by Jason Joyner | Mar 14, 2008 | Blog, fiction, theology, writing craft
Continuing on from my March 8th post, how can writers show the sovereignty of God along with a strong hero or protagonist? I used two examples from The Shadow and Night and The Legend of the Firefish, where two heroes believed very strongly that God was in control. These books had some very good, rich spiritual themes that they were communicating. I want to state up front that what I’m drawing out of these books to discuss are most likely not points the authors were trying to make. Please don’t read too much into my analysis, because I’m using the stories to try and explore a different question.
Having said that, is there any problem with my question? If we go to Webster’s Universal College Dictionary, sovereignty can be defined as “3. supreme and independent power or authority in a state.” The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology states the sovereignty of God is “the Biblical teaching that God is king, supreme ruler, and lawgiver of the entire universe.” To sum up, God is in control.
In fiction, generally a hallmark of a good story is a protagonist who acts. Stories and plots can carry a hero along, even one who is rather weak and not actively doing something. Usually though, readers prefer a strong leading man or lady – someone who may be thrown at times by what is happening within the framework of the story, but then finds a way to face the conflict and triumph over it. Many writing books talk about the need to have the main character ACT – to do something and not just be pushed around like a rag doll.
I think the potential conflict between God’s sovereignty and a strong hero becomes more evident with these definitions. I’ll look more at this conflict next.
by Jason Joyner | Mar 14, 2008 | Blog, fiction, theology, writing craft
Continuing on from my March 8th post, how can writers show the sovereignty of God along with a strong hero or protagonist? I used two examples from The Shadow and Night and The Legend of the Firefish, where two heroes believed very strongly that God was in control. These books had some very good, rich spiritual themes that they were communicating. I want to state up front that what I’m drawing out of these books to discuss are most likely not points the authors were trying to make. Please don’t read too much into my analysis, because I’m using the stories to try and explore a different question.
Having said that, is there any problem with my question? If we go to Webster’s Universal College Dictionary, sovereignty can be defined as “3. supreme and independent power or authority in a state.” The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology states the sovereignty of God is “the Biblical teaching that God is king, supreme ruler, and lawgiver of the entire universe.” To sum up, God is in control.
In fiction, generally a hallmark of a good story is a protagonist who acts. Stories and plots can carry a hero along, even one who is rather weak and not actively doing something. Usually though, readers prefer a strong leading man or lady – someone who may be thrown at times by what is happening within the framework of the story, but then finds a way to face the conflict and triumph over it. Many writing books talk about the need to have the main character ACT – to do something and not just be pushed around like a rag doll.
I think the potential conflict between God’s sovereignty and a strong hero becomes more evident with these definitions. I’ll look more at this conflict next.
by Jason Joyner | Mar 8, 2008 | Blog, fiction, theology, writing craft
I left off my last post for this series introducing the books The Shadow and Night and Legend of the Firefish. So what is it that links a far-future sci-fi story with a fantasy-based pirate novel?
In Firefish, Packer Throme is a failed seminary student who ended up studying swordmanship. He intends to find the elusive Firefish, hoping the discovery will help save his village and prove his worth for his love interest. Packer maintains his faith despite his aborted seminary training. Through his adventures he ponders the way God is moving him through the different scenarios. Interestingly, Packer leans into God’s sovereignty in a few different episodes in the book. He stops even in times of great peril to decide that everything is God’s will, and he almost passively sits by to accept whatever happens. (I have more thoughts on this book in posts from a prior blog tour here)
The Shadow and Night starts slowly, as forester Merral D’Avanos stumbles across minor attitude changes in the redeemed world of Farholme. Soon, little quirks that seemed odd unrelated fluctuations start pointing to a return of something that has not been seen in the Assembly of Worlds for over 10,000 years: evil. Merral is in the center of all that is transpiring, yet he often is slow to act because he also is content to trust in God’s will. His confusion in the face of renewed evil is very understandable – since evil has been absent for such a long time, Merral and his colleagues have only ancient reports of how to act in the face of this adversity.
Is the theme I’m drawing out becoming more apparent?
I’m not discussing this as a criticism of these two books in this series. I want to discuss the idea of God’s sovereignty and how that can affect how a protagonist acts in a novel. These two books happen to be strong examples of the idea of sovereignty entering into a story of tension. We’ll continue on this track next time.
by Jason Joyner | Mar 8, 2008 | Blog, fiction, theology, writing craft
I left off my last post for this series introducing the books The Shadow and Night and Legend of the Firefish. So what is it that links a far-future sci-fi story with a fantasy-based pirate novel?
In Firefish, Packer Throme is a failed seminary student who ended up studying swordmanship. He intends to find the elusive Firefish, hoping the discovery will help save his village and prove his worth for his love interest. Packer maintains his faith despite his aborted seminary training. Through his adventures he ponders the way God is moving him through the different scenarios. Interestingly, Packer leans into God’s sovereignty in a few different episodes in the book. He stops even in times of great peril to decide that everything is God’s will, and he almost passively sits by to accept whatever happens. (I have more thoughts on this book in posts from a prior blog tour here)
The Shadow and Night starts slowly, as forester Merral D’Avanos stumbles across minor attitude changes in the redeemed world of Farholme. Soon, little quirks that seemed odd unrelated fluctuations start pointing to a return of something that has not been seen in the Assembly of Worlds for over 10,000 years: evil. Merral is in the center of all that is transpiring, yet he often is slow to act because he also is content to trust in God’s will. His confusion in the face of renewed evil is very understandable – since evil has been absent for such a long time, Merral and his colleagues have only ancient reports of how to act in the face of this adversity.
Is the theme I’m drawing out becoming more apparent?
I’m not discussing this as a criticism of these two books in this series. I want to discuss the idea of God’s sovereignty and how that can affect how a protagonist acts in a novel. These two books happen to be strong examples of the idea of sovereignty entering into a story of tension. We’ll continue on this track next time.
by Jason Joyner | Mar 3, 2008 | Blog, fiction, theology, writing craft
On the 26th I suggested that there was a theme or thread between two books that have been reviewed by the Christian Sci-fi and Fantasy Blog tour. The most recent was The Shadow and Night, a pure science fiction novel, while the other reviewed a few months ago was The Legend of the Firefish, a fantasy tale featuring pirates. I had a few attempts at trying to guess where I am going with this group of posts. (Congratulations to Nicole for her winning the 10 year Cowboys calendar to decorate her favorite computer office! I’m sure it will be displayed with the respect due such a thoughtful gift…) While good guesses, I’m going in a different direction.
I suppose I need to offer a quick synopsis of each book to put it into context.
I’ll borrow from my previous preview of The Legend of the Firefish:
The Legend of the Firefish sets the reader in a new world, starting in the kingdom of Nearing Vast with young Packer Throme. He has a mysterious past as the son of a local fisherman who started off in seminary and has returned to his village with a talent for swordplay. He is in love with the beautiful, if sheltered Panna Seline, daughter of the local priest.
His motivation is twofold- to restore the fortunes of the declining fishing villages of his home region and to be worthy of the love of Panna. His plan entails hooking up with Scat Wilkins, notorious pirate captain of the Trophy Case, and tracking the elusive, legendary Firefish. This beast is a true sea serpent that is dangerous to all who dare hunt it, but its meat confers healing and power to the person who eats it.
Getting near Scat won’t be easy with his security officer, the mysterious Drammune woman Talon, whose infamy with the sword is only equaled by her cruelty and her mysterious powers.
As for The Shadow and Night, it takes place over 10,000 years in the future on a world that humans have terraformed and colonized called Farholme. It is the farthest world from Ancient Earth, at the end of a series of Gates that allow interstellar travel. The Assembly of Worlds have seen the reign of the Lamb come, and they have a society that is fully built on His Word and His ways, without any known evil since the Jannafy Rebellion thousands of years prior.
As the colonists continue to help shape the world, a forester named Merral comes across some minor anomalies that foreshadow a greater threat growing across the world. As the unthinkable happens and their world is cut off from the rest of the Assembly, Merral must confront the return of evil both externally and internally.
As for the connection between these books – hmm. Seems I’ll have to return to this thought in another post…
by Jason Joyner | Mar 3, 2008 | Blog, fiction, theology, writing craft
On the 26th I suggested that there was a theme or thread between two books that have been reviewed by the Christian Sci-fi and Fantasy Blog tour. The most recent was The Shadow and Night, a pure science fiction novel, while the other reviewed a few months ago was The Legend of the Firefish, a fantasy tale featuring pirates. I had a few attempts at trying to guess where I am going with this group of posts. (Congratulations to Nicole for her winning the 10 year Cowboys calendar to decorate her favorite computer office! I’m sure it will be displayed with the respect due such a thoughtful gift…) While good guesses, I’m going in a different direction.
I suppose I need to offer a quick synopsis of each book to put it into context.
I’ll borrow from my previous preview of The Legend of the Firefish:
The Legend of the Firefish sets the reader in a new world, starting in the kingdom of Nearing Vast with young Packer Throme. He has a mysterious past as the son of a local fisherman who started off in seminary and has returned to his village with a talent for swordplay. He is in love with the beautiful, if sheltered Panna Seline, daughter of the local priest.
His motivation is twofold- to restore the fortunes of the declining fishing villages of his home region and to be worthy of the love of Panna. His plan entails hooking up with Scat Wilkins, notorious pirate captain of the Trophy Case, and tracking the elusive, legendary Firefish. This beast is a true sea serpent that is dangerous to all who dare hunt it, but its meat confers healing and power to the person who eats it.
Getting near Scat won’t be easy with his security officer, the mysterious Drammune woman Talon, whose infamy with the sword is only equaled by her cruelty and her mysterious powers.
As for The Shadow and Night, it takes place over 10,000 years in the future on a world that humans have terraformed and colonized called Farholme. It is the farthest world from Ancient Earth, at the end of a series of Gates that allow interstellar travel. The Assembly of Worlds have seen the reign of the Lamb come, and they have a society that is fully built on His Word and His ways, without any known evil since the Jannafy Rebellion thousands of years prior.
As the colonists continue to help shape the world, a forester named Merral comes across some minor anomalies that foreshadow a greater threat growing across the world. As the unthinkable happens and their world is cut off from the rest of the Assembly, Merral must confront the return of evil both externally and internally.
As for the connection between these books – hmm. Seems I’ll have to return to this thought in another post…
