Author Appleton

Writing. Fantasy. Sci-fi. Mystery

Counter Culture

Divinity and accountability in Fiction

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When writing I have often pondered the futility of leaving God out of the story. His presence, whether embodied or as a distant spirit-being, omnipresent and omniscient, is necessary even in fiction. Without an ultimate accountability characters lose their punch.

All stories need a level of good versus evil. Characters make choices between right and wrong. Humanism would have us believe that we do not need God to explain the choice between good and evil, whereas the standard of morality we know is completely dependant on Him.

Western society is founded on the moral system passed down by Judeo-Christian values. Without a Common Standard of morality society is left to the whims of its individual members. One person may say that stealing is wrong, but another may say it is not because they believe in survival of the fittest.

Why is sin always sin? Why believe in truth and falsehood? Because we do have a standard in the laws passed down by God through Moses and the prophets and Jesus Christ.

This is pivotal in writing. Literature needs to reflect that God is the same always, whether in the past or in the present or in the future. An eternal being whose standards are not dependant on our desires, whims, or failings.

Without that standard a story becomes dependent on the characters’ perspectives. But when that standard is used the story gains coherancy because all actions, whether good or bad, have consequences temporal . . . and eternal.

Freedom of choice does not mean your characters can escape the fact that they are created beings.

Question: How does accountablity to God factor in the fiction you read and write?

4 Reasons Why I think Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys helped shape family fiction

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Were you one of those readers that got hooked on the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mystery series? It is important to understand what made those mysteries so accessible to us and here is why:

The Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy mystery stories drove home traditional family values with characters who were morally upstanding. (Quite the contrast to the majority of contemporary fiction.) Growing up I recognized that something about those series grabbed people in an extra powerful way. Interestingly, here are four areas where they differ from most contemporary fiction:

  1. Both series showed strong-willed characters who were passionate about helping people, including saving people in need.
  2. Nancy, Frank, and Joe treated their fathers with the greatest respect and had strong relationships with them.
  3. Nancy, Frank, and Joe chose friends who were responsible and motivated.
  4. They also LOVED to read and research.

We need more fiction like that. We need NEW fiction like that. Unfortunately the book industry leaders think they know better. I’ve been told that in order for young adult fiction to sell it needs to do much the opposite of these things. Specifically the adults must be inconvenient annoyances.

My response to this? What is the purpose of those books? As an author I want to motivate and inspire. But most publishers want to follow the trends. Well, I pray that God keeps some of us authors from doing that so that you, the reader, can be convicted, inspired, and motivated to uphold good family values.

Question: Do you think authors should cave to popular wisdom, or write the stories that encourage readers to stand for what is right?

3 Reasons to Follow Our Dreams

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It seems that many of us settle for things in life. Even when we have a clear idea of what we like to do, what we love to do, and know why we want to do it.

My dream has been to get back to full-time writing. It’s a challenge because the initial income is less than ideal and the focus required means that I must be willing to sacrifice in order to make that happen. I must be willing to move to a part of the country where I can afford to comfortably support my family on a writing income and that means moving away from family and friends. Uproot in order to plant my family where we can be used by the Lord in a far more effective way.

So many things can pull us away from and even make us sacrifice our God-given dreams. Do you want to be an author? A pastor, a missionary, an artist, a musician? It is going to require sacrifice and mental drive, a drive to succeed in spite of the messages to the contrary from the voices inside ourselves.

Here are three reasons we need to follow our dreams:

  1. To remove ourselves from our comfort zones so that we can grow in deep and meaningful ways
  2. To find greater fulfillment in life by doing the thing we are passionate about
  3. And, perhaps most importantly, to better the world with the gifts that God has given us

Question: What obstacles stand in the way of you achieving your dreams?

Counter Culture: Material Gain Does NOT Equal Happiness

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We are constantly bombarded by the material things in our world, and those things promise us easier life and deeper satisfaction. WE ARE BEING CONDITIONED TO COVET WHAT WE DO NOT HAVE. But we must remember that material gain does not grant us happiness.

The mad rush of societies from ancient days until the present is this: we seek riches, luxuries, and pleasures. Our culture teaches that to have more is to live a fuller life. It tells us that without things we cannot be happy. Yet here is a nugget of wisdom we need to remember and encourage one another to teach:

There is not a more wicked thing than a covetous man: for such an one setteth his own soul to sale… and he that is to day a king tomorrow shall die. For when a man is dead, he shall inherit creeping things, beasts, and worms. -Ecclesiasticus 10:9

It is all well and good to enjoy the things God has given us, yet it is easy to be distracted by them and make them our priority. It is prudent for us to remember that the things of this world provide only temporary pleasure. If we put our energies instead into those around us, encouraging each other to live for the Lord, we will have eternal blessings. And imagine how trivial this life will seem after a thousand years have passed on the new Earth. The things of this world pass away, but we are eternal beings and we need to prepare ourselves for that future.

Question for you: In what ways does culture make you place greater importance on Material Gain? What habits help you put material things in their proper perspective?

Book Look! Pilgrim’s Progress

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Pilgrim’s Progress. I must have read that book three times when I was growing up and what an impression it left on me. John Bunyan’s classic allegory for many years was the best-selling book next only to the Bible. Even today its popularity is evidenced by the many various revisions and editions it has populated.

But why does this allegory resonate so well with people?

I think it has to do with the character of Christian and how he changes during the course of the story. After his conviction he follows the narrow way and each challenge along the path brings him closer to Paradise. Through a fantasy-type setting we can relate to Christian’s victories and his failings. We desire the same thing he did: victory over the Evil One and Eternal Life. We must struggle with faith in a physical world populated with individuals who deny God’s very existence or scoff at the necessity of repentance and a following after good works.

This book is timeless and powerful, encouraging us to be the men and women of God-granted potential.

Question: Have you read The Pilgrim’s Progress? Did it inspire you?

Counter Culture: We Have No Mother Earth

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On a recent drive to work I stopped at a traffic light behind this silver jeep adorned in all sorts of bumper stickers. One in particular caught my eye: THE EARTH DOES NOT BELONG TO US, WE BELONG TO THE EARTH and beside the text was a sketch of Jesus.

Really now, this has become a popular way of thinking of the Earth. It seems that the 1960’s have not fully been dispensed with. Let’s see what Scripture says about the Earth.

Who does the earth belong to?

The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. -Psalm 24:1

Who does the earth belong to? It was a gift to mankind.

And God said, “Let us make man in our image… and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing upon the earth.” -Genesis 1:26

Amazing how that bumper sticker reverses everything. First off, it is true the earth does not belong to us, but we are masters of it. Secondly, we do not belong to the earth. We belong to the Lord God and He has given us dominion over the Earth. This is an important distinction. The earth and its resources are a blessing given us by God. We are certainly responsible for being good stewards of that gift, but we have no mother earth.

Question for you: What are some of the other false views society puts forth concerning this topic? How do you view the Earth?