Boys in the Basement

Greetings Dear Reader,

Often I awake in the wee hours with an idea for a story, book, or blog post.  It may be a snippet of a line that leads to questions about the line.  It may be a full blown story.  Sometimes it is something that someone said that has incubated in the pools and eddies of my subconscious to emerge as an idea.

Stephen King refers to the process as “The Boys in the Basement” doing their work.  I have adopted this in honor of his creativity and the process.  The creative process for me is an interesting one.  It is a microcosm of my faith and following.

I believe that nothing about me is not an aspect of either my spiritual or fallen nature.  Every idea will either yield something that is honoring to God or something that is not.  If I see my writing as something that is a gift from God then I will seek to write only things that respect him.

Every story has values whether I wish it or not.  I am accountable to magnify those values that are good.  I must avoid glorifying the things that are not.  I must not judge others in my writing but instead must extend grace and love.  I must bring into captivity every thought so that my focus in on Christ and the gospel.

This does not mean that every story or vignette must be about Jesus.  It does mean that I must consider the values that every person in every tale has in the light of Christ.  I cannot fall into the traps of creating cut out Christians or the abyss of idolizing any kind of evil.  I must not hesitate to show my holy characters as flawed and my villains as human.  Honest writing demands that I see people as they are and not as caricatures.

If I am to pursue writing then I must do it in honesty and in faith that I am following Christ with that writing.  I am accountable for every word.  My passion is to tell stories that move others in the direction of knowing Christ.  The boys in the basement are there to help work on this when I am working at other things.  I am very thankful for them.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."