Who What Why

Greetings Dear Readers,

As a writer, I am reminded constantly how important every step of the writing to publishing process is. It is not enough that I have conceived of and written a tale. It must be revised, edited (by my amazing editor RJ), and constantly perfected. Eventually you reach a stopping place and pull the trigger on publication. The work is never truly perfect. There are missed errors. There exist disagreements about how grammar is structured. No matter how much your perfect your writing there is always room for improvement.

As an author the story is mine. The characters in my stories have much to say to me about what they wish to become as their story unfolds, but that is not up to them. It is in my control. I listen to my characters. Sometimes one of them will wake me up in the middle of the night with an idea as to how I should help him out of a jam. One who is slated for death is trying to bargain his way out of it. Ultimately though, I must choose the fate of each of them. A secondary character in The Foster Father of God had much more to say, so the was given his own novel The Praetor. Another charter wanted to say more but what he had to say was not fit for my readers so I silenced him. In fact I killed him in both The Praetor and in Chronicles of Thanatos the Reaper.

Once the book is published, people will invariably show me the errors in my completed work. I am the author and I am the perfecter but in both of those roles, I am imperfect. In pondering this each day that I write, I realize that I must treat all of my characters with respect. They are all my creations and I am responsible for them and their well being. So as a pilgrim who is responsible for the creation of me? Who is my author and what is my place in the story? The simple Sunday school answer is the best one. It is Jesus.

The author of the book of Hebrews begins to conclude his letter with an admonition that we “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” In the story of ME, it is Jesus who is the author, editor, perfecter, and publisher. I am simply a character in his story who stands around telling him how to write, when instead I should be excitedly playing out the part he has created just for me. Not only did he create this part of the story for me, but he in a way no other has, suffered for his art. The author of Hebrews continues, “ (Jesus) who for the joy set before him endured the cross.”

Another translation, God’s Word says it this way, “We must focus on Jesus, the source and goal of our faith. He saw the joy ahead of him, so he endured death on the cross and ignored the disgrace it brought him.” In every writing there exist simple questions that must be answered. In this case we get the who, what, and why. The who is Jesus, the what is that he is both the author (creator) of our faith and the perfecter and goal of it. The why is that he died for the sheer joy of what lie ahead for him. That thing that lies ahead is the completion of our faith in our eventual summation of our relationship to and reconciliation with him.

I am far from perfected and hope to public let you watch Christ perfect me so that you can find some short cuts to your own reclamation. So I write, edit, and perfect. I strive to be what I am authored to be and often fail. Next time we will look at When, Where, and How.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a home owner. He brings new and old things out of his treasure store."