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March 13, 2017

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In Defense of Short Fiction

In last week’s post about sorting fiction by length, I mentioned my (strong) feelings on brief fiction, and so this week is all about those (strong) feelings.

Warning: copious use of parentheses ahead; also, slight ranting.

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There seems to be some sort of grading of stories by their length, and I’m not talking about sorting. I’m talking about an inflated sense of importance or significance or prestige or betterness (yes, I made that a word) based on a story’s wordcount.

It’s become a badge of sorts to write mammoth novels, as if the higher your wordcount is, the more fantastic of a writer you are. It’s some sort of milestone to reach 100,000 words in your novel or for your final word count to come to 120,000 words (or higher), and it’s almost like you haven’t arrived as a writer until you’ve hit the big 100k.

And if your novel’s only in the 60,000’s, well, I mean, that’s great and all, but… you know… it’s kind of short, and really, what story is worth only 64,000 words? And if it doesn’t even make it to 50k, well, um, is it even technically a novel? Isn’t that more of, like, a novella, and who even reads those?

Spoiler alert: it’s small-minded to think that a story is better because it’s longer. This post is for the people who are afraid their story’s too short, it’s for the people who think a short story isn’t worth their time, and it’s also for the people who think that you aren’t a certified writer/author until you’ve written a full fledged novel.

Writers, listen up and write this down: the. power. of. a. story. does. not. lie. in. its. length.

I’ll say it again because some people are thick-headed like me: the power of a story does not lie in its length (that’s a quote from a writer named Tara L. Masih, by the way).

A famous bit of micro-fiction (typically attributed to Ernest Hemingway) is only six words, and it tells quite a sorrowful story.

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

I bet you didn’t see that coming.

I read that story, and I get an image of this young couple who’ve been trying to have a baby for so long, and then they finally get pregnant, and the baby’s coming, and they get things all set up for a nursery and a little mobile over a crib in a room painted blue, and there’s all that excitement and love and anticipation, but when the baby comes, it’s stillborn. So they sell unworn shoes. What about you? What story rises up in your mind when you read those six words? What thoughts and feelings come to the surface when you see that handful of words?

Peeps, the power of a story does not lie in its length.

The power of a story lies in the emotions that it evokes, the memories it pulls out of the moldy corners of our minds, the old truths that it casts in a new light, the complacency that it challenges, the new ideas that it gives, and the old ideas it causes us to reexamine.

So go after that power, that heart.

Some stories need a hundred thousand words to tell them, maybe even five hundred thousand. I get that.

And some stories call for only six or six thousand or sixteen thousand or sixty thousand words, so don’t try to add to them. Don’t make them bloated in your quest for an awe-inspiring wordcount and don’t think less of yourself because you “only wrote a novella”. Before you start berating a story (yours or someone else’s) for being “only” 30,000 words, remember that the power of a story does not lie in its length.

There is so much brio in brevity, so much to be said for the writer who can take a snapshot of life with fire and few words, so much in the story that you can read in an hour and come away shaken, so much in that image painted with broad, deft keystrokes that comes to mind again and again.

My point is: don’t strive to write 80,000 words. Don’t even strive to write a novel. Strive to write a story, however brief or long, that is your absolute best, one that leaves a handprint on someone’s heart, one that glorifies God.

So it’s 231,000 words. That’s quite something.

So it’s 878 words. That’s quite something.

So it’s 43,000 words. That’s quite something.

And don’t just read stories that take days to consume. Read the ones that are only as long as your lunch break but take much longer to forget. Read the ones that only fill an hour but keep haunting your heart. Read the ones that demand only an afternoon to start and finish but leave a trail of new thought through your mind.

The small story can have just as much power as the big book. You are just as much a writer for that small story as you are for that big book. Even if you can never master writing short fiction and can only write winding epics, you are a writer. Even if you can never get to that 60k, 89k, 124k novel and have to be content with novellas and novelettes and flash fictions, you are a writer.

All else aside, just remember these two things: the power of a story doesn’t lie in its length, and whatever you do, do it with all your might and for the glory of God.

So, peeps, talk to me. What do you think about all this?

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March 6, 2017

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Fiction Sorted by Length

On Saturday, I put out a poll on Twitter (hint: you should follow me on Twitter) asking peeps what kind of post they’d like to read on Penprints today, and of the three options presented, they favored a post about brief fiction.

Now, my feelings on brief fiction are quite strong (translation: I should probably calm down a little because they’re a wee bit too strong), but as I settled in to write out my thoughts on brief fiction I realized that I need to clarify some terms before diving in. Hence this post about classifying fiction by its length (i.e. – wordcount).

So, here’s a tiny post to lay out some common definitions of the various kinds of fiction.

 

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Micro-fiction.

Micro-fiction (which also goes by the names Postcard Fiction, Sudden Fiction, and Nano Fiction depending on who you’re talking to) is about as tiny as it gets without getting ridiculous. We’re talking 100 words or less. Yeah, it’s basically a blink, or better yet, just a spastic eye-twitch (you know those ones you get when you’re way past tired).

Here’s a piece of micro-fiction by Just B. Jordan that was published over on The Lightning Blog.

Flash Fiction.

Flash fiction (or the short short story) is right on the heels of its younger micro-fiction sibling. At 1,000 words or less, flash fiction is a flash-bang grenade designed to hit hard and fast.

Here’s a flashfic (that’s slang for flash fiction) by the fabulous Katie Grace

Short Story.

Short stories are where things begin to get a little more complicated and require a little more commitment than the leaner likes of micro and flash fiction that you can read in the line at a grocery store. It can take an entire lunch break to polish off a short story that ranges from 1,000-7,500 words.

Here’s a short story from Just B. Jordan on her blog.

Novelette.

And now we come to the beginnings of the novel’s family. Novelette’s are like those kids who never really grew out of that gangly, lanky phase and somehow have a size eleven foot, arms that are too long for any normal shirt, and most likely an intolerance to gluten. Now, I’m not saying this to be mean; I’m just saying that it’s quite hard for a novelette to fit into blogs or magazines or books because they range from 7,500 to 20,000 words. The best hope for a novelette is typically an anthology of some sort.

Five Enchanted Roses is a prime example of an anthology of novelettes.

Novella.

Novellas are the more filled-out brothers to novelettes. Ranging between 20,000 and 50,000 words, novellas are ideal e-books and $0.99 buys for your Kindle. They’re not quite as demanding as a novel and can be read in one night, a fairly quick but still lengthy fiction fix.

Personally, I recommend A Wish Made of Glass by Ashlee Willis (it’s like reading poetry but better) or The Girl Who Could See by Kara Swanson..

Novel.

At last, we come to the famed (perhaps overrated?) novel. From here on out, the sky is the limit. And I mean that literally. Novels are 50,000 words up to infinity and beyond. Now, some make the distinction between novels and sequels/epics, but I find this to be pointless personally. There are some wordcount distinctions made from genre to genre, but since that’s a genre thing, I won’t get into it here. So, novels can be 55,000 words. Or 89,000 words. Or 111,000 words. Or 230,000 words. (Note: marketability will plummet as your wordcount rises for a debut novel.)

And that, kids, is the brief introduction to next week’s post will be all about my (very strong) thoughts on brief fiction. So stay tuned.

How long are some of your writing projects? What’s the longest thing you’ve ever written? What’s the shortest thing you’ve ever written? Do you think it takes more skill to write a meaningful micro-fiction than it takes to write a 130k novel?

P.S. – don’t ask me what these wordcounts work out to when it comes to the number of pages; that’s all dependent on formatting, dialogue vs. description, etc..

P.P.S. – you should like my Facebook page to get updates on my secret (and wildly exciting) project.

~ Rosalie out. <3

 

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September 6, 2016

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Why I Write

It’s Tuesday (which means it’s not Monday, in case you didn’t know), and so you may be asking yourself why a post by that neurotic, crazy person you accidentally followed that one time is showing up a day late.

Okay, full disclosure: I completely forgot I didn’t have a post ready to go for Monday, and so I woke up Sunday night in a cold sweat remembering that I had nothing to post on Monday, but I was too tired to lug out the computer, and so I just decided in a sweaty, panicky haze that I would post on Tuesday, and so here I am (yay for run-on sentences!).

This post was inspired by “Why Write” from the fabulous Alea (psh, I did not steal my blog post title from her at all, please don’t be absurd). Her post got me thinking, and this post is the result of that thinking (yay for weird sentences that are hard to read!).

(I’m about to be more vulnerable and honest than I’m comfortable with, and so please bear with me.)

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Why do I write? What am I hoping to gain from it?

Is it worth all the awkward conversations with people who want to know what I’m going to do with my life (e.g. Person: “So, Rosalie, what are your plans?” Me: “Well, right now I’m working on getting a manuscript ready to pitch to publishers next summer.” Person: “Ohhhhhhhh, that’s… interesting…?” OR: Person: “So, Rosalie, what do you write?” Me: “Speculative fiction… it’s basically science fiction and fantasy.” Person: “Oh. Huh. Fantasy, really?)?

Is it worth the hours spent on maps and character development and editing and subplots and rewrites and networking?

Is it worth the thought and heart and imagination?

Is it worth staying up late when I have to get up early?

Is it worth that punch to the gut when I get a rejection?

No, it’s not. Not if that’s all that writing is–just a time consuming, fun thing to do that might (might) get me semi-famous. If it is just about the stories or a hope of fame or money, it isn’t worth wasting another breath on it. I can stop here, delete Penprints from the internet, chuck my notebooks into the trash, and wipe my computer of all my stories and do something more meaningful, something worthy of my short time on earth.

But writing is not that, not to me.

Writing is my hobby and my passion and my worship and my gift and my ministry and my path.

Writing is how I relax. Some people like to scrapbook or collect things or bake or play with cars or hike or paint. I like to write. I enjoy it. I enjoy building worlds from nothing and drawing maps and researching things like the limits of the human body and writing dialogue that makes me laugh and wondering “what if…”. Writing is my hobby.

Writing is something that gets me excited, something that gets my spine tingling and fingers itching. I blurt out random bits of my stories to my sister. I show my maps to my brother. I scramble after a notebook like a rabbit on caffeine (Out of Time series reference, peeps) when I get a new idea. Writing is my biggest passion beside Christ.

Writing is quickly becoming one of my favorite ways to worship God. When I write, I’m drawn closer to God. I can see Him, and it puts awe in my bones. We talk about my ideas (which were all His first), and more and more I find myself writing for His glory, that He might be known and seen in what I write. When I write, I look at my God and praise Him. Sometimes, when I can’t express my love for Him any other way, I write. Writing is one of the ways I worship my Creator.

Writing comes fairly easily to me, but it’s not something I can keep. God gave me the ability and the passion, and I give it back to Him. It’s my offering to Him. It’s my first-fruits, my best and dearest, and it belongs to Him. Sometimes I feel like a kid whose dad gave her some paper and crayons, and she colored the paper and then gave it to her dad saying, “I made this for you!”. Writing is one of my gifts from God, and it’s one of my gifts back to God.

Writing is one of the ways I’m most adept at reaching others for Christ. God has used posts like When I Almost Died & What I Have to Say About It and 3 Ways to Glorify God in Your Writing to touch other people’s lives. Letters and stories are some of the ways God uses me most to bless others. Writing is one of my ministries.

Writing is what I feel called to do, at least right now. God has given me quite a few stories to write, and until I sense Him leading me to something else, I’m going to write them. I’m going to keep blogging on Penprints because I believe God has put me here for a reason. I’m called to serve my Christ, and for now, this is how I’m going to do it because this is the path I’ve been set on.

That is why I write.

What about you?

Writer’s, why do you write?

Non-writers, what are your gifts? What is a hobby of yours? What are some ways you worship God? What is one of your ministries?

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August 15, 2016

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4 Signs that Writing Is Your Idol (and 4 Ways to Cut It Down)

I’ve read so many blog posts on writing that I’m liable to turn into a blog post on writing. No joke.

Now, in all the hours I’ve spent pouring over blog posts on writing, there are a few things that I’ve never seen addressed, and today, I’ve decided to speak to one of them: when writing becomes your idol. Before you “pft” to yourself and stop reading, hear me out.

What do you think of when you hear the word idol?

Personally, I think of some weird looking, little bronze statue, and I think to myself with an indignant sniff, “I have no household gods.” Seriously, an idol—really? Don’t be absurd. Idols are things you literally worship, things you bow to, things you offer sacrifices to, and I don’t worship anything besides God. Trust me, I don’t. *insert nervous laughter* Right?

But I do. Writing used to be one of my idols (it sometimes still is), and I didn’t realize it for a long time, several years in fact. Since the Holy Spirit showed me this has been an area where I sin, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and praying about it, and here is what I’ve found: four signs that writing is your idol and four ways to cut it down.

4 signs that writing is your idol

Sign #1: You think about writing all the time.

Writing consumes your thoughts. You constantly think about how you’re going to plug this plot hole or kill that story thread, if Character X is fleshed out enough, if Character A and Character B should be shipped, if the tension is nail-biting enough, and so forth.

You’re in a constant state of cackling over your darlings and all the “feels”. In the shower. On the drive to work. In the lunch room. During the sermon on Sunday. Right before you fall asleep. While you do dishes. On your morning run (wait, writers run??). When you’re “doing homework”. During family prayer before bed. When you’re making your morning smoothie. In the middle of cleaning the fish bowl.

Nine times out of ten, if someone asked you what you’re thinking about, you’d say it was something writing related.

Sign #2: You invest countless hours into writing-related blogs, books, and advice.

There is something to be said for learning and knowing your craft, but there is a point when this goes too far… like when you’re liable to turn into a blog post on writing, like me.

When you’re studying your craft more than you’re studying God, it’s bad. When you’re more concerned about developing your mad writing skills than you are in developing a deeper love of Christ, it’s bad. You invest the most time and effort in what’s most important to you.

Sign #3: You flip out if something (or someone) infringes on sacred writing time.

You’ve decided that you’re going to write tonight, but then the family decides to go out to eat or invite people over for dinner. The whole evening is shot, and you are mad because you were going to write and now you’ll have to stay up till 2 am to get your writing in.

I fall into this trap often. I was planning on writing one night around 9:30 (I believe it was a Friday). But then my siblings had the audacity to want to hang out. How dare they!? I was going to write, but no, they decided to hang out in my room and actually have a fun time chatting and trying to engage a sullen me. It took a full half an hour for me to cool off and get some perspective. My brother was heading back to college in just a few short weeks, and my sister won’t always live with me.

Yeah, writing is important to me, but when I value it more than my family—family that will very soon be gone for a long time—that’s when there’s a problem, that’s when there’s the sign that it’s getting too important. I value writing, but writing won’t last for eternity. The souls of my siblings will though.

Sign #4: You spend time writing before you’ve spent time in God’s Word.

You haven’t opened your Bible at all today, maybe even not even in three days, but there you go, plopping down at the computer or whipping out the notebook to punch out another daily word count.

Or, you have to be at work at 7:00 am, and so you decide to get up at 5:00 to write for an hour before you get ready to go. You don’t spare a second thought to meeting with God and learning from His Word.

Or, maybe it’s 11:30 pm, and you’re getting ready for some prime writing time because you haven’t been able to write all day, and so this is your chance to get your word count in! But guess what, you also haven’t been able to do a quiet time in Scripture all day either, but writing is what’s important. Oh, and you might fall asleep if you try to do some Bible reading! But somehow you manage to stay up until 3:00 am for a writing marathon.

Before you take this lightly, consider how God has an incredibly intense reaction to idolatry in particular. Yes, He hates all sin, but it was the first of His ten commandments to the Israelites. “You shall have no other gods before Me.” – Exodus 20:3. He said Himself that He is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5). So while you may not have a statue that you make sacrifices to and worship, whatever your idol is, you cannot, I repeat, you cannot take it lightly (you can take a trip down memory lane in the Old Testament to see how He handles it).

I think this quote from J.D. Greear sums it up all up nicely: “When something becomes so important to you that it drives your behavior and commands your emotions, you are worshipping it.”

Cut Down #1: Confession

Just like any other sin, it is so, so important to confess idolatry to God. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” It’s that simple.

Cut Down #2: Repentance

Repentance means to turn away from one thing and to another thing. In this case, it’s turning away from your writing and to the living God. When you repent, you don’t just continue on as you have, and you don’t just try to “stop” pouring all your thought, affection, and attention into writing. You replace the things that lead you toward sin with things that lead you toward God.

For instance, instead of spending four hours on Pinterest filling up an aesthetic board for your new story (come on, writing peeps—you know four hours is not an exaggeration), you could listen to a sermon. Or, instead of cruising around the internet for blogs on writing, you could spend that time (or some of it) reading Scripture or checking out websites like Desiring God.

Cut Down #3: Write only after you’ve spent time in prayer and Bible study.

Even if you don’t feel like it, even if you’re tired, even if you’re just plain not in the mood to crack open your Bible, do it anyway. I have been in that boat so many times. I’m not in the mood to do a devotion. If my heart’s not in it, why even bother?

But if you and I can push through not wanting to write or not having inspiration but penning 1200 words anyway, we can push through not wanting to spend time with God and do it anyway. And more often than not, even if you had to drag your heart every step of the way, the Holy Spirit will do a beautiful, gracious work and give you fruit in your time with Him.

But why study the Bible before we write? Because it’s a simple act that shows where your affections and worship truly lie

Cut Down #4: Get accountability.

I highly recommend getting accountability. It’s not wise to have another Christian writer as your accountability partner because you both would be struggling with the same thing. When it comes to accountability, you have to find someone who is strong where you’re weak. Now, I know that non-writers don’t usually understand how/why you might be struggling with writing being an idol, but you just have to pray that God will give them enough understanding to help you overcome idolatry.

Let’s put a bookend on this post.

It’s easy to idolize writing when you’re passionate about it. You want to do it well, and so you study and toil and write. The next thing you know, writing has displaced God again. I suffer from this, on a daily level sometimes. I get so caught up in fulfilling my dream that I take my eyes of my God, and then my dream becomes my god.

Writing can and should be an act of worship. We simply must be sure that we’re worshipping the One Who gave us the gift of writing, not the gift itself.

 

 

 

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December 14, 2015

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3 Ways to Glorify God in Your Writing

Recently, I came to realize that I tend to compartmentalize. I like to keep God in His box, and I like to keep writing in its own little box, far away from God.

I’m not saying I’ve written things that are graphically sinful, completely unwholesome, and rife with heresy because I haven’t. I just tend to be buddy-buddy with God during my devotions and talk with Him some throughout the day, but when I light my writing candle, I tend to shut everything out. Including God. I’m not so much, “God, don’t interfere with my writing!” as I am “You can go away now.” Both are bad.

3 ways glorify god 2Anyway, I’ve thought up some ways to bring God into my writing. Or rather, bring my writing into God. I don’t want to write just stories. I want my writing to be a reflection of my love for God. I want my writing to glorify Him. I want Him to use my writing to turn hearts to the Truth.

So, here are three ways to glorify God in your writing.

Pray before you write.

This is the time when you’ve got your notebook, maps, and all other supplies. You’ve lit your writing candle, and the blank page blinks at you.
Stop and pray. It doesn’t have to be long (it can be though, if you want it). It’s just bowing your head and having some words with the Creator the universe. There’s lots you can say. Lots you can ask.

Thank Him for the gift of writing. He’s the one that gave it to you.

Thank Him for your creativity. He’s the one that built you with it.

Thank Him for the sunshine (or the starlight).

Ask Him to guide you as you write.

Ask Him to help you with a troublesome plot point.

Ask Him to help you glorify Him.

Pray that He will enjoy the time writing with you.

Pray that it will be a sweet time of fellowship.

Basically, invite Him into your writing time. If there’s some sin that’s come between you and Him, confess it. Your writing won’t glorify Him much if you aren’t in communion with Him. If you want your writing to truly be an offering to Him, a sweet fragrance to Him, you need to start with Him.

So, take two minutes before you start scratching away at the page or plucking away at the keys, and talk with God.

Read Scripture before you write.

If you have a key verse or Scripture passage that inspires your writing, read it a couple times. It can be for your writing as a whole or your WIP.

I understand not all writing projects will have a key verse, but I encourage you to find one that reflects one of your main themes. And for writing as a whole (for life as whole, actually) I encourage you to pick a verse (or verses) that is your anthem.

For instance, my verse for writing as a whole is 1 Corinthians 10:31 which says, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” I want the glory of God to be the goal of my writing. I want to write to glorify Him. So I decided that 1 Corinthians 10:31 would be my writing verse.

An example of a specific project verse is Matthew 5:14-16 which says, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before other, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father Who is in heaven.” This is my primary passage for Flickering Lights.

Once you have your verse(s), read it before you write. Put it on an index card or write it in your notebook. Keep it somewhere accessible, and read it before you write. It doesn’t have to be aloud, but really think about the words. You’ll have it memorized soon enough.

This isn’t supposed to be some ritual to empower your writing. It’s supposed to turn your heart to God and let Him move in your writing.

Write for God, not yourself.

So much, I hear the advice, “Write for yourself! When you stop relying on other people for your motivation to write, that’s when you write more. That’s when you’ll stay true to yourself.”

I say no.

Write for God.

That’s when you’ll stay true to Him because honestly, this isn’t about you. At least it shouldn’t be. If you truly want to glorify Him, your writing (and everything else you have, for that matter) will be about Him and for Him. When He’s your inspiration and motivation, you will glorify Him.

There you have it!

These aren’t tricks or guarantees. But I’ve been using them for a few weeks now, and it has changed my mindset on writing. I hope that these ideas/practices are as helpful to you as they have been to me.

What are some of the ways you work to glorify God in your writing?