I cried three times related to Harry Potter.
1) When Fawkes flew away in Half-Blood Prince.
2) During the walk into the forest in Deathly Hallows.
3) The day after I finished the series and realized there were no new Hogwarts experiences to be had.
What do you think about profanity in literature? Some people can’t stand it, think it reveals sloppy writing, insist that writers can still get their point across without using curse words.
Wendy Lawton, an agent at Books & Such Literary, recently blogged:
But for me the biggest reason to avoid questionable language in a book is that it is usually lazy writing. It’s like telling instead of showing. Rather than just put a cuss word in a character’s mouth, there are so many more powerful ways to get the attitude and language across.
(You can read her entire post here.)
My friend and fellow writer Addie Zierman, whose memoir was released this week, likewise blogged about why her Christian memoir has R-rated words, saying:
And yet maybe there’s that person who needs to hear it. The bad word, the foul word, the one that cuts into the hard reality of her life. Maybe she needs to know that God is big enough to go even there. That his grace makes beauty from what is hard and ugly and foul. That he loves her more than all that.
Grace Biskie, a Christian blogger, used some profanity in one of her posts and then later defended her swearing, saying this:
Jesus is my life. Jesus is my everything. Jesus is my all in all. ALL MY EGGS are in the Jesus basket. I have no other eggs, no other baskets. Everything about me lives and breathes and moves and longs for Jesus. I long to live life in the presence of God, faithful to the work that He’s given me. What I want you to know about why I swear, in light of allegiance to my faith is this: I’m trying to fucking survive. That’s all I can say. That’s all I can tell you. … If you are worried about me, don’t. I have an inner circle. I have a therapist. I have Jesus. And thankfully, antidepressants.
I’d like to hear your thoughts, readers– Christian and otherwise. My young adult novel (on submission right now) has more than a handful of curse words, including a couple of the dreaded F-bombs. When I was writing those scenes, though, it truly felt that no other word would capture the complete devastation of those moments. They are sad, scary, heartbreaking scenes where the characters are broken, and no other word felt powerful enough to reach out and slap the reader’s heart in a way that they could realize the ruins my characters lay in.
I will lose some readers because of this, I imagine. My own mother and sister don’t understand my “need” to use such harsh words in my writing. I know that if my brother reads my story, he will be disappointed with my word choices. But I don’t feel guilty, and I know that part of that is due to the spiritual freedom I’ve experienced since God and ERP broke my shackles four years ago.
Let’s start a discussion in the comments below, friends! All opinions welcome! Play nice.
Today is a GREAT day; do you know why?
My friend/critique partner Addie Zierman’s memoir When We Were on Fire comes out! I have already read and reviewed this book, and folks, let me just say that Addie is a tremendous writer, and you’re going to love this book.
Having grown up in the same 90’s Christian subculture as Addie, I can remember sporting the Christian t-shirts (the ones that annoyingly mimicked popular logos), listening to all the Christian bands, centering my week around youth group on Wednesday evenings.
Today, Addie is hosting a synchroblog on her site. She’s asked us readers to write about our own “on fire” days.
Mine come loaded with embarrassment– and an apology.
Here is the truth: black and white exist– but so does gray. I didn’t know that growing up amongst evangelicals. I was quick to judge, and I thought I owned the market on truth. In late high school and especially in college, I was a spiritual know-it-all. After all, I went to a Christian school, studied the Bible as an academic subject, and learned theology from some of the major players in that field of academia.
In other words, I was kind of a jerk. Maybe not even kind of.
As I am writing this, students from my alma mater (and Addie’s– we overlapped there for a couple years!) are clawing each other’s eyes out over Obamacare and politics and theology, still living in that black-and-whiteness of undergrad.
I graduated. I lost touch with reality and suffered from paranoia. I watched friends marry and divorce. I faced the stigma of mental illness. I underwent a therapy that some people would consider unholy. All those beautiful and ugly and layered and confusing shades of gray started to paint my world.
I am on fire in a new way now. On fire about grace. And mercy. About weakness and healing.
I am sorry for when I was on fire about being right and judgement and personal strength.
Addie’s book tells of her journey toward wholeness, of the ways that the evangelical subculture harmed her and others in the name of God and goodness, about her anger and spite when her eyes were opened to see this, and how she climbed out of the bitterness.
Buy her book.
Read the Prologue and First Chapter HERE
Available for Pre-Order in the Following Places
Unlike the Hermit of the Southern March,
I’ve only got 31 winters under my belt–
but I think I agree.
Quote from The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
Picture this.
You’ve been working on your novel for almost two years. The first draft was so long ago that you laugh over your silly non-ending and lack of conflict with friends who have read the completed story. For a year and a half, you’ve been refining, editing, polishing the story to a high gloss. You’ve had the luxury of being picky and choosy over individual words and phrases. You can decide to drop in an extra image here or there as if you’re scattering flower petals. You know your characters so well that their reaction to things comes automatically, without reaching.
And then
you start all over with a new story, new first draft. It’s rough and ugly and the characters are stereotypes. You barely know how to start, and every paragraph you write, you want to go back and fix, make perfect. But that’s not what a first draft is like, and you know it. You can remember that years ago, the novel that you’ve just perfected also came out stilted and wrong, but it’s so far away and you’ve become so accustomed to polishing instead of drafting that it’s
quite
jarring.
Absolutely no word on the novel yet. I know that publishing is a “hurry up and wait” game, but it is so hard. I desperately want an editor to love my story and give me a chance, and it sometimes feels so close and sometimes so far away.
To occupy my waiting time, I have started to work on a new novel— and not the one I’ve thought for the last two years that I was going to write. I have an idea now that I love and am excited about, but I am not joking: this first draft feels lethal. It’s like I’ve forgotten how to write a novel. I keep wondering, “Maybe those first two stories were all you had in you.” I don’t really believe that, but sometimes it feels that way.
I’ve been traveling for work. Just around Minnesota and South Dakota, and I’m meeting some wonderful students!
Alison Dotson and I are putting on an event for OCD Awareness Week! If you live in the Twin Cities, you should come on out to the Loft/Open Book in Minneapolis. I’ll be reading some fiction I wrote about ERP, and she’ll be reading from her non-fiction book (soon to be released!). Check out the details here.
I just shared about OCD with two separate biblical counseling undergraduate classes at the University of Northwestern. It was a great experience, and the students listened well and asked wonderful questions.
My short story will be published soon through Hunger Mountain! The rights will revert back to me after that, and I’ll share the story with you then– I can’t wait to hear what you guys think of it! (I’d be lying if I said my eyes weren’t glued to my mailbox, waiting for the check to arrive too.)
Blessings, all! Thanks for caring about the details!
Five things I want:
1. A book deal.
This one is the top of the list.
2. A boyfriend.
And I want him to be funny and handsome and strange.
3. Money to go to all the conferences I wanted!
I’d really love to attend BookExpo America, the OCD national conference, SCBWI, and VidCon.
4. A bigger platform.
In other words, I wish my blog had 10 million followers or that I was an internet celebrity.
5. To meet Melina Marchetta and John Green.
I would die.
Random 5 Friday is a weekly meme over at A Rural Journal.
How about a little randomness for today?
1. I don’t set my alarm for times ending in zeros or fives. (Usually just one off– 6:01, 6:16, etc.)
2. I’m okay with most off-brands, but mac and cheese must be Kraft and Lucky Charms must be the real kind.
3. I went 15 years without drinking carbonated beverages. Just started drinking root beer again this past year.
4. I don’t drink coffee. At all. In any form.
5. I think about names a lot.
6. I’m really, really messy. (Seriously, my bedroom is a war zone.)
7. Abstract art fascinates me.
8. I don’t have any pets now, but I grew up on a hobby farm where we usually had a dog and about thirty cats. Every once in a while, we’d also have a pet lamb.
9. I am the oldest kid in my family … and the shortest.
10. My favorite parts of traveling for work are seeing my friend Caitlin in South Dakota and also all the audiobooks I get to listen to!
Not literally. (Not yet– although today was a rainy and cool Minnesota autumn day.)
But a little paralyzed about moving forward with my new novel idea. (Is “a little paralyzed” an oxymoron?)
I have done my pseudo-writing.
I found an idea I’m really excited about. (Surprise [to you and me]: it’s not at all what I thought it would be.)
I am armed with a first draft manifesto to wield against doubts, poor choices, and bad writing.
Heck, I even thought out the entire storyline. I’m generally a pantser, so this is extreme, folks.
BUT …
I’m scared to commit to this idea.
And I’m intimidated by other great writers.
And I don’t know where to start.
HOWEVER …
That’s what my creative process looks like. I need to trust it.
It’s just another go-around on the writing rollercoaster.
Here I goooooooooooooooooo!!!
There’s this trend with teenagers right now that I don’t like. They can’t answer questions without their parents’ help. Now, I’m not talking, How do you plan to pay for college? or What special accommodations might you need?
I’m talking, What do you like to do for fun?
Come on, guys. You can answer that question on your own. It’s the easiest one in the book– and there’s not even a wrong answer! The only wrong answer is you not having enough boldness and social grace to speak up and share your opinion!
I think that all teenagers should go to college visits prepared with the following:
* Three (or more!) specific questions they have about the school
* A list of other schools they are interested in
* A short list of what they are looking for in a college (big/small, public/private, certain majors, urban/suburban, etc.)
* What they are involved with (at school, home, church, community)
* What things they enjoy (sports, movies, reading, writing, shopping, art)
Interestingly, most of these questions should be easy to answer and shouldn’t require forethought or planning.
You want your college recruiter on your side– especially when it comes to admittance and scholarships! Put your best foot forward and be ready to answer the most basic of questions. Remember: you’re not just checking out my school. I am also evaluating your fit with our community!
Prospective students and parents, take note!
JACKIE LEA SOMMERS 