100 Cupboards and The Role of a "Christian Writer"

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a book I had never heard of before called "100 Cupboards." I'm not quite sure why I bought it. I had never heard of it before. No one had given my a recommendation to pick it up, but I did nonetheless. Mostly I think because I had a nagging desire that I had to read it. I get that way sometimes. Most of you probably have the same experience. You go to a store, or you're driving and for some reason you know you should go somewhere, read something, meet someone... Some would call this coincidence or generalize this and call it fate. Being a Christian, I call it God leading me. When I feel that urge, barring no direct understanding of why something could be evil (discernment would be the word) I will without much hesitation, go and do that thing. Usually to much good in my life. I can give numerous examples. Well, not to digress too far, but I say all of that because I was wondering why was I so drawn to this book! The answer was encouraging.

First off let me say a word about the actual content of the book. It was awesome! If you haven't read it, please do. I think you will find a modern children's classic in it and its sequel "Dandelion Fire" has been awesome so far. It gives off so much of the vibe I have been longing for recently with the void I have been feeling every time I crack open a new book from my bookshelf. It's creepy, funny, inspiring and smart stuff in this series that feels like a cross between "Chronicles of Narnia" and "A Wrinkle In Time." My wife hasn't picked up a book in years for pleasure reading and she read it after me, finishing it in two days.

But what really encouraged me about this book was the author of the series. N D Wilson has all of the markings of one of the more imaginative and bold writers in the current children's book industry. Especially in "Dandelion Fire" Wilson shows a bravado not many would attempt to take. Beyond his talents as a writer, it's who he is as a writer that has been encouraging. N D Wilson is a no bones about it Christian. Why this is so encouraging to me is because I find it completely disheartening at the lack of Christians, or at least those who show no shame in the fact of what they believe in as if it's a crime (present company sometimes included), that are writing books for all audiences and not tailored for a Christian only audience. I used to work in a Christian book store years back and it would make my stomach turn everytime I would walk through the fiction section there. It all just felt forced, devoid of genuine heart and, honestly, any real substance we could all chew on... Christian or not.

As a Christian, my world-view dominates the writings I do. I don't try to force an issue on people though, nor do I spend time skirting it I hope. I believe what I believe, and that will inform me and the directions I will take with my stories. The danger so many of us (Christian authors I mean here) is that we feel we must force God into a story, instead of understanding that he already is there, regardless of what your characters believe in, or the subject matter. It's a given. your job is to tell a good story. Period. And along the way it would be appropriate to not debase yourself to writing garbage. Hopefully you know what I mean by that. If not, think on it.

Some of the most beloved books in our history were written by Christians, but the content of the story can seem devoid of any real biblical overtones. When Tolkien was asked about the Christian content of his writings, whether it was deliberate, he said no, but that he couldn't help what he believed in coming through. The stuff that matters, the ones that find a place with people, are the books that are genuine in telling a good clean story. I believe no matter what, we are to be good storytellers and that all people should be able to enjoy whatever it is we're writing. If in the end it sparks discussion amongst its readers, then great! What I found in N D Wilson (so far) is someone who exemplifies an attitude and approach to being both a writer and a Christian that I think is right. He writes good stories first and foremost. Anything else you either glean from it through personal introspection, or find by examining his life. And for this reason I think this book will have a long impact on people, myself included.

Finally A Readable Draft

This past week I finally nailed down the first truly "readable"draft of "The Unknowns." It took four passes at it, but I think its finally in a state where I can bring others opinions in and receive feedback. I gotta tell you, it's quite gratifying to look at what I've finished and see it in printed form, sitting on a table.

My thoughts on this draft are that it is essentially the story I set to tell in the very beginning. It's both funny and scary, while feeling pretty endearing at the same time. It feels like quite a jump forward from my first pass at a finished script a few short years ago (thank you Stephen King). So, now I just have to get it into the hands of a few well trusted friends and my agent and we'll see where things go from there. I'm so tempted to get started on the actual comic, but my better judgment tells me to wait awhile.

For now, I have a story about a boy and a monster to tell, and portraits to finish.

"The Unknowns" Draft 2 Is Completed

Yesterday I finished up my second draft of my new graphic novel, "The Unknowns." It was really gratifying to finally print out a readable version of my script. I bound the whole thing up and set it on the coffee table, then sat back in gratification. :-) I'm tempted to dig into it and start editing it, but I'm taking a break from it to enjoy the moment and let the next piece of feedback come from my wife. She's my editor and sounding board, so I'm excited to hear her thoughts. I just wanted to take a moment to say... I'm excited!

Books Every Writer Should Read

Sorry there haven't been many updates lately for those of you following this blog. A lot of things have been going on related to The Unknowns as well as other projects in general. The things involving The Unknowns I can't quite get into yet, but once things get more final I'll be sure to post them here.

One of things I wanted to get into here on the blog are some books that I think are really worth spending your time reading if you are a writer or a creative person. As a comic book artist I spend most of my time thinking in words and pictures. In a way its a cheap form of writing because I don't have to think about the formal nature of writing story in prose or script format. This is something I am working to remedy. I truly want to be known as a better writer/storyteller than I do an artist and as such I need to learn the craft more. Here are some books that have been really helpful over the years and currently:



Orson Scott Card's book "Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy" is one of the best books I have ever read on the subject of writing. In it he explains how we can create believable and tangible worlds. Some of his stories about how he created a new story have helped spur me on to new ideas.


"The Man Who Heard Voices" is more here because of its attention to the way so many of us all feel as we create the art that is in us as visual storytellers. Regardless of your thoughts towards M. Night's movies (I for one think he's pretty much amazing) I think everyone can find this book to be a reminder that even those who are successful at their craft wrestle behind closed doors.


"On Writing" by Stephen King is pretty much the mother load when it comes to a book that is profoundly helpful and entertaining. Part memoir and part how-to, this book deals with topics as mundane as grammar to how to discover a story. This one is my current read, but it is one that I think has done more to help my work ethic than any other book as I remember: to be a great writer you must; read a lot a write a lot.

Two More Scenes Down

I spent my time over the weekend (which is Weds and Thurs for me) getting some writing done. I'm actually just a couple of scenes away from where the book pretty much gets going and doesn't stop until the end.

One of the things that's been happening as I write the first draft of the script is that I'm thinking of all these scenes I want to add in later that were not in the original draft of the treatment. But rather than stop, think of how those scenes fit into the bigger work, and continue with the script; I've been writing these scene ideas down in a separate document so that when I go back for the second draft I will include them.

I remember listening to an interview with Philip Pullman about writing and him discussing how the best thing with the first draft of any story is to just GET IT OUT. In other words, just write the stupid thing. Don't stop and correct every misspell. Don't second guess the structure. Just get it on the page so that you can rewrite later. There's the old saying, writing is rewriting. I think this is true. So far I've discovered that spending some time developing a solid treatment has allowed me to move with a confidence I didn't have before. The script is coming out quickly and I think will require very little reworking as a whole.

Then again what do I know?

I just realized that I was going to post about my process. That will have to wait. Writing continues.

Writing Continues...

I want to say thank you to everyone who has given me positive feedback on the preview pages I've displayed on this blog and other sites. I'm still keeping most of it close to the chest, so I don't spoil things later!

I spent most of this week, after going back through the treatment, writing the next two scenes from the prologue. It's the first time we meet the other co-star of the story; Todd.

I don't know how many of you own the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but they have a great segment on all three of them that just focuses on the writing of the movie. Each one lasts about thirty minutes and I have found it really invaluable to hear their wisdom when constructing my scripts.

On the Fellowship of the Ring set they discuss the introduction of Mary and Pippin in the story at Bilbo's party. They explain how they basically made up the scene in which they steal a firework from Gandalf's stash and disrupt the whole party. The interesting thing about this scene is that they discuss how their goal script-wise was that they wanted to accomplish two things in one moment. Introduce the characters and say something about them. I've found that when writing, if you you can do two things at one time in a script you are creating a much more effective script.

The first two scenes after the prologue reminded me about that. I wanted really badly to set Todd up properly. We have to get him very quickly, because the story gets moving in a hurry after that and the character arcs need to be identifiable.

I've read back through the scene and I feel pretty strong about his arrival. The difficult part now is writing the dialog of Chloe and Todd together. That's my next mess to deal with.

Next post I'll spend some time talking about my actual process for creating these pages. So check back in about two days! Now its time for some chicken.