The beginning....

I've always loved stories. In particular fantasy stories such as the Chronicles of Prydian by Lloyd Alexander or the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. C.S. Lewis brought in a blend of fantasy and modernity with his Chronicles of Narnia by having modern day children magically transport to another world. But good fantasy is hard to come by, especially if one want's to a distinctly Christian message to it. There is certainly a desire for it. The Harry Potter craze should be sufficient testimony to that. So I decided that I wanted to write a fantasy story, not so much because I want to be a published author, but because I love good stories.

I've tried writing stories before without much success. I get part way into one and then it just seems to dead end. It wasn't until college English classes that I found some really helpful tools to develop a good foundation for writing. About the same time, I also discovered a great tool in none other than Gary Larson, creator of The Far Side. He talked about one of his greatest problems in creating cartoons and that was forgetting great ideas that he came up with in some unusual places. So he got into the habit of carrying a notepad for sketching ideas. I thought that was a great idea, so I created a computer file for all of my story ideas, from which I then build a story outline. Thus began the series I call The Will of the Author.

The series started more as a study regarding God and his sovereignty. In the New Testament, God is referred to as "the author and finisher of our faith." That word author really stuck with me. If one is to look at an author and the book the author creates, one can see many parallels between the author's nature towards his fictional creation and God towards us. This became the basis for The Will of the Author. In the story, the God figure is referred to as The Author. I did this intentionally rather than coming up with some fictional name. I wanted those that read my story to be able to see the parallel, so I made it as blunt in the story as possible. I also wanted to address some of the concerns that we as people face and the difficulties we have in trusting in God's sovereignty.

There are many theological challenges to a sovereign God, and through the telling of a story, I hope to address those issues. Fantasy can draw interest and captivate the imagination, and people are often more willing to accept ideas when they are attached to a story. It is my hope and prayer that I can do just that with my stories and help instruct in sound doctrine and theology through the telling of stories. This is my goal and I will try to keep a brief log of the progress on my stories as they are written.