frydwords … Out of the pan & into the dire

Previously I mentioned that which is ‘dire’ preps us for The Way to hope, and thus dire fuels story. Indeed, I suggested renaming this blog to ‘Dire-ctions’ … I am still mulling that one over. But today, in the interest of dissecting my current blog title, I want to touch base with the many connotations of ‘pan’:

At first search I found no less than 20+ meanings of the word (even with the duplicates) outside the two well-know idioms of … “flash in the pan” & “out of the frying pan”. Feast your eyes on these and then go write away.

–verb (used with object)

–verb (used without object)

—Verb phrase

–noun

–verb (used without object)

–verb (used with object)

–noun

–noun

To wash gravel, sand, or other sediment in a pan.

To yield gold as a result of washing in a pan.

WOW! One word … many idioms. My friends, this is what makes the craft of writing fun! I really like that last one, “to yield gold as a result of washing in a pan” - then to drop it into the refining fire of the dire. So many connotations, so little time.

panning for gold in them thar words,

david w. fry

I should probably warn you that I like to play with words like those of my youth played with tinker toys.  A dictionary to me is a construction set.  And the chief cornerstone is already laid in my worldview, so let the building begin.  By the way, my foreman allows extensive remodeling to take place and that is ever so reassuring because if the construction is left to me,  well - we’ll just not go there shall we?

Now then, playing forward off the inaugural post to this newly birthed blog, the opening line of my ‘techno-stalking’ WIP hints at something dire … injection into story.

As such, I would like to visit for a moment the ‘dictionarified’ take on the word ‘dire’ just to make sure we are on the same page. 

dire:

1.  causing or involving great fear or suffering; dreadful; terrible

2.  indicating trouble, disaster, misfortune, or the like

3.  urgent, desperate

4.  warning of or having dreadful or terrible consequences; calamitous

5.  fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless

Friday the 13th notwithstanding, these definitions certainly sound ‘curse-worthy’ to me … in the sense that humanity is fallen, is fallen.  I mentioned earlier today on a fellow crafter’s blog the following:

At writer’s conferences we hear the mantra, “conflict, conflict, conflict” - raising the stakes, etc.

Put your protagonist into trouble and heap it on. hmmmm, sounds rather dire to me.

But is not all of life … biblical stories going forward, a retelling of the tale of dire?  Does not God’s Law point to our dire condition?  Sad to behold but there are many who are lost … asking the question, “Saved from what?” 

Dire straits!  That’s what. 

But, and it is indeed a Big But -  the forgiven have the blessed assurance of redemption.  For that reason, story works.  And we can stand and say Rejoice! and again I say, Rejoice!  For we have something to rejoice about.

Methinks that is why story is so compelling. Because dire preps us for The Way to hope. Forgive me for playing with words here (something I love to do) …

“Dire-ctions to hope!”  Maybe I should rename my blog to that instead.  hmmmm.

I guess in a verbose and roundabout way I am trying to convey this idea that dire is the state of our present reality - with communities of disonance & imbalance.  That invokes an aura of built-in tension which fuels story.

So even if our fiction doesn’t appear to have neat and tidy happy endings or elements where ’temporal’ good prevails … still, its all good!  No doubt from the perspective of present reality, many who witnessed the martyrs would be hard pressed to color those experiences as good.  And yet, from the perspective of God and his highly mysterious ways - It all works together for Good.

I am “dire-ing” to know what you think.

Blessings,

 david w. fry

Greetings! Thank you for clicking in to the blog realm of “frydwords … Out of the pan and into the dire!”.The christening of this blog on Friday the 13th, of July, 2007 - rings ironic to me insofar as its very title suggests some misadventure is afoot. Humor me to dispose rumor to reality. It is. Indeed, I might go so far though as to tweak ‘Webster of the Unabrigded’ on the nose, for taking etymological license with a contemporary moniker of my own:“miss-adventure”

Therein lies the crux of my rumination. Rumination is simply a big word that means: meditate, muse, ponder or the more pedestrian idiom of chewing the cud. You see, it is the use of words … over and over and over again that preoccupates those of us in the craft of fiction. And as one of my favorite fiction writers, Ted Dekker, is want to say: Not fiction as “false or untrue,” but fiction as in “not presently real”.

That’s it my friends. I love words. And I trust you do too. But, I don’t just love words, I love “The Word” … that was made flesh. Now there’s something. How incredibly awesome, the Word that was made flesh. Does that almost seem “not presently real” to anyone? For those who are fallen yet forgiven, we possess a gift that transforms the “not presently real” into a life altering reality of the Nth degree.

Scintillating!

Now allow me to reach back to this notion of “miss-adventure” and the purpose of my blog. I am inclined to offer an invitation for you to join me on a quest. A quest to embark on an adventure as yet … missed. I’m talking about the theme of redemption that is stamped on the passports of our souls. Passports that have been muddied, torn, trampled, and lost in the mire of the dire.

Dire circumstances.

Dire straits.

Dire consequences.

Dire need.

Need of rescue … need of freedom … need of redemption.

For the fallen and unforgiven … there’s the desire for the dire.

For the fallen and forgiven … there’s the yielding to the fire.

For redemptive story to work, that which is dire must loom and loom menacingly. For indeed, without the dire, there’s no need for a refining fire.

I will grant you this. Before one can retire the dire … one must learn to lament. THAT is something that seems missing in this age. We are told there is a time and season for every purpose under heaven … and that includes a time to lament. Not cover it up with the balm of the inane … life is dire, eternal life is rapturous!

Are you still with me? Rambling is my specialty … grab ahold and hang on. See, this is why I simply must write novels.

I am a writer, educator, and a reluctant geek. Twenty years in IT has afforded me a unique perspective on the role of technology and humanity. Certainly not a lemming, but rather, I could best be described as a ‘joyful Eeyore’ … blessings on figuring that one out. I have a passion for story and at this season in my life, that passion is leaking out onto the web and paper. I have stories simmering on the back burner, crackling and popping for attention.

It is my desire to share glimpses of this journey with you. I want you to come along as I discover the craft of writing, purposely taking the road less traveled with the hopes of making a difference. In short, I am inviting you to walk with me. The blog will be our road. I plan for it to be an “occasional” blog with at least one entry a week, perhaps more. I welcome your company and hope to point you to sight-seeing stops along the way - those whose writings and ruminations have illuminated my way. Will you join me then on this road?  A road of discovery and perhaps, a road that might one day lead to a dream of publication?

I currently have (2) works in progress. One involves ‘techno-stalking‘, a niche genre of ‘techno-suspense‘ - the working title is “DELETE” and the other is speculative in nature with a working title of “PHOSPHOR“. Both of these stories have me pumped and I plan to post a snippet or more of Chapter 1 of “DELETE” to whet your appetitie.

The opening line to “DELETE” goes something like this:

“Assassination by keyboarding - How does one calculate the ballistics of pressing the delete key?”

The plan then is to cook up some seasoned fiction, serving true conviction.

BYOS - Bring Your Own Skillet

Time to go stoke the flames …

… Out of the pan and into the dire,

david w. fry a.k.a. frydwords