Authorship

I've decided to write a novel. I don't care if I never finish it, but I do care that I start it. I was struck by the idea of writing a story about the lives of a couple guys and how one generation never thinks it will screw up as much as the previous generation, which is of course erroneous . . . they just screw up differently. But that's another post entirely. Story aside, let me just explain what its like to embark on this adventure into authorship . . .

As I started to develop and encounter my characters I was stuck by several things. Firstly, I was amazed at how my characters change. When I first looked into the eyes of my protagonist, I could hear a reader look over my shoulder and say "he has your eyes." It makes sense, he is from me, born of my experience. I am the father to this character, but before I know it, I can tell that he will grow up and have a life of his own.

Despite (Trotzdem) our varying paths, I will always have a connection to him, because we are family. As I work my way through the Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, my casting off on Authorship illuminates my reading. The three brothers are called Alyosha, Ivan, and Dmitri Fyodorovich (Son of Fyodor) Karamazov. Yes they're narrative father is Fyodor Palvovich Karamazov, but existentially their father is Dostoevsky himself. Upon entering this communion of authorship, I see that all my favorite characters are not Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, but Bilbo and Frodo Tolkien. Not Dorian Gray, but Dorian Wilde, etc. etc. Some authors have a nuclear family of characters while others have generations to themselves.

Then there is the macrocosmic narrative. La Grande Histoire d'Histoire or Die Große Geschichte der Geschichte which means The Great Story of History, to which God is the Author with us.* With this, one understands that it is God's story, history is His-story. In this plot, we find tragedy, comedy, and always revelation of what reality is and who we are called to be. And though our plots meander and collide in a constant tumult of conflicts and resolutsion, my brief experience as an author tells me that God will always remember that day he created us. He will remember that day he held us in existence for the first time and said, "You have my eyes."

This is indeed, a novel experience . . .
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Tübi Wörter
Nomina
die Gerechtigkeit: justice
die Einführung: introduction, advent, entering ("the leading of one")
Verben
bedenken (bedachte, hat bedacht): to consider, ponder
ändern (änderte, hat geändert): to change, alter

*Read G.K. Chesterton's Everlasting Man to understand the concept of Jesus as the central character of History. I am starting it this weekend upon my completion of The Brothers Karamazov. If you don't start reading it, at least pray that I finish it, because I've been meaning to read it for far too long.