Why I Write

All authors have a reason for writing. We have a reason because writing is hard work and why work hard with no reason? The reason usually falls somewhere in the spectrum between "I want to be richer than JK Rowling" to "God gave me this story and the world needs to read it."

I don't expect to make a lot of money. I won't be upset if that happens, but that's not my aim. I will not write simply to appeal to a mass market audience. If I was OK with that, I'd write GLT porn and make a mint.

I don't particularly feel God has called me to write. He gave me some ability in that direction. He gave me an interest in it, and has opened doors in the writing world, but I don't think my stories are "change the world" stories.

I don't write just to write. I don't have a degree in journalism because I don't want to write about things that bore me.

I don't write to challenge people's worldviews. I don't feel the need to push any envelopes or step on toes or cause great theological upheaval. One of the reasons Star of Justice isn't getting much discussion at MLS, I suspect. What is there to discuss?

So, why do I write?

I write because I'm tired of secular authors taking up all the space on the fiction shelves. My books illustrate my basic worldview: God created the universe (He created any universe I write about), He put humans in it, humans turned away from Him and He went to great lengths to redeem us. He also recorded all this in writing so we'd know it.

These ideas will present themselves in every book I write. Some of my characters will reject God. Some will have an incomplete understanding of Him (who doesn't?). Some won't have a clue He exists. Some will know Him in a real relationship.

My stories are stories about people dealing with God, specifically the God of the Bible. Other things happen in the stories. That's how life works. We don't just sit around thinking about God all day. He shows up in the things that happen to us.

I used to role play (alas, I lost my group in a divorce. Not mine). In every campaign, the characters I played believed in God. I had a friend who thought that was silly. She just played good characters. My question to her was "how can you be good without God?"

That's the question my story characters must answer. How can you be good without God?

So, no money, no calling, no drive to write. Just a basic interest in improving the general quality of fictional literature produced today.

So far, that's reason enough.

Oh, and voting opens today and runs through Dec 15. If you're looking for info about Marcher Lord Press, click on the label on the left side of the blog. You may have to click on "older posts" if you don't find what you're looking for, like how to register with MLS.