Because Scripture study is a part of my daily life, I’m hoping to use this as the jumping point for the “new” Fig. Previously, I had used other bloggers to kickstart my ideas. However, I quickly became disenchanted with that as there was way too much to read.

Withering Fig

For those who are curious, but don’t want to click through, here is the text from the About page:

The purpose of Withering Fig is to invite conversation on all kinds of topics pertaining to Christianity — both academic and faith-based. Bridging the gap between critical studies of the Bible and acting out a faith on a day-to-day basis is the heartbeat of Withering Fig. It’s what we do!

Withering Fig was founded in 2007 by Stephen Hebert. Stephen is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and holds the degree of Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. His specialties are early Christian history, biblical texts, and noncanonical literature.

Currently, Stephen lives in Friendswood, Texas with his wife. He works in the tech field and volunteers with local ministries.

Previously, I posted about my friend, Jeremy, who is a super-cool rocket science nerd, Young Life leader, father to a sweet little baby girl, and quite the “amateur” photographer. I put quotes around “amateur” because I would gladly buy some of his prints¹; thereby, rendering him a bona fide pro!

Jeremy has decided to supplement his personal site, and Flickr site, with a little WordPress photoblog: Lightsmith Labs. I’ve featured one of his photos above from a post called Impressionistic Backyard — pretty cool stuff, if you ask me.

I think you’ll agree that Jeremy is a talented and creative guy. Leave a comment or two on his blog!

Notes

¹ No doubt Jeremy is reading this post wondering why the heck I haven’t bought any prints. It could be that I’m cheap. It could also be that I have no control over my home’s decor.

Honestly, the cartoon hooked me into the article. This toon could be the subject of many blog posts (and may very well be), but for now I’d like to consider gapingvoid’s post. Essentially, he’s following a young French friend of his, Chantelle, who is attempting to break into the Parisian literary scene–apparently, a tough nut to crack. She tries schmoozing publisher after publisher, but the only one who seems interested loses interest as soon as he realizes that she won’t be sleeping her way to publication.

Here is gapingvoid’s advice (and response):

Being an avid blogger, of course, I was not very helpful.

“Your book has thirteen chapters,” I say. “Voila! That’s thirteen blog posts. One chapter per blog post. Put it online, and you’ll have a book offer within six months. Trust me.”

Of course, this is not how you do it in Paris, supposedly. You do it by going to all the right parties and hobnobbing with all the right people, supposedly. If you’re good at it, you get a book deal, supposedly. If you’re really good at it, they’ll also let you go on the highbrow TV talk show circuit and pontificate about “Couture” with all the other erudite culture vultures, supposedly. Maybe give you an occasional column in Le Figaro, supposedly. An intoxicating combo of both celebrity and bourgeoise respectability, supposedly. Very elite, supposedly. Very French, supposedly.

Blog your novel–an interesting thought. I’m sure it’s been done. I’m sure there are some perfectly capable, or near-capable novels out there that have been blogged. Why should or shouldn’t you do this?

The Should Not’s

One of the tensions that has been going on in this blog from the beginning has been my unwillingness to post any “unfinished” story. There are several reasons for this:

• It’s Not Finished! — One strong reason that has kept me from putting my work “out there” on this blog is the mere fact that it is, as of yet, unfinished. Should a gem cutter put an uncut stone on the market? The conventional answer might be: “Only if he is a crappy gem cutter.” When it all boils down, I don’t want anything that is not of the highest quality attached to my name. Unfinished stories are not of the highest quality, and they are not representative of my skill–so, easy, don’t put it out there.

• A Bit of Fear — I, of course, realize that at this juncture the only people who follow this blog are close friends and family. For whatever reason, their opinions matter to me. To put something out there that I don’t feel is ready yet and to subject it to their ridicule worries me a bit. I’m not so much worried that they won’t like it–some of them will; some won’t. I’m more worried that I will allow that to discourage me.

• Copyright — Even though the home page sidebar currently reads “© 2008 Stephen B. Hebert” (hmmm, I should probably add this to the other pages), I do worry that I could be ripped off.

• Bad Business? — Maybe I’m not thinking clearly, but I have to wonder why a publisher would want to publish something that is “already out there.” I must admit, at this point the publishing industry is a total freakin’ mystery to me–maybe there is a market for a blogged novel. Sure, Dickens’s serials were published as novels later, but I’m no Dickens (or am I?).

The Should’s

OK, I’m gonna try not to be such a Negative Nancy–

• Get ‘er Done — One way of going about this would be to serialize the novel. This could have the added side effect of helping to spur your creative juices.

• Feedback — If the posts were created in a sort of workshop model, you could garner feedback from a wider range of people than those you might normally have access to. If you’re like me, you have some good folks who will tell you what they really think. At the same time, you’ve got some friends that will compliment you no matter what. Maybe on the web, you could get some more realistic thoughts on your work.

• Published! — Hey, it’s out there now–people can read it. Wasn’t that the point?

Other Thoughts

A commenter on the aforementioned article at gapingvoid had some interesting thoughts (I have edited the URLs to make the post a little easier to read):

I am with you on this. There are some good fiction writers out here in the ether. Its a good way to test drive, get some feedback and fine tune as you write. see:

Gareth L. Powell
Daisy Bennett

There is also FictionPress but I am a little overwhelmed by the volume myself.

Also Authonomy an experiment from HarperCollins I discovered via Neil Perkin.

There is always an audience if you look for it. Promising French writer shunned by literati publishes in English on web…

If she builds it: they will come.

Those sites are definitely worth checking out. I take issue, however, with the “if you build it, they will come” attitude here. I suppose it’s possible that your novel “goes viral,” but the intricacies of blog promotion and the whims of the blogosphere are utter mysteries to me. I can build it. Sure. But I have no idea how to get people to come.

All of this is to say that I am thinking quite seriously about putting a good chunk of work up here over the next few weeks and months. Not sure that it will happen. I’ve got to get over all of those “should not’s”–but maybe, just maybe, you’ll see some more original work up here in the future.