As I begin the upward climb to the big finale of my latest novel, Intended for Harm, I've been dwelling more and more on the themes of the book and how to bring them out in a powerful way. As with all my books, I am prompted to write this particular story because a key idea drives me--whether it be about jealousy, revenge, greed, grief, or betrayal. Intended for Harm, a modern-day story of Jacob and his family, is all about the wounds we receive in life (emotionally) and the lies we come to believe as a result.
Each of my nine main characters--Jake, his first and second wives, his six children--have suffered, much as we all do in life. I always aim for a psychological study of human nature--what are our core needs and what happens when those needs aren't met. With more than 400 pages written so far, I've come to care so much about these wounded, hurting people and have found my title (reflecting my main theme) becoming an interesting concept to ponder.
The title of the book comes from Genesis 50:20: "What you intended for harm, God intended for good, for the saving of life..." This is a little bit of tweaking on my part, but the gist is there. We often look at the hurtful experiences in our lives as harmful, and they are. They hurt. And sometimes the person doling out the hurt does intend our harm. There's no denying that is a reality in our world, in our fallen state.
But God is above our petty, sinful nature. He is perfect, omniscient, and leads us for our good. Most of us are familiar with the verse in Romans 8 that says all things work for the good of those who love God. We read in Hebrews 12 how he disciplines us for our good. Good things come from endurance; suffering builds character.
I've been thinking about intention. Human intention versus divine intention. How God never intends harm. He knows the plans he has for us, to give us a future and a hope, for good and not for harm. God intends good things for us, but sometimes, like the Bible says, we direct our own steps and come to harm. Which gets me thinking about my own actions and the intentions behind them. When I speak or act, what exactly are my intentions? Are they to honor and lift up God? Are they to encourage others and help them? Or are they self-serving, stemming from pride, a need for attention, or a desire to push ahead of another?
It was God's intention from the beginning of time to provide a way out of sin and death, and everything he did as time moved forward was meant to realize that intention, culminating at the cross. If we truly believe God intends good for us, shouldn't that shift the way we see trials and disappointments in our lives? If we know, in the long run, that God intends us to become more like his son, so that we can live with him forever in perfect love and gratitude, shouldn't we think a bit before complaining about our life?
I know I have a lot to learn to get to a place of acceptance. I still grumble, worry, experience envy and disappointment. But under it all, I know God is doing a work in me, however painful, and his intention is for my good, not my harm. If I can remember this each day, my path will feel smoother and my trust and appreciation will grow. That is my prayer today for us all.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Friday, December 17, 2010
Not-so-sudden Flash about Sudden Fiction
I've been enjoying this strange, intriguing journey of writing short scenes in my new novel, Intended for Harm, inspired by a book I had read many years ago: Palm in the Hand stories by Japanese Nobel laureate Kawabata. When I began plotting out my novel and knew I had to unveil a family drama over a period of forty years, I saw immediately how to construct it--inspired by Kawabata's intriguing style of creating complete short stories that filled roughly one page.
I've always loved short stories and admired the craft. Writing a short story is much harder than a novel; you have to boil down everything you mean to say and imply in the fewest words possible. Flannery O'Connor, Raymond Carver, and Alice Munroe are my top favorites; they are able to capture a slice of life in a short scene that tells so much more than is put in words. Implication, to me, is the most powerful and artful way of writing, and so I envisioned my novel as comprising each year as a chapter, with a handful of short scenes that would cover about fifteen minutes of time--my version of a palm in the hand story.
Silly me--I had thought Kawabata was the creator of such an amazing idea. I didn't know that authors like Hemingway, Vonnegut, Kafka, and Chekhov had also written in this manner on occasion. And I didn't even know that the current rages of "flash fiction" and "sudden fiction" were describing this very thing. I looked up these terms and discovered flash fiction is usually for a short piece between 300-1000 words, whereas sudden fiction is over 1000 words. Maybe sudden implies a longer lengthy moment than flash. Not sure who came up with these definitions, but the term "flash fiction" is thought to have been coined by the 1992 anthology of that name.
Of course, my scenes are not exactly sudden fiction, since they are not complete stories in themselves, but I do try to create the sense that each scene is a complete vignette or slice of life in itself. The challenge for me is to come up with an ordinary moment, not a string of key, suspenseful, benchmark moments in the lives of the Abrams family. Rather, I want to take a slice out life, fifteen minutes out of an ordinary day, and reveal the emotional landscape of the characters at that moment. Sure, I am putting in conflict, unspoken needs, hidden fears, unvoiced dreams. But instead of a continuity of time, where one scene generally flows close in time out of the previous, all these scenes are separated by many months. Which creates a huge writing challenge. The tendency for many writers would be to slop up the scenes with massive amounts of back story to catch the reader up to the present moment. but that would weigh down the story and defeat the whole structure. Instead, it takes careful thought to move the reader along through the years at a fast clip, building character arcs and aging characters, yet keeping some sort of flow to the whole thread stitching it together. Needless to say, it's a great challenge but seems to be working.
I would encourage readers to pick up Kawabata's book and read these beautiful tales so full of life, pain, and poignancy. In a hurry-up world, it makes sense that flash fiction has come into vogue, with its many online ezines and other outlets for writers to post their stories. Again, I will reiterate my belief (and maybe some of you are tiring of hearing it)--more isn't necessarily better. In fact, less is almost always more. if you can learn how to be succinct and moving by trimming to to the bare essence of a thought, a moment, a glance, you can produce a powerful effect. Sometimes just a few words can have more force than 1,000. So think, mull, choose carefully. find the best word, the best phrase, the best paragraph to say what you mean. And then say it in less words. Perhaps if all writers wrote one short piece of flash fiction each week, and then polished it to perfection, it would help train us to be better word handlers, and not just throw out the first things that come to mind onto the page--which are almost always dull, cliche, and uninspired.
I've always loved short stories and admired the craft. Writing a short story is much harder than a novel; you have to boil down everything you mean to say and imply in the fewest words possible. Flannery O'Connor, Raymond Carver, and Alice Munroe are my top favorites; they are able to capture a slice of life in a short scene that tells so much more than is put in words. Implication, to me, is the most powerful and artful way of writing, and so I envisioned my novel as comprising each year as a chapter, with a handful of short scenes that would cover about fifteen minutes of time--my version of a palm in the hand story.
Silly me--I had thought Kawabata was the creator of such an amazing idea. I didn't know that authors like Hemingway, Vonnegut, Kafka, and Chekhov had also written in this manner on occasion. And I didn't even know that the current rages of "flash fiction" and "sudden fiction" were describing this very thing. I looked up these terms and discovered flash fiction is usually for a short piece between 300-1000 words, whereas sudden fiction is over 1000 words. Maybe sudden implies a longer lengthy moment than flash. Not sure who came up with these definitions, but the term "flash fiction" is thought to have been coined by the 1992 anthology of that name.
Of course, my scenes are not exactly sudden fiction, since they are not complete stories in themselves, but I do try to create the sense that each scene is a complete vignette or slice of life in itself. The challenge for me is to come up with an ordinary moment, not a string of key, suspenseful, benchmark moments in the lives of the Abrams family. Rather, I want to take a slice out life, fifteen minutes out of an ordinary day, and reveal the emotional landscape of the characters at that moment. Sure, I am putting in conflict, unspoken needs, hidden fears, unvoiced dreams. But instead of a continuity of time, where one scene generally flows close in time out of the previous, all these scenes are separated by many months. Which creates a huge writing challenge. The tendency for many writers would be to slop up the scenes with massive amounts of back story to catch the reader up to the present moment. but that would weigh down the story and defeat the whole structure. Instead, it takes careful thought to move the reader along through the years at a fast clip, building character arcs and aging characters, yet keeping some sort of flow to the whole thread stitching it together. Needless to say, it's a great challenge but seems to be working.
I would encourage readers to pick up Kawabata's book and read these beautiful tales so full of life, pain, and poignancy. In a hurry-up world, it makes sense that flash fiction has come into vogue, with its many online ezines and other outlets for writers to post their stories. Again, I will reiterate my belief (and maybe some of you are tiring of hearing it)--more isn't necessarily better. In fact, less is almost always more. if you can learn how to be succinct and moving by trimming to to the bare essence of a thought, a moment, a glance, you can produce a powerful effect. Sometimes just a few words can have more force than 1,000. So think, mull, choose carefully. find the best word, the best phrase, the best paragraph to say what you mean. And then say it in less words. Perhaps if all writers wrote one short piece of flash fiction each week, and then polished it to perfection, it would help train us to be better word handlers, and not just throw out the first things that come to mind onto the page--which are almost always dull, cliche, and uninspired.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
That Controversial Topic: Word Count
From time to time I make a comment on Facebook about Word Count. Granted--and I need to get this out of the way first--some authors are under contract. Some very much need to schedule themselves to write a certain amount of words each day in order to meet a pressing deadline. I get that. Although I will still argue that's a skewed way to look at writing a novel. Why not make it a goal to complete one scene or chapter a day? That's how I set my writing goals, but I will now explain why I don't worry too much about sticking to them.
I try very hard to steer as far away from word count observances as possible. Sure, from time to time I check my word count. It helps me to see, when I think I'm halfway through a novel, just how many words I may end up with. My novels range from 75k words to 130k words. This new WIP is looking like it's going to far pass any previous books in word count. But that doesn't matter at all. A book should be as long as it is supposed to be to tell the story properly.
I have some strong sentiments about the whole word count issue, and they are pretty negative. Why? Because we live in a world that puts emphasis always on quantity, not quality. More is better. And even more is even more better. Writers tend to brag and compete. "I wrote five thousand words today." "I wrote five thousand words today standing on my head and cooking a gourmet dinner for eighteen people." And so it goes. How does it make most normal non-superman-type writers feel? Just plain lousy.
Another thing: It's not just society, but our churches have, sadly, become works-driven. You are a good Christian if you can write a long list of all the "things" you do to prove you are faithful. I enjoyed listening recently to a CD on this topic. The speaker asked a number of old-time, very faithful believers what they would say to God when they got to heaven when he asked this question: "Why should I let you in?" Believe it or not, yes, these people all answered with variations of the same answer: "Oh, well, I've been attending church faithfully for sixty years. I led Bible study for decades. I supported missionaries and donated to xxx causes..."
Horrors! Do you see the problem here? And the very wrong answer. There is only one correct answer as to why God should allow you, me, or anyone into his kingdom, and that is this: "Jesus died for my sins and paid the entrance price. I do not, on my own merit or because of anything I did, deserve to be here."
What does this have to do with word count? I am not going to stand at heaven's gate and say to God: "Well, I wrote an average of 3,000 words a day, to prove I was faithful." Do you really think God cares about your word count? What if you feel called to write, but it takes you a lifetime to pull together a short little story that burns on your heart to write? That must mean you have failed! This nanowrimo month, although a good exercise in discipline (National Novel Writing Month, where you commit to writing an entire novel in the month of November), is only more grist for the grinding mill--the mill that grinds your soul and creativity into a million little pieces.
I can't tell you how relieved I felt when listening to two hugely successful best-selling, Pulitzer-prize-winning authors at the Book Expo in New York who said that they took 4-5 years to write each book. That made me feel good. I had been writing a very difficult novel and it was stretching into a full year to complete. I felt like I was slipping. But I needed a lot of time to think and plot out the story. And this is my last beef about word count.
I have heard many writers say that the important thing is just to write. Make yourself sit down each day and push yourself to write something. That if you just keep writing thousands and thousands of words, inspiration will follow. I completely disagree. I've noticed that writers who pump out thousands of words end up having very little of interest to say. Again, it's quantity over quality. I will say again for the thousandth time: I would rather write one beautiful, powerful, moving sentence than 5,000 boring, nothing words that don't reach a reader's heart.
It would be nice to believe that inspiration and beautiful, powerful writing can be accessed like a water pump--just turn it on full bore and let it gush, and at some point something good will spill out. Then you can throw out most of the other stuff and keep the good stuff. I rarely hear anyone talk about mulling, thinking, musing, ideating. I remember reading how Tony Hillerman often lay on his couch for hours with his eyes closed. That was the bulk of his work. I am much the same way, but instead of lying on the couch, I take long walks, talk out my plots and ideas and characters, sometimes in prayer with God, other times just talking out loud to myself somewhere secluded where no one but my dog hears me (and he doesn't mind).
I would like to encourage all the writers out there to stop and think. Yes, spend more time thinking. Avoid using those distasteful words (word count) and focus more on quality, on planning, on letting ideas simmer. And when you sit down and write, don't set some arbitrary goal of how many words you should stuff in your document. Aim to write with passion and concentration, with sincerity and significance, slowly, deliberately. And if all that comes out of the effort is one great sentence or paragraph, allow yourself to see that it a great end goal.
Sometimes more is said with less. In fact, I truly believe absolutely: more is better said with less words. The right words. Take time to chew your words, taste them, spit out the ones that aren't just right and only settle for a sentence that says exactly what you want it to say. You may not get it first time around, in a first draft, but don't zoom through, typing away. Stop and ponder what you are trying to say, how you want it to sound. Let the spirit fill and lift you as you write, for if you zoom ahead mindlessly, you leave the spirit behind. And it will show.
I try very hard to steer as far away from word count observances as possible. Sure, from time to time I check my word count. It helps me to see, when I think I'm halfway through a novel, just how many words I may end up with. My novels range from 75k words to 130k words. This new WIP is looking like it's going to far pass any previous books in word count. But that doesn't matter at all. A book should be as long as it is supposed to be to tell the story properly.
I have some strong sentiments about the whole word count issue, and they are pretty negative. Why? Because we live in a world that puts emphasis always on quantity, not quality. More is better. And even more is even more better. Writers tend to brag and compete. "I wrote five thousand words today." "I wrote five thousand words today standing on my head and cooking a gourmet dinner for eighteen people." And so it goes. How does it make most normal non-superman-type writers feel? Just plain lousy.
Another thing: It's not just society, but our churches have, sadly, become works-driven. You are a good Christian if you can write a long list of all the "things" you do to prove you are faithful. I enjoyed listening recently to a CD on this topic. The speaker asked a number of old-time, very faithful believers what they would say to God when they got to heaven when he asked this question: "Why should I let you in?" Believe it or not, yes, these people all answered with variations of the same answer: "Oh, well, I've been attending church faithfully for sixty years. I led Bible study for decades. I supported missionaries and donated to xxx causes..."
Horrors! Do you see the problem here? And the very wrong answer. There is only one correct answer as to why God should allow you, me, or anyone into his kingdom, and that is this: "Jesus died for my sins and paid the entrance price. I do not, on my own merit or because of anything I did, deserve to be here."
What does this have to do with word count? I am not going to stand at heaven's gate and say to God: "Well, I wrote an average of 3,000 words a day, to prove I was faithful." Do you really think God cares about your word count? What if you feel called to write, but it takes you a lifetime to pull together a short little story that burns on your heart to write? That must mean you have failed! This nanowrimo month, although a good exercise in discipline (National Novel Writing Month, where you commit to writing an entire novel in the month of November), is only more grist for the grinding mill--the mill that grinds your soul and creativity into a million little pieces.
I can't tell you how relieved I felt when listening to two hugely successful best-selling, Pulitzer-prize-winning authors at the Book Expo in New York who said that they took 4-5 years to write each book. That made me feel good. I had been writing a very difficult novel and it was stretching into a full year to complete. I felt like I was slipping. But I needed a lot of time to think and plot out the story. And this is my last beef about word count.
I have heard many writers say that the important thing is just to write. Make yourself sit down each day and push yourself to write something. That if you just keep writing thousands and thousands of words, inspiration will follow. I completely disagree. I've noticed that writers who pump out thousands of words end up having very little of interest to say. Again, it's quantity over quality. I will say again for the thousandth time: I would rather write one beautiful, powerful, moving sentence than 5,000 boring, nothing words that don't reach a reader's heart.
It would be nice to believe that inspiration and beautiful, powerful writing can be accessed like a water pump--just turn it on full bore and let it gush, and at some point something good will spill out. Then you can throw out most of the other stuff and keep the good stuff. I rarely hear anyone talk about mulling, thinking, musing, ideating. I remember reading how Tony Hillerman often lay on his couch for hours with his eyes closed. That was the bulk of his work. I am much the same way, but instead of lying on the couch, I take long walks, talk out my plots and ideas and characters, sometimes in prayer with God, other times just talking out loud to myself somewhere secluded where no one but my dog hears me (and he doesn't mind).
I would like to encourage all the writers out there to stop and think. Yes, spend more time thinking. Avoid using those distasteful words (word count) and focus more on quality, on planning, on letting ideas simmer. And when you sit down and write, don't set some arbitrary goal of how many words you should stuff in your document. Aim to write with passion and concentration, with sincerity and significance, slowly, deliberately. And if all that comes out of the effort is one great sentence or paragraph, allow yourself to see that it a great end goal.
Sometimes more is said with less. In fact, I truly believe absolutely: more is better said with less words. The right words. Take time to chew your words, taste them, spit out the ones that aren't just right and only settle for a sentence that says exactly what you want it to say. You may not get it first time around, in a first draft, but don't zoom through, typing away. Stop and ponder what you are trying to say, how you want it to sound. Let the spirit fill and lift you as you write, for if you zoom ahead mindlessly, you leave the spirit behind. And it will show.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Intended for Harm
Intended for Harm. That's the title and theme of my new novel. I'm now about fifty thousand words into it, but have only just begun this family saga. As always, I learn a lot as a book progresses. It's as if while I write, its secrets begin to spill out. Not just characters' secrets, but the subtext that probably comes from my subconscious. We are told to write what we are passionate about, and to create characters that have something to say or that portray something important.
I was given a huge burst of inspired creativity one afternoon as I sat on my deck overlooking the redwoods and the creek. I knew one of my characters--Leah--seemed a lot like water, and I started seeing images and qualities of water and how that metaphor fit her personality and behavior. It struck me at that moments that Jacob, too, had an "earth" quality--wood. Years ago I studied a bit about five elements acupuncture, and thought how treatment of illness was related to how balanced or imbalanced someone's elements were in relation to their health. There is a fascinating correlation to the natural elements, seasons, and cycles, and health. You can have too much metal or not enough fire. Suddenly, all nine of my characters could be associated with an element, and that element grew into a metaphor and symbolism for that character. Since I'm first a poet and love language and metaphor, this eye-opening idea flowed into pages of notes and now that I'm deep into the story, I've been discovering how these characters are entwined with their element.
People often ask writers how much of themselves they put into their characters and story. Apart from my mostly autobiographical novel Conundrum, I usually don't consciously put myself or those I know in my books. But of course, I draw from the hurt, frustration, and disappointment I've experienced in life. I've had dreams dashed, been betrayed by family, lost hope. I found it odd that Romantic Times, in giving Someone to Blame a glowing review, said the book was well-researched, which I suppose referred to to the topic of suicide and grief. I had another reviewer say I must have experienced this type of loss to have written it so well. But I haven't. I've known friends and family who have attempted and committed suicide, but I didn't research it, nor did I really think about those people. I think that an author who has experienced many different pains in life can pull from those experiences and morph them into different stories.
My high school English teacher told me all those decades ago that if you are a good actor and can immerse yourself in the role of your characters, you can be a terrific novelist. I think that's true. When I write in a character's point of view, I just let go of myself and become the character--feel and think the way they do. Although some friends have trouble doing this due to feeling tainted or spiritually attacked (regarding dark characters), I don't. I find it fascinating to delve into the psyche or mindset of a character, understand their motivations, fears, desperate needs. I always know I am not them, and the reason I am doing this is to create a moving, believable story.
So, those are my thoughts this day as I work on my novel. I'd love to hear what goes through your mind as you write and create memorable characters.
I was given a huge burst of inspired creativity one afternoon as I sat on my deck overlooking the redwoods and the creek. I knew one of my characters--Leah--seemed a lot like water, and I started seeing images and qualities of water and how that metaphor fit her personality and behavior. It struck me at that moments that Jacob, too, had an "earth" quality--wood. Years ago I studied a bit about five elements acupuncture, and thought how treatment of illness was related to how balanced or imbalanced someone's elements were in relation to their health. There is a fascinating correlation to the natural elements, seasons, and cycles, and health. You can have too much metal or not enough fire. Suddenly, all nine of my characters could be associated with an element, and that element grew into a metaphor and symbolism for that character. Since I'm first a poet and love language and metaphor, this eye-opening idea flowed into pages of notes and now that I'm deep into the story, I've been discovering how these characters are entwined with their element.
People often ask writers how much of themselves they put into their characters and story. Apart from my mostly autobiographical novel Conundrum, I usually don't consciously put myself or those I know in my books. But of course, I draw from the hurt, frustration, and disappointment I've experienced in life. I've had dreams dashed, been betrayed by family, lost hope. I found it odd that Romantic Times, in giving Someone to Blame a glowing review, said the book was well-researched, which I suppose referred to to the topic of suicide and grief. I had another reviewer say I must have experienced this type of loss to have written it so well. But I haven't. I've known friends and family who have attempted and committed suicide, but I didn't research it, nor did I really think about those people. I think that an author who has experienced many different pains in life can pull from those experiences and morph them into different stories.
My high school English teacher told me all those decades ago that if you are a good actor and can immerse yourself in the role of your characters, you can be a terrific novelist. I think that's true. When I write in a character's point of view, I just let go of myself and become the character--feel and think the way they do. Although some friends have trouble doing this due to feeling tainted or spiritually attacked (regarding dark characters), I don't. I find it fascinating to delve into the psyche or mindset of a character, understand their motivations, fears, desperate needs. I always know I am not them, and the reason I am doing this is to create a moving, believable story.
So, those are my thoughts this day as I work on my novel. I'd love to hear what goes through your mind as you write and create memorable characters.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Partnering with God in Writing
Here's the thing. I hear different opinions on this topic, but I've come up with my own intuitive and convicted understanding of how the gift and anointing of God works, at least as it pertains to writing. Perhaps the basic principles apply to other giftings as well.
An editing client of mine wrote me last week expressing concern over what she should do to try to sell her book. She felt guilty even querying an agent, for that seemed to her as if she was not trusting God to open the door for a book sale. It equated as lack of faith. She was confused, didn't know where to apply faith and how that should look.
I felt confused too when I started writing for God instead of for me. Just how much was my responsibility and how much was God's to get my books sold? If I self-published, was I copping out and exhibiting a lack of faith that God would open a bigger door that might allow my book to reach a wider audience? Or was the opposite true--was my holding out for a "real" publisher just arrogance on my part? (A good question for me, since I'd been trying for 23 years to get picked up by a royalty-paying publishing house.)
We who feel called to write and know we must, have little trouble deciphering the truthfulness of that call. We have to write. We can't NOT write. We also feel God leading us to write about certain things, in specific genres, or to a particular audience. Those nudges are often fairly clear. As I become more in tune with God's leading and rely on him more, those signals come across loud and clear. If you get to the point where you are looking to God to help you with every stage of the writing process, praying for his leading and inspiration, you will find he does show you just what you should be writing about.
But it gets a little fuzzy around the edges when we start trying to figure out the nuts and bolts of our efforts to sell and market our work. So many of my friends and clients tell me they only query one agent. Why? Because they feel guilty about querying more. Why? Because they feel maybe they are showing a lack of faith or are afraid they won't discern God's will. Here's what God showed me.
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon tells us to sow our seed day and night. For how can we know which one will sprout and grow, which one might produce fruit? The verse says "Don't let your hand rest." This does not conjure up a picture of a farmer heading out into his field and dropping one lone seed on the ground and then going inside to watch TV, trusting God will do a miraculous work and produce a hundredfold crop overnight, something like Jack's magic beans that grew into a beanstalk. No, the picture I get here is tireless, persistent, consistent effort, day in, day out, night and day (OK we're not talking workaholic here, but in planting season, you have a window of time in which to get all your seed planted and so you have to press hard until you've done all you can).
So, God showed me this Scripture early on when I wondered just what kind of effort I was to expend in trying to pitch, sell, and market my books. Instead of querying just one agent, I queried every single one I thought might like my books. I widened my range and threw my seeds wide, not knowing which ones God would make grow. I ended up unexpectedly with two terrific commercial agents (when no one in the Christian market would even read any of my work). I wouldn't have gotten these agents had I kept a narrow aim. I started attending writers' conferences, reading books and surfing the Web to find out what I could about publishers and editors who might like the kind of books I wrote.
God partners with us, and this is just one way. We put out the effort, he makes the seeds grow. He does expect us to do some of the work, not just write. How can he bless our efforts if we make no effort? We are not supposed to bury the talent in the ground but put it somewhere it will multiply and double. Granted, some of the seeds won't grow. But, as Solomon said, we don't know which ones will, so we have to do our diligence and let God do the rest. And there's always the caveat of balance. You still have to eat, do the laundry, take care of family responsibilities, help those in need. That's a given.
Partnering in this way is the same with actual writing, which I'll get into in the next post--how we hone our craft and bring to bear all our writer's tools, then watch the Holy Spirit step in as we write and work with us. Partnering with God is an amazing process. The more we let go, trust him, let him lead, and most importantly let go of our ambitions and pictures of what we think our writing career should look like, we get to see God maneuver events and people for his will to be done. I don't know about you, but it blows my mind to see God at work and I'm humbled to know he partners with me and uses me to accomplish amazing things. He rarely lets me in one his plan or time schedule but that's okay. When the surprises come down the pipe, it's a great praise to him. He knows from the beginning where we will go and our expected end. And I find that quite comforting.
An editing client of mine wrote me last week expressing concern over what she should do to try to sell her book. She felt guilty even querying an agent, for that seemed to her as if she was not trusting God to open the door for a book sale. It equated as lack of faith. She was confused, didn't know where to apply faith and how that should look.
I felt confused too when I started writing for God instead of for me. Just how much was my responsibility and how much was God's to get my books sold? If I self-published, was I copping out and exhibiting a lack of faith that God would open a bigger door that might allow my book to reach a wider audience? Or was the opposite true--was my holding out for a "real" publisher just arrogance on my part? (A good question for me, since I'd been trying for 23 years to get picked up by a royalty-paying publishing house.)
We who feel called to write and know we must, have little trouble deciphering the truthfulness of that call. We have to write. We can't NOT write. We also feel God leading us to write about certain things, in specific genres, or to a particular audience. Those nudges are often fairly clear. As I become more in tune with God's leading and rely on him more, those signals come across loud and clear. If you get to the point where you are looking to God to help you with every stage of the writing process, praying for his leading and inspiration, you will find he does show you just what you should be writing about.
But it gets a little fuzzy around the edges when we start trying to figure out the nuts and bolts of our efforts to sell and market our work. So many of my friends and clients tell me they only query one agent. Why? Because they feel guilty about querying more. Why? Because they feel maybe they are showing a lack of faith or are afraid they won't discern God's will. Here's what God showed me.
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon tells us to sow our seed day and night. For how can we know which one will sprout and grow, which one might produce fruit? The verse says "Don't let your hand rest." This does not conjure up a picture of a farmer heading out into his field and dropping one lone seed on the ground and then going inside to watch TV, trusting God will do a miraculous work and produce a hundredfold crop overnight, something like Jack's magic beans that grew into a beanstalk. No, the picture I get here is tireless, persistent, consistent effort, day in, day out, night and day (OK we're not talking workaholic here, but in planting season, you have a window of time in which to get all your seed planted and so you have to press hard until you've done all you can).
So, God showed me this Scripture early on when I wondered just what kind of effort I was to expend in trying to pitch, sell, and market my books. Instead of querying just one agent, I queried every single one I thought might like my books. I widened my range and threw my seeds wide, not knowing which ones God would make grow. I ended up unexpectedly with two terrific commercial agents (when no one in the Christian market would even read any of my work). I wouldn't have gotten these agents had I kept a narrow aim. I started attending writers' conferences, reading books and surfing the Web to find out what I could about publishers and editors who might like the kind of books I wrote.
God partners with us, and this is just one way. We put out the effort, he makes the seeds grow. He does expect us to do some of the work, not just write. How can he bless our efforts if we make no effort? We are not supposed to bury the talent in the ground but put it somewhere it will multiply and double. Granted, some of the seeds won't grow. But, as Solomon said, we don't know which ones will, so we have to do our diligence and let God do the rest. And there's always the caveat of balance. You still have to eat, do the laundry, take care of family responsibilities, help those in need. That's a given.
Partnering in this way is the same with actual writing, which I'll get into in the next post--how we hone our craft and bring to bear all our writer's tools, then watch the Holy Spirit step in as we write and work with us. Partnering with God is an amazing process. The more we let go, trust him, let him lead, and most importantly let go of our ambitions and pictures of what we think our writing career should look like, we get to see God maneuver events and people for his will to be done. I don't know about you, but it blows my mind to see God at work and I'm humbled to know he partners with me and uses me to accomplish amazing things. He rarely lets me in one his plan or time schedule but that's okay. When the surprises come down the pipe, it's a great praise to him. He knows from the beginning where we will go and our expected end. And I find that quite comforting.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
The Heart of the Story
I've been pondering lately about what makes a fantastic story, and also thinking a lot about the things Donald Maass discusses in his book The Fire in the Fiction. Because I want very much to reach my readers' hearts with powerful stories that will make them rethink their lives and values, I spend a lot of time considering the themes of the books I write, especially while in the planning stage.
I'm working on a new book entitled Intended for Harm, a modern-day interpretation of the story of Jacob and Joseph. I've always related to Joseph (read my blog entry on playing dominoes in jail with Joseph), since he too suffered a horrible family betrayal and also was so mistreated by so many people when all he wanted was to do good and please God.
So as I began plotting my new novel and all the pieces started falling into place, I kept asking myself: "Just what is the heart of this story?" "What am I really wanting the reader to think about and take away with them when they finish reading this book?" As I prayed about this, I kept getting tugged away from Joseph--who I thought all along this book would center on. God kept bringing me back to Jacob. "What about him?" I kept asking.
As with all my novels, I like to take as much time as needed to let ideas and themes grow organically in my mind and heart. I do not push myself to hurry and get a plot figured out or characters summed up easily. I mull over my ideas and characters sometimes for months until there is clarity of purpose. It feels as if I get given all the ingredients for a great soup, but I just don't have any idea of what I'm really making or what aftertaste will linger until I actually let the pot simmer for a long time and then taste it.
I finally got to the "aha" moment in developing this book when I realized it was about Jacob I was meant to explore. Here was a young man despised by his father. His father preferred his twin brother, and he made no attempt to hide it. Jacob hung out with his mother, and was a more sensitive son. But I saw in my Jacob a man who runs away from his past steeped in confusion and lacking peace. For, men who have abusive or absent fathers consistently struggle with believing in a God who could truly love and accept them for who they are.
This became a huge revelation to me as I discussed my book idea with others. God connected me with people who had the same story of the husband or father or brother. I began to see this almost-epidemic situation of men who could not and did not believe God loved them because of being unable to relate to a loving father figure (and often these men have mothers who are overbearing and judgmental).
My Jacob, then, wrestles with God--not in the way the biblical Jacob did, but in the way that is too prevalent today--wrestling with the concept and acceptance of a God who loves them. Especially when things go wrong in life, when dreams fail and tragedy strikes, this ugly lie of the enemy powerfully sinks deep into the heart of men who fear judgment and who feel they can never measure up. Despite knowing what the Bible says, despite realizing their feelings are completely unscriptural. Those things don't matter. What is experienced in the heart forms the truth of their perception. I know now it is time to dig in and write the book. I know exactly what story God wants me to tell.
I had this image yesterday appear in my mind--of the earth's fiery molten core. How the outer landscape of the surface of our planet has been molded and shaped by the activity of the core's heat. Our stories on the outside, on the surface of our plots, show a landscape of life. there are valleys and mountains, deserts and prolific forests. Yet, what creates all the diverse terrain is the hot core, a place that burns so hot it would melt everything in proximity.
That is how I see a powerful book, one that has fire in the fiction. The deep core of our stories must burn with heat, with passion to tell something important. That is--if it's important to you to tell those kinds of stories, the life-changing kinds. From the great burning unquenchable fire springs forth all the elements of a beautiful story--what we read on the surface. But when a writer truly taps into that fire and lets it be the force the molds and forms the landscape of her story, it will be a powerful one indeed.
I'm working on a new book entitled Intended for Harm, a modern-day interpretation of the story of Jacob and Joseph. I've always related to Joseph (read my blog entry on playing dominoes in jail with Joseph), since he too suffered a horrible family betrayal and also was so mistreated by so many people when all he wanted was to do good and please God.
So as I began plotting my new novel and all the pieces started falling into place, I kept asking myself: "Just what is the heart of this story?" "What am I really wanting the reader to think about and take away with them when they finish reading this book?" As I prayed about this, I kept getting tugged away from Joseph--who I thought all along this book would center on. God kept bringing me back to Jacob. "What about him?" I kept asking.
As with all my novels, I like to take as much time as needed to let ideas and themes grow organically in my mind and heart. I do not push myself to hurry and get a plot figured out or characters summed up easily. I mull over my ideas and characters sometimes for months until there is clarity of purpose. It feels as if I get given all the ingredients for a great soup, but I just don't have any idea of what I'm really making or what aftertaste will linger until I actually let the pot simmer for a long time and then taste it.
I finally got to the "aha" moment in developing this book when I realized it was about Jacob I was meant to explore. Here was a young man despised by his father. His father preferred his twin brother, and he made no attempt to hide it. Jacob hung out with his mother, and was a more sensitive son. But I saw in my Jacob a man who runs away from his past steeped in confusion and lacking peace. For, men who have abusive or absent fathers consistently struggle with believing in a God who could truly love and accept them for who they are.
This became a huge revelation to me as I discussed my book idea with others. God connected me with people who had the same story of the husband or father or brother. I began to see this almost-epidemic situation of men who could not and did not believe God loved them because of being unable to relate to a loving father figure (and often these men have mothers who are overbearing and judgmental).
My Jacob, then, wrestles with God--not in the way the biblical Jacob did, but in the way that is too prevalent today--wrestling with the concept and acceptance of a God who loves them. Especially when things go wrong in life, when dreams fail and tragedy strikes, this ugly lie of the enemy powerfully sinks deep into the heart of men who fear judgment and who feel they can never measure up. Despite knowing what the Bible says, despite realizing their feelings are completely unscriptural. Those things don't matter. What is experienced in the heart forms the truth of their perception. I know now it is time to dig in and write the book. I know exactly what story God wants me to tell.
I had this image yesterday appear in my mind--of the earth's fiery molten core. How the outer landscape of the surface of our planet has been molded and shaped by the activity of the core's heat. Our stories on the outside, on the surface of our plots, show a landscape of life. there are valleys and mountains, deserts and prolific forests. Yet, what creates all the diverse terrain is the hot core, a place that burns so hot it would melt everything in proximity.
That is how I see a powerful book, one that has fire in the fiction. The deep core of our stories must burn with heat, with passion to tell something important. That is--if it's important to you to tell those kinds of stories, the life-changing kinds. From the great burning unquenchable fire springs forth all the elements of a beautiful story--what we read on the surface. But when a writer truly taps into that fire and lets it be the force the molds and forms the landscape of her story, it will be a powerful one indeed.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Microtension adds a FACElift to your writing - Part 3
I've been discussing the elusive concept of microtension--making every word enticing, every phrase evocative. Microtension makes your novel stand out among a crowd of well-written but mostly prosaic construction. How many times have you read a book that is structured well, has pretty interesting characters, a compelling plot--yet reads flat and same-old same-old? It happens to me weekly. In fact, nine out of ten novels I read I have a hard time finishing, even if all the right elements are in place--just because the writing is mundane, boring, or predictable.
In the first two blogs on the topic, we looked at the F in FACElift--fresh. One component of beautiful microtension line by line in a book is trying to make each sentence fresh, new, different, giving a glimpse of the world through your character's eyes that's just a bit different. I liked Donald Maass's explanation in his workshop of how you can have a character relate to her setting in a special way. Have her see something differently than anyone else would, even subtle things like the quality of light, or notice an object that seems insignificant but has great symbolism to her.
Today we're looking at the A in FACElift--authentic. I originally thought artistic would be a better choice, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized authenticity is what really clinches the relationship between reader and author. Authenticity is all about being real--having characters that have an honest, revealing look at life and themselves. And it's also a quality of the writing itself, which is not easily explained. Instead of talking at the reader, telling them what is happening, how someone is feeling, great microtension is shown in an authentic presentation of information. It comes across often raw, poignant, bare, void of pretentiousness.
There's a great moment in Lisa Samson's book Quaker Summer, where her protagonist, a rich, sheltered Christian woman, has volunteered to help paint an urban kitchen, her first attempt at volunteering to help those less fortunate. She's wearing expensive clothes and so the director of the facility shows her a box of clean, used clothes in which she can find something to wear to paint in. The thoughts that go through this woman's head are simple, but so raw and honest, they have stuck with me for over a year after reading the book. She fingers the clothes, knowing they are clean, yet she senses their contamination. They've been worn by dirty people. Poor people. Black people. At this realization, her character is struck by her own bigotry and hypocrisy. It's a tremendously powerful moment and all written in very short simple sentences. Yet, the moment is empowered with microtension through this authenticity.
I just finished reading a terrific best seller: The Art of Racing in the Rain. What makes this book so rightly deserving of acclaim is the great authenticity of the character's voice and the author's writing style. Enzo is one of the most real human voices I've read--honest, humble, spontaneous. And this is a strange thing to be saying because Enzo is a dog. Yes, a dog tells this story about his master, Denny, whose life completely goes to ruin around him and yet conquers through adversity--all with Enzo at his side. There are such fantastic moments in the writing, where we sense Enzo's honesty--his self-denigration ("Sometimes I hate what I am so much"), his frustration at not having opposable thumbs so he can get out of the house and not starve from neglect (not Denny's fault), and his utter joy in the thrill of running. I cried so much at the end of this book, not because I'm sentimental about dogs (I am), but because Enzo's humanness and authenticity struck at my heart, showing me the beauty and pain of being human on this earth.
If we writers can capture that kind of honest authenticity in our writing--through our characters' thoughts and through narration--our writing will shine. Look at your work and examine the quality of authenticity. See where you can rewrite to be more human. If Garth Stein can do it with a dog, then it can certainly be done with actual human characters.
Next month we'll look at C for clever and how to make your sentences clever without being corny.
In the first two blogs on the topic, we looked at the F in FACElift--fresh. One component of beautiful microtension line by line in a book is trying to make each sentence fresh, new, different, giving a glimpse of the world through your character's eyes that's just a bit different. I liked Donald Maass's explanation in his workshop of how you can have a character relate to her setting in a special way. Have her see something differently than anyone else would, even subtle things like the quality of light, or notice an object that seems insignificant but has great symbolism to her.
Today we're looking at the A in FACElift--authentic. I originally thought artistic would be a better choice, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized authenticity is what really clinches the relationship between reader and author. Authenticity is all about being real--having characters that have an honest, revealing look at life and themselves. And it's also a quality of the writing itself, which is not easily explained. Instead of talking at the reader, telling them what is happening, how someone is feeling, great microtension is shown in an authentic presentation of information. It comes across often raw, poignant, bare, void of pretentiousness.
There's a great moment in Lisa Samson's book Quaker Summer, where her protagonist, a rich, sheltered Christian woman, has volunteered to help paint an urban kitchen, her first attempt at volunteering to help those less fortunate. She's wearing expensive clothes and so the director of the facility shows her a box of clean, used clothes in which she can find something to wear to paint in. The thoughts that go through this woman's head are simple, but so raw and honest, they have stuck with me for over a year after reading the book. She fingers the clothes, knowing they are clean, yet she senses their contamination. They've been worn by dirty people. Poor people. Black people. At this realization, her character is struck by her own bigotry and hypocrisy. It's a tremendously powerful moment and all written in very short simple sentences. Yet, the moment is empowered with microtension through this authenticity.
I just finished reading a terrific best seller: The Art of Racing in the Rain. What makes this book so rightly deserving of acclaim is the great authenticity of the character's voice and the author's writing style. Enzo is one of the most real human voices I've read--honest, humble, spontaneous. And this is a strange thing to be saying because Enzo is a dog. Yes, a dog tells this story about his master, Denny, whose life completely goes to ruin around him and yet conquers through adversity--all with Enzo at his side. There are such fantastic moments in the writing, where we sense Enzo's honesty--his self-denigration ("Sometimes I hate what I am so much"), his frustration at not having opposable thumbs so he can get out of the house and not starve from neglect (not Denny's fault), and his utter joy in the thrill of running. I cried so much at the end of this book, not because I'm sentimental about dogs (I am), but because Enzo's humanness and authenticity struck at my heart, showing me the beauty and pain of being human on this earth.
If we writers can capture that kind of honest authenticity in our writing--through our characters' thoughts and through narration--our writing will shine. Look at your work and examine the quality of authenticity. See where you can rewrite to be more human. If Garth Stein can do it with a dog, then it can certainly be done with actual human characters.
Next month we'll look at C for clever and how to make your sentences clever without being corny.
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