The Gospel as High Concept

A few years ago I went to a writers conference here in Dallas. One of the sessions, an incredibly popular one, was about the idea of something being high concept. You know, a story where the essence can be boiled down into a few words. Often it's done as a "What if ..." concept. Or it can be something like "X meets Y." For example, one reviewer has described Chasing Filthy Lucre as a "cyberpunk Fight Club." That, at least to me, is a high-concept way to describe that book.

High concept is something that's a little bit criticized. Mainly, at least from what I can tell, because what's high concept to one person isn't high concept to the another. That's one thing that I do remember from the class at the writers conference. People would throw out high concept pitches and the rest of the participants were asked to vote as a group if what was just pitched was high concept. It was the rare pitch that got approval. Most were getting mixed reviews.

That actually is good for me and this post. I ran across this tweet today and thought, "Wow. The gospel as high concept." Now, you may or may not agree on whether or not it's high concept. I still like it.

"Here's the gospel: I can't. He did. And because He did, I can." -Nate Bush, "Endure Difficult Times" #ozarkpt pic.twitter.com/x0MhVFItwi
— Ozark Christian (@Ozark1942) February 24, 2015

My last 10 years

At the day job last week we were discussing an editorial looking back at the decade. The proposal was, essentially, that the Aughts, or whatever you call this set of ten years, has been a lousy one, but never fear. The next ten could be pretty great.

I was listening to this and thinking. I was also considering a couple of columns we'd run a day or two before. They both said that the last decade was lousy.

Everyone made a convincing case in a history book sense. But I don't look at things like that. I think many, if not most, people look at them more personally. We think of our personal milestones. For me, this has been a pretty great decade.

I started the Aughts working at a newspaper that no longer exists, doing a job that I didn't hate but didn't love. I ended the decade working for the newspaper that was always going to be my final stop, doing a job I love, and making more than double the money I was making when I started the decade.

I am ending the decade more productive(the last couple of months withstanding)as a writer. I have completed multiple stories this year and made good progress on the novel I've been working on for years. I still need to edit the things I have finished and get them submitted for publication. But that is great progress for me and I am far ahead of where I was 10 years ago.

But the biggest change in this decade is that I met and married Gina. Without her I wouldn't have bought a house this decade. Without her I wouldn't have seen the world. No Italy. No Mexico. This blog wouldn't be here without her. The writing I've been doing wouldn't be possible without her encouragement and support. She makes all of it easier, and not just the writing. I had prayed for someone like her to come into my life and this is the decade that prayer was answered.