“What is it that you have in your hands? Is it something that hinders you or helps you in your walk with God? Judas had thirty pieces of silver for which he sold his Lord. ‘Cast it away!’ says the Lord. Moses had a simple wooden staff. ‘Give it to me!’ says the Lord. ‘And I will use it!’” Your worldview affects your writing.It influences what content you choose, how you choose to represent it, and what themes develop in response to the story’s central conflict. Every story has a lesson. It may not even be an overt lesson, something that someone can recognize and say, “That was obviously teaching the value of honesty.” It is more likely to be a hidden lesson, something that even you, as the author, might not recognize. For example, when Frodo Baggins of the Lord of the Rings offers to take the Ring to Mordor and destroy it, everyone recognizes that his choosing to do so may, in fact, cost his life. We learn something about sacrifice from his choice. We are encouraged to view it as a noble and good thing. The 2009 Star Trek movie starring Chris Rice casts the young Captain Kirk as a rule-breaker. Since it all turns out right for him in the end, and he is honored for his bravery, we learn something about rule-breaking. We are encouraged to view it, also, as a good and acceptable thing. No story is just entertainment.Do you see how the choices that characters make—and the results of their actions—influence how we view the world and our place in it? Even in the most fluffy fiction world, some overall concept rises to the forefront. Some aspects of human nature are upheld and others are not. An author’s choices about what to include—and what not to include—in a story is directly influenced by the author’s worldview. It is often an unconscious thing, as unconscious as the fact that I write like a woman because I am a woman. If you are an atheist or a humanist or a New Agey-type, you will write within the confines of your worldview and present themes that are important to your worldview and reflect values as you view them in your worldview. What is the purpose of your life?This is the number one question. This was the question with which I was wrestling when I wrote this last diary entry. What is the purpose of my life? This leads to another question: What is the value of that purpose? What makes that purpose worth spending your whole life on? This leads to a final question: What about when I’m dead? Will that purpose really matter once I’m dead?
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