Attention Blog Readers:  I am doing a blitz on my schoolwork, and I will have little time to write.  I shall continue writing every weekend at the end of May.  Thank you for your consideration and please read this June.  God go with you in your reading, writing, and life.

I Swear...

Today we're going to talk about swearing.  Swearing is so ingrained in today's culture, that, if you want an accurate portrayal of a situation, it's simple to slip it in here and there.  Perhaps one character is more inclined to swear than another, and you want to show it.
   The problem is that it's blasphemy.  It's taking God's name lightly.  It's not only disobedient, its dangerous.  It's real.  It's a part of your attitude towards life.  When you read books that have swearing in them, it will change how you think for a moment at least.  You read a chapter where every third sentence, or perhaps only every third page has swearing, you're going to go away thinking your unaffected, but your changed for the day; and when someone says something, or something happens, and you think a swear word, you think, "LORD GOD!  Where did that come from?!"  I'll tell you.  From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.  What you read goes into your heart, and you can do nothing to protect it but flood your heart and mind with the word of God and other good influences.  But how often do we do that?
   So what do we do as readers?  I would say, go immediately into prayer when you finish a chapter.  Talk to God about the book.  He wants to know.  If your embarrassed to tell Him, maybe you should examine what your reading.  He wont take it away from you unless it hurts you.  Also remember: He went to Hell; He's not the one who needs protecting.
   So what do we do as writers?  The best way I think, is not to put it in at all.  If you want to put it in, though, there are a few ways you can not say it.  Say he uttered an expletive, or he swore, he cussed, he uttered a singularly rude word.  If you put it in a sentence, dashes or stars or bleeps or #@>! work.  I like dashes personally: "Why can't the --- just mind his own business!"  But keep in mind, that leaves a lot for the readers imagination.
   Be careful and pray.  Keep in mind that what you are doing has effect not only on who you are, but on your eternity; and not only on your eternity, but also on others eternity.

Follow Your Heart

SOAP-BOX TIME!!!  A common theme in today's culture is "follow your heart".  Go where you feel led inside of you.  Let your feelings dictate your answer.  Sarah's Quote Of The Day: Letting your heart lead you is like letting a hamster take the steering wheel.  My feelings aside, what does the Word say?
Jeremiah 17:9 - "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?"  Yes!  That makes perfect sense!  That's exactly what we need to obey!  A lying, wicked thing, that we can't understand.  To follow your heart blindly is quite plainly foolish.
But rarely is there only one side of a story.  Any real one, at any rate.  I can't find the one I want, but their are many verses about the heart that suggests you take advice from it.  Now, why would God say that?  I asked my brother, and he said that it was because when man turns more towards God, his heart becomes more like God's.  I still wont put it in my book, and it's up to you whether or not you put it in yours.

God In Your Books

You're a Christian writer.  You want to write to glorify God.  But do you want to put a reference to God in your book?  Why not?  Well, you may have an answer to that.  Maybe it doesn't fit in with your book; maybe it's in a different era or world; maybe you want to appeal to a wider audience.  It's scary to put something controversial in your book; it might affect how your book sells.  Remember two things, though:

1.  It's possible to put God in your book without preaching, though it may be difficult.

2.  Throughout history, Christianity has been the accepted religion, making it easier to be accurate while including your religion has opposed to other religions.

You could have it be a part of the culture, such as Jessica Day George's  "Princess of the Midnight Ball"; or you could have your character consider religion as he is faced with death, such as in Veronica Roth's "Divergent"; (I'm not trying to be feminist; those were the ones that popped into my head, and I'm sure there are other wonderful ones, which I would love you tell me about below).  You could also make it laced all the way through your stories, as I hope it is through your life.   In my story, I use the different characters religion and their behavior towards it to help describe their different personalities.  The main thing really is, what is God calling you to do with your book?  You can write books that have no reference to God, but that tell of a Christian perspective, like in C.S Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia".  On the other hand, how does that benefit anyone else if they don't know how to get it for themselves?  George McDonald is a wonderful author, and he wasn't afraid to either put God in or not put God in.  C.S Lewis became a Christian in part because of one of his fantasies, that didn't have a reference to God, but it did have a Godly world view.  It's between you and God, and it's a serious matter if that's where you're investing your time and hoping that others will invest theirs.  Pray, and consider God before everything else.                                                                                           

I was all done with this post, and I talked to my mom about it.  She brought up the issue of glory.  Who gets the credit for the book you write?  She said it was fine to put it in, and fine not to put it in.  What really matters is why you do it.  Are you going to put it in so the audience can see how spiritual you are?  Are you going to give God the credit for a book with no references to Him?  What's inside of you?

This is chapter one of a story I'm writing, that is of brave things and bright things and, I pray, honors God.  I have given it a working title of Ships and Shores, but I would love it if you had some ideas for a permanent title. 

Ships and Shores ~ Beyond the Swallows Wings Production

She swung from the ropes with marvelous grace. As she traded the cords, the acrobat lifted legs in front of her and wrapped them around the rope, eventually letting go with her hands and letting the breeze catch her hair. She smiled as everything in her was caught up in the feeling.

“What a foolish girl,” thought Daryn. “One weary rope and she's history.” He returned to his work of mopping the deck. But soon he heard a light thump in front of him. He looked up and saw the form that was swinging a short while ago. She looked at him.

“Good day,” he said awkwardly.

“I'm Seana,” she said.

“I'm Daryn,” he said warily.

“I know who you are. I heard you talk to my father.”

Daryn was startled. “You eavesdropped?”

“'Course,” she said proudly. “You ever need any information on what goes on in this ship, you come straight to me,” she said jutting her thumb towards her chest.

“I'll remember that,” Daryn said, which was quite true, but he prayed to high heaven that he would never need to be a part of something like that at all. He returned to his work.

“You're rather a rude boy,” Seana ejaculated.

Daryn looked up sharply. “How so,” he asked indignantly.

“You wont talk to me.”

“I'm sorry I can't spend time with you, but I need to work. That's the only way I can afford to pay my passage, as I'm sure you've overheard.”

Seana laughed. “And what is father going to do? Throw you overboard because you haven't been working as hard as you can?”

“It would be dishonest not work when I can get away with it. Besides, even if it wasn't dishonest, it's not a Christian thing to do.”

“You're a silly boy. Now I insist that you talk with me.” She paused a moment. “I'm going back to my ropes. Talk to you later, Daryn!” With that she scurried up the mast and started swinging again. Daryn shook his head. What a curious girl he had met up with.

Post Script to "Being Swallowed By Books"

This is an add-on post to the one written in February entitled, Being Swallowed By Books.  I found another two verses, which I would like to share with you.
Psalm 106:13b-15 -
And He gave them their request,
But sent leanness into their soul.
This goes back to "all things a lawful, but not all things are helpful".  He'll let you read that book, but he wont satisfy you.  He loves you too much to allow you to be satisfied with less than the best.
Romans 14:23 -
But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he who does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.
Whatever is not from faith is sin.  That goes for everything.  If you're unsure, do not do it.  This is sin we're talking about; and the payment for it is death.  This is no light matter.  Whatever is not from faith is sin.
Note: If you see an error anywhere in this blog (in reference to the teachings), please tell me, and I'll look into it.  The last thing I want is to lead anyone astray.

Tension Moments

Let's talk about tension moments.  You know what I mean when I say tension moments; when our hero has been captured and our villain is taunting him, perhaps threatening a loved one.  I've just finished Inkheart and there are tension moments everywhere.  When Dustfinger ties up Basta, takes his knife and good luck charm, and teases about burning his hair; when Basta captures Dustfinger and runs his new knife up his chest; when Dustfinger locks Basta up and takes his new knife; and many places in between.  It's that feeling that makes you smile even when your hero feels horrible.  It's rich with emotions.  But are they "Christian"?  You can go into a big discussion on this, but honestly, I'm certain that I will get hopelessly lost if I try to do this without God.  Would this glorify God?  Would it please God?  I was really stuck with this one, so I asked my mom.  She said that that was life.  You will get into situations like that, though perhaps not as drastic.  Emotions are everywhere.
But just like about everything else in this world, too much is not healthy.  In all honesty, that was my drug; my addiction; my besetting sin.  I would drink in that excess emotion and create horrible stories around it, just so I could feel that tension again and again.  Now, I wouldn't like it if it was real life, because you can't just turn off real life.
I'm sorry if I made this more confusing than it already was.  As you can see, I'm a long way from the end.  But I kind of like it that way, because then there's more to discover.  Mull over it; think about it; above all, pray about it.  Discover where it is in relation to you.