Beverly Cleary: "Write It"

 

"If you don't see the book you want on the shelf, write it."

~Beverly Cleary

    The fact that we writers can do this is so awesome; it's almost like a superpower! Knowing that one can think of a story that they'd want to read, and being able to produce it--the thought is both mind-bending and exciting, ripe with possibilities.
    Though it takes a while to produce this story (to plan, plot, research, type it all up, then re-write parts or even the whole thing, and then doing more revisions, etc.), even the long process is fun because it builds up one's knowledge of the story and characters. It helps the setting develop in one's mind, and the history of the story can kind of seem longer. Plus, investing so much time and effort into the story makes it even more precious, and that can give a writer pressed for time more determination to finish the work.
    One could imagine that some really great novels have come from moments where a writer suddenly thought, "I want to read a novel with elements of such-and-such," and decided to write that story. Because of moments like that, writers have not only produced a nice story to read themselves, but something that others can enjoy as well.
    Is the story you've written or are writing now one that you wanted to find on a bookshelf? Do you know of anyone who wrote the kind of story they couldn't find anywhere else? :)

Psalm 147:5

 

"Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite."

Psalm 147:5 (NKJ)

    The understanding of the Lord is infinite. What an awesome thing to point out. Understanding is tantamount to having sensibility and knowledge in a matter (or in God's case, all matters). Having understanding also speaks of great experience, having seen what occurs when certain things happen. All in all, someone with great understanding has great wisdom, which is a very impressive quality.
    And the Lord's understanding is limitless. He literally understands everything.
    Our God is incredible; isn't He?

"What are You Thankful for this Year?"

    Thanksgiving is the giving of thanks.
    And Thanksgiving Day is an entire day formed for giving thanks. Giving thanks for freedom, for family, for having a great nation, for friends, and all the little things in life. As Christians, we have even more things in life to be joyfully thankful for: salvation, a relationship with God, His love, His guidance . . .
    It's kind of funny. There are so many blessings in life to be thankful for that it'd probably take a lot longer than one day to list and consider all of them. Yet at the same time, the concept of coming up with and pondering that massive list of blessings can be so complicated and difficult, because where does a person even begin? There are so many wonderful things to be thankful for!
    I've heard a question that seems like a really great starting point for this kind of matter: "What are you thankful for this year?" It's a simple question to consider because it sets some perimeters in the thinking, but the emphasis of the question isn't on importance. It's not like asking "What are you most thankful for this year?," because then one would try to sift through the top things on their list and carefully consider which blessings are "better" than the others. But with "What are you thankful for this year?," one could literally answer anything, big or small. And after giving thanks to the Lord for that blessing, one would have in mind more blessings related to the first topic.
    What are you thankful for this year? Spiritual growth? The election results? A new family member? Improvements in a skill?

The Spectacular Experience of Writing Emotional Scenes

When written really, really well, an emotional scene/moment can
be as beautiful and touching as a sunset (if you love sunsets, that is).

    Stories with emotional moments in them are spectacular! Formed with care and caution, scenes with deep, realistic feeling are beautiful like a vibrant sunset, and powerful like a hurricane. You can see it when people get thrills of exhilaration or start to cry during a movie.
    Writing something with emotional moments like that is awesome for more than one reason. For one, emotions in fiction are good (it's part of what makes the reading experience fun). And secondly, certain parts of the story (like the introduction of a key character, the story's climax, or the epiphany scene) need emotion for them to work. And in addition to those things, writing emotional moments in a story usually means writing from one's own heart, which is a wonderful experience for a writer!
    Starting with the idea. Sifting through the concept of an emotional scene, discerning whether or not it's necessary for the story, or realistic for the characters involved. It's important to have discernment in valuable scenes like this since while they are powerful, an emotional moment set in the wrong time could have no effect, and too many emotional moments would water down the effect of all of them.
    After the idea stage, there's the first draft stage. Pretty much everything in a first draft is a little disheveled, but emotions? Definitely. Because feelings are incredibly difficult to pin down, and the chances that the right words to describe it will be found in the first attempt or two is basically zero. So sometimes (at least, in my experiences) first-draft emotional scenes can seem too short or too fake-sounding or too out-of-character; which can be a little disappointing. But it is important to keep writing because:
    Revisions! Once the whole first draft is done, the reshaping of the story and its chapters and the events of said chapters begins! Looking over the scene as it fits into the whole plot, seeing whether it really does work with the characters' personalities, and whether or not it comes at the right time during the story; deciding once and for all whether it belongs. And then, once the fantastic emotional scene is determined to belong where it is, making the necessary adjustments until it's just right.
    And when it's just right, it's just great to read. The emotional experience is captured perfectly, conveyed successfully and efficiently, prompting readers' feelings, giving them a beautiful and meaningful moment.
    It's good how writing and hard work can make such a thing.
    What do you think of emotional scenes? :) Do you like reading/watching them? Do you write them?

Psalm 4:11

"But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You."

Psalm 4:11 (NKJ)

    It's great how joy is an effect of the Lord in life. Knowing how wonderful He is, how He loves us, how we don't have to stress out about anything because He defends us. It's an incredible blessing that's basically impossible to uphold without Him. Bible verses like these are great to recall at any moment.
    I hope you have a fantastic week! :)

Self-Depreciation: Not as Good as it Might Seem

This is the kind of view one gets of oneself when they
take self-depreciating comments to heart instead of
holding to the Lord's comforting words.

    Am I the only one who's believed that calling oneself "stupid" after making a dumb mistake is just humble self-depreciation?
    It kind of seems okay. It isn't calling anyone else those names; just oneself, and it feels deserved most of the time. Such self depreciation (insulting, chiding, mocking) can be seen as self-discipline, an improvement strategy.
    Only now I'm pretty sure that "self-depreciation" isn't humble, helpful, or okay to do at all.
    For one, there's just something fishy about putting the responsibility of scolding (or complimenting) into the hands of the person who's going to receive it. It's too tempting to pass on the scolding, for one, and just ignore the problems. But a bigger issue is that when one puts themselves in charge of monitoring their own flaws . . . well, there are probably a lot that a person would never realize they had until someone else pointed them out.
    It's not our job to judge ourselves like that anyway. Discerning problematic attitudes and flaws that need fixing is one thing, but when one calls themselves an idiot (a vague insult) and don't even fixate on the issue that prompted the scolding, nothing is being improved. The only one who's really able to instruct us in how to change is the one who actually has the right to: God. He alone sees all the core issues that need to be addressed, He knows the correct way to mend those issues, and He instructs us on doing that in a kind, loving way, whether by people in our lives or by the Good Book.
    Which doesn't involve name-calling. That's another evident problem with self-demeaning. Typically, when a person scolds themselves, they mutter something like "idiot," and feel cruddy about themselves. But after that? Probably not much else.
    Which is eerily a lot like what the enemy does to us. In Revelation 12:10, Satan is said to be accusing us "day and night." Accusing, condemning. Drawing attention to all the mistakes, sins, all the bad, but not in a way that helps or gives hope. It only hurts.
    But God gives hope, healing, forgiveness. The salvation He gives has redeemed us from all our mistakes; another reason not to judge oneself with self-depreciation. Yes, we make mistakes, but we're redeemed from them. The amount of wrong choices we make even after accepting Christ is not going to annul that grace, but allowing self depreciating comments to fill our minds (and actually believing them) will definitely distort one's memory of it.
    God wouldn't call any of us "idiot," and He definitely doesn't want us calling other people things like that (see Matthew 5:22), so logically, it makes sense that He wouldn't want us calling ourselves that.
    So; personal conclusion? Calling oneself "stupid" or "moron" is probably not right.

Writing Games: Weird Words!

    Have you ever just Googled something like "weird words" to find out-of-the-ordinary terms? You know, the long, difficult-to-pronounce, whimsical-sounding words. Like jouska or pluviophile; peculiar words that are fun to use and to know about . . . the ones that are so awesome that one very much wishes they were used in modern day. These kind of terms are awesome, and it's a shame that they can't be used in writing, since nobody would understand what they meant.
    Or could they be used in writing?
    Maybe not in a novel/short story manuscript (except maybe in the historical genre, depending on the word), but I think weird words like this would make great writing prompts.
    Take pluviophile, for example. It basically means a love of rain, or a person who really likes rain. Using this word as a writing prompt, one could make it a character (a guy named Josh who loves rain), or utilize it for a setting (a region that has only one rain season, which people eagerly anticipate all year long), or it could be an action/event that makes up the situation (a person getting caught in the rain and suddenly becoming fond of the wet weather).
    Here's a short list of weird words that might make a good writing prompt. Have you ever heard of any of them? :)

-Coddiwomple     -Yonderly     -Vellichor

-Slugabed     -Gonzo     -Athazagoraphobia

-Zugzwang     -Overmorrow     -Hobbledehoy