At the End

"At the end of knowledge, wisdom begins, and at the end of wisdom, there is not grief...but hope."

One Fish - Dr. Seuss

Because I've been thinking about things that have influenced me. :-)
I also have two nieces that are quit enthralled with Dr. Seuss. What is it about him?

One Fish

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish

Black fish blue fish old fish new fish

Some are red and some are blue.

Some are old and some are new.

Some are sad and some are glad.

And some are very, very bad.

Why are they sad and glad and bad?
I dont know.
Go ask your dad.

Some are thin and some are fat.

The fat one has a yellow hat.

From there to here, from here to there, funny things everywhere.

Here are some who like to run.

They run for fun in the hot, hot sun

Oh me! Oh my!

Oh me! Oh my!

What alot of funny things go by.

Some have two feet and some have four.

Some have six feet and some have more.

Where do they come from?

I cant say.

But I bet they have come a long, long way.

We see them come.

We see them go.

Some are fast.

And some are slow.

Some are high.

And some are low

Not one of them is like another.

Don't ask us why.

Go ask your mother.

Thanks for reading. I know it was highly stimulating today. ;-)
Miss Pickwickian

The Eye that Blinks

"Human beings do not live forever, Reuven. We live less than the time it takes to blink an eye, if we measure our lives against eternity. So it may be asked what value is there to a human life. There is so much pain in the world. What does it mean to have to suffer so much if our lives are nothing more than the blink of an eye?" He paused again, his eyes misty now, and then went on. "I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something.
A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives that span, he is something. He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so its quality is immeasurable though its quantity may be insignificant.
Do you understand what I am saying? A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life. It is hard to work to fill one's life with meaning. That I do not think you understand yet. A life filled with meaning is worthy of rest. I want to be worthy of rest. When I am no longer here. Do you understand what I am saying?"

~ From The Chosen by Chaim Potok

What a difference Christ makes in meaning and in suffering!

I've been searching through my recent journals because I know I just came across an amazing passage from a book on suffering, but I can't remember what it was from. I'm sure I wrote it down, but I can't find it.

Here is another that is also extremely good from an Elisabeth Elliot book I've been reading...

"Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering.... The love of God did not protect His own Son.... He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process."

~Elisabeth Elliot

And Romans...

"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

~Romans 5:3-5

Okay, now I promise I won't talk about The Chosen for awhile. ;-)
We can go back to talking about Inception if you like. I was able to see it again on Monday and it was even more amazing the second time even though we were in our cheap local theater that smells like cigarettes, has bad sound, and a small screen compared to the IMax in Seattle. ;-)

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

A Character - Mr. Edward Carter

I've never been able to fully emerge myself in Elizabeth Gaskell's writing, but I love her stories and characters. I think they excel when adapted to the screen. The jerkiness and narrow description (or just weirdness) of characters smooths out on film.

I'm not saying I don't like Gaskell's work, I really do, but I just don't love her style.

She has given me some of my true all time favorite characters. Jessie Brown, Mrs. Thorton, Miss Matty, Molly Gibson, Nicholas Higgins, Lady Ludlow, Miss Galindo, and others are immortal in my imagination.

Two of my all time favorite heroes are her creations. The amazing Mr. John Thorton and Mr. Edward Carter. Everyone knows how awesome Mr. Thorton is, so this post is for Mr. Carter. :-)

What makes Gaskell's characters and stories stick out to me is their complexity. You can love a gazillion characters and be siding with them all, even though they are all siding against each other.

They might struggle with reassurance, but they are acting on what they believe to be right. They are taking a stand for something. They deal with real life problems and it's hard.

Mr. Carter is compassionate but tough.
He's loyal (even to crabby people:-).
He'll tell the truth even when it costs him.
He's willing to give great personal sacrifice to help others, even if he can't trust them or knows there will be no sort of return.

Basically, he's so awesome, yet believable.

With Lady Ludlow.
(One of the aforesaid difficult people to work with.)

With Harry.
This part is so sad.

With one of the pretties, sweetest bouquets of all time.

With Miss Galindo.

With Miss Galindo again...
Just because that is where he should be.

With Captain Brown.
No! Turn around!

With Miss Galindo.
Writing his will. One of the sweetest, saddest scenes of all time.

With Harry, Miss Matty, Deborah, and Miss Pole.

There is a relatively nice "tribute video" you can see here. I would have posted it, but I thought the end seemed sort of lame and trivial given the caliber of the character.

If you haven't explored Elizabeth Gaskell, you should! Wives and Daughters, Cranford, Return to Cranford, and North and South are all amazing period dramas.

I always enjoy trying to think through why I like a character so much or why someone is just plain awesome. I consider it a great study for my writing. ;-)

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Plot vs. Character

Is it even a question? Obviously we need both.

I've been thinking a lot about this recently. I really wanted to go to a class at the OCW conference by James Scott Bell. This "Plot vs. Character" debate with Nick Harrison seemed my only opportunity. It got my mind turning.
(It also proves my point....I went to go see the characters speak, not particularly for their subject matter. ;-)

The debate was interesting, but it didn't really satisfy me. I don't think their will ever be a conclusion.

On the surface level, my first question is-- What classic (book that has withstood the test of time) is remembered for it's great plot elements?
I admit that I forget details rather easily. There is just to much coming in too keep it all straight. Any book I remember I certainly remember for the characters...even if I have no idea what they did. :-)

All things are propelled by character. Think about it. What happens without the action of someone's character? Plot cannot happen without characters. Characters make a plot. (They can make a very bad one by sitting around and eating Lucky Charms, but it's still there.)
The actions of the plot my not always be propelled by characters in the book's pages, but they were put into action by someone.

On a deeper level, my mind rambles...
Why do we write?
I believe we write because God created us in His image, and that is to be creative!

How does the world work? Did God create the plot of the world and then make the characters to fit the purpose? Or, did he create the characters predestined to fulfill His plot for the world?

Obviously we can only begin to attempt to imitate God and His creativity. Maybe this bares to no relation to plot vs. character at all. Maybe it does.

In conclusion.

It's pretty easy to tell if an author is a plot first or character first novelist. I didn't need anyone to tell me which side Nick Harrison and James Scott Bell would be on. You can tell by their writing. Is this a bad thing? I don't think so. We just need to like both the subject/plot and characters.
We all have different strong points and we all have so much we can learn from the other!
Many character first novelist would be lost without good plot advice and many plot first novelist would be.... Well, they'd be in pretty bad shape without some good characters!

I still haven't figured out if I'm a plot first or character first writer! Most of the time I think I'm a a character first.

All my story ideas begin with a name and character. He wants something or is in the middle of something horrid. Then I have to go back and actually fashion a plot. This makes me think I'm a character first novelist.

But sometimes...I really feel like a plot first. I have this horrible habit of having things happen to my protagonist. Wretched or wonderful things are happening, but my character hasn't really done much to get those going. This is especially prominent with my female characters. There's a intricate plot going on, but its happening to the character.

Maybe I'm just equally bad at both. ;-)

Have any thoughts on plot vs. character?

Thanks for reading this ramble.
Miss Pickwickian

Oregon Christian Writer's Conference (Part 2)

So...I learned so much! I hope I can keep it all crammed in my head and apply it. I did take a lot of great notes. Hopefully I can do some summaries in the weeks to come. It would be good review for me. Writing out things always helps cement them.

Anyways...

I really have no idea how to hit any of the amazing things that happened this week.

I met James Scott Bell.
I brought Plot and Structure and Revision and Self-Editing and got them autographed. Yeah! (If you want to write and don't know those books you should check him out. I've never got hooked on his fiction, but his writing books are extremely good. Plus, he's a cool person and speaker.)

I met Hillary Manton Lodge.
I bought Plain Jayne and got it signed. I'm normally not in to Amish fiction, but this one looked pretty spicy.
And guess what guys? Check out my side bar, Hillary Manton Lodge is following my blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I met Jill Williamson.
I only could afford the first book in her series, Blood of Kings. So now I have an awesome, autographed copy of her Christy Award winning, By Darkness Hid. Hopefully I can acquire the second book soon.

I met Christina Berry.
Who amazingly lives in the same microscopic town as me! I bought her book Familiar Stranger.

I met Leslie Gould.
In fact, I was in her coaching class! She taught an absolutely amazing class and I got some extremely helpful critics on my story. I am so excited and encouraged. She is awesome. :-)

I met Jeff Gerke. (Fiction pen name Jefferson Scott.)
And he made me the happiest person alive by reading some story and saying "It wasn't terrible." Seriously, I can never remember being so elated in my life! (I'm dead serious here.)
I was also able to purchase his book The Art and Craft of Writing Christian Fiction. It's actually the only new book I've started reading, and it is totally amazing. (I'm still in the middle of three or four I don't want to drop just because I got some new ones.)
Marcher Lord Press
Where the Map Ends

I met so many other totally awesome people I'm not mentioning. Seriously. It was so great. So many people worked so hard to help us all grow and have a wonderful time.

One young lady I met was Rachel. She is just getting ready to launch her blog, The Jesus Adventure. Stop by and follow or encourage her!

Life has been intense.

The night I got home from the conference we went to an outdoor play of Twelfth Night. My sister posted about it. Check it out. It was really good and it's still playing for the next few weeks in Hillsboro. I've always loved Twelfth Night and is was wonderful to see it live.

I'm so inspired to sit down and write, but my computer is sick with a virus. :-P I guess life has been to crazy anyways, but I am determined to amend my schedule so I can and will write everyday!

I've probably bored you by now....
So farewell for the present,
Miss Pickwickian