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C.S. Elston

Worshipper, Husband, Author, Screenwriter, Home Cook, Fan

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Common Design?

September 14, 2018 By C.S. Elston

I thought, this week, instead of a typical blog post, I would post a small excerpt from the first novel I wrote and had published, “The Four Corners.” I’m currently writing the sequel, “The Four Corners of Darkness,” so my head is in that space right now. The following is approximately the first page of a chapter entitled “A World Aware” and it occurs almost half way through the book. My hope with this post is that it can spark some conversation. I’ll paste, below the excerpt, links to where you can find me on various social media platforms. I’d love to know what kind of thoughts this excerpt generates about both the scientific and spiritual implications.

Without further adieux:

Like a plant, every person begins as a seed. Each seed contains the genetic make-up, passed on through the generations of family members in the lineage of the father who produced that seed.

It is then placed in the mother’s womb where it adds the genetic make-up from her lineage. The mother of all plants is the earth itself and, therefore, that womb is the soil the earth provides. For people, the womb is inside the mother’s abdomen.

Both wombs provide protection from the outside environment so that the seed can grow and start the process of becoming what it was created to be. Inside both wombs, the seed is provided with the nourishment required to mature into the plant or person it needs to become before it is ready to enter the outside world.

However, once the plant or person has entered that world, it is not meant to be detached from its mother just yet. The plant still has its roots embedded in the womb it came from and the person, while not physically, still does as well.

Both continue receiving nourishment from their mother. The plant still gets it directly from its mother’s womb. The person, however, can then be fed by either parent. Or, even another person.

In the outside world, the protection of the mother’s womb has significantly decreased. Both plants and people are still growing into what they were created to be but that growth is determined by additional factors. Not the least of which, physically for the plant and spiritually for the person, is how much exposure they have to both the light and the dark.

 

 

Excerpt from “The Four Corners” used with permission from Electric Quill Press, LLC.

 

Find C.S. Elston on: Twitter – @cselston; Facebook – facebook.com/cselston; LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/cselston

Filed Under: About Me, Blog, Faith, Home, My Books Tagged With: book, book series, Books, children, Christian, Christian books, christian fiction, christianity, conversation, Creation, dad, debate, evolution, faith, family, Four Corners, Intelligent design, mom, parenting, parents, plants, pregnancy, pregnant, religion, roots, science, sequel, spirituality

My Favorite Thing About Being A Writer

October 20, 2017 By C.S. Elston

October 20, 2017

By

C.S. Elston

 

 

One of the many questions that I’ve been asked repeatedly is, “What’s your favorite thing about being a writer?” Surprisingly, it’s not an easy one to answer. Perhaps that’s because, on any given day, my answer changes depending on my mood, my latest project or for countless other reasons. However, a handful of answers do seem to come up a lot.

I love that writing gives me a voice. People can express themselves in many ways. That’s one of the numerous things that makes any kind of art so great. For me, it’s through writing. Everyone has something to say and I have the privilege of saying it through writing.

I love that writing lasts. We don’t have videos of events that happened thousands of years ago but, we do have written accounts. Homer and Dante didn’t make movies but they did write The Odyssey and Inferno. The written word is a timeless tradition that I am very proud and honored to join on any level that I can.

I love that writing takes me and others on adventures. As I flesh out a story, I get to go on the adventure with the characters. When I write in “The Four Corners” series, I get to go to a fictional world called Kadosh. “The Gift of the Elements” series has taken me as far away as Japan and will eventually take me to both Chile and Finland. Then, when I finally finish and send the story out into the world, others get to go on those same adventures. I, for one, think that’s awesome!

Perhaps more than anything else and, therefore, the answer I give the most often and would probably pick as the number one reason if forced to narrow it to only one, is that I love that writing means I get to create something new. I love to create. It’s also why I enjoy cooking so much. In both cases, you start with nothing but an idea and wind up with something you hope is wonderful when it’s all over. And, in both cases, you can bet someone will let you know how wonderful (or, conversely, awful) either way.

Granted, the building blocks you use aren’t completely original to just you. With cooking, the ingredients come from somewhere. Even if they come from your own garden, you must thank God for sending the sun and the rain. And, with writing, the same is true. You’re building off your life experiences and the things that have inspired you. After all, as creators, we’re all actually imitators when it comes right down to it. In fiction, we’re imitating real life. In non-fiction, we’re documenting real life. And, the truth is, we’re all just imitating the original creator anyway.

The process can be a minor taste of hell at times but, in the end, we all hope it’s worth it. And, for me, so far, it always has been.

 

(BACK TO LIFE OF ELSTON)

Filed Under: About Me, Blog, Home, My Books, Writing Tagged With: author, book, book series, Books, Chile, dante, Finland, Four Corners, Gift of the Elements, homer, illiad, inferno, Inspiration, Japan, Kadosh, odyssey, readers, reading, screenwriter, stories, story, the four corners, the gift of the elements, the illiad, the odyssey, writer, writing

Finding The Inspiration To Write

October 2, 2017 By C.S. Elston

 

 

I mentioned a couple of weeks back that I might do a post on finding inspiration to write. So, as promised…

Personally, I find inspiration all over the place and in any number of different ways.  Particularly when it comes to finding what it is I want to write about. That can truly come from anywhere: a news story, a song on the radio, a conversation with a friend . . . I’ve already written posts about what inspired my first two novels but, this might be a good time to bring it up again.

The inspiration for The Four Corners struck as I was driving down the 101 freeway in Southern California and thinking about all the different lives that were being lived by the people that surrounded me at that moment. Specifically, I began to think about the home-lives of the people in the houses and apartment complexes that I was passing by. It struck me that some were happy homes and some were not. That led to pondering the many differences and, conversely, the many similarities that existed between them and what led to the contrasting outcomes. Ultimately, I realized that a lot of those households could be changed if the people in them were faced with an extreme circumstance that forced them to realize and admit to both themselves and to each other, how much they loved one another. Those thoughts led to a book. And, now I’m currently writing the next book in the same series, The Four Corners of Darkness.

Although the inspiration for The Gift of Tyler also hit me in the car, it was a completely different experience. For one thing, I wasn’t alone. In fact, I wasn’t even driving. I was in the backseat and my parents were in the front. I was visiting from Los Angeles and we had just been to dinner. The song “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” by Five For Fighting came on the radio. I had heard the song many times previously but, for some reason, the lyrics resonated with me on a far deeper level than they ever had before that moment. I was taken by the idea that being the most powerful person (human or not) on the planet could be difficult and extremely lonely. From there, I wondered what it would be like if someone grew up thinking everything was normal and then suddenly found themselves in the position those lyrics were referring to. A person in that scenario would be faced with a choice between using that power for the common good or for selfish gain. Three weeks later, I had completed a screenplay for The Gift of Tyler. In a couple of months, the next book in The Gift of the Elements series, The Gift of Rio, will be released and I’ve already outlined the third book, The Gift of Matthias.

The main takeaway is the simple fact that there is no way to know when or where the inspiration for a great new story is going to strike. But, when it does, it’s unavoidable. It’s also awesome. You wouldn’t want to avoid it if you could. That’s why it’s always smart to keep a notebook handy. Or, a voice recording app on your smartphone. Whatever works best. Just don’t miss the opportunity to grab a great idea while it’s there because they can be as fleeting as the memory of a great dream.

Then you begin the much lengthier process of turning that brilliant new idea into a full-fledged finished piece of work – whether it be a short story, a 600-page novel, or something in between. I’ve already done a blog post on writer’s block so, I’ll try not to be too redundant. My main point in that post was that I find writer’s block to be little more than a myth. Sure, some days writing comes easier than others. That can be as simple as mood. And, some pages are easier to write than others. It’s all part of the process.

Sometimes, you just need to clear your head. This can mean temporarily moving on to another project, whether the project be something else you’re writing or pulling some weeds in the garden. The bottom line is that a writer needs to let the process run its course without letting difficulty become an excuse for laziness. As I said in the writer’s block post, “Do whatever it takes: A walk in the woods, a lengthy prayer, some journaling at the beach, or, maybe you need the inspiration that another artist can provide – a song with a similar feeling to the one you’re trying to write about.” Even another book, a movie (could be just a scene) or a TV show that you know hits you with the same type of emotion that you’re trying to convey. I’m not suggesting plagiarism. Far from it. Don’t copy. Just use that other piece of work to get you where you need to be mentally and emotionally so that you can do your own work and convey the story and the message that you set out to from the first moment where you were originally inspired to write whatever it is you’re writing.

Find what works for you. And, it may be different on different days, with different projects, and on different pages. That’s okay. Again, it’s part of the process. Every great piece of literature and/or art has a story of its own. A journey that the writer or artist took to bring it to life. Don’t be afraid to take it. Embrace it. No matter how frustrating that experience can sometimes be, when you look back, it will also be part of the joy that piece gives you. And, whatever you’re working on can become the inspiration for someone else. Or, maybe even for yourself at some point.

That’s the beauty of art, of writing, and of being an artist or a writer.

 

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Filed Under: Blog, Home, My Books, Writing Tagged With: 101, art, artist, author, book, book series, Books, California, Five For Fighting, Four Corners, four corners of darkness, freeway, gift of matthias, Gift of Rio, Gift of the Elements, Gift of Tyler, Inspiration, Los Angeles, movie, Music, screenplay, screenwriter, screenwriting, series, song, Superman, superman (it's not easy), tv show, writer, writer's block, writing

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