BJ Hoff's GRACE NOTES

Happy New Year

"We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

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My favorite part of New Year's Eve and January 1 is the often-seen comparison of the New Year to a new book with blank pages on which we can write our own hopes and dreams, our own actions, our achievements--even our failures, for they too add to our store of experience and wisdom.

I don't make New Year's resolutions. I do offer New Year's prayers: for myself, for my family and friends, for my church, for other writers and readers, and for this wonderful, beautiful, troubled, and tragic world in which we live. If you have a particular prayer request, feel free to contact me privately through my email, and I'll add a special prayer for you.

In the meantime, my New Year's wish for you is that every day ahead will be God-directed, God-protected,  and God-blessed in ways that will revive your dreams, reaffirm your faith, and renew your hope.

BJ

Happy Christmas

May this be the Christmas when the world greets Him, not as a stranger to be swaddled in a manger, but as the sovereign King of everything, the Prince of Peace ...

May this be the Christmas when all the world becomes a Bethlehem, with every heart an open inn where Christ, Emmanuel, may ever dwell as Lord of Lords.

__________

See you after the Christmas holidays ...

Nollaig  Shona (Happy Christmas)

BJ

May this be the Christmas when the world greets Him, not as a stranger to be swaddled in a manger, but as the sovereign King of everything, the Prince of Peace ...

May this be the Christmas when all the world becomes a Bethlehem, with every heart an open inn where Christ, Emmanuel, may ever dwell as Lord of Lords.

__________

See you after the Christmas holidays ...

Nollaig  Shona (Happy Christmas)

BJ

A Writer's Christmas

You were expecting three more entries in the series, yes? One each for "M," "A," and "S."

That's what I originally expected, also. Even had the final three drafted out. Then I thought about it. And thought about it some more. My initial intention had been to write about the gifts a Christian writer might give to her readers, using the letters of Christmas to describe only a few of those gifts. But when I realized where I was with the "series"--having completed the letters for Christ--I decided I had reached the place where this should end.

For this is the gift--the finest gift of all--to bring to your readers, whether you're writing novels or short stories or nonfiction or poetry. Write from a heart that belongs to Christ ... and you will ultimately bestow upon your readers a touch of Christ. Write from a spirit of love and giving and as a seeker of peace ... and you will attract your readers to Christ. Write from your soul--a soul devoted to our Savior--and you will, in ways that may well remain unknown to you, take Christ into your neighborhood, into the marketplace, to your readers and to those whose lives your readers may touch.

May your Christmas begin and end with Christ, the ultimate Gift.

BJ

You were expecting three more entries in the series, yes? One each for "M," "A," and "S."

That's what I originally expected, also. Even had the final three drafted out. Then I thought about it. And thought about it some more. My initial intention had been to write about the gifts a Christian writer might give to her readers, using the letters of Christmas to describe only a few of those gifts. But when I realized where I was with the "series"--having completed the letters for Christ--I decided I had reached the place where this should end.

For this is the gift--the finest gift of all--to bring to your readers, whether you're writing novels or short stories or nonfiction or poetry. Write from a heart that belongs to Christ ... and you will ultimately bestow upon your readers a touch of Christ. Write from a spirit of love and giving and as a seeker of peace ... and you will attract your readers to Christ. Write from your soul--a soul devoted to our Savior--and you will, in ways that may well remain unknown to you, take Christ into your neighborhood, into the marketplace, to your readers and to those whose lives your readers may touch.

May your Christmas begin and end with Christ, the ultimate Gift.

BJ

A Writer's Christmas: Part Six

T...When we think of the time we devote to writing a novel, it's doubtful that we consider it in terms of a gift. In fact, if we think of the time factor at all, the word "work" is more than likely what comes to mind. So much goes into the development of a novel, and all of it requires time in one form or another: doing the research; naming characters; constucting the plot; the actual writing of the story; rewriting; working with the editor on any changes, including a review of the proofs--it can be, and often is, an exhausting work, and one that seems to involve an endless amount of time.

But it is a gift--and it's probably fair to say that it's a lavish, even precious gift. Time spent can't be recaptured, which makes it an even more precious gift than some. The quality of the gift--the meaning of it and its value--perhaps depend on the writer's motivation: why we do it, why we give ourselves so completely to such an effort. If the purpose behind all that time and effort is simply to become a public figure, to advance one's self for nothing more than a membership in the cult of celebrity, then we can hardly deem it a gift. It's little more than self-indulgence.

But if our hearts and minds genuinely perceive of what we do as an offering--an offering to the Creator and His creation, our readers--and if we care enough to give it our best, to give the vast amount of time and conscientious effort called for, then I believe we can rightfully call it a gift. As do many of our readers when they write with their thanks and appreciation for the "gift" of our stories and the work we do to create those stories for them.

If they see our time-consuming efforts as a gift, then perhaps it's perfectly acceptable that we take the same view.

BJ       

T...When we think of the time we devote to writing a novel, it's doubtful that we consider it in terms of a gift. In fact, if we think of the time factor at all, the word "work" is more than likely what comes to mind. So much goes into the development of a novel, and all of it requires time in one form or another: doing the research; naming characters; constucting the plot; the actual writing of the story; rewriting; working with the editor on any changes, including a review of the proofs--it can be, and often is, an exhausting work, and one that seems to involve an endless amount of time.

But it is a gift--and it's probably fair to say that it's a lavish, even precious gift. Time spent can't be recaptured, which makes it an even more precious gift than some. The quality of the gift--the meaning of it and its value--perhaps depend on the writer's motivation: why we do it, why we give ourselves so completely to such an effort. If the purpose behind all that time and effort is simply to become a public figure, to advance one's self for nothing more than a membership in the cult of celebrity, then we can hardly deem it a gift. It's little more than self-indulgence.

But if our hearts and minds genuinely perceive of what we do as an offering--an offering to the Creator and His creation, our readers--and if we care enough to give it our best, to give the vast amount of time and conscientious effort called for, then I believe we can rightfully call it a gift. As do many of our readers when they write with their thanks and appreciation for the "gift" of our stories and the work we do to create those stories for them.

If they see our time-consuming efforts as a gift, then perhaps it's perfectly acceptable that we take the same view.

BJ       

A Writer's Christmas: Part Five

S ... think simplicity. Like many writers, I have a genuine love for language, for rhythmic, lyrical--even elegant--prose ... when used carefully and at the right time and place. Even so, while I hope for a certain distinct rhythm in my fiction, I try not to clutter the page with too many words that will need to be looked up by my readers or me-talk-pretty phrases that rhyme by design or virtually drip alliteration.

Little annoys me more (in the field of fiction) than a novel that seems to have been written for the sole purpose of impressing me with the writer's extensive vocabulary and erudite facility with words. I have read far too many stories, novels--even blog posts--that are so pretentious and obscure as to be nearly incomprehensible. Like most of you, I think I have a fairly broad vocabulary and a decent grasp of grammar (just don't edit my blog posts too closely, please), so when I run into a piece of writing that cries for a dictionary and/or an English grammar guide every few paragraphs, I (1) don't finish it, and (2) try to avoid any work by the same writer in the future.

Can we make an honest effort not to force our readers to work too hard, but instead to give them the gift of writing in the style the work itself requires? A novel shouldn't read like an academic essay or research paper, and a short story is probably best tailored like a slice of life rather than a piece of poetic pie.

I'm not advising against making our writing rhythmic or lyrical. By all means, let it sing, even soar. But let's keep ego and the tendency to "show off" or pontificate out of the work.

Otherwise, while a few readers may stand in awe of our incredible literary prowess, many more will grow disgusted with the effort it takes to wade through the mire that masks the story. 

BJ

A Writer's Christmas: Part Four

In continuing the letters of Christmas, for the letter "I" I chose Infinity. It may not be the easiest thing to do--even the idea may sound somewhat nebulous--but writers: when you're thinking about gifts you can give your readers, don't forget to offer a sense of the infinite. Reassure them that there really is something larger, something beyond this world where war and tragedy and suffering--and evil--are all too commonplace.

Do you live with that sense in your everyday life, that awareness that this isn't all, that there is much, much more than what we can see and feel and touch? Do you sometimes catch a hint of wonder in the ordinary, a "glimpse of glory" in the mundane? Do you ever almost hear a faint music humming through the wind or through the morning silence? Then share it with your readers by allowing some of your characters to see life through the same lens. Let your story people know the same wonder and be touched by the same grace. Not all characters, of course. But you can create in others a longing for that "something more," for something bigger than themselves or their own small universe.

Don't be afraid to let your writing resonate with this sense of the infinite or at least a longing for it, a seeking for it. If you can implant this yearning in the heart of even one reader, you may just change a life.

(By the way, thanks to friend, Lisa Samson for the unique letter "I." Appreciate it, Lisa!)

BJ

A Writer's Christmas: Part Three

The third letter of Christmas ... R. What else but realism?

But I write fiction. Indeed. But that doesn't mean I can afford to look at my characters, my story, or its spiritual elements through some sort of gossamer veil. Don't I owe it to my readers to give them a tale about people who are as "real" as possible, not painting a dash of this and a splash of that onto their development and using them as mere props while rushing through the story? Shouldn't I allow them the weaknesses, the confusion, the fears, the struggles ... and, yes, the sins ... with which my readers can identify? Shouldn't I allow them to be real?

And what about the setting? Yes, it might be entirely fictional, rather than that of an actual city, but that doesn't give me an excuse to avoid doing whatever research is necessary to bring it to life, to make it authentic and visual and livable. Readers don't want pop-up books that keep them at a distance. They want to enter the world, the space and the place of a novel and live there for the duration of the story. Think details.

Nor do I have the right to use one-dimensional people or places, clichéd circumstances, or trite solutions to force my story to an inevitable ending. Better that I confront the reader with questions for which there may be no cut-and-dried answers rather than tack on a lot of foolish, implausible, white-washed platitudes that mark the story as hackneyed and mark me as a lazy writer.

Realism in fiction comes with great care and much work. It can be effected only by paying attention to the small things--those details that at first glance might seem insignificant--and by heeding the admonition given to all writers of fiction to "show, don't tell." (On the other hand, there must be some telling or a story becomes more a screenplay than a novel.)

If our goal is to usher our readers into the world we've created for them, allowing them to explore its depths and experience life there with our characters, we need to commit at the very beginning of a new work to avoid the easy way, to give the story--its process, its people, its setting, its emotions, its circumstances--whatever it demands to become real.

BJ

A Christian Writer's Christmas: Part Two

In keeping with the theme of those gifts the Christian writer might give to the reader ...

H ... if my books leave my readers with only one gift and one alone, I pray that gift will be Hope. I can think of nothing else this world needs more. If there is a common lack, an emptiness, that can kill the very soul, it's the absence of hope. Nothing can dull the senses or wring the life from a heart or bring on the deadliness of despair more completely than the total loss of one's hope.

In a culture where the arts increasingly spread meaninglessness and helplessness and worthlessness--where a painting is no longer so much a thing of beauty as a scream of  rage and a sculpture panders to the profane; where music is often drug-induced noise or melody-reduced chaos; where many a novel sends the reader in search of a shower or a shredder--it becomes more and more difficult to find that element that evokes a sigh of appreciation or a heartfelt "yes ... oh, yes!" How can the writer, even the Christian writer, begin to offer the hope of something better, something of value, something more?

I believe it begins with this: we can give only what we have.  A gift first has to be ours to give away. The hope that is ours is the only hope we can give to others, to our readers. Any method to implant or insert something in our stories with which we're unfamiliar ourselves will be a futile effort and come up pathetically empty. If hope is mine, then it will weave itself through what I believe, what I live ... and what I write. Readers will recognize it and be attracted to it and reach for it.

"We have this gift as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure."

May God breathe the gift of Hope into our writers' hearts this Christmas, and may our readers see it for what it is on every page we write.

BJ

A Christian Writer's Christmas: Part One

Even without the writers' strike, December is most often a season of tv reruns. Apparently, it's a time when the folks behind the scenes--and the actors on stage--regroup and prepare for the new productions that will follow in the New Year.

This year, I'm taking my cue from them. As I'm sure it is with you, this is an especially busy time of the year for me. To the usual daily routine are added the many busy--but fun--preparations for the Christmas holidays. Along with all this, though, the deadline obligations continue. In order to meet those obligations while keeping Christmas for my family, I need to find a little extra time. So for now, I'm going into rerun season.

Last year I did a series here at Grace Notes titled "A Christian Writer's Christmas" that seemed to resonate with many of my readers. I put a lot of time and thought and prayer into it, and I'm going to hope you'll deem it worth repeating.

So--"let's start at the very beginning ..."

I don't do Black Friday. That's one day of the year you couldn't bribe me to strike out for the malls. In fact, if at all possible, I don't even stick my head out the door that day. More and more I find myself avoiding the "fun" of trekking about shopping centers with the masses, risking life and limb in a horde of wild-eyed crowds who seem to have one goal in mind: get there first ... whatever it takes. I'll do as much of my Christmas shopping as possible on-line and via catalogs again this year.

In keeping with the idea of giving gifts, though, I've been thinking about what a writer--in particular a Christian writer--might consider as practical gifts for readers, not only during the Christmas season but year-round. Unable to resist playing with the idea, I took each letter of "Christmas" to find appropriate "gifts" a writer's work might bring to his/her readers--because there are certain elements a reader might expect to receive from a writer who also claims to be Christian, don't you think?

By now you're possibly thinking I need a serious project to occupy my time, but trust me, I have quite enough to keep me busy. So here's what you get--one alphabet letter, one entry at a time:

C...now this one is obvious, surely. If I'm a Christian and a writer, then doesn't it only make sense that I'll bring Christ to my work, no matter how subtle the Christian thread might be?

Before the edgy fiction crowd jumps all over me about this, let me make it clear that I'm not talking about implanting the Message of Salvation somewhere in the first three chapters of my novel or including an obligatory conversion scene at some point before the end. I feel no compulsion to have my main characters stop for a paragraph of spoken (or silent) prayer in each chapter, and the phrase, "Praise the Lord," need not be a part of those same characters' greetings to each other throughout.

I don't mean that a novel needs to observe certain "additions" such as the above to bring Christ into the story, although I do believe that to fulfill the reader's expectations my story will somehow be Christ-honoring, and there will be an absence of certain elements: profanity, graphic bedroom scenes, stomach-turning violence and gore, to name a few.

But is it "wrong" for a Christian to write a story that's simply good, wholesome entertainment, perhaps not "religious" at all? Probably not. But as a Christian I don't think that's all I want to write, and I believe I've come to know my readers well enough by now to know they expect more than that from me.

At the very least, I believe they expect me to honor the One whose name I bear, not only by the "absences" mentioned above--and certainly not by superficial Christian phrases or behavior--but more by the quality of my work. Readers who turn to Christian fiction usually have a sense that its writers aren't writing entirely for them, but in service to the Giver who granted us this gift of writing.

Most of the reader correspondence I receive reflects and confirms this. They've come to expect certain things from my books, not the least of which is that those books will represent the best I can give them in terms of craft and imagination and effort--and, if the work includes even the most subtle spiritual elements, that I won't mislead them with false doctrine or shaky theology. Anything less won't speak well of me as a Christian writer. Anything less won't honor Christ.

And anything less will be more glitter than gift.

For me, it helps to keep in mind that the observer looking over my shoulder as I write isn't my "muse," but my Lord. Truth is, without His presence, His guidance, His  involvement in all I do, I wouldn't be able to give my readers anything of real worth. 

A work committed to Him from the very first thought, and consecrated to Him page by page, chapter by chapter, is the real gift, the best gift I can offer my readers.    

BJ