Faith and Fiction Roundtable: Godric

Aug - 28 - 2010

Godric by Frederick Buechner is one of my all time favorite books. In fact, I don’t think it’s too big a stretch to say it’s one of the great works of our language. It’s a thing of astonishing depth and beauty and anyone that aspires to write should make time to read it. Outside of Shakespeare or Milton, I don’t think I’ve ever read a book so meticulous in its language, so thoroughly winnowed to the kernel of meaning. Wendell Berry often talks of the writer’s craft as an economy of words; a writer’s job is to sweat over his words and spend them with thrift. And that, I think, is where Buechner’s Godric so amazes me. It’s a short book, not even a novel by current standards, yet each word is placed just so and taken as a whole they carry the weight of volumes.

I was delighted, then, to learn that Godric was this month’s Faith and Fiction Roundtable selection (hosted by My Friend Amy). Each month a small circle of bloggers are selected to read the month’s book and discuss it. A portion of the discussion is then posted on each blog and links are provided to the rest of the conversation. It was a pleasure to discuss one of my favorite books with these folks and I hope you’ll visit each of their sites and maybe even join in the conversation yourself. If nothing else, I hope you’re moved to read one of the great novels of the 20th century.

This month’s Faith and Fiction Roundtable is:

Unfinished Person
My Random Thoughts
The Fiddler's Gun
Shelf Love
Book Addiction
Books and Movies
Wordlily
My Friend Amy

Pete: I love the idea that Reginald's perspective is God's perspective, God's re-write via the lens of Christ. I'd always looked at it as a depiction of the church's white-wash of history (which seems to be the way Godric himself sees it), but I have a feeling your insight is much more in line with Buechner's intent. Thanks for showing me that.

I can't wait to read this book again. Sadly, it's one of those that I never seem to have my own copy of because I'm continually giving them away to someone who hasn't yet read it.

One of the things that always confounds me about the book is the strange semi-romantic relationship between young Godric and his sister. It always strikes me as borderline inappropriate and a little creepy, but at the same time undeniably beautiful. Anyone else notice that?

Teresa: I'm glad you brought up the relationship with his sister, Pete, as uncomfortable as it is. I'm still sorting out how I feel about it because, as you say, it's presented as something beautiful, but also inappropriate. And even as Godric deals with all his sowing of wild oats, it's his affection for Burcwen that haunts him. It seemed to me like a lot of his guilt feelings came from there. I couldn't quite make up my mind what Buechner was trying to get at there.

Amy: Yes! I was very uncomfortable with the relationship, but didn't know what to make of its purpose at all.

Visit the sites listed above for the other portions of the conversation.

Spit and Polish

Jul - 26 - 2010Filed in: Writing, editing

For the past few months I’ve spent time writing Fiddler’s Green nearly every day. I like to plant myself in the back corner of Pantera Bread (because it rocks), or my neighborhood Starbucks (where they know my name and give me free stuff), or the burrito shop down the road (chips and fruit tea all day long) and once I’ve settled in with something tasty to eat or drink or both, I crack open the Macbook and get to work. Some days it might be an hour, others it might be six or more. And there’s a lot of hand-wringing going on because now that The Fiddler’s Gun is in readers’ hands, expectations have been whetted for the next book and the conclusion has got to satisfy...Read the entire post

The Chameleon

Jun - 16 - 2010Filed in: Writing

There’s an aspect of writing that I often struggle with in which I find that my own style is reshaped by whatever or whomever I happen to be reading at the time. I’ll write a passage one day and when I peruse it the next I’ll discover that, like the skin of a chameleon, it’s taken on the rhythm, structure, or vocabulary of someone else.

For instance, I began writing The Fiddler’s Gun almost immediately after reading Frederick Buechner’s Godric and in the end I had to completely rewrite the first few chapters because they had the same archaic and often yoda-like sentence structure as Godric. It was fun to write but it certainly didn’t fit the tone of the book. It wasn’t really my writing–I was parroting, riffing off of a better author. I find that this sort of thing happens to me all the time and often wonder where the line is between influence and imitation.Read the entire post

Tags: Writing

Faith and Fiction Round Table: Peace Like a River

Jun - 06 - 2010

It was a pleasure to again participate in the Faith and Fiction Roundtable with a number of other websites and bloggers. This month the subject was Leif Enger’s beautiful novel Peace Like a River (one of my favorites). The discussion is divided up among the different participating websites and blogs. Be sure to work your way around the ‘table’ to read the entire discussion.

My Friend Amy--Introduction
Devourer of Books--Expectations
Wordlily--General Impressions
A Lovely Shore Breeze--Davy Part 1
The Fiddler's Gun--Davy Part 2
Melanie's Musings--Other Characters

Davy Part 2

Hannah: This conversation about Davy (Amy, Caite) is reminding me of Bones. I've been re-viewing the show via Netflix Watch Instantly, and I'm seeing parallels between Reuben's feelings toward Davy and his situation and Brennan's feelings about her father's situation during his murder trial. Sure, she knows he's acted wrongly and deserves to be punished. But that doesn't eliminate her sorrow over the thought that her father might be taken away from her again, as Amy said. There's more to it, but the words are only coming in a jumble right now. I think another piece of this is that in the beginning of the book, Reuben's perspective is that of a child, very absolute, his big brother can do no wrong. Sure, between the lines we see he's troubled and probably not headed down the best path, but I still see him, at least a little bit, through Reuben's black and white eyes.Read the entire post

Digital Release of The Fiddler's Gun: Letters

May - 21 - 2010Filed in: Writing | Publishing | Promotional

I know a lot of folks were disappointed that The Fiddler’s Gun: Letters was kept to a print run of only 100 copies. To be honest, I didn’t expect to enjoy the project as much as I did. It took on a life of its own during the writing, providing a couple of fun story arcs and what was, for me as a writer, an enjoyable way of getting to learn more about my characters and explore their lives in ways that didn’t make sense within the context of the novel. What I was left with in the end was a little book that I really loved but had, unfortunately, committed to a limited printing of only a hundred. Well, I told myself, I’ll release the digital version a little later and folks can read it that way.

One of my prime complaints against digital books, however, is that they require a certain sterility of design due to the limitations of the software and hardware that they are read on. It is true that the final worth of a book is found in its writing, in its words, and that’s not something that’s significantly altered by a font or a page margin. I really felt though, that part of the charm of The Fiddler’s Gun: Letters was in its design...Read the entire post

Tags: Writing, Publishing, Promotional

A Voyage to Stranger Seas

May - 19 - 2010Filed in: Editing

Thanks to all of the readers out there telling your friends about the book. You are the reason The Fiddler’s Gun has been such a success. But don’t stop! Let your local bookstores (especially independent bookstores ) know that if they aren’t stocking The Fiddler’s Gun then they are, as a reader told me lately, ‘missing the boat’.

And remember, if you send me a picture of yourself posing next to the book stocked on the shelf in your local store, you’ll get a free advanced reading copy of The Fiddler’s Green later this year.

Speaking of The Fiddler’s Green...Read the entire post

Tags: Editing

Hutchmoot 2010

May - 12 - 2010Filed in: Events

After a lot of planning and hand-wringing by members of the Rabbit Room team, we’ve finally unveiled what we hope will be a meaningful event for years to come. It will take place on August 6-8th this year and we’ve christened it, the Hutchmoot. The goal is to provide a weekend of conversation, community, tasty food, good music, and great literature.

I’m excited to be a part of a session called “Perfected in Weakness” along with two wonderfully insightful writers, S.D. Smith and Travis Prinzi. We’ll be talking about literary themes of triumph through weakness and humility and I’m confident that it’ll provide folks with some good meat to chew on. Recommended reading for the session is the work of Walt Wangerin and J.R.R. Tolkien. I’m pretty sure there are some applicable angles in The Fiddler’s Gun as well.

The part of the weekend that I’m most excited about, however, is our special guest and keynote speaker, Walt Wangerin, Jr.

In my mind, meeting and hearing Walt Wangerin, Jr. speak is tantamount to meeting J.R.R. Tolkien or C.S. Lewis in the flesh. Wangerin’s work has been a giant inspiration to me. His National Book Award-winning The Book of the Dun Cow is one of my favorite books of all time, as is its sequel The Book of Sorrows. Wangerin is a master of elegant prose and complex character, and he’s a diligent miner of deep spiritual truth through imaginative fiction.

If you’re coming to Hutchmoot 2010, I look forward to seeing you there.

Tags: Events

Visiting the Battle Ground Academy

Apr - 26 - 2010Filed in: Events

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of students at the Battle Ground Academy in Franklin, Tennessee. It was an honor to be able to talk with them about both The Fiddler’s Gun and the challenges of creative writing. I often worry that the generation coming up has abandoned the joys of reading and writing but the students I met were an inspiring surprise. They reminded me that the precious creative spark, though sometimes dim and lost among the ashes, is kindled yet and smoldering. I don’t know that there’s any greater joy an author can experience than to see the sparkle in eyes of his readers and my thanks goes out to the Battle Ground Academy for allowing me to see it in their students.

If you or a school in your area are interested in hosting an event, contact me for details.

SN151617

Tags: Events

Pirate or Ninja: A Giveawy

Apr - 21 - 2010Filed in: Promotional

Lydia at The Lost Entwife blog has been sponsoring a giveaway of The Fiddler’s Gun this month and there are only 9 days left. All you have to do to enter is answer the question “Pirate or Ninja?” and leave her your email address for notification if you win.

While you’re there, be sure to check out her review of The Fiddler’s Gun.

Tags: Promotional

Bookstores Near You

Apr - 18 - 2010Filed in: Promotional

The Fiddler’s Gun is finding its way into bookstores around the country thanks to a lot of you kind readers. Keep up the great work.

Here’s a picture of Matt at the Stately Raven Bookstore in Findlay, Ohio:

MeWithFiddlersGunAtStatelyRaven

And another of Paula at The Book Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma:

Paula

They’ll both be receiving advanced reader copies of Fiddler’s Green later this year. If you want to get your hands on it early as well, talk to your local bookstores, get them to order a copy (or 8) and then send me a picture. Thanks for reading!