic Fairy Tales.
I read an interesting little blog post by Jason Valendy that has redefined how I think about my work. The author took four words -- bole, symbol, parabol, and diabol -- and used them to illustrate something essential about storytelling.
"Bole" is the word for the path taken by a flying object. From it, we get "ballistics" and "ball" and similar words. It's a simple concept. An object when thrown will follow a certain path. "Symbol" is the word for a second object that follows the path of the first. It stands in its place and lets the viewer "see it again". "Parabol" is the word for an object that is thrown with the same force and direction, but starting from a different position, so that it flies alongside the original object, but lands in a different place. A "parabol" lets us see the original from a new perspective. And what of "diabol"? That is when the object is thrown with the same force, but in a different direction. It's final resting place is opposite to the location of the original.
In storytelling, allegories can be seen as symbols. However, the direct parallels can turn people off to the truth of what is said. On the other hand, much of modern storytelling is unfortunately - by this definition - diabolical. It has the effect of calling good evil, and evil good. I seek to write "parabols". It's no accident that this rhymes with "parable". I hope that my work can serve a similar function. By writing stories with themes of goodness, truth, beauty, redemption, and healing - albeit in an entirely different world - I hope to strike resonances with my readers so that they can more clearly see the same forces at work in our broken world.
I believe that Professor Tolkien hit the nail on the head when he coined the term "eucatastrophe". He said in "On Fairy Stories" that, “The eucatastrophic tale is the true form of fairy-tale, and its highest function. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat … giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief. It is the mark of a good fairy-story … that however wild its events, however fantastic or terrible the adventures, it can give to child or man that hears it, when the “turn” comes, a catch of the breath, a beat and lifting of the heart, near to (or indeed accompanied by) tears.”
Amen. If I could write something that gives my readers that catch at "the turn", I will feel that I've done well as an author. If I can write stories that transport my readers to an unlike-yet-alike world in which they can see their own lives and callings more clearly, I'll have done well. If I can spark imagination and remind my readers that they, themselves, are part of a larger story and a larger work than that which is marketed to them by their screens and the algorithms, I'll have done well. If I can break people out of the prison of their own self-focus, I'll have done well. And I want to hear "Well Done."
Your Christian Faith: How does your spiritual life as a Christian influence your work as a creative?
We read in Scripture that we love because he first loved us.
I could as easily say that I write and create because he first Spoke.
Writing is good for my soul. As I grapple with the situations that my characters find themselves in, it often gives me fresh insights into how God has worked and is working in my life. When I read of what Jesus did when working miracles, I meditate upon what can be done with faith if one truly has authority to do so. I typically wind up writing on Sunday afternoons, and it is usually fresh from spending time singing and listening to God's Word preached at our local church. With His words ringing in my ears, I try to set down their echo in my work.
At the same time, as a Christian, I seek to heal the brokenness that I see around me. As a man who is "half-way home", I have seen friends and family suffer. I have seen lives shipwrecked by their own choices and by choices made by others. I have prayed for and hoped for my own children and watched their struggles as they seek to find their place in the world. I have counseled them from God's Word and sought to build my own life upon the Rock of Ages. I write these themes into my work.
I have sought to be a faithful husband and to romance my wife over the past nearly-twenty years, building a loving, fruitful partnership that models the love that Christ has for the Church. I seek to work diligently and faithfully in my calling, adding value, leading my teams, and advancing the good of those who employ me. I write these themes into my work.
Whether I eat or drink or whatever I do, I want to see each activity as done in service of the True King. My home is to be an outpost of the Kingdom of Heaven - a small corner in a broken world where the laws of the King are obeyed. All of this is done imperfectly, and only by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. But it is done. I write these themes into my work.
It is difficult for me to separate my spiritual life from my work as a creative, since the one breathes life into the other. Sufficient to say that if I were not a Christian, I would not be a writer and storyteller.
