In Story Craft: Reflections on Faith, Culture, and Writing, I make the point that a story should be more than an unedited videotape of experience. It is a moral frame that we build around experience. Art should seek out and imitate the structure that artists of previous generations called God’s design for the world. However,…
Archives for John Erickson
Excerpt: Hank’s in trouble, and there’s talk of sending him to Obedience School. Hank decides to hide in the machine shed where he finds Drover. Hank says… “Heh. Your Statue Trick might have worked on some dogs, son, but it was your misfortune to be tracked down by the Head of Ranch Security.” “Darn. What…
As a young man, I considered going into the ministry, but after two years of study at a divinity school I moved back to Texas and began the long process of figuring out how to become a writer. Since 1983, I have been employed by a dog named Hank. In the process of building an…
Kids are always curious to know where Hank the Cowdog stories “come from.” It is a simple question, but it does not have a simple answer. I write about what I know (ranch life), but beyond that, the creative process remains a mystery to me, even though I am involved with it every day. What I have learned…
“Our choices are shaped by what we believe is real and true, right and wrong, good and beautiful. Our choices are shaped by our worldview.” –Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey, How Now Shall We Live. In May of 1985 CBS Television ran a thirty-minute, animated version of my first Hank the Cowdog book. I was…
