A different drummer

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau

Hear it? There’s a drumbeat in Genesis 1 and it goes like this: according to its kind. For writers, it’s a directive, not a description. And our Creator’s drumbeat for each one of us, like Henry David notes, is as different as a mellow marimba is to a crazy rimshot riff.  

Henry David was right on

Let’s start at the very beginning, as Maria urges the Von Trapp kids: God created an extravagantly diverse variety of creatures. To fill the Earth with His glory, each was blessed with the capacity to reproduce abundantly, according to its kind. This offspring reflected each species’ unique beauty: whales beget whales, ants beget ants. There may be variations in feline size and markings, but cats will never beget an elephant. (Although it could be argued cats create as much havoc as elephants when ticked off.)

In the same Genesis chapter, God commands humans, made in His image, to be fruitful and multiply. I believe that includes the subgenus writers. Writers, at core, find their purpose and joy in creating worlds through words. What if that joy is more fruitful and abundant when we produce (and reproduce!) according to OUR kind, like God says?

Follow me here. When I write what I love, in my voice, I’m reproducing according to my kind. And my kind of readers—similarly wired folks—will love it. (Goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway, that presumes I’ve written deeply and soulfully, crafted my story well, and published to the best of my ability.)

Flamingos aren’t rhinos

Okay, so, when an author writes to their own heartbeat, their work is authentic and unique and reflects their Divinely distinct programming. All fine and good. But what happens when authors are informed that only certain tropes and types are selling and what they’re writing isn’t currently marketable? Come back in ten years? Or crank out another Austen-a-like with an unexceptional-but-market-friendly twist?

If I write according to someone else’s “kind” (aka chasing the latest chick lit or cozy murder trend to attract readership), my work is inauthentic and almost guaranteed to fall flat. And (I’m going out on a theological limb here), I don’t believe such compromised or copycat works will be blessed. Adopting another author’s voice/passion/brand is the bookish version of a mule—neither donkey nor horse, this sterile hybrid isn’t and can’t be fruitful according to its kind.

Your secret soul mate

Writers are born, it seems, with certain interests, drives, tics, passions. Why an obsession with Victorian trains or fossils or old movies or prehistory or trees or the Wild West? Maybe some can point to a likely first cause, but often, we bump into our secret fascination one day and boing, we’re smitten. No explanation, except we instantly recognize a part of our soul that just happens to live outside us. And we MUST write about it. And research it. Endlessly.

Why did God plant these curiously insistent seeds in writers? Maybe because He wants us to grow and share our unique version of that story. In our voice. With our passion. According to our kind.

Despite increasing demands for safe, similar editions of topic and tone and even cover art, I challenge fellow Christian authors—as beings made in the likeness of a Creator who adores lavish diversity—to unleash the wonderfully singular stories He’s put in YOU.

Staying true to your sub rosa authorial vision, producing “this is my beloved child” literary offspring from your deep-woven (some might say twisted) DNA is one of the truest forms of worship for writers. And Genesis 1 is God’s permission slip and marching orders to uncork something truly one-of-a-kind.

So, I say, let ‘er rip. Be fruitful and multiply! But, for the maximum blessings, do it all according to your kind.

“Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:11-12