What Energizes You?

With a title like that images of the Energizer Bunny spring to mind. But I think for every writer, this is a valid question. What energizes you? What fills your tank so that you are able to do the hard slogging that is required as you work on that article or manuscript?

I think for each of us the answers may be different. Personally, I know there are a variety of things that fuel my passion for writing.

Positive feedback is certainly one of them. There's something quite unique about the feeling you get when you know your words have spoken deeply into someone's life. Imagine—your thoughts and words are valued and appreciated. That's special.

A second tank filler for me is the sense of community I get when I am with other writers. Wow! These people understand me. They understand my writer's lingo, sympathize with my angst, and cheer me on my small successes.

Writers' conferences are a great way to build that sense of community and recharge your batteries for months to come. The annual Ottawa Christian Writers' Conference has been doing that for me for the past number of years. This year's conference is on April 7th. Details can be found on the Word Guild website: https://thewordguild.com/ottawa/

Finally, as Christian writers we undoubtedly draw inspiration from our Lord and Saviour. As we draw near to Him, our calling and vision becomes clear. In worship and prayer we find the great Source—the eternal Source that gives meaning and purpose to all our writing.

With the celebration of our Lord's great sacrifice drawing near, let's all spend some time drawing close to Him. He's the true energizer. I don't know about you, but from time to time I need a jolt of that resurrection energy.

David Kitz is an Ottawa-based writer and Bible dramatist. His Passion of Christ novel The Soldier Who Killed a King was voted the top book in biblical fiction by the Interviews and Reviews website.
    

Ottawa Christian Writers' Conference

Hi from Denyse O’Leary on behalf of the Ottawa Christian Writers’ Fellowship, suggesting you join us April 2 if you are in the area, for all writerly things, at Greenbelt Church. We have a great and highly affordable conference, featuring a noted speaker:

Plenary speaker: The Honourable David Kilgour who will be speaking on Developing your Platform as a Writer

And a choice of workshops:

A1: Memoir Writing     OR    A2: Dialogue Writing

B1: Article Writing        OR    B2: Editing Fiction

C: Panel Discussion and Q & A

PLUS a special deal on critiques of your work. For $25, a professional editor will look at your work.

This year, OCWF can provide manuscript critiques (for half the usual price). For $25, you can submit the first 5 pages in advance, and book a 15-minute appointment with a professional editor. Don’t miss this opportunity to find the best writer in you! **

That could save you dozens of wasted hours learning the hard way.

Now here I am, yer humble hack, to answer three burning questions people ask about writing in general:

1. Do I have what it takes to be a writer?

That’s not the right question. Probably half a million people in North America make their living mainly by their ability to write. Whether you could be one of them depends on whether you are willing to accept a position like the ones they have. You must start by finding out what genres of writing are available and whether one would fit you. Newsletters? Fiction? Non-fiction? Screenplays? Devotions? One must research the field to see where one’s skills would fit.

2. Can I make enough money writing?

Yes. No. I don’t know. I’ve been a freelance editor and writer most of my life, and made enough money. But one needs some business skills to be self-employed, which most writers are at least some of the time. So assuming that you can find a genre that works for you, consider whether you can also be successfully self-employed. Writing is a well-developed business for self-employed persons, but one needs to learn a different skill set from that of finding a job.

3. Does it matter if I often feel discouraged, as if I am not getting anywhere with my writing?

Sure. It matters in the same way that discouragement matters to doctors, preachers, teachers, restauranteurs, and politicians. In each case, we look to the origin of the problem. Maybe we are not cut out for a writing career of any sort. But then again, maybe we are not approaching it in the right way. Maybe we aren’t dealing effectively with barriers and distractions. The best approach to those kinds of problems is to spend more time with other writers, listening to and learning form their struggles and sharing ours with them. That’s why we have an OCWF and a Word Guild.

See you at the conference, I hope! – Denyse O’Leary

Ted Dekker Coming To Write! Canada - Lisa Hall-Wilson

Ted Dekker is a best-selling author known for his fast-paced, plot-twisting thrillers and fantasy novels. In every novel he works out his faith through his characters, and that authenticity is what seems to have created such a loyal readership for him.

Dekker’s father is Canadian, and Ted recently revealed he carries a Canadian passport and lives and works in the USA on a Green Card. He lived in Toronto for a short time, and attended Langley’s Trinity Western University for a year. “I’m a jungle boy. I’m standing at a bus stop [in Toronto in winter] and I’m shivering. It was so cold I thought I was in hell.”

Ted Dekker is coming to Write! Canada
 
Know what I love about Ted Dekker’s fiction? This→ “We Christian writers must paint evil with the blackest of brushes, not to sow fear, but to call out the monsters to be scattered by our light. If Satan cloaks himself as an angel of white, intent on deceiving the world, any attempt on our parts to minimize evil is only complicit with his strategy... Turn to the light; don’t fear the shadows it creates.” ~Ted Dekker, The Slumber of Christianity

I had the opportunity to chat with Ted last summer to help promote his Toronto event. Total fan-girl moment. Ted called me from his Austin, TX home. Here’s some highlights from that interview. 

If you’re on the fence about going to Write! Canada, even if you don’t like Dekker’s fiction, register now and get the early bird savings before April 1. Dekker knows how to craft a compelling story, weave a message of faith into the story, and is constantly pushing the envelope in terms of marketing and promotion – and he has some of the most loyal fans in the business.
 
LHW: Do you consider yourself a Christian writer?
 

Ted Dekker: Am I a Christian writer? [pauses] It’s just a label. What does it mean? I write stories as a person who grew up in a Christian faith to understand that faith. You can call me whatever you want. It’s just a name.
 
Every Christian writer’s conference I go to, I hear someone say: But Ted Dekker can write stuff like this and get published, why can’t I? So I asked Ted: Who is it you’re writing for?
 
Ted Dekker: I have no clue. I’m writing for my own journey. People who read my books are not afraid of an authentic journey and they understand the language in which I write. I’m just exploring truth, God’s heart, my place.

I think that my first 6-7 books were very Christian. To be honest with you, the first few books I wrote like Showdown, Black, these were rejected because they were too edgy at the time. Once I had an audience, I went back to what was more natural for me like Showdown. I lost some of my older readers, but the younger readers were really attracted to those kinds of stories. I’m writing more spiritually intense, more like Black, Red, and White.
 
Lisa, which of my novels was your favourite?
 
LHW: Me? Adam. I was saved out of the Occult so that book really spoke to me.
 
Ted Dekker: Adam – it was very disturbing for many people. There are people who have faced the darkness and been swallowed by it and are afraid of it. The only people who aren’t afraid of it are those who faced it and learned there’s power over darkness. Find the light within you. Shining a light in the darkness. It’s fun no longer having fear as a master.
 

LHW: What is it about your writing that speaks to younger generations?
 
Ted Dekker: My writing is a reflection of my own journey…I write to explore what I’ve been taught or what it means to be who I am…My books have been very dark because at times I’ve been looking for the light in the dark, that demonstration of that power. Over time there’s always been this missing link – this understanding of my own identity. I’ve come to embrace a new understanding of who I am in Christ.
 
LHW: What is it about the thriller genre that appeals to you?
 
Ted Dekker: I’m a very passionate person. Thrillers allow me to put characters into extreme situations to see how they react…explore more extremes. I think young people do speak the language of extremes and experience more extremes than older generations. I think that’s why I gravitated towards thrillers. Not all my books are thrillers. A third of the books I’ve written are thrillers, plus my fantasy novels and storyteller books. They all have elements of thrillers in them, they’re not classical thrillers as such.
 
Are you fan of Ted Dekker? What is it about his writing appeals to you?
 

Lisa Hall-Wilson is an award-winning freelance writer and syndicated columnist in the Canadian faith-based market. She writes dark fantasy novels and blogs Through The Fire at www.lisahallwilson.com.

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Can Art Change Culture?

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Writers are culture makers, culture changers. We observe, we interpret, we are thinkers. We challenge the status quo. We are the first to be muzzled, imprisoned, and intimidated by oppressive and tyrannical leaders. Art has always been a vehicle for social change, social commentary – but the art must come first not the message.

The difference between great art, and art that creates culture is the message behind the art. All the great artists were great because they had something to say. Shakespeare has as much to say to people today as he did to his own contemporaries.

Artists want two things: opportunity and favour. They want the opportunity to put their art before an audience and have that art judged on its own merit not some historical, sometimes stuffy, arbitrary list of rules and etiquette.

But great art, great artists, not only entertain, beguile – they have something to say. Independent artists are shaking their fists at the gate-keepers and using modern marketing tools to reach new audiences. The books the gatekeepers say aren’t marketable, are finding new audiences online. The established rules and parameters and ‘comfort zones’ of the few in power is being challenged by those who write for a niche market, who blur the lines, who blend genres.

Culture Making

Andy Crouch in his book Culture Making writes that change affecting culture begins with a small group who innovate. “All culture making is local. Every cultural good, whether a new word, law, recipe, song or gadget, begins with a small group of people – and not just a relatively small group but an absolutely small group. No matter how many it goes on to affect, culture always starts small. And this means that no matter how complex and extensive the cultural system you may consider, the only way it will be changed is by an absolutely small group of people who innovate and create a new cultural good.”

Art gives a voice to the voiceless, allows the unseen to become visible, shines a light on what we do well and how we mess up. And we don’t always have an answer. Artists who are Christian have something important to say, value to offer, and the art we create can’t simply imitate the existing culture but must innovate with the highest level of quality and excellence.

This principle is expanded upon in Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point with his law of the 3 – 12 – 120. The innovation begins very small, with two or three people, then expands to a close group – the 12, which then requires investment by a larger but still small group – the 120. This is played out in the arts repeatedly.

When does art change culture? Gladwell puts forward this idea in the afterward to The Tipping Point in the 2nd edition: “On playing fields and battlegrounds, challenges that would be daunting and impossible if faced alone are suddenly possible when tackled in a close-knit group. The people haven’t changed, but the way in which the task appears to them has.”

So What

When love stops being the reason for creating the art, when your message is not one of building up but tearing down, you lose the respect of your audience and other artists – and whatever message you have is easily dismissed.

How many Christian bloggers tear down the Church, and attack individuals and groups? They aren’t starting a conversation, asking questions, they’re using a platform to shoot darts.

I’ve been to conferences for Christian writers where those who don’t write for a Christian market are shunned. *raises brows* She writes romance – for the general market. If all the artists who are Christian only made art for other Christians what kind of inbred culture would that create? We are called to be salt and light, not to insulate and isolate. Isn’t there a place for the Christian artists who make art for other Christians, and those who just make art?

As an individual artist, a lone writer, I see the task of using my art to say anything important as insurmountable. But when I join with other artists both traditional and indie, a small group who builds up and supports art through love and mutual respect things can happen – and when that message reaches a small but larger group who understands the message, who are passionate about the message, word of mouth takes over and maybe, just maybe, something impossible becomes possible and culture is affected and changed for the better.

Do you think artists (of any discipline) are culture changers? In your opinion, should the art or the message come first?

Lisa Hall-Wilson is an award-winning freelance writer and syndicated columnist in the Canadian faith-based market. She writes dark fantasy novels and blogs at www.lisahallwilson.com. Lisa's teaching a class called Beyond Basics: How To Write Effective Inner Dialogue on March 8th. Use code 'Lisa20' for 20% off, or take advantage of a WANA2fer for even more discounts. Watch for her debut novel out spring 2014.