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Sunday, November 13, 2011

To Touch Reality


I stumbled across something this morning that served as a powerful reminder of just how much of an impact the stories that we create can have on the lives of the people who enjoy them.

It was a conversation on Reddit regarding movies and the personal changes they had brought to people's lives.  Many users told very heartfelt tales about how each story taught them something very valuable about themselves, their lives, or the world.

The post can be found here:  "What movie has personally changed something about you, be it your way of thinking or the way you do something, and how?"

The notion that a movie or a book can change a person's life is often considered to be a bit silly and perhaps over-dramatic.  I mean, if I told someone that a movie like Iron Man taught me the importance of taking responsibility for my mistakes, most people would laugh and say something along the lines of, "It's just a movie."

But for many, it seems, movies, books, and even video games have a lasting effect on how they view life.  And I think it's very important for people like writers and filmmakers to remember the power they wield, and more importantly, to respect that power.  You never know what people are going to take away from your work, but hopefully, it will be something positive and uplifting. 

For example, I once worked with a woman who told me that her son's hero was Goku, the main character from the anime series Dragon Ball Z.  For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Goku, he was the epitome of good.  He stood up for what was right, protected the innocent, and never hesitated to put himself in harms way to help someone in need.  And I remember thinking, "If Goku can still be a hero for kids, then maybe I can also create a hero for people to look up to."

These days, the antihero rules.  But I am a firm supporter of the good old-fashioned hero of chivalry. Honor, nobility, and all that. The anti-hero rubs me the wrong way. No "good guy" should use questionable tactics to win. It undermines the spirit of conflict, in my opinion.  I mean, how do you choose who to cheer for if both characters are using the same underhanded tactics to achieve their goals?

So that's the message I put out there.  I try to present a protagonist who is a good role model.  Someone that people can look up to.  To draw inspiration from.  Some may just see it as another character in another book, but others might see a person who possesses qualities they lack.  Or maybe they might be able to empathize with the character's journey, or growth, and find hope in the hero's victory.

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not trying to say that everyone should share my view of what a story should or should not be.  But we need to be aware of the message we're sending.  People, whether it be readers of a book, players of a game, or viewers of a movie, often take away much more from our works than we sometimes realize.  And we should remember that.  Our words, our themes, our characters, and our stories can find their way into reality through the ideals and lessons learned by our audiences.

After all, with great power comes great responsibility.

God bless,
Kevin

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Building Blocks Released!!

Greetings,

I must first apologize for not having updated in a while.  Building Blocks was nearing completion and I wanted to spend as much free time as I could with cover creation and editing.  A special thanks goes to Crimsanity Creations for the awesome cover shot.  The whole image holds several symbolic meanings for me personally as well as Herbert, the protagonist of Building Blocks.  Readers can check out more art from Crimsanity Creations over at deviantArt.com!

Also, because it is a Christian book, I wanted to take the time necessary to make sure that everything I wrote matched up with Biblical teachings as I certainly don't want to lead anyone in the wrong direction.

But it's done now, and Building Blocks is available for your reading pleasure on Amazon.com, Smashwords.com, and Feedbooks.com!  Please note that this book is meant to be free for everyone, but Amazon.com's minimum list price is $0.99.  So I highly encourage you to download the book for free from Smashwords.com or Feedbooks.com!  Links are listed below.

I am aware that a Christian novel will not be everyone's cup of tea.  That's OK - I didn't write this with expectations of literary market domination.  But the most common question I get asked when people find out I'm a Born Again Christian is, "If God exists, why does he allow bad things to happen to innocent people?"  There's no easy answer for that question, but the short answer is this:  Anyone who thinks that God is a magic genie who will grant our every wish is mistaken.  God allows bad things to happen because doing otherwise would mean controlling us in one way or another.  Controlling our decisions, controlling our actions, controlling our voices, our feet, our hands, or our thoughts.  If God were to step in and stop a man from killing his neighbor, He'd be forced to momentarily take away the free will that He gave to humanity in the first place.

Obviously there's far more to it than just that, but that's what Building Blocks is about.  It's about a young man named Herbert who has thus far struggled through a miserable life and can't help but wonder why a just and loving God would let so many terrible things happen to him.

I'm offering this book for free forever because I didn't write this book for money or book sales.  I wrote it because I wanted to try to provide a better understanding of who God is and why He does the things he does.  I hope to be able to get Amazon.com to drop the price down to $0.00 once the book becomes available on Barnesandnoble.com (they have a price-match policy).  But until then, my best suggestion is to simply download the book in your preferred ereader format from Smashwords.com.  And as always, please please please leave a review!

As for me, I am going to take some time off from writing.  Building Blocks was a new experience for me; it took me out of my comfort zone of fantasy fiction and third-person storytelling and challenged my writing abilities to grow in a different direction--a direction I had not before explored.  I don't regret it for a moment; I'm glad to have had the opportunity to try something new.  But as a result, I find myself a bit burned out.   So I'm going to take the rest of the year to relax and recharge.

God bless,
Kevin

Building Blocks on Smashwords
Building Blocks on Feedbooks