So it's been awhile.

I will make it up to you with a twofer.

My first is the relationship between the author and the reader. When you read a book (or watch a movie, play a game) you are allowed to explore the realm that the author has created. You are transported to a world where you can experience a joyful afternoon or evening.

That's the easy part. Next- in this realm the author doesn't clearly define everything for you, in a game there are options, in a movie there are possibilities and (my favorite) in a book there are words.

In Christianity God uses words to create the world, and that allows authors to play god unto the worlds that they create. They define the rules, they set parameters, even give the reader clues as to what they mean. People that follow God are transported into the same world that a reader of a book is. Even amongst Christians there are different sects. When the author finishes writing he sits back and watches. He wonders what people will experience when they read his book. He has no direct intervention into the world that these people experience past what he has already given them. Sure he can come out and say things, he can give readings, but people will always side with themselves before they will believe an author on his own interpretation.

Before you start arguing about that hear me out. You've read a book before- whether it was Harry Potter or The Grapes of Wrath, you have experienced a book and then seen it turned into a movie. In your head do you picture the characters that you invented when you were reading the book, or the characters that you saw in the movie? Have you ever avoided seeing a movie so that it wouldn't ruin your thoughts on the book? I know I have. I still to this day will not see The Passion of the Christ because it would ruin my picture of what I know.

I know Mel Gibson did not write the Bible, but does it really matter? I know that Steinbeck wrote the Grapes of Wrath, but he didn't create my version of it. God may have created the world, but I made my own life, I made a version of this world that is my own. You and I can read the same book and get two completely different worlds. All the author does is write words. The better authors come across the right words, the ones that take the reader to just the right spot.

But here's something to chew on- are better readers more likely to get taken to better spots? Yes I am well aware that it depends on how you define 'better reader', but I'm just writing this.

I enjoy writing because it allows me to play god. Not in the sense of a tyrannically terrible God who dominates; but as a nurturing God, one who plants seeds and lets them evolve into what they may. Can I entertain my subjects, can I provide them a happy life. One of the few selfless things I do in life is write.

I feel like I should write something Lon Solomon esk- not a sermon just a thought.