On My Writing

The hardest part, was when I was a bit younger, I had absolutely terrible prose. It’s still not the best—so people say, but I have a PA Dutch roll where I poetically inflect things, and use generative syntax.

But, just developing a style people would read.

The Love of Another, took me 10 years to finish. My first drafts were word salad, but I edited that work about 100 times. I just kept editing it, and editing it, learning.

So, I had a short story about the World War IV in my collection. And my other novel was consistently being edited as I worked. And my dad had a hand in editing it, too, but he got Then and Than completely mixed up. But, he did a pretty good job.

But I could see the difference in my short story. It was just rough. A lot of verbosity that didn’t need to be in there, a lot of function words… I edited it about 7 years after I wrote the thing. That one my uncle read, and said it was terrible. And it was… it was poorly written, but I had to come into my style.

Well, I had an English Teacher as a friend, and we argued consistently about my style. Well, to prove her wrong, I wrote a story called The Riddle in the Sea, where I used no Helper Verbs, Adverbs, Pronouns or Conjunctions. In the Dialogue I did. And… lo and behold, that act of rebellion improved my writing style immediately. It made my style more concrete.

So, I’d say finding my voice was the hardest hurdle, as I had the ideas. I was very structured—the English Teacher friend said my structure was perfect—and I had the ideas. I just needed to clean up my language.

I’d say also an 051 English Course, that just went over all the basics of syntax and punctuation, helped a lot, too. It just taught me to use commas, and semicolons, and colons, and em dashes… So I just got better progressively.

And I’d say Hail Britannica helped too. I wrote a first draft, and went over the entire thing, replacing Latin and French words with German and Old English words. Which helped crisp my language a lot. Which, that work I actually dreamt before writing it. So it is the proper Epic Poem, like John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.

Which, funny story about that Epic Poem, I had a vision or something, of a friend who was going to give me a Dream Machine. This shows up in my writing. And I had a conversation about the book before it was ever written. And in the vision, it was a chalice of blood that I had to drink, that I don’t remember drinking (The Cup of the LORD’s Wrath). But, in real life, I walked back through my hallway, and prayed not to receive it. And my friend disappeared. So, I still have this dream spirit attacking me—I think it was a curse—but like John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, it is also prophetic.

Which, the Lord says in Isaiah:

21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:

22 Thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:

23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

On a Modern Crusade

This would go down as one of the greatest tragedies in history, if Christians actually did this. It'd prove to the world how backward we are, and make the religion die in one flew. People like me would understand, and stand out of it... and just be like Noah or Abraham, one of only a few people in the world who know God... but this is not good lines of thinking. This is bordering on dangerous... and I just got to put my two cents in, as my goal is to see the religion flourish a long time from now. Let us be the victims, rather than the barbarians. As then we'll have the support we need. Like in Rome, we didn't fight Rome, we allowed ourselves to be victims, and that gained the ear of Constantine.

The Force and Knowledge

[W]hat corrupted [Anikin] was acting loose with the force. It’s like knowledge, you can corrupt yourself by finding perverted uses for it. Especially when you abandon what’s natural and pure for what’s artificial and coercive.

Like, knowing psychology and sociology you can use it to get what you want, or build up people. Knowing history, you can use it to undermine peace, or establish it. Knowing science you can build perverted pleasures, or use natural methods to foster cleanliness and peace—Also ties into The Lord of the Rings, is the main conflict is raw power and the waste of industry warring with peaceful authority.

That’s why I’m Christian, is Christ establishes peace, as His philosophy is pure.

Interestingly, the Northern King, the main antagonist in Daniel 11 and 12, worships a God of Forces, which may be prophesying that this king believes in the religion of Star Wars.

On Gangs

That’s a fundamental problem you just elucidated, that murderers, thieves and liars are more trusted than police. Gangs are not justice. You have to understand that. Before you can have true justice.

I mean, frankly, that’s tribal feudalism you’re describing, and not civilization. It’s barbaric.

I don’t know if you’re in a gang, but it’s just not healthy, nor does it make happiness. Your subjects are in constant fear of two blocks down, and travelling to the wrong road. That’s not freedom. At all. That’s tyranny, guised in the form of philanthropy. And many people it’s divided down racial barriers. It’s an old problem in America, but one people have to decide not to put up with. Police should be trustworthy, and where they’re not you get these primitive politics.

On Rome and Christianity

{}[T]he people accepted Christianity willingly. It didn't have to get forced, and when Julian the Apostate reinstated Paganism, the people didn't get swayed by it. So, indeed, it is that the people were tired of the Pagan religions, because it brought disorder. You can't force on people your will. People crave stability above all other things, and Christianity gives stability.

[Also], what placed man back 500 years wasn't Christianity, but the fact that Rome became very hedonistic, and people stopped caring about their work, which turned to a loss of skills, which meant they couldn't maintain their roads, aqueducts or armies, or their logistics, and couldn't maintain any discipline--as people loved pleasure--and they lost their resolve.

But, yes, people accepted Christianity willingly. You can't force a population to do anything. And Christians being killed, it grew in popularity, and overtook the government, and when people had the chance to be Pagan again, they didn't take it.

Which is the same thing happening today. Christianity was just a social force, that made their fellow citizen less dangerous. Because people were extremely dangerous, being so idle at that time. Christianity bolstered the population, with a good set of moral values, and set up a framework which would build the States we have today. Which, are collapsing for the same reasons Rome did.

Second Reflection on the Wizard of Oz

My faith, personally, sees Wicked Witches, and knows they often get the power structure, and nothing uproots them. So, my faith isn't one that expects life to go swimmingly, or get me what I want. As I know there are real forces, and God's not always going to directly act on someone's behalf. As there can be chariots of iron in the valley. There was one moment while reading it, where I saw the Winkies were freed from slavery, and counterpointed it with Exodus, where the Jews wanted to return to Egypt, and I realized that the latter is the actual state of man, if we're not being sentimental. And that's one reason why the Bible is so credible, is that it actually explains human nature, and really confronts the theodicy without any sentimentality or illusions.

Thoughts on the Wizard of Oz

It's obvious Frank Baum is critiquing religion, and not in a bad way. He's just saying religion is a way to get what you want out of life, but it doesn't do anything real. And he's counterplaying it with the fact that magic doesn't belong in the real world. Basically, elevating scientific materialism over supernatural explanations, but faith is benign, if it gets people what they truly want, as it was always in them to begin with.

Chess

Chess is the most beautiful game in history. All aspects of human intelligence are found over the board. Memory, creativity, tactics, psychology... Like you can go 50 moves deep into an opening, or just blow it on the first five turns, and do some amazing sacrifice, or set up a tactical position that forces your opponent to do something in three turns. It's a brilliant game. And being only 64 squares, and completely visible--both players have complete information--it's truly a meeting of minds.

Truth

Well every lie is made truth by scholars. Guns jammed in Vietnam because of ammunition malfunctions, not dirt. Christians were never persecuted in Rome or Europe. Math is a Western Concept. Truth is your truth, no one else's. Everything we read, we get to say what it means, and nobody's opinion is less valid than another's. And then they enforce this through accreditation processes. Almost to say, if you're going to publish a serious article, you have to do so in bad faith, and lie or disrupt the tradition. Which further gets bolstered, because no new works of literature or important ideas are allowed to get light, and history can only be analyzed correctly once, and all afterward it's plagiarism.