Jack LaFountain's Blog, page 27

Know Jack #351 Dancing in the Dark.

“Everyone has talent. What’s rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads.”

Erica Jong

I may be terribly wrong, but in one sense, a writer’s life is not meant to be a happy place—that is if his writing is any good. He must continually endanger and stress his imaginary friends in worst-case scenarios. All the while the writer is ever searching for a way to dig them out only so that he can dump them into the next pit he has prepared.

The writer has to think like a villain as often as he dons the role of a hero. He must ponder the one’s defeat as he writes the other’s happily ever after. And just where does the writer come up with all this? From within. I suppose that’s why I don’t write comedies and the faithful dogs and horses of my heroes always end up dead.

There’s an old saying that to sing/play the blues, you have to live the dues. It doesn’t take much to send me into a melancholy funk. It certainly isn’t courage that takes me there, nor is it anything but stubbornness that drags me out again. But darned if I don’t find some good ideas there (my apologies, Ed).

My grandson was in the first grade when he accidentally knocked something off his desk. “Shit fire and save the matches!” was his response. There was no doubt in our small town about where he learned that colorful line. If my characters are prone to self-doubt, well…

I do take some measure of solace knowing that Stephen King threw Carrie away. I have a hard time giving credence to writers who are confident in their talent. I’m sure they exist somewhere, but then I believe Bigfoot is real too. Actually, Bigfoot might be the more plausible of the two beliefs.

Don’t get me wrong, I love writing, it’s an essential ingredient in life like love and coffee. It is a joy, even when it’s work, but talent will only take you so far. At some point, you’ve got to take all the toxic junk that people tell you to forget or leave in the past, throw that load up on your shoulders and walk off into the dark places to write real characters who think like real people.

Maranatha

Lost Crusader #139 So Let it be Written

“Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was:

JESUS OF NAZARETH,

KING OF THE JEWS

“Then many of the Jews read this title…therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’

“Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written.’”

Even two thousand years ago there were those who were offended by what others posted. Pilate’s wife warned him not to get involved. His personal interview with Jesus seemed to confirm her fears. However, a riot on the streets of Jerusalem would look bad when reported to Caesar. So, he decided to crucify a man he believed to be innocent to prevent one.

Life was cheaper than Roman honor. Pilate wrote his assessment for crucifixion based on his judgment and refused to back up. He then publicly washed his hands of the entire affair.

Ironically, the only one in a long list of named historical figures in this story whose existence is in doubt is the centerpiece of the entire story. Jesus Christ, whatever your assessment of him might be, became with his crucifixion and resurrection the pivotal point of history.

Whether you write Anno Domini (AD)or Before Christian Era (BCE), you are still acknowledging the historical truth that all that came before Him was looking forward to His life and all that has happened since looks outward on his inextinguishable life.

As St. Paul later testified to the facts of Jesus’ history before King Agrippa… “this thing was not done in a corner.” When the fullness of time had come, the eternal expression of God Himself took on a human body, lived a sinless life, and paid the just wages of sin—death. He then threw off the bonds of death and proclaimed eternal life in union with God to all who would receive it. This life is not one lost in God as a drop entering a boundless sea, but a life freely lived eternally unique and shared with God.

There is no religious or supernatural mystery to it. God spoke it from the beginning. He had it written down. Then, He brought it to pass. To quote an old movie line, “So let it be written, so let it be done.”

Maranatha

The Colonel #101 Death From Above

“We make a mistake in thinking about politics simply in terms of a Left versus Right dynamic. The opportunity today really lies in a Top versus Bottom Dynamic. An elite class of people are acting in their own interest and against the interest of the vast majority of Americans…”

Christopher F. Rufo

It is naïve to suppose that the members of Congress still retain the ability or the will to preserve our freedom. They long ago abdicated their Constitutional authority to legislate. Real power has been transferred to the labyrinth of government agencies that write their own rules. The experts ensconced within these agencies seek only to expand their power to impose their ideology on the rest of us.

We didn’t get Common Core or No Child Left Behind by popular demand. Businesses and churches were not kept closed, masks imposed, and chemical injections ordered because the people demanded it. The pipeline wasn’t closed, allowing oil and gas dependence to drive prices up because we asked for it or even because our representatives petitioned for it. Those things and millions more have been imposed on us from the top down.

The political party in office makes little difference. As St. Paul told the church at Ephesus,

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age...”

We are fighting ideologies ingrained in minds indoctrinated since childhood who detest liberty for the ignorant masses. I’m not speaking strictly of American schools. The screens in our homes are slowly enslaving the population. Big Tech has become the fourth branch of government monitoring “misinformation”, setting standards for proper thought and expression, and engineering shortages while they drive competitors from the marketplace with the fear they project onto the gullible and willfully ignorant.

Lenin called his programmed, unwitting accomplices “useful idiots”. The Governor of Alabama called them “regular folks” as opposed to the deplorable unvaccinated people who were the root cause of all the state’s problems last year. The regular folks are all still fixated on their televisions ready to do whatsoever the top sends down to them.

The Republican or Democrat living next door is not the enemy. The enemy wears a thousand faces—faces that fill the news, sports, and big screen. The enemy is an idea, a cancerous idea that our country, our freedom, and our ideas are to be hated, while our history is dismantled, and our future chains dictated from above.

Sic Semper Tyrannis

Know Jack #350 Say, Have you Heard the One About

“All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, they return again…the thing that has been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”

Solomon

Years ago, a young friend of my son’s preached his first sermon. He did a very good job and was rightly proud of his accomplishment. However, afterward he found one of the ladies in attendance cool in her praise.

“Didn’t you like the sermon?” he asked.

“You did a fine job,” she replied. “It’s just that I’ve heard it before.”

The young man was somewhat deflated until she explained that there were no “original” sermons—no undiscovered viewpoints, but that did not detract from the truth and that people needed to be reminded more often than instructed.

Storylines spring from both earthquakes and butterflies floating by. The writer may be struck by inspiration like a bolt from the blue or a still small voice asking, “what if”. The story birthed from the experience is unique to him and will unfold with his voice. To think it “original” in substance is a trick we play on ourselves. We may write it better than it has ever been written before, but it has been told before in some form.

I have heard it said that there are just two stories—someone is going somewhere, and someone/something has just arrived. In both cases, something changes in a way that alters the protagonist. What the change is and how he copes/or fails to cope with it are the things that keep writers busy.

Originality has more to do with voice and style than newly discovered ideas. Those are the things that give a story the author’s trademark stamp of originality. That there is a single basic storyline to romance novels doesn’t stop them from being churned out in endless numbers, nor does it diminish interest in them.

There’s no new thing under the sun. There are only writers trying to fill the literary sea with words they have arranged to tell the human story. In the words of an old hymn.

“And when, in scenes of glory—I sing the new, new song—'Twill be the old, old story—That I have loved so long.”

Maranatha

Lost Crusader #138 Same Difference

“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.”

1Corinthians 12:4-7

The world outside the Church strives for homogeneous thoughts, words, and deeds in the name of diversity. Christianity, as one body and one Spirit, strives for true diversity in the name of unity. No wonder this diversity in practice is confusing to those on the outside looking in.

No sane disciple of Christ believes their way is the absolute correct and sole way of doing and understanding the things of God. You may quote me. Sane and disciple are the operative words and do not preclude the existence of the egomaniacal or the developmentally challenged who claim Christianity.

Diverse gifts, different callings, many multiples of activities, there is room for all of these in the Divine life shared by Christ with those who love Him. We pass through death to God, but not to become lost like a drop entering the sea. Our individuality, our gifts, and our talents find their full bloom in the God-life. We will never be more ourselves than when we drop this mortal body and don an eternal one.

When one rises above the toddler-class Sunday School lessons of heaven, and into the maturity of an exercised spiritual union with Christ, it becomes evident that this life is more than a warmup, it is part and parcel of the life to come. If you do not enjoy life in Christ here and now, you will not suddenly find that joy by dying.

Can you sing? Sing! Do you teach? Teach! Take whatever God has given you (and He has given you gifts; you were born with them) and run with it. When the scripture admonishes Christians to “speak the same thing in love” it does not mean to mouth the same words, it means to express the same love—the love of Christ—in your own special way.

The Spirit in you is God’s gift to you—given to you to share His blessing with everyone as no other can do.

Maranatha

The Colonel #100 Memories

“…that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

Abraham Lincoln

This weekend some Americans will barbeque and drink a few, some will be offended that we have rights they don’t like, some will burn flags, and some will steal across the border to join in. Then, there are others who will enjoy the holiday while remembering why it exists in the first place.

If you feel moved to thank a veteran today, be sure to choose the right veteran. The ones you need to address your thanks to this weekend lie beneath those plain white stones decorated with little flags. Take time this weekend to walk down the rows and read the names. It doesn’t matter whether you knew them.

They died without knowing you. They did this because America is something bigger than all of us. It is a spirit that we share. Those men and women lying in neat rows thought the spirit of America was worth preserving. They thought it was worth dying for. President Lincoln speaking at Gettysburg thought we owed it to them not to let their sacrifice be in vain.

School children used to memorize those words and pledge themselves to the country for which their fellow Americans gave their lives. That exercise has faded into distant memory, our history erased because it hurt someone’s feelings.

I can’t tell you if it hurts to die. It hurts to think of all the people who have died fighting for my freedom. And it hurts to wonder if that government of the people, by the people and for the people is perishing from the earth.

“Patriotism is supporting all the time, and your government when it deserves it.”—Mark Twain.

Sic Semper Tyrannis

Know Jack #349 Both Sides

“I’ve looked at life from both sides now, From win and lose and still somehow, It’s life’s illusions I recall, I really don’t know life—At all.”

Joni Mitchell

Rather than repeat Hemingway’s advice to write drunk and edit sober, I picked Joni Mitchell’s song to illustrate a point—or maybe I should say viewpoints because two opposing views are needed to produce a good book. The view from within and the view from without. A look at the story from both sides is required, but anyone telling you they know all about it really doesn’t know writing at all.

As I suspect is true of most people, I have a favorite side. One view is not better than the other, they are just different.

I don’t know how others do it, but I tend to write from inside the story. I watch the story unfold through my characters, to see things with their eyes, I hear their voices and sometimes think their thoughts alongside them. The more I hold to the rational sense of writing, the less able I am to live it. It’s like writing drunk in that inhibition, deliberation, and the need to make sense of things is forgotten—for the moment anyway.

I think this is what people mean when they tell you to just write. That’s all well and good, except that, on its own, it will never do. Stories have to make some kind of sense, follow a timeline and have a certain cohesion.

That’s where the view from outside comes in. As nice as daydreaming your way to writing success might sound, cold water dashed in your face by a reader will make for better writing. Imagination will stitch together a monster and send a jolt of electricity through it bringing it to life. Examination will make sure it doesn’t fall to pieces when it gets off the slab.

What drunkenness does for flair; sobriety does for quality. Editing and revising are not as exciting as that wild rush of writing. However, a sober look at sales can make you giddy.

I’ve looked at writing from both sides now. From drunk and sober and still somehow, it’s writing’s illusions I recall. I really don’t know writing at all.

Maranatha

Lost Crusader #137 Tell Me the Story

“For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

2 Peter 1:16

The scriptures say that faith comes by hearing. That was never truer than in the days before the written canon existed. It is still true today though the story may be read as often as it is heard. The point I wish to stress is that the gospel is a story. As Peter said, that doesn’t mean that the story is false or made up from the writer’s imagination.

What it does mean is that the surest approach to the gospel is as a story. Rather than dissect it, outline it, or hunt for hidden subplots and meanings—step inside. See the story; live the story.

Christians speak about studying the Bible and they should engage in thinking about what it says and its application to their situation. Contemplation and meditation are sound Christian disciples to be neglected at their own peril.

Christianity, is more than reading, praying, and studying. It is first and foremost to be lived—to enter physically, mentally and emotionally into the very life and story of Christ as a participant. C.S. Lewis described this as the practice of enjoyment or joy. Christianity is to be enjoyed.

It is difficult to see this from outside, just as it is hard to enjoy a story by looking at the cover of the book or reading reviews. I have yet to understand how some young people get excited about watching others play video games even though an entire industry has sprung up around the practice.

Watching Christians live the story is disappointing. Since no one plays it perfectly or even in the same manner we might think they should. The story can only be understood and appreciated from within. The “fable” was written by those living it for those who would like to join in living it.

The good news of the scripture is life and living the ongoing story of Christ.

Maranatha

The Colonel #99 Entitled to the Truth

“A dogmatic belief in objective value is necessary to the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery.”

C.S. Lewis

While “times they are a’changin” humanity is not. The differences between the Founders and Progressives are many, but perhaps the biggest one is how they viewed/view truth.

The Founders believed in an objective truth that all men are to obey. It is wrong to steal, murder, or lie—see Commandments 4-10. This does not mean they thought, that one day everyone would do those things to any greater degree than was done in their day or had been done throughout human history. Neither did they think that passing laws would end those behaviors. It means they considered right and wrong as real things that marked the positive and negative sides of unchanging human nature.

They had studied human nature as it played out in governments over centuries, found government a necessary evil, and did their best to design a new government without trying to regulate every human interaction with voluminous laws that no one understood. The Constitution is designed to protect the people from those elected to govern.

Progressives believe in subjective truth—“My Truth”. That is, something is wrong because I feel it’s wrong or somehow offensive. Thus, a natural law, if one ever existed, is immaterial. How I identify myself is the indisputable truth. I think, therefore, all must conform.

Progressives say this is possible because humans (except maybe white males, right-wingers, Christians and Republicans) have evolved and are morally improved. Old laws and ways are outdated, unable to keep up with our technological genius, and therefore don’t apply. The Constitution needs to grow with us to allow more freedom for the expression and functionality of My Truth.

Denying an objective truth, “organic” government is built on the shifting sands of subjectivism—you know the kind of government that depends on what each person’s definition of “is” is—has but one end. Whether that government calls itself communist, socialist, fascist, democratic or republican, the end game is the same, rule by an elite strong enough to impose their “truth” on everyone else and reducing people to the status of animate objects subject to the will of their betters.

The ascension of a subjective “My Truth” is evident in the formation of corporate fact-checkers guarding “community” standards, boards run by government agencies to counter “disinformation” and the reaction unleashed by a billionaire’s statement that he bought a company to restore freedom of speech.

Living the utopian lifestyle to which each person is entitled will, if allowed, become reality for all. The big shock is going to be finding out from the masters their truth about what you’re entitled to.

Sic Semper Tyrannus

Know Jack #348 Fairy Tales Are Not For the Faint of Heart

“Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”

C.S. Lewis

Writers must have a sense of child-like wonder. You may be writing of war, horror, and grisly death, but you get there by allowing your sense of wonder to open the door—even if there is a monster on the other side—or perhaps because there is one. Readers will not suspend disbelief and enter the story unless you lead the way.

Jesus wasn’t a writer, but he was a storyteller. He used to say to his hearers, “He that has ears to hear, let him hear”. He knew everyone was not buying into what he had to say, but he was also aware that there were those who were hungry to hear, willing to listen and enter his kingdom as little children.

Picasso spoke about how difficult it was to learn to paint with the abandonment of a child. The heroes of Stephen King’s It, won by suspending the disbelief of adulthood. Hemingway’s “Write drunk, edit sober” is a bit coarser way to endorse the same idea of leaving behind our inhibitions and plunging into a story.

Ironically, there’s a certain maturity required in allowing yourself the luxury of child-like wonder and imagination. You must be secure enough to leave behind the comforts of everyday life. We like to complain about jobs, commitments, and the annoying people on Facebook, but there is a familiar safety there of which it is difficult to let go.

I hear people say they are done with drama. I fear they will not be reading fairy tales anytime soon. Our modern world seeks to homogenize everything and everyone. My college algebra teacher used to say the key to success was to set up the formula correctly. Once you have the problem in the proper form, he would say, “Just do the math”.

The ”math” of enjoying fairy tales is easy once you put life in the proper form—or, perhaps the better word is perspective. Wonder, imagination, and dreaming of what if are the true treasures of living.

Maranatha