Having coauthored multiple times in the past, all I can say is that each situation is unique.  Sometimes an author has a project he or she feels would benefit from someone else’s writing.  Sometimes two authors come up with an idea together and decide to share it by co-writing.   And then sometimes coauthors are born through freak, bizarre exchanges like this one…

There’s an old saying by somebody-or-other that says, “Cats were once worshiped as gods; they have never forgotten it.”  Most cat owners, myself included, will tell you with a wink that this is true.

Cats, on first impression, appear to be aloof and self-centered creatures.  Although in reality they depend on their humans for food, water, and shelter, cats do an excellent job at pretending to be independent.  They do not devote themselves to their human like dogs do; they do not come when they are called or follow at their owner’s heel.  They are … read more »]]> Owning cats makes me philosophical.

There’s an old saying by somebody-or-other that says, “Cats were once worshiped as gods; they have never forgotten it.”  Most cat owners, myself included, will tell you with a wink that this is true.

Cats, on first impression, appear to be aloof and self-centered creatures.  Although in reality they depend on their humans for food, water, and shelter, cats do an excellent job at pretending to be independent.  They do not devote themselves to their human like dogs do; they do not come when they are called or follow at their owner’s heel.  They are not loyal; rather, they are fickle and will only accept a human’s affection when it suits them.  In all ways they carry themselves as though they are king and humans are there to serve their needs.

This is until a cat finds a human that it loves.  Then the tables turn and suddenly the cat will not be satisfied until its owner returns its affections.  It will beg for attention; it will seek out its owner and cry until the human pays attention to it.  It will try any number of methods to solicit a pet.  And when the owner finally relents, his mere touch sends the cat into purring bliss.

And then it becomes clear–it is the human, not the cat, that is lord.  The cat exists for the human’s pleasure and is completely dependent on him, not the other way around, no matter how self-sufficient the cat may believe it is.

I was pondering all these profound observations this morning after my cat Gracie, a sassy shelter rescue who had (falsely) been labeled as socially inept, had thrown herself at my feet.  In addition to musing that having a cat so ridiculously devoted to me was probably bad for my ego, I wondered if perhaps this is a little bit how God feels when we bow ourselves at His feet.

By design, we humans are independent beings.  Even though in reality we depend on God for our every need, we go about our day as though we are self-sufficient, fully in charge of our own lives.  God has not wired us to think like dogs; we are not naturally obedient, devoted, and loyal.  We do not easily respond to training.  We will only love someone if it suits us.

You can’t make a cat love you, no matter how hard you try, and some cats will never show great affection for their owners.  Some will maintain their aloof, independent cat mystique for the rest of their lives.  And even if a cat loves you, it will only exchange affection with you on its own terms.  A cat will only come begging for your affection when it desires it–just like we humans will only seek God when we desire His presence.

Many people (particularly dog owners) wonder why someone would keep cats.  Why would you keep a snooty, fickle creature–one who serves no purpose and may only ever condescend to “coexist” with you–when you could have a loyal, obedient dog that can work and guard the house?  What pleasure do we cat owners find in our small domesticated felines that makes us want to invite them into our house and make them a part of our lives?

Even though I am a cat owner, I find it hard to articulate.  Maybe we kind of like the cat’s sassy independence.  Maybe it’s their appearance–I know I’ve spent a great deal of time fawning over my cats’ shapely ears and starting into their large, glassy eyes–or maybe we enjoy watching their antics.  It’s probably a little of all of those things.  But after today, I’m wondering if perhaps the main reason we cat lovers keep felines as pets is simply because we love them for who they are… and we are willing to work and wait on the hope of experiencing that warming and exalting feeling when a cat returns our affects of its own free will.

God has told us quite plainly that He made us for His own pleasure, but we Christians often wonder what pleasure we sinful  humans could give a glorious and holy God.  There is nothing we can give Him, and any good work we do for His service will never be enough to pay for all the care He has given us–not to mention repay all the grief we have caused Him and the damage we have done to His creation and His other servants.  God invests far more in us than we will ever give Him in return.

Why does He bother?  Why would He fill His creation with us, invite us into His home, surround Himself with us?  Why would He take great care to provide for our every need, delighting in fulfilling our whims and pleasures, always trying to show us His love?  Why would He wait an eternity, set the worlds in motion and maintain them for centuries of sin and grief and pain, on the hope that we will one day come to Him of our own free will and give Him our love?  Why would He not rather populate His world with obedient, easily-trainable dog-like creatures that would cause Him little grief and do His work with ferocious loyalty?

I can only imagine that it must be, in some small way, similar to the reasons I love my cats, independent wretchedness and all.

Photo is of my late cat Henry.  Ironically,  Henry never quite shook his aloof independence…

When I heard via Twitter that Miriam was poking about for guest post opportunities, I was very eager to assist a fellow writer.  After all, I wanted to promote her new book, but I’m too lazy to do book reviews on my blog.  (I put all that stuff on Goodreads where I don’t have to be formal.)  So instead of … read more »]]> What better way to christen my new blog than with a guest post from a good friend?  Everyone please join me in congratulating my Twitter buddy Miriam Joy and her friend Charley Robson on the release of their coauthored book, St. Mallory’s Forever!

When I heard via Twitter that Miriam was poking about for guest post opportunities, I was very eager to assist a fellow writer.  After all, I wanted to promote her new book, but I’m too lazy to do book reviews on my blog.  (I put all that stuff on Goodreads where I don’t have to be formal.)  So instead of trying to put together a promotional post of some kind, I just made her do all the work by writing a nice article for me to share.  Huzzah!

It was not difficult for Miriam and I to agree on a topic—coauthoring!  Having coauthored works with others myself, I was eager to hear Miriam’s opinions and advice on the subject. She graciously obliged; below you will find an article by her on the subject for your enjoyment and edification.

But before you can read that, the obligatory book blurb:

When her mother becomes head of music at St Mallory’s School for Girls, Helen is uprooted from her London comprehensive to start a new life in a totally alien environment – a boarding school. But before long, the behaviour of the other girls is the least of her problems: Helen picks up a piece of rare music from a shop in Brighton, and suddenly she is at the centre of what seems to be an enormous conspiracy.

The bursar is behaving suspiciously. Her mother is lying to her. And now Tim Morrigan, a boy from the partner school, is getting involved. Do they all want the music, or are there other motives in play? And since the music appears to have been written after the composer’s death, is it real, or simply an elaborate fake?

Accompanied by Abigail Roe, a veteran student with a penchant for Shakespeare and geek culture references, and Xuan Liu, the well-travelled daughter of a Chinese diplomat, Helen sets out to solve the mystery. But homework, lacrosse matches, and morally ambiguous members of staff all seem to be determined to stop them.

You can find more information on the book’s official website, and here’s an Amazon link I hope you’ll take advantage of.  Miriam and Charley also have blogs.

Now, without further ado, I give the stage the Miriam.  Enjoy!

***
Collaborating’s a weird thing—especially when, like me, you’re something of a control freak. You invent a character, but then the others give them attributes you hadn’t expected. You put them in a situation, which develops in a way you couldn’t have imagined. And, of course, when you get stuck, there’s someone else to take the wheel.

The thing about St Mallory’s Forever! was that we didn’t really plan it before we started. All we knew was that it was a mystery, in a girls’ boarding school. That was literally it. As the characters started to develop, so did the plot: Helen was musical, so perhaps there should be a musical element, for example.

Of course, we were fairly sure that we would have fairly similar ideas. Charley and I are very good friends and judging by how similar our theories are when we’re watching shows like Doctor Who (we had, like, the exact same ideas for last series. Both of us were wrong in some ways, and right in others), our brains work along similar lines. It helped that we were in near-constant communication: there was one point where I had an idea and it was clearly just so important that I had to text her… while sitting in a Chemistry lesson. (I was never all that keen on Chemistry.)

But it’s still a weird process. I really enjoyed it, though. I mean, for a debut novel, to share the credit and the blame equally with a bunch of other people is brilliant. If people hate it, it’s clearly someone else’s fault, right? Yet there are a few drawbacks.

Emails. When there are only two of you, emailing Word documents back and forth is absolutely fine. But with more than two (we had between two and four at any given time in the collaboration), it’s going to cross, or someone isn’t going to be included in the latest update, or you’re going to be working with outdated material… And then, of course, you get a folder full of documents entitled things like “Chapter 25 onwards—Charley and Miriam” only to have it replaced by a hundred “Chapter 25 onwards” files with varying levels of edits.

Yeah, we tried Dropbox, and thought about Google docs, but this did seem like the most practical, given that we were never working on the same systems. Dropbox was fine for me at home, for example, but if I was on a school computer? Forget about it. We’re not allowed to install things and they’re temperamental at best.

Which brings me onto another issue with collaboration: if one person has three weeks of exams and the other has three weeks of holidays, you’re sorted. But if you all have a busy three weeks, it’ll get pushed aside. I guess this is the same with solo works, but then the only person you’re letting down is yourself, right? And, of course, you need to make sure you all have the same timescale in mind. If one person is aiming for finishing it at Easter, and the other is aiming for Summer, you’re probably not going to be working at the same speed. This can cause difficulties.

But there’s one super advantage with collaborative writing: you have built-in beta readers, critique partners and editors. You write a chapter, and you know that one of the others will read it and change a few things, then later it’ll be edited to fit with chapters surrounding it, and finally the whole book will have a pretty thorough edit from a couple of people, and you don’t even have to step outside of the ‘author circle’ (which is now what I’m calling it) to do all that.

I was recently reading a book about writing (Monkeys with Typewriters, by Scarlett Thomas) where she talked about writing for an ideal reader. For one person in particular who will read your book. Are you trying to make them laugh? Make them cry? How will they react to this scene? And of course, with collaborative writing, your ideal readers are your other authors. I know that certain turns of phrase will have Charley in hysterics, so I’ll include them; she’ll do likewise for me. We’ll write to entertain each other because we know that in half an hour, they’ll be reading what we wrote. It’s very immediate. There’s no abstract, “I think they’d like this.” Either they will, or they won’t—and in the case of the latter, they’ll tell you, and it’ll get changed.

It sort of keeps you grounded and focused. It’s tempting to think that collaborative writing is easier—it’s not, unless you’re really really good friends, and prepared to compromise occasionally—but at the same time, it does have this immediate, concrete nature. You don’t have the option of hiding whatever you wrote in a drawer and never showing it to anyone. There’s no time for that. So you learn to come out of your shell and actually just write for other people as well as yourself.

I think that was the most important thing I learned during the writing of St Mall’s, really.

To begin, let me give Calix (who insists on being called by his first name, although I stubbornly substitute ”sir” whenever possible) a flattering introduction.  A prolific filmmaker and a resident of L.A., Calix knows pretty much everything there is to know about filmmaking and the entertainment industry (or, at least, he knows more than enough … read more »]]> I would like to dedicate this post to my illustrious screenwriting mentor, Calix Lewis Reneau, a man who, in addition to teaching me everything I know about filmmaking, enlightened me about the most fundamental issue in Christian business ethics and showed me how to avoid it.

To begin, let me give Calix (who insists on being called by his first name, although I stubbornly substitute ”sir” whenever possible) a flattering introduction.  A prolific filmmaker and a resident of L.A., Calix knows pretty much everything there is to know about filmmaking and the entertainment industry (or, at least, he knows more than enough to help clueless young’ns like me get started).  He is also a passionate writer with a sharp sense of story, as well as a Christian with a keen insight to the “religious” side of the industry.  And as it happened, he for reasons beyond my comprehension choose to take the time to bestow this wealth of knowledge and experience on a certain ignorant teenager who’d decided to write a script even though she hadn’t seen a movie in several years.

Said ignorant teenager was me, of course.  I do not recall how it all transpired, but I remember Calix one day offering to walk me through the process of building a script.  I eagerly accepted, and he sent me the most bizarre homework assignment I had ever received.  I soon came to love his homework assignments; I learned more about writing through my informal study under him than I have from any other source during my career.  Even now, after I’ve long since “graduated” and turned to sharing his lessons with others at every opportunity, I am still coming to him with questions and pleas for advice.  To record all the wisdom I have learned from him would take a book—I might write a such a tome one day—but in this post I will focus on one of the lessons Calix taught me about collaborating with Christians.

Calix didn’t intentionally teach me this lesson; I’m quite sure we never discussed it directly.  It was something I picked up simply through the experience of working with and observing him.  Nevertheless I know him well enough that I am reasonably confident he won’t mind my using him as an example without his prior permission.

To best explain the lesson he taught me, I will demonstrate with a story.  Suppose you decided to paint a mural on the wall of the children’s room in your local library as a service project.  You had the design sketched, approved, and penciled unto the wall and were looking for more volunteers to help you paint it in.  You put up flyers announcing the date of the workday and inviting people to come paint.

As you’re working that day, a new volunteer joins your group—one of your fellow art students from college.  Even though he is talented and goes to your church, you are not at all fond of his art style.  You are well aware of his pornographic choices of subject material; you had to unfriend him on Facebook because he constantly posted pictures of his obscene paintings.  You constantly turn down his requests for your critique on his work.  Often you have wondered how a professing Christian could paint such images and have even approached him about it, but the conversation didn’t end well.

Now he wants to work on your mural.  He’s excited; he thinks it’s a great service to the community and loves your design.  He’s very happy to volunteer his time on your project.  You could use his experienced painting talents for the detailed areas of your design.  Will you let him join the project?

You’d be surprised how many Christians would say “no.”

Maybe some of them wouldn’t say it in action—they wouldn’t turn their wayward painter-friend away at the door—but I’ve witnessed enough interactions between Christians in business—particularly the entertainment industry—to know that many of them are saying it in word and in spirit.  In their heart, many Christians run by the principle “We cannot work together on a project if we do not agree on theology.”

If I may be so forward, I’d like to suggest that this mindset is unbiblical, unprofitable, and one of the main sources of strife and division amongst Christians in the industry.

How did I come to this conclusion?  Well, simply put, if I followed this mindset, I would not have been Calix’s student.  I probably wouldn’t associate with Calix at all.

Calix and I disagree on theology quite severely.  If we were to draw up a catechism I’m sure we’d agree on most of the fundamentals about the nature of God and the like, but in terms of lifestyle—and entertainment—we disagree on numerous things.  I would not watch many of the movies or read many of the books Calix does—including some of those he himself produces.

Though we are both Christian writers and filmmakers, the projects Calix and I work on are very different.  In fact, the difference is so pronounced that I have had people ask me, in so many words, “How can you work with Calix?”  How can I study under someone who’s theology is in so much conflict with mine?  How can I learn how to write from someone who writes books I wouldn’t read?

My response to these inquiries is:  Why shouldn’t I?  Why should I deny myself a valuable opportunity to learn from an experienced filmmaker simply because he watches movies I wouldn’t?  What does his personal theology matter when it doesn’t affect our study together?

Calix’s personal opinions, theology, and lifestyle have never affected our study.  We were discussing writing theory, a subject that was not only of mutual interest but also of universal interpretation and application. The story wisdom I learned from Calix could be used on any project I chose to pursue; I could take the tools he had given me and use them to write my own books that followed my personal standards of theology.  He agreed to teach me knowing full well I would use the knowledge on projects of my own design, and in the meantime he did not force his standards on me.  He did not make me watch movies I found objectionable during our study, nor did he use films I hadn’t seen as examples.  When he assigned homework, he let me choose my own films to use.  Never once were our differing opinions on movies even mentioned during our several years of study.  There was a mutual respect—he was considerate of my standards, and I did not confront him about his—and, as such, our differing theology was not an issue.

And that is perhaps the most valuable lesson Calix taught me—and a lesson I wish other Christians in the industry would learn.

There are times when theology can prevent Christians from working together.  Using my fictitious story about the mural as an example again, suppose your liberal classmate invited you to help him paint a mural you found offensive.  Absolutely without question you would politely but firmly refuse; beyond a doubt God has instructed us not to assist others in projects we find objectionable, as that would be forwarding their sin (2 John 10-11).  Similarly, if your liberal classmate had joined your mural project during the concept stages and suggested some changes to your design that you found offensive, you would have to firmly adhere to your standards; if he refused to consent, you would have to remove him from the project.  In both of these cases, your friend’s errant theology is relevant, and it is the biblical and wise thing for you to do to judge his or your involvement in the project based off of your convictions.

But what about cases where the theology is not relevant?  If you agree on the project at hand, should you not work together simply because you disagree on an unrelated issue?  If you both like the design, is there any reason you should not paint a mural together?  Would you refuse to work with someone on a clothes drive simply because you disagreed with their stance on abortion?  Would you choose volunteers for a pro-life rally based on their beliefs about women in the ministry?  Would your sign-up sheet have a box that says “Do you think women should be allowed to be pastors?”, and anyone who checks “yes” isn’t allowed to participate in the rally?

In such a case it seems laughably obvious; of course you wouldn’t exclude people from a pro-life rally based on their opinions regarding women pastors.  Women in the ministry has nothing to do with the fight against abortion; anyone who agrees that abortion is evil and wants to volunteer their time and effort to oppose it is welcome.  It would be ridiculous to bring the issue of women pastors into the equation; it would only cause unnecessary strife and division and distract from the issue at hand—abortion.

While it seems so obvious in such an extreme case, the sad truth is that I have seen many Christians act under the same principle in other situations.  In word and deed, they make it clear that anyone who does not agree with their theology is not welcome in the industry, even if the theological issue is irrelevant to the project at hand.  They cannot associate, much less cooperate on a project, with Christians with whom they do not agree on nonessential issues.  They label this backslider’s work as “not Christian.”  They regard him with suspicion when he frequents an explicitly Christian writing forum.  And they wonder why a conservative girl takes lessons from an apparently liberal* filmmaker.

With the exception of the last statement, I am not referring specifically to Calix here.  It is a mindset I have seen arise time and time again.  I watch Christians spend countless hours debating nonessential issues of theology, even accusing and condemning one another, instead of focusing on their goals and projects.  When people spend more time debating whether or not it’s lawful to swear in movies than they spend making movies, their focus is in the wrong place.  And when Christian businessmen and artists draw lines in the sand, dividing themselves into camps based on theology and refusing to work with people from the other side, they gender unnecessary strife and cripple their own projects.

In no way am I advocating compromise on theology, and in no way am I advocating commending another’s errant theology.  I am only saying that I would have missed out on a valuable opportunity to learn if I had refused Calix’s advice because I didn’t like some of the films he watches.  And my own films and books—the writing wherewith I pray I glorify God—would be much the worse because of it.  What, I ask, would have been the profit in that?

As I opened this post by commemorating it to Calix, let me close it by saying—thank you, sir.  For everything.

*Calix, you must forgive me for the use of this term, as I lacked a more accurate one.  But as you yourself said, most conservatives would deny you membership to their club… *winks*

Who am I?  I’m Aubrey Hansen, a screenwriter and author, to put it simply.  If we haven’t met before, you can browse the pages on this website (which have all been freshly updated for this grand reopening), which will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about me and my work.  Most of you, however, are probably already quite familiar with me from … read more »]]> Welcome to my brand spankin’ new site!  Whether you’re an old friend who’s come over from my previous blog, or a new acquaintance who’s just stumbled by, I hope you will stay and enjoy my ramblings.

Who am I?  I’m Aubrey Hansen, a screenwriter and author, to put it simply.  If we haven’t met before, you can browse the pages on this website (which have all been freshly updated for this grand reopening), which will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about me and my work.  Most of you, however, are probably already quite familiar with me from my previous blog and are only reading this obligatory introductory post as a courtesy.

No, I’m not new to the blogging arena; I’ve been blogging since the fall of 2010 on aubreyhansen.blogspot.com, but I have, as you can see, started over on this new site.  Why the switch?  Well, I needed a more versatile engine to support my website needs, as well as a design update to accommodate my changing content.  And so, with the help of the talented Andrew from Mosaic Web Studios, who also designed my first site, I am very proud to welcome you to the new and improved aubreyhansen.com.  I hope you will all make yourselves at home, subscribe, and continue with me on my blogging journey.

Now some of you may be wondering what will befall the archives on my old blog; in fact, I know you’re wondering that, because you’ve been asking about it since I announced I was moving.  After much debate, I have decided not to transfer my old posts to this new blog.  As much as I treasure my backlog of ramblings, I am in favor of clean slates and had no desire to clutter this shiny new blog with 2+ years of disorganized posts.  The archives will remain live on the old site for now, but in the near future I have something special planned for them.

In the meantime, pull up a chair here, as I will resume blogging with my usual assortment of rants, ramblings, and the occasional organized article.  Thank you so much to each of you for taking part in my blogging journey and coming along quietly through this transition.  God bless you all, and enjoy the ramblings!