The Art of Subcreation

Happy New Year!
I know it has been a while since my last post, but I have been brainstorming on this topic for a while.
It builds on the idea of being creative in the fact that last post I said that humans, by their very nature, are creative. I also mentioned that I believe that to use that creativity can be as holy of a work as being a pastor or a missionary.

However, I do not want to leave open the idea that simply being creative is a divine work. There are many examples of humans in history creating or imagining ideas, technologies and art forms that certainly could not be considered holy or divinely inspired. I am certain you can list a few.

That being said, I wanted to express an idea about how to be creative without having to be religious sounding.You see, I used to believe that, as a Christian, in order to be glorifying God was to always have some sort of Christian reference. This attitude could often come across as "holier-than-thou" in my choices with regards to movies, TV shows, and other kinds of media. I even debated giving up on Star Wars because of this attitude.

My writing would probably not be the way that it is now if it were not for my reading a letter my J.R.R. Tolkien regarding his creation of "Lord of the Rings." In that letter Tolkien expressed a simple attitude that he called "sub-creation," where a writer or other artist seeks to explore other avenues by which God could have created the world. To paraphrase one statement, he said that reincarnation may be bad theology in this world, but in Middle-Earth that is part of the world.

I hope you follow what I mean. Tolkien is not suggesting that writers create something outside of what God would allow; God's nature is not changing in this idea. However, since God is an infinite being, He has at his disposal, infinite ideas. Certainly the variety of plants and animals are examples of that. The idea of sub-creation then is exploring that potential and that variety. In Middle-Earth, Elves are immortal because that is how the Creator made them, not because of some magical power on their part.

With this freedom comes the ability for Christian writers to express divine ideas in a variety of ways. We can explore imagined worlds, fanciful and far away, because the Creator has given us the ability to imagine within His creation, His infinite variety.

I look forward to your comments!

God bless you!

Being creative

calvin, hobbes, creative, bored, snowman

Why is man creative? Is it an expression of how to understand the world around us? Or maybe it is a means of communication, reminiscent of drawings on stone tablets to share knowledge.

More importantly, do you consider yourself creative? If so, why do you create?

Now, I bring all these questions up for a simple reason-if we are talking about writing and imagining worlds beyond our own, should we not consider the purpose behind such imaginings?

For instance, if I take a purely survivalist and evolutionary perspective on creativity, you could run into some problems. While I will agree that being able to think creatively to escape a predator or to create new tools is an advantage, the ability to draw may be useful to communicate those ideas. However, one can also see the disadvantage of drawing on a stone tablet inside a cave as the bear comes out.

You could also take a more religious perspective too. I'm not talking purely a Christian one, but just the idea that a god created humanity and they were placed on the Earth for a purpose. What purpose would being creative serve? If you take it to a religious extreme, you would probably end up in a Middle Ages mode, where commissioned artwork is that of religious themes but more secular work is shunned or avoided.

Of course, there are other perspectives, but I wanted to address to the two more extreme ones before coming to what I believe is a biblically sound approach to creativity. In order to do so, I will be citing two passages, both from the Book of Genesis, that will give insight into why man creates, and how that creativity can best be used.

The first verse is taken from Genesis 1 and states that God made man in His own image. "26Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; (NASB)."

Now, there are several spiritual implications in that verse, and whole books have been written about man being made in God's image. Some take it as man being made a spiritual, as well as physical beings, thus differentiating man from animals. Others have pointed out that it makes man a moral creature, capable of making moral choices and decisions.

All of these points are interesting, and deserving of their own discussion. But, the focus I want to make is about man being in God's image implies that man shares some of God's attributes, such as being a spiritual being, being a moral agent and capable of choosing. There is one other attribute of God that I believe man shares; that of being creative. In Genesis 1, verse 1, we read, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (emphasis added)."

In the very first words of the Bible we are given the image of a God who creates, a God who designs the world and all the life on the Earth in a variety of ways. God, by His very nature is creative, and I would submit that man, being created in God's image, is naturally a creative being.

Why do you think you are creative?

The First Post-An introduction to the Blog

class="MsoNormal">Hi there!

If you are reading this it means I probably sent you an invitation or you came across it because you are interested in writing, science fiction, or just wondering what this page was all about. Here in this post, I will tell you and let you know what you are getting yourself into. First, I quick introduction about the author and the subject matter of this blog you will be reading.

My name is Erich, though my internet handle on this blog will be fireproof78. I am currently 25 years old (as of writing this) and have a wife and a daughter who I love spending time with in various activities. So, if there are times when this blog doesn’t get updated it is because my time is taken up elsewhere and I will get back to writing as soon as possible.

My interests and hobbies include writing, reading, and various outdoor sports, including tennis, sword fighting, swimming and bike riding. I have enjoyed most of these activities for many years, especially writing, which I can remember writing my first scifi story in 4^th grade, as well as reading as much about Star Trek as I possibly could.

Star Trek was probably my first introduction to science fiction, and my uncle, John, contributed more by giving me other books to read, such as Robert Heinlein’s Tunnel in the Sky, which is an excellent book, and Heinlein is one of my favorite authors in the genre. I have also enjoyed Ben Bova, Rick Shelly and many others as time allows to read new books that don’t have to do with school work.

I currently have a Bachelor’s degree in psychology, and enjoy understanding how things work and why people do what they do, and what their motivations are. In that regard, I can come across as kind of dependent on other’s opinions because I like to find out what other people think before voicing my own opinion. However, I have found that people often have a reason for why they do what they do, and understanding that helps me understand myself a little better.

That leads me to the purpose of this blog. This isn’t just a blog about writing. The title of it is, The Cross, the Pen, and the Galaxy. I chose those three elements to represent three different reference points that will frame the subject material I write about. The cross represents my personal belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and Creator of all things including my ability to create and be creative. Through discoveries in the creative process of writing, I have actually come to understand God a little better, and will share some of those insights here.

The pen represents the writing process, discussing aspects such as world building, different genres and themes, as well as character development and design. There are some discoveries in the process of writing and growing that I think will benefit others, and hopefully help other writers avoid some of my mistakes.

The galaxy is for science fiction, one of my interests and the subject of my current writing project. I chose the galaxy to represent scifi because of the vast size of it, and the infinite possibilities there are in it to explore. My possible explorations and inventions that I create are only a tiny speck with the universe God has created.

These are the three categories which will the majority of topics be written about on this blog. I hope to not only share insights of mine, but encourage others to explore their more creative sides.

Until next time…