Fiction and Faith

Ariach swung again, thrusting at my side.
I swung with all my might, trying to knock his sword away. The collision of our blades rang out over the crowd’s roar.Vibrations shook my blade, and it fell to the ground.
Ariach's dagger remained fixed at my chest.
I sank to my knees.I was dead. There was no doubt about that.
Ariach reached over and cut my helmet strap. He stared at me for a long time. I wondered what was going through his mind. A tear rolled down his cheek. He bent down, raising his sword high-
And handed it to me.
I stared at it, confused.
"You dropped this," he said softly.
The arena fell deathly silent. I stood slowly. My helmet plopped into the sand. My emotions swirled back, deadly as a cobra.
"Ariach…”
I swung the blade.
It buried itself in his chest. He fell to the ground.
~Three Dark Roses
In my National Novel Writing Month novel, there is a ‘battle’ between the Roses, the followers of the King, and the Witherers, followers of Deathroot. However, the Roses do not fight with swords, but with music. In this excerpt, Ariach has entered the Witherers’ fortress to rescue his daughter Keturah. The mission failed, and now Ariach is facing death in the arena. His opponent and the speaker of this piece is, Joel, Keturah’s best friend, a traitor to the Roses who had turned to the Witherers.
It was just a story I had written—or so I thought. But recently my youth group began a Voice of the Martyrs series about teens smuggling Bibles into Vietnam. The companion study guide contained an account of a Roman martyr in 203 AD named Perpetua. She was thrown into the arena with wild beasts, but they refused to attack.
So gladiators entered the arena to finish the execution. But the man assigned to Perpetua was young and inexperienced. His hand trembled as he tried to pierce between her ribs. Perpetua cried out as the sword struck her to the bone, but then she calmly took the man’s hand and guided the sword to her throat.~Underground Reality: Vietnam

“Truth is stranger than fiction.”So is faith. If faith can be that strong, than it makes me wonder what we in America are missing. If faith is silver to be refined, what happens when the crucible is never heated?

Note on Northernness

What is it that makes some books seem so interesting for a time before falling out of favor? At one point, I found the Redwall series by Brian Jacques fascinating--now, I can barely muster the interest to finish one.

...desired with almost sickening intensity something never to be described (except that it is cold, spacious, severe, pale and remote) and then . . . found myself at the very same moment already falling out of that desire and wishing I were back in it.

~Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis

What is the hunger that comes on so swiftly and flees so fast? Lewis descibes it as a moment of utter longing for reunion with God. His friend Tolkien speaks of eucatastrophe, the sudden, almost violent, turn for the better against despair.

It cannot be sought on its' own merits. And if you drink too often, the well will come up dry.

Where have I found it?

A Live Coal in the Sea by Madeline L'Engle.

City on Our Knees by TobyMac

Amarantine by Enya

...even in my own writing when I look at it from a distance.

Where have you found it?

I won NaNo!

Hurrah! Hurrah! I wrote over 50k of words and am now a NaNoWriMo winner for the second time in a row.
Only...I'm not done. I have probably at least another 10k of story to go. It was meant to be an end of the world story with martyrs, and I've had only two. Well, two who were just standing around when caught. The other four or so were at the evil fortress.
But I am done!



Kind of...

NaNoWriMo

I'm deep in the world of NaNoWriMo. Go tohttp://www.nanowrimo.org for more info about it. I'm Nenya_s Wings there.
Also, I have started a Facebook group called NaNo 13th~Something Will Happen!
On the guide to NaNo email, it says:
November 13: Nothing really happens on November 13.
I want to change that.
Just repeat the following:I hereby promise to do something shocking, crazy or just plain weird in my NaNo story on November 13th.
Then on November 14th, tell me what you did.

NaNoWriMo Question~Updated

I can't wait for NaNoWriMo 09...thirty days to write 50k~
But I can't decide on a story.
Want to help?

Skye
format: 1st person

Structure:Two parts
1.Kestrel
2.Skye—after Kes’s death

Opening:
Kestrel’s story/dream of the fire and escape

Main Characters:
Kestrel—18, homo avius with brown eyes and wings
Sky—15, homo avius with blue eyes and wings
Hannah—60s, homo sapiens with blue eyes

Minor Characters:
Lark, Cardinal, Swallow, Sparrow, Wren—female homo avius
Hawk, Heron, Raven, Jay, Oriole, Finch—male homo avius
Masks--scientists

Background:
Homo avius [Keslings] came from another world. Adonai opened a door into ours. Some younglings lost at separate times and were caught by scientists. The ‘Masks’ fed them on kibble like beasts.

Plot:
Kestrel and Skye escape and are found by Hannah, a compassionate older women. Kestrel and Hannah try to convince the scientists to let the fledglings go, but they are murdered. Skye returns six months later and sets them free.

Inspiration:
Not Maximum Ride, but a dream

Untouchable
Format: 3rd person

Opening: Kimaya driving Pari and Kelvyn away from a wedding

Main Characters:
Kimaya—17, JaThal’s daughter who foolishly [secretly] lost magic
Hasani—15, crippled left leg ‘since birth,’
MiłjǎtaanPari—12, lost magic to save boy
Rađmœr~ mage, restores magic

Minor Characters
Æva; 14, granddaughter of cleanser, kept in isolation
Aulis, 19, Kimaya’s brother, falls in love with Æva

Background:
All women born with potential for growing magic, which wakens from ages 5-8. It is ‘lost’ by touch between individuals. Most high class women wear gloves and veils. But one village, Miłjǎta, ‘cleanses’ girls as toddlers, to avoid ‘evil’ magic.

Plot:
Kimaya, Hasani, and Pari set out to find a mage—Kimaya to restore her magic, Hasani to kill him, and Pari because her father ordered her to. Kimaya’s father has Æva pose as Kimaya, but Aulis falls in love with her.

Source:
An abandoned group story on a forum

Title Change?

I've been thinking about changing my blog title. Here are the three options + taglines
1. Broken Pencil~Writing with a broken pencil is pointless.
2. Million Word~ It would take a million words to thank you for your love.
3. The Wordsmith's Shelf~Here their be dragons, portals, wizards, and all matter of litarary wonders, as well as the occasional musical, political, or spiritual musing

The stories behind them.
1. A quote in school organizer; Because sometimes I feel this blog is pointless.
2. From "No greater gift", VBS music..."It would take a million words to thank you for your love"
3. Old one.

I'd love comments.

Camp Pictures