Christopher D. Schmitz's Blog, page 17

Christians, Fantasy/SF, and a Culture of Fear

[image error]

Halloween is coming and so I thought it would be appropriate to post my Stranger Things themed article. I know that I usually post articles on Wednesday that deal with writing advice… but if you write or read Christian SF/F/H then this article will be relevant.

In 1982, High Fantasy=Satanism… in 2016, Christians embraced themes from Stranger Things: did we escaped the Upside Down or dive in fully?

In 1982, High Fantasy=Satanism. In 2016, Stranger Things receives praise from RELEVANT and Christianity Today. What happened in thirty years of Christian culture?

I grew up in the Stranger Things era. Dustin, Mike, Will, and Lucas would’ve been my friends in school. Except my mother bought into the Pat Pulling/B.A.D.D. nonsense (Pulling was the primary leader of the crusade to villainize D&D and other uses of the imagination as well. Pulling’s tragic story involves her son’s suicide, sketchy research, and a need for something to blame.) Despite an Antifa-ntasy mindset, there was flexibility in my home. Star Wars was fine; D&D was not. Star Trek was okay; Magic the Gathering was evil. LotR books were acceptable but any RPGs, CCGs, and high fantasy was off the table. Oddly enough, Willow was fine. Even as a child, that didn’t make sense.

Why was Willow okay but Castlevania or Astyanax harmful? I realized that if my parents liked it, it got a pass—Mom liked Star Trek, so it’s fine… Mom really liked Val Kilmer, so Willow passed. Though young, I realized that most Christians bought into hype. We had corporate triggers; the primary one was fear, and it’s understandable. In October 1989, Jacob Wetterling was infamously kidnapped 80 miles from my home. Christians, Americans, wanted to keep their families safe.

Even rural America became dangerous. It transformed from free-ranging kids on bikes in cul-de-sacs to indoor models. It seemed dangerous to walk to school. The world got small.

It stayed small for many years.

And then came the Internet and the world exploded in size! Information from across the world became readily available. I learned that, in many parts of the world, believers were less confused—and in others, Antifa-ntasy reached epidemic levels (some claimed that CS Lewis was even a satanic plant).

A generation grew tired of the illogical screaming—tired of accepting other people’s word as fact. Christians finally became skeptical and tested what we’d heard against scripture, discovering that not everything was as we’d been told.

Instead of dogma, we ought to have been trained to discern right and wrong: something we ought to innately know about—a byproduct of being sealed through the Holy Spirit, (see Ephesians 1:11-14). 1 John 4:1 says that we ought to test whether things come from God or false prophets, and 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 indicates the same and demands we defend what is good.

How do we really know the difference, especially on relatively modern things where Scriptures may be silent? How do we test? Acts 17:11 tells us: be like the Bereans who examined scripture daily. Don’t just know about God… know Him—that involves communicating to Him (prayer) and hearing his Words (prayer and reading the Word.)

As smart as modern Christians can be, the majority of us are lazy. Most of us are not Bereans. Many simply open our brains and ask for info-dumps from folks we think are smarter. This enabled a new Pharisism to rise: those who will pretend to be godly and claim a gift of discernment (1 Corinthians 12:10). They dictate right or wrong and put a stamp of “sinful,” on things. They say, “do not handle… do not touch!” giving “merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship…” (Colossians 2:21-23 spells out the holier-than-thou attitude indicative of Pharisism).

It is impossible to run around and wrestle every Pharisee (and we would risk simply replacing them,) but we can excel at discernment, and we can be sure that fantasy is not somehow spawned of Satan.

[image error]

Theologian Peter Leithart said, “The Devil has no stories.” No matter how dark, no matter how uplifting, all tales borrow from deeper, truer stories. Everything else is a shadow copy of the divine, and stories (whether they are parables or fantasy epics,) help us comprehend the incomprehensible—that is the beauty of what God gave us: imagination. Only through imagination and the creative bent of mankind can we comprehend the concept of infinity.  Imagination is partly how we relate to aspects of the divine. Limitless creativity is a reflection of an infinite, creative Creator.

What we can be certain of, scripturally speaking, is that nothing inherently demonic can glorify God. Many fantasy tales are stuffed full of characters who wrestle with morality, the human condition, allegory, religious symbolism, divine foreshadowing, and even outright theology.

Researchers widely point to the minister and fiction author George MacDonald as the first writer of “modern fantasy” and he inspired future greats such as G.K. Chesterton, J.R.R. Tolkien, Madeleine L’Engle, and C.S. Lewis. Some would point even further back to John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress as the first work of modern fantasy. Thoroughly a Christian allegory, it was also the first novel written in the English language.

Would Jesus approve of fantasy? That probably depends on the goals of the writer. Jesus used story to connect people to greater truths. Fantasy didn’t exist as a genre in his time, but he did use many genres to relate to the crowd, including common sayings, poetry, parables, and the popular apocalyptic genre among others. Paul did likewise and even used Greek theology to glorify Jesus (Acts 17:23). No genre is beyond the ability of an all-powerful God to use for his glory. And no person, either. I’ve seen many “Pharisees” come to this understanding; nobody/nothing is irredeemable.

I understand those with a knee-jerk fear of fantasy. I want my kids to be safe, too. But I also want them to freely exercise their limitless creativity and to play in an infinite sandbox; it enables growth and interaction with faith concepts.

Demonizing fantasy (or music styles, hobbies, activities, etc.) or anything not banned by Scripture is a way to shrink God and make idols of personal preferences, fears, or comforts. Following Jesus is not, and has never been about, putting stamps of approval on day-to-day activities, types of entertainment, or people—it’s about living in relationship with an all-powerful Creator. Truly, locking our eternal God into a limited box is the ultimate act of fantasy, and one far more fictitious than Narnia.

Bio: Christopher D. Schmitz is the author of Wolf of the Tesseract: book 1 in the Wolves of the Tesseract trilogy, and other faith-based speculative fiction stories. Schmitz did a dime in the pulpit and has worked for Youth for Christ for nearly as long. He holds a Master’s Degree in Religion, is a sucker for comiccons and speaking engagements, and freelances for local newspapers. He lives in rural Minnesota with his family where he drinks unsafe amounts of coffee and annoys the neighbors with his bagpipes. Find him at www.authorchristopherdschmitz.com

This article can also be read at SpecFaith where it was originally published.

Review: Nerdvotional

 

[image error]Nerdvotional was one of those interesting-concept Christian devo books that instantly grabbed me. I met author Kyle Hopson at an event where he was selling them and had to take it home.

Using pieces from pop culture (and especially nerd culture, by whatever metric you wish to use,) Hopson intertwines everything from Ghostbusters references to Power Rangers to The Legend of Zelda to explain scriptural truths I easily digestible nuggets.

Nerdvotional doesn’t take itself too seriously, but neither does it come off as flippant or treat biblical passages as a sideshow to the cultural/entertainment references… quite the other way around: Hopson uses modern stories to tell greater truths (as opposed to using scripture to validate media or rationalize playing video games.)

Don’t let the title or subject matter fool you: the pop references are broad enough that anyone can benefit from this book (not just nerds). This is one of the best devos I’ve come across in a long time, and I’ve considered buying multiple copies for others who I think would enjoy and learn from this book.

I bought mine directly from the author, but you can check it out on Amazon by clicking here.

 

State of Writing

[image error]

I’m about 14,000 words deep into my next SF installment. I intend to write at least 7,000 more to complete it. If I can do that this week, I’d be pretty stoked. I did remember that I need to continue recording the audio for Wolf of the Tesseract 2. Maybe next week… this weekend I’ll be at Crypticon MPLS slinging books.

I’d very much like to outline what might be the most mainstream book idea I’ve been excited about. It involves Jack Churchill, Nazi mad scientists, and modern suburbia. We’ll see. It might be one of those ideas I don’t get to for years, but I wrote notes (Nanowrimo maybe?)

Look For Criticism to Make Your Book Sellable

[image error]

I say it a lot, but every writer needs to give someone permission to be critical of his or her work. Writers cannot see the weak spots in their own material. Author friend Jeff Vorwald of Canvas Skies says he tries to get feedback on his manuscripts from people that don’t necessarily care for him (or want to spare his feelings.)

The Marketing Christian Books blog is one of those blogs I recommend everybody follows. It’s written by folks who aggressively chase their authorpreneurial dreams. I’ve linked an article that every author ought to read, and it’s along the lines of my regular advice.

Writers shouldn’t only seek for input from critics regarding story content, plotlines, and line edits. They should also seek input regarding sales strategies and publishing paths. In the article linked above an author wrote something outside of the norms for her genre and simply believed “that her story was perfect.”

“The truth of the matter is, sellability matters whether you publish a book yourself or someone else publishes the book.”

Readers have expectations. They have expectations about how a picture book should read for their child’s age. They have expectations about the flow of a story. They have expectations about the layout of a book. A book needs to meet these expectations to sell well.

Recently, I weighed in on a fellow author asking for cover feedback. It was not good… about a dozen posts preceding mine focused on positive elements. I unloaded with both barrels. My goal was to help him improve his cover so that his book would sell, not make him feel bad—but feeling bad because your work is not yet finished is better than feeling bad because your finished book is not selling.

Do the work. Do the research. You’re a writer, right? So Write, dangit! Write.

New Issue of Lorehaven

[image error]

I want to draw attention to another free read this week. This one is a magazine that I’ve been a supporter of since the beginning. Lorehaven is a quarterly publication for faith-based speculative fiction. Lorehaven is the magazine side that has tons of “flash reviews” on Christian speculative fiction (SF/F/H genre stories) and SpecFaith is their growing, online collection of articles that discuss the intersection of faith and fantasy. (Here is an article that I wrote.)

 

Lorehaven serves Christian fans by finding biblical truth in fantastic stories. Book clubs, free webzines, and a web-based community offer flash reviews, articles, and news about Christian fantasy, science fiction, and other fantastical genres.

You should totally check out their most recent issue here: http://lorehaven.com/lorehaven-magazine/ I highly recommend this and encourage readers to check out their reading groups, as well.

State of Writing

[image error]

I had a big week… and not just because of all of the huge things happening in my work life, but rather in spite of it! Crazy busy, and yet, I found pockets of time to write (during which I was very focused: I’d sit down, write a scene, close my laptop, and then head to work, etc.)

I think I wrote probably 5,000-8,000 words or more last week. Some computer issues arose, even, and my Scrivener crashed… luckily I remembered reading some posts about the auto backup feature and I I recovered 1500 lost words in just a few minutes.

Mainly, I worked on the new Dekker’s Dozen story, which is coming along wonderfully. It’s a little more mystery/intrigue than the previous ones and I’m enjoying the layers of a story like that and even surprised myself with little things that developed as I wrote some scenes. (and those moments are what makes writing so much fun!)

More to come… I’d like to have Dekker’s Dozen: Spawn of Ganymede at 75% complete by the weekend. I think that goal is achievable.

Is Dreame Publishers (also known as Ficfun and Stary LTD.) a Scam?

[image error]

My name is Chris… and I’m not famous. A publisher recently contacted because they found my book online and want to offer me a contract… should I take it?

…my advice? Run away. Probably.

So my SF story Dekker’s Dozen: The Last Watchmen has over 65,000 reads on Wattpad and had been featured in the past. This morning, after a brief interaction with a publisher, I was offered a contract. Don’t congratulate me yet. Not all contracts are created equally.

It sounds too good to be true, right? You put something on Wattpad and then a publisher comes calling? But that’s what happened to guys like Taran Matharu who writes the Summoner series (and who I’ve had conversations with via the social writing platform.) But as I often caution folks, plan to be the rule rather than the exception.

On second glance at their initial message and subsequent ones I was asked to “kindly reply” or “kindly send XYZ.” That’s not how native English speakers speak and is usually a giveaway of an overseas scam. But this company might not actually be a scam. They are, however, not looking play by the same rules as regular publishers.

The company in question is Dreame… with an E. It didn’t take much looking around the internet to find that my experience with Dreame is not uncommon; they’ve made a habit of soliciting authors from Wattpad to try and gain rights to their stories and then publish them exclusively on Dreame.com. That’s a legitimate business model. They offered me sixty bucks, which is a bit of a slap in the face since I would be prohibited from sharing this story electronically (ebook) and possibly they would get the audible rights as well. They are cautious to mention in the contract that you retain paperback rights, but audiobooks are on the rise, and you might be agreeing to give them 20% of your sales in exchange for that tiny advance they give you… that’s right. It’s an advance, which means if they make money on the book (by whatever metric they determine) they still might not have to pay you unless they exceed that original amount.

Dreame, which looks like a Wattpad clone with a paywall for certain stories, is based out of Singapore. It is affiliated with Ficfun, which has a rating of two thumbs down from some writing services. There is a thread going about it over at Reddit which is worth checking out. Dreame runs under the business name of Stary PTE Ltd

They talk a bunch about quality of stories, etc… but just like Wattpad, it seems like mostly bad romance fiction or rip-offs and fanfics. Honestly, a guy can only stomach so much Mario on Luigi gay erotica on a landing page before he gives up on a platform altogether. (And let’s not forget about the infamous 50 Shades of Gandalf the Grey I referenced before… you can’t make this stuff up.) Interestingly enough, Wattpad is also toying with a “paid” option, although this service is currently in limited beta and not currently available in the US. Could Dreame be legit and scooping Wattpad on their upcoming service? I guess it is possible (they have been open to negotiation from me on finer points of the contract but have also repeatedly dodged the question of exactly how stories will generate funds to split with authors). I’ve been told that authors can earn 30%, 40%, or 50% depending on the amount an author takes in the form of an advance… percentages mean nothing, though if I don’t know how the thing is gonna earn out.

After multiple emails stating that I needed to know how it made money. I finally asked “Does it only earn money if someone signs up to read it, does it earn money or no money if a subscriber reads it? Does it only earn money if they click response device like a button for Like or Share at the end or does simply clicking the story link earn a commission? You’ve not given me those kinds of details which is what I want to know so I can judge how successful my story might be and make a decision.” As you can see by the below response, they completely dodge the question with their answer:

Stories with good performance will be put behind the pay wall. We will see from the data analysis. And Author will have a 30% share after the income gained by the Work exceeds the whole cost paid by us, including without limitation the royalty paid to Author, marketing fee and other costs charged by any third parties.

Author will have access to the sales amount in the author center, but since now our author center is still in development, which might be available in several months. And at present, we are investing extra amount of money to promote our stories as well as our app. But we will share the records to our authors if the profits exceed our investment before the author center is set up.

So basically, they are saying that whenever they are ready to start paying you, then they will explain how they do their accounting and math so that their payment will add up. That’s a big red flag for me.

Anyways, their contract looks pretty bad, too. You can follow up with some details from kboards and other authors who got similarly bad contracts and where one writer notes:

It also reads like they are trying to act as an agent to sell the rights to other media. Again, not necessarily a problem so long as you have right of refusal to any deal they come up with. But there have been outfits like this that self refer (they “sell” the rights to the audiobook, for example, to their own sister company and your contract requires you to accept). So unless you get final right of refusal, this is a non-starter.

My biggest concern is that there is a lot of vague, “squishy” language used. And I don’t trust vague, squishy language.

Don’t take my language for it. Here is a sample contract they sent me to look at:

Copyright License Agreement

This Copyright License Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the “Agreement”) is entered into effect on [ ] [ ], [ ] (“Effective Date”) by and between STARY PTE. LTD., a Singapore corporation under the laws of Singapore with its registered office at [11 Woodlands Close, #08-20, Woodlands 11, Singapore (737853)], (hereinafter referred as “Dreame”) and [ ], penname [ ], an individual with a permanent address at [ ] (hereinafter referred as “Author”). Hereinafter Dreame and Author will be singularly or collectively referred to as “Party” or “Parties”.

By signing this Agreement, Author has agreed to grant the Digital Copyright of their Work to Dreame exclusively in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement. THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and agreements hereinafter set forth, the Parties hereby agree as follows:

Definition

1.1 Work means all or part of the [ ] or its derivatives originally created or written by Author, who owns complete copyrights of such Work under any applicable law or regulation.

1.2 Digital copyright means the right to use, publish, distribute, sell, sublicense, post, advertise, promote or market such Work on Platform in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

1.3 Platform means all the online platforms owned, operated or controlled directly or indirectly by Dreame, including but not limited to its websites and applications.

Remuneration

2.1 Basic payment: Dreame agrees to pay Author a one-time payment X (X) United States Dollars for the complete Work.

2.2 Dreame has the right to put the Work in the pay-to-read program according to its standards. In this case, Author will receive a 30% share of the profits gained by the Work, when the extra revenue generated by the work exceeds the whole cost paid by Dreame, including and without limitation, the basic payment paid to Author, marketing fee, and any other costs charged by third parties. Except the foregoing compensation or unless otherwise stipulated, Dreame has no obligation to pay any other proceeds, benefits, interest and the like to Author.

2.3 Dreame will only make the basic payment to Author after the full manuscript of the Work is submitted to Dreame by Author. Payment will be made no later than the 30th of the following month via PayPal or international wire transfer. Author will bear the risk of failed payment if the PayPal or bank information Author offered to Dreame is incorrect.

2.4 All taxes or charges due in connection with the compensation for the Work shall be borne by Author.

Dreame’s Obligations

3.1 Dreame acknowledges that Author is the owner of the Work, and shall do nothing inconsistent with such ownership.

3.2 Dreame shall use the Work and pay the remuneration to Author according to the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

3.3 Dreame is obligated to keep all the personal information or other materials Author doesn’t want to make public as confidential.

Author’s Obligations

4.1 Author shall submit the complete manuscript in DOC file 10 days before the pay day. Author acknowledges and agrees that the Work shall contain no less than [ ] words and is obligated to start uploading the Work to Platform within a month after this Agreement takes effect and upload at least [ ] chapter(s) per week. If Author fails to meet the foregoing requirements, Dreame is entitled to upload the Work to its Platform without prior notice to Author.

4.2 Author guarantees that they shall not plagiarize or infringe another person’s legal rights and that the Work is completely original.

4.3 Author shall uphold the reputation of Dreame and will not engage in activities that harm Dreame nor its interests.

4.4 Author agrees to provide necessary assistance or support for Dreame’s marketing and promotion for the Work, including without limitation necessary information or other promotional materials.

4.5 Author can self-publish the Work in paperback form only and all earnings will be Author’s own. However, Author shall not publish or sell the Work on any other third parties’ online platforms. If Author wishes to publish or sell the Work on a third party’s platform, Author must get Dreame’s express written permission by giving prior written notice to Dreame. Any future earnings made in this way shall be charged a further 30% commission by Dreame.

4.6 The Work must adhere to the standards set by Dreame. If the Work contains excessive spelling or grammatical errors, Author will be required to make revisions in accordance with Dreame’s requests. In such a case that Author refuses to make the revisions or such Work does not meet Dreame’s requirement after the revision, Dreame shall be entitled to not use or release such Work, and to terminate this Agreement without legal liability.

Terms and Termination

5.1 This Agreement shall commence from the Effective Date and shall continue in full force and effect during the period of creation of the Work and for five (5) more years after the Work is completed on Dreame, i.e., the plot must be completed and confirmed by Dreame. This Agreement shall be automatically renewed for additional five (5) years, unless either Party provides written notice of non-renewal to the other Party, no less than ninety (90) days prior to the expiration of Agreement.

5.2 If Author breaches this Agreement and fails in fulfilling their obligations, Dreame has the right to suspend payments and require Author to refund all the compensation. In such case Author will also bear all legal consequences and losses incurred.

Miscellaneous

6.1 This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with any applicable laws and the laws of Singapore. Any dispute or disagreement arising out of or in connection with this Agreement shall be firstly solved through amicable negotiation; if negotiation fails, the forgoing disputes or disagreements shall be exclusively submitted to Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) for arbitration.

6.2 Both Parties agree that the scanned copy of the signed Agreement has the same legal effect with original copy. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties have caused this Agreement to be executed and effective as of the Effective Date by their duly authorized representatives on the dates shown below.

 

Free Today: Dekker’s Dozen

[image error]

It’s giveaway time! Dekker’s Dozen: The Last Watchmen is currently free on Kindle (through Thursday). I’d love for my space opera to hit #1 on the charts, so click to get a copy for free (and please leave a review!) I’m currently working on more stories in the series, too, so keep checking in here at my blog and website to see what Dekker and his crew of lovable space-delinquents are up to.Space mercenary Dekker Knight and his team must do the unthinkable to prevent the Sun’s annihilation before his archenemy can bring what a time-traveler calls “the divine engines of reality” to a grinding halt–destroying all that is, will be, and ever was!

Pick it up by clicking here! There are two other stories in the series (one of which is permafree) so check it out…

State of Writing

[image error]

This week I had a great time (as usual) at #mcba #fallcon which is one of Minnesota’s premiere conventions for creators. I got some more work in on the next Dekker’s Dozen story. It is the sequel to Weeds of Eden and is titled “Spawn of Ganymede.” It’s pretty well sketched out and all over but the writing. Hopefully it will wrap up in a couple weeks and weigh in around 20,000 words. More to do, so I’m gonna keep crackin!

 

Guestblog: How to Write Comics with Dave Wheeler

[image error]

Hey everybody, my name is Dave Wheeler,  a jack of all trades when it comes to comics, working as an inker, colorist, letterer, writer and book designer. In addition to the comics industry I’ve worked in the advertising and graphics industry for 8 years. I’m also proud to be one of the co-founders of the kid-friendly comic company MIND WAVE COMICS doing my part to bring back the fun to comics for almost 10 years! When I’m not in the studio I enjoy long walks on the beach, making toys and professional wrestling. That’s enough about me though.

Chris invited me to do a guest blog post talking about my process for scripting when it comes to comics…

I must preface the rest of this post with the fact that this is just my approach to scripting, there are a million different approaches to this process and none better than the next. What works for me may not work for you and that’s alright. Find what works best for you and your ideas. Now that that’s been said let’s move on. I approach scripting from the perspective of a sculptor: refinement. Starting with a giant chunk of an idea and breaking it down into the basic shapes. I do this by writing down the big ideas and events I want to happen for the next few issues establishing a basic timeline and pick what I think I can contain within one issue. From there I establish my big “key” moments I see happening within that issue.

[image error]
The next steps further the refinement process, establishing the larger events mentioned above and figuring out just how many pages to dedicate to each creating an overall page count. Once established I can then start developing my dialogue and creating those moments to further each character moving their individual threads along while creating the larger picture that I’ve been developing for the last several issues. Going from the broad strokes down to individual’s dialogue and establishing moments gives me the time to think through and evolve my ideas to make sure they create a solid final product.

Again this comes down to trial and error. There were several methods I tried before finding this one that works for me. There are always going to be moments you will get stuck, don’t give up on it. Walk away for a few minutes and then come back to it with fresh eyes and mind. It sounds cheesy but it works more often then not.  Thanks for reading! If you want to check out some of the comics and books I’ve worked on by visiting www.MINDWAVECOMICS.com.

Peace and Luck,
DAVE!