The Great Chase

The Great Chase

Why Friendship and Joy-Chasing are Essential for

A Life Well-Lived

 

In lieu of the increasing fans (like you),

here's a new post!

I'm not really sure what to write. It happens more often than not, actually. What really kills me, though, is how I'll get these excellent writing moods... all the stars will align and a hallelujah chorus will shimmer down from above... and then I'll get distracted.

Seriously.

And no, before you bring it up - it's not all social media distractions, either. Life gets distracting. My mind just becomes all cluttered up sometimes. Lately, I've been without a car - which has been frustrated. I don't like always being stuck at home, and it can drive me up the walls. As a writer, and really just as a regular ol' human being, the ability to get out when the fancy takes you is essential. I'm sorry Emily Dickinson... but no... I have mad respect for you and all... but still no.

I guess what I'm trying to say is how I think really good writing is something which, barring a gift from fickle muses, comes out of life well-lived. Good-bad-ugly... but still life well-lived.

What makes for a well-lived life?

I'm no Marcus Aurelius, but I think CS Lewis was on to something when he writes about Joy-Chasing in his Surprised by Joy, and also in his Pilgrim's Regress. There are things you will find, uncovered within yourself - or introduced to you by others, which stir up a Longing inside. For me, they're things having to do with mythology, theatre, traveling, Autumn, the rain... It's funny, because a tell-tale sign that you're probably on the right track to identifying exactly what your Joy is - the harder it becomes to say exactly what IT is. - Like those who have tasted of the magical food from Faerie... after you've returned from the Perilous Land, you're always left wanting in a delightful sort of agony.

Lewis humbly suggested that what we want is not, perhaps, the Thing ITSELF, but the chase. So the next time something moves you, don't try to possess it. Merely enjoy it while it is, as it is, and then carry on. Keep IT secret - keep IT safe.

Another thing I think lends to a life well-lived are good friends. A man may be the poorest in the whole world, yet if he has genuine friends he is rich. Friendship is one of those things which lend to Life's sense of meaning and purpose. When you suddenly discover that the guy or girl over there likes the same thing you do... that same secret Joy... there is often a moment, whether spoken or not, where each thinks something like, 'What? You too?'.

- This same thing is partly how I first met my to-be wife, Steph... it's how I first met my esteemed friend (and fellow author) R.E. Dean... Friendship helps make us MORE. A Joy we may have inside remains only that one Joy, but when friendship allows people to share a Joy... its like light splitting through a prism into a million new possibilities we never could have come to on our own. Shared Joy via Friendship is like staring down from a great height... we see all the twists and turnings which could have taken us higher up and deeper in - and all the other paths which could have led us on... but our Journey would have been radically different. Thus, WE would be radically different, in turn.

What does any of this have to do with writing, though?

It has exactly, precisely to do with writing because when we finally do sit down and write, we are not just putting words on a page, but little pieces of us. This is not ink, nor mere pixels which you now read - but the confluence of hundreds of thousands of interlinking friendships formed over shared Joy-chasing. Each word is not only my own - but also immaculately blended bits and pieces of people I've known and loved from all over the world - living and departed.

And it's the same when you create something, too.

Whenever someone pours their heart and soul, time and energy - blood, sweat, and tears - into something beautiful - we see Life as Art. (Tolkien would call it 'Sub-creation')

In all your Joy-chasing - happy hunting. Write on! Read on!

- Ryan
 

On Chronological Snobbery

On Chronological Snobbery

(A Rant) 

 

When researching through mythology and history for my fantasy works, I think it's an important point to remember the dangers of Chronological Snobbery.

What is Chronological Snobbery?

Roughly, it is a term coined by Professor CS Lewis used to describe people who assume their time and culture are right and how others which came before are obviously wrong.

A good example of this is the general idea of Modern Progress, which has its distant roots grounded in The Renaissance and its nearer roots embedded with the Industrial Revolution.

Are we living in the greatest moment in all of Time? 

Isn't that a bit conceited to assume we are? 

What about other times and places?

Now, it could possibly be an easy route to take, in trying to say that oh, well since we don't live in 1548 or some such era, we can't very well say, either way, which has it better.

As my good friend, fellow author, and budding Medieval Historian, R.E. Dean would say (probably),

"PREPOSTEROUS!"

When you read old works, try and understand what the authors mean - not what you assume they might mean. One of the wonderful qualities of History is how it can tell us exactly what WAS witnessed, believed, and considered important. Professor Lewis, while remembered mainly for his outspokenly Christian-based fantasy and lay-man theological works, also wrote other things, too. 

(As a British Professor, he was sort of expected to, you know...)

In one of the other excellent books he wrote, On Words, Lewis explores the importance of how words are used through the ages, by following a few of them. By doing so, one can learn just how easily passages from Shakespeare to Caesar can be misread because linguistical context is misunderstood.

Will we always only read things 'correctly'? 

Is reading and understanding 'rightly' all there is to enjoying a good book?

(*rolls eyes) What do you think?

But the ideas and sentiments behind what is being recorded through History and Myth - the storied voices and mirrored Truths which other eyes witnessed and other hands now long turned to dust touched come to life. They rise like long shadows cast down through the years to illuminate our own modern history and everyday lives. When we read intelligently, we are not reading books. We are peering through another's eyes.

Good History does that. - It is not merely the analytical recording of tedious events, but second-life. When you pick up the Illiad, it's not assigned reading or something you're finally getting around to... You see the world as it was thousands of years ago. You're not learning dates, you're re-experiencing other people's lives, passed down through countless oral stories and translations, because what they saw and felt is important. Primal, even. And we're not too different from them, on a human level, either.

But only, if we continue to learn - and also think critically, with intelligence and an open mind.

To remain ignorant is to live in the Dark.

...

Other excellent reads relating to this rant include the following:

- Lies My Teacher Told Me

- The Book That Made Your World

- From Homer to Harry Potter

- The Discarded Image

- The Greek Way

- On Faerie Stories

Read On!

- Ryan

PS, my up-and-coming fantasy novel, Rienspel, releases THIS Halloween!!

(Don't worry, I'll keep you posted)

Writing Rienspel (Warning! *Contains Spoilers*)

Writing Rienspel

Thanks to my wife Steph's urging, I might try to start writing the much anticipated follow up to Rienspel: The Grey King. I'm not sure how to do it, though... Writing Rienspel was magical. It was personal and real - it throbbed and beat with exactly what I needed at the time.

How do you just start again? Sure, I've grown as a writer since then, both in style and technique... but there's something which neither finesse or skill have... and I don't know what it is... but it's something. Writing Rienspel took what I think many new, young writers do - put a version of themselves into a new literary world - and go on adventures. I traveled alongside Rien from Nyrgen to Firehall. I faced the undead and examined my own past. I came to grips with what it means to grow up - to both put childish ways aside, all the while become more childlike. I watched part of who I was die, and be reborn.

In the movie Gladiator, in the end the question is asked, Is Rome worth one good man's life? This morning, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was on, and we talked about how because Lily sacrificed herself for her son, Harry, that by taking his place, a powerful spell of protection was placed on him. Evil (initially, anyways) couldn't touch him. I want The Grey King to be about Death and Life... all so often, I think many stories cheapen Death, by either simply resurrecting the character or by misunderstanding what Death is.

One of my favorite fantasy authors of all time, George MacDonald, was wrote that 'Death is simply more Life'.  And in fact that we often misunderstand what Life is because we do not die because of Death, we die because of lack of Life. Life is more than what your heart and lungs do - it's more than an ability to articulate higher brain function... It hints on what CS Lewis wrote, "You don't have a soul, you are a soul: you have a body."

One of the things I do with my fantasy writing, is actually use it as a vehicle to explore real questions I have about life, the universe, and everything. What sort of realms untold lay waiting just beyond the Pale for us? Who/what are we, really? What if our existence is much more than we scarcely can imagine, even at our best?

Now, I'm no Great mind. I'm no Lewis or MacDonald... or anyone else for that matter. I'm just me. When it comes to writing well, I still feel like a lost beggar wandering on the fringe of Faerie... with Rienspel, I was given by luck, chance, or design, the faintest of glimpses inside its depths - and for that, I'm extremely grateful. While writing Rienspel, I learned the hard way just how much obsession can cost you... I've seen the Shadow on the wall, and done my best to not horde the writer's manna lest it rot. I've learned to accept what you are given, take what is needful for today only...

I know, I know... I'm probably going off on tangents here. I let me mind wander and this is where it leads me... I worry about being good enough - writing enchanting stories which slip inside the back doors of your minds and hearts. Life goes on... I get farther away from The Great Forest as the years crawl on. But I don't forget. I can't. Part of me is still there - wandering the woods... Except now I've found myself outside, wondering how to get back in... and at the same time, worrying about how I also need to continue going, too.

How does one continue going?

I remember those long silent Saturdays I would spend, tucked away in the Library at Central Christian College... as the snows fell... and I would dream and write... I remember the dorms - with our laptops and coffee... writing on - invincible in our ignorance, impetuous in our youth. There is this place I have inside, from which my stories flow. It's my heart, I think... because I feel my best writing is when I sit down and bleed - and it comes out as words on the page. I've read books on disciplining one's love for writing into a honed craft... I've read Stephen King and Ursula LeGuin. There's this simplicity and purity to writing - just like there is this equally simple and pure way of living which springs from it. We write from our Living. We take what has been filtered through our hearts like a french press brews rich coffee - and then we pour it out onto our pages and screens, and wonder if it's good enough.

Maybe what makes it 'good enough' isn't an arbitrary list of marks to hit... but if our stories in turn are worked again into the good earth of others' lives? That's it. And in season, we allow ourselves to see the garden of light and color flourish around us.

I'm still not sure how to keep writing The Grey King... but I'm sure it'll come when it does.

(Thanks for listening)

- Ryan 

Awake, Oh Sleeper!

 Awake, Oh Sleeper!

Every small thing is meaningful -
Especially when it comes to writing.

Sometimes, over the long-haul, it's the endurance to keep writing which is the hardest. Be aware of what you're writing and when you have ideas. Jot them down. Don't put them aside until you have! Inspiration can come from the strangest of places. I've come to realize that imagination is the back door to the soul. We humans are creative powder kegs waiting for just the hint of the smallest spark. Be aware of who you are and what excites your passion at a knee-jerk level. Take time to get away, even if its just a walk through a nearby park. Pacing your endurance and tending to your imagination are essential not just for creating great art, but for you as a person.

Too many times, I've heard the term escapism flung at my genre, fantasy. If you're not familiar with the term escapism, it has to generally do with the idea that fantasy is just 'escaping from the supposed real world'. It's an objection which has floated around for quite some time now. Tolkien once asked C.S. Lewis who was opposed to escape.

His answer?
“Jailers.”

Now, I'm not trying to be overtly conspiratorial here or anything; however, who's to say what 'real' is? The two most powerful words in existence are as follows: What If. It's easy to go to school day in day out, or punch the time-card Mon-Fri, 9-5... but is that really the entire circumference of our lives?

One of the reasons I like fantasy is because I feel like the world of long ago has a soul-stirring straightforwardness to it. It's one filled with unlikely peasant heroes, who take up the enchanted sword or the impossible quest against Darkness. It's one where words like heroism and justice mean more than just civil service or legality.

Imagine, for a moment, that the lens of fantasy is not relegated to quasi-medieval Europe. If there was a wicked aunt or an evil king, what would a hero do? Protagonists from legends past would resist and eventually overcome them. Similarly, Niel Gaiman once said, "Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."
How much have we been pacified and numbed by our modern culture? What modern spells have put us into an enchanted sleep? And what will it take to break the spell?

I don't yet know.

But I do know that imagination is the backdoor to the soul. I know that with the right story, as a key to ancient locks of secret gardens, slumbering heroes can once again be re-awakened.

My favorite part of the entire Chronicles of Narnia is when for a moment, as Lucy wanders through the forest at night, the trees have all half-awakened at the coming of Aslan; in the moonlight, they all dance around the Great Lion.

I do not count myself as one of the waking ones, but one of the half-slumberers still. When I write, I am trying to wake up - rising up through deep waters to waking. What we see meanwhile, in this dreamtime, may indeed be frightening. It is not overt terror of monsters we now flee from - but the Yawn. From the lie of purposelessness, determinism, and timidity. 

I believe that who we are is yet to be seen. Good stories help awaken us with a whisper and a gleam of something far better and higher than we can now imagine or dream. 

Have you felt it, too? 
Will you heed the clarion summons?

When I read from the great masters, those who have seen and have written back for us, I know I am not them. I am not a great hero nor a wise sage. I'm just me. But perhaps we're exactly who we need to be, where we are, for a reason and purpose greater than all our modern culture has presupposed. As someone else once wrote, "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future."

What you do and who you are matters. Never forget that.

Who Do You Love (Literately) ?

Writers are nothing without reading - so who literately inspires you most and why?

First and foremost, are those two fairy-tale giants, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien for me. They loom quietly in the background of my imagination. Most of the bedrock from which I build my sandcastles are founded on one or both of these men. But it's not just their fantasy works which get my mind salivating - it's also their non-fiction works, as well. Works like On Fairy Stories (Tolkien) or The Discarded Image (Lewis) delve into the philosophy and structure of Faerie in a way unparalleled.

The next great abiding spirit is George MacDonald. If you know anything about C.S. Lewis, you'll already know about this imaginative titan of a Scottish pastor and lecturer. This is the guy who wrote the original Alice in Wonderland (yes, you read me right... Lewis Carol and George MacDonald were friends, and would often use each other's stories). If Tolkien and Lewis are giants, then MacDonald is the Great and Powerful Wizard. Seriously, his stuff transcends reality. While he's written a ton of all sorts of genre, his fantasy is hands-down the best (although his non-fiction isn't too shabby, either...).

From there, of course, the literary influence become widely scattered. But as suggested in my previous posts, it has mainly been the fantasy authors who have helped me most. Folks like Ursula LeGuin, Madeline L'Engle, Brian Jacques, J.K. Rowling, Niel Gaiman, and Susan Cooper. Non-fiction authors include Peter Berrisford Ellis, Donald Miller, Bob Goff, Edith Hamilton, and Susan Bauer.

Then there's poetry: Robert Frost (*drools). Luis Borges. Homer. Whoever it was who wrote Beowulf.

My point is, here, long list not withstanding, is that who you read and why you read them is vital to the formation of your imagination and writing abilities. Spend time walking with the masters - not just those who are purportedly to be be excellent from others, but with those whom you truly love. You truly enjoy spending quality time with. They're just like relationships. Spend time around people and you can't help but become familiar... And through friendship you can wind up sharing something so unique, only you and that other person, at that given moment in history, could create.

Write (and read) on!

Ryan  

What's the hardest part about writing?

What's the hardest part about writing?

I realize this probably varies from one person to the next, but for me, the hardest part about writing is the beginning. How does my story begin? Once I have the idea for a beginning, the rest can be 'pantzered' out. The tale falls into place. One of the things I always remembered from being forced to awkwardly butcher Shakespearean plays by reading them out loud together with the rest of my high school English classes, was how The Bard did his beginnings. His trick (and you can check it out yourself, of course) is always to begin with either an action scene or with something bawdy. I figured, hey! If that trick good enough for Will, then it's good enough for Ryan.

The second excellent piece of advice I've picked up about beginnings was actually from one of my favorite writers, CS Lewis. Mr. Lewis, in his essays, talks about how he starts writing stories- for him, they always begin with what he capitalized and called Desire and then with a specific image or two which sticks to his mind as he begins. I get that. For me, I usually have a mood or a feeling which I then extrapolate off of - as if the rest of the entire story to follow is only the materialization of an immaterial thing. Does this make me some sort of novice literary conjurer? Who knows? Maybe? On Desire - if you read Lewis' other works, you learn that when he says 'Desire' (with a Capital 'D', mind you), what he is really meaning is Joy (check out his Surprised by Joy, for more). When I write for long spells, I often fight between reveling when my wandering Muse finally decides to show up and just plain and simple not wanting to write any more that day. I've learned that, (and don't go spreading this around, will you?) it's okay to not always want to write. Don't, by any means, become a slave to your transient fairy Muse - for she's a cruel master, and rather neglectful at that. Joy is a living thing we chase. We chase it all our lives. (again, another excellent CS Lewis book on this his Pilgrim's Regress) For some of us doomed souls, telling stories makes up a significant amount of our chase. It's our Yearning - our Desire for something entirely Else which leads us on and on into realms hitherto unknown and unexplored. JRR Tolkien talks a bit about this in his wonderful On Fairy Stories... If this sounds like you- if you feel that inexpressible pull in your gut - BEWARE. Faerie is a perilous place. Don't try to get there. Do not attempt to lock your Desire into a vending machine. It won't work, and it can often drive you nuts.

Your calling to write is special. Let it remain so - free and unburdened. Allow yourself to follow it, however it chooses to express itself. Prepare as best you can for your Desire to pop up in the most unlikely of places. Be true to yourself and it. As CS Lewis's Master (and mine), George MacDonald, once said - 'More Life!' - don't burden and weary yourself with deadening things - let your rally cry be More Life! Whether it's new stories or simply focusing heartily and cheerfully on the task at hand.

Good luck, fellow Wanderer! And happy writing (when it comes)

-Ryan

The Written Art

Due to popular demand from several unconnected corners, I picked up a copy of Stephen King's On Writing. It's perfect. Exactly what I was looking for, in the exact tone I enjoy. Maybe it's normal for Mr. King to write this way... However it works out, I want to pass along knowledge learned as well as to dispel some common myths about writing and being a writer. Honestly, I don't know nearly as much as I feel I ought to, but I've been writing for a decade now, so I think I've earned a little bit of muscle from the experience.

What is a writer?
A writer is one who writes. And no, I'm not being cheeky. Seriously. Right now, as I'm pecking away I am a writer because I am writing. And yes, I can hear you hecklers in the back shouting, "but how about when you're NOT writing? Are you STILL a writer then?" The answer is Yes. I think being a writer is a path. So long as you've dedicated yourself to the written art, you are a writer. Period. Artists can't help but create (or subcreate... but that's a whole 'nother post). Sooner or later, you'll find yourself scribbling on Panera napkins or henpekcing away on a borrowed laptop. The craft calls to us - we hear and obey (besides, it's just plain fun).

How do you even write, bro?
I could wax poetic on this, but I won't. I don't need to anymore... I tip my hat (which yes, as a matter of fact, I AM wearing), to the brevity of author C.S. Lewis who once explained he beings with an image in his head and Desire in his heart, when it comes to writing. I personally think it's spot on. Some people like to think writers are some other sub-species of human, inhabiting coffee shops, dive-bars and lonely mountain retreats... and perhaps we do... but we also work 9-5 jobs and put our pants on one leg at a time like everybody else, as well. I think I would also like to add, in addition to Lewis' image, song as well. One of the biggest motivators for writing my first work, Rienspel, was traditional Celtic music like The Maid Who Sold Her Barely, The Butterfly, and especially Suil a Ruin. I heard them and instantly, I felt the pull - the call- to write. And so one day, I did. Don't think it's some misty, magical, timey-whimy, spacey-wacey, only-writers-have-this-experience. It's not. It may be special, but that only widens the blessing. We've all heard the art's call at one time or another. Pay attention to it, then simply find a place with a door that can close, sit down, and write. Just focus on getting it out. Don't worry if it's perfect or if everything's even spelled right... As Mr. King describes in his book, excavate the fossil that is your story. There's something there - get to it.

Pantser or Plotter?
Huh? Did he just say Panzer, Panther? Pants-er? No. Pantser. Apparently the way I just dive right into writing is not unique to me. And this is also the reason why my lovely wife and I tend to butt heads when it comes to Story creation. Whereas I just start writing- ready-fire-aim-style, and allow the Story to take me where it will, along with it's characters, Steph is a plotter. She plots. She likes to lay the whole thing out like a graphic designer - layering and layering until more or less satisfied. It's all grid-work and blue-prints for her. And while the eternal Pantser-Plotter war for the fate of the soul of Writer-kind may wage on through time and space, I want to let you know that it's ok to be either type. I can say this because I'm fairly sure Steph will never read this post, too... (And YES, you naysayers huddling next to those hecklers... I can hear you quite well... YES there are hybrid Pantser-Plotters, too.)

In Memorium
Write. Just DO it. Write your best. Read as much as you can, too. Reading well eventually translates to writing well, you know. Feed your imagination. Know who you're writing for and why. Be able to write that down as well. For example, My name is Ryan P. Freeman. I am a writer. I am writing, ideally (and in no particular order), for myself, Steph, Logan, Jennie, Josiah, Robert, and Jon Jon (just to name a few). I am writing because I believe good Story is the backdoor to the soul, and because I genuinely enjoy doing it.

I am Ryan P. Freeman, and I am a writer.

How about you?    

Louis Borges on Writing...

 Poet Jorge Luis Borges once wrote,

"It’s possible that the fact that literature has been commercialized now in a way it never was before has had an influence. That is, the fact that people now talk about “bestsellers,” that fashion has an influence (something that didn’t use to happen). I remember that when I began to write, we never thought about the success or failure of a book. What’s called “success” now didn’t exist at that time. And what’s called “failure” was taken for granted. One wrote for oneself and, maybe, as Stevenson used to say, for a small group of friends. On the other hand, one now thinks of sales. I know there are writers who publicly announce they’ve had their fifth, sixth, or seventh edition released and that they’ve earned such and such an amount of money. All that would have appeared totally ridiculous when I was a young man; it would have appeared incredible. People would have thought that a writer who talks about what he earns on his books is implying: “I know what I write is bad but I do it for financial reasons or because I have to support my family.” So I view that attitude almost as a form of modesty. Or of plain foolishness."

As I'm preparing to publish my first two works, Rienspel and The Grey Isle Tale, I've been furiously studying other authors' suggestion on the process. But something kept bugging me the whole time... see, I'm not writing to get rich (Sure, it would be nice...) - but because I simply love what I write, and write what I love. Trying to figure out the whole process has been a bit intimidating, sure. I don't really feel like I have the zillions of dollars to simply bankroll my way through hiring an agent - and I don't really think I have any notable connections with the publishing world, either. I'm not exactly a household name, nor do I have anything remarkable to really contribute to the twittersphere, either. 

But that's ok. Perfectly ok, actually. I am writing what I love. I hope if you read what I write, you enjoy it too. That's it. That's all I'm going for here. CS Lewis also said something encouraging about originality, which helped keep me going too:

 "Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often is has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed in."

So if you're a writer- write. If you're a singer- sing. If you're a gamer- game. And leave all thought of public opinion and propriety in the dust where they belong.

-Ryan