Rules and More Writing Rules

 

Just when I think I've heard it all and learned it all, someone posts something different. Writing is an ongoing journey of learning. Can someone say amen!

Death of an Ex-Spouse

Where do you, or any writer, get ideas from? Do you do lots of research on a subject you’re not familiar with (military, war, politics, medical)? Or are you like me and write from personal experience, or the experiences of those you know?

In my book Like A Cedar In Lebanon one of the main characters is Lebby who is young, sweet, and naïve. She suffers abuse, control and manipulation by Jack. I understood how Lebby felt, and would feel, in her situation because I had experienced it. Jerry was my Jack.

Jerry died suddenly, unexpectedly last Friday, four days ago. The father of my children, my husband for twenty-two years, and yet we were strangers to each other. Those twenty-two years produced more bad memories than good, and when he left – for I could not leave, no matter how much I wanted to – I was relieved, happy, set free.

God brought healing and eventual forgiveness into my heart. It wasn’t an easy process. I’ve been remarried for almost nineteen years, happily married, and blessed. My heart aches for my children, though. I watch them grieve and I have no words to say. People have said to me (several times), “I’m sorry for your loss.” I have no response other than, “Thank you.” What I don’t say is I don’t feel a loss, at least not in that sense. But I am sad. Sad for my children, sad for Jerry’s wife, Gladys (a good woman), sad for the life he lived.

Jerry loved to the best of his ability, trying to be a good father despite the lack of a good father in his life. I never doubted he loved our kids. I know he didn’t know how to be a good husband. He could have had he given God control of his life. How very sad that so many live their lives troubled and unfulfilled by not surrendering to the love and care of a Heavenly Father.

Jerry’s gone, and I have mixed feelings. All the bad memories have surfaced; things I thought I had made my peace with. But life is a series of choices, so I choose to be there for my children -- to be thankful for the five children that came from our marriage, for the depth of God’s love I experienced because of the dire circumstances in my marriage, the lessons I learned, and the fodder it has given me for writing.

RIP Jerry!

Of Character and Characters

A couple weeks ago the men from our church went on a three day camping/fishing trip in beautiful pine country (Phoenix is all desert) by Woods Canyon Lake. The first night there my grandson, Nathanael, gave a Bible devotion around the campfire.

The next day they were approached by a couple of ladies from the next camp site. They had overheard the devotion the night before and just wanted to say how much they appreciated seeing a group of men and boys praying and studying the Bible.

Overheard! Overhearing! If others heard our conversations when we weren’t aware, would they compliment us? Would they say, “I knew that’s how she/he really is?” Our character is not how we speak and behave when others are listening or watching. It’s what we do when we think no one sees or hears.

Being a writer is like letting others inside our heads, inside our thoughts. I’ve usually found that most writers’ personalities are reflected in their work. Some live out their dreams, angst, desires, experiences (good and bad), obsessions, and any number of things in their writing.

I write from experience, either my own or others I know or have known. I’m allowing people inside my mind and thoughts. To do so makes us vulnerable. Of course, my writing is fiction and my characters are fictional. I have been asked concerning my book Like A Cedar In Lebanon if I am Lebby. I’ve also been asked by one of my daughters if she is Lebby.

The answer is that my characters are usually a composite of several real people. So if you wonder if I’ve patterned a character after you, well, maybe. Just maybe.

Keeping It Simple

A few weeks ago at a church picnic I met a nice young man from South Korea who is in the U.S. attending flight school. We sat at the same picnic table and had marvelous conversation, me inquiring about life in South Korea, and he about life here. He speaks great English, but carefully chooses his words and enunciates with precision. Despite the language barrier, we understood each other.

As a reader, I want novels to entertain me. I don’t want to have to experience deep thinking to understand what I’m reading. I do understand why some writers use elaborate, lofty, thought-provoking words because it's their style. I’m sure many readers enjoy that, but I don’t.

Recently I read a book by a known author. I loved his first book. In fact, I devoured it, and then read it a second time. So I was excited when a friend gave me a copy of his second book. It, too, is an amazing story, but PLEASE! Spare me the vocabulary journey of intellectual spout. It wasn’t necessary to tell the story. He was “birthed in an explosion of light, an inner expanding universe coalescing its own internal solar systems and galaxies with unimagined symmetry and elegance.”  Please, just say you were born!  And he described employees as fawning sycophants in another paragraph filled with lofty, uncommon words. I admit, although I have an intelligent grasp on vocabulary, I did look up sycophants.

My point is this – who are you trying to impress with your writing? Your average reader gets bogged down with deep-thinking descriptions. However, I guess it really, really boils down to who is your target audience?

To relate to my young, new friend from South Korea, we had to communicate well enough to understand each other without thinking of the meaning of what the other said. Know your target audience and write accordingly.

By the way, the above book I mentioned, I absolutely fell in love with it at chapter nine.

What's the point?

I’ve discovered that a successful writing journey includes joining groups, networking, conferences, workshops, and classes. Being a people person, joining groups is easy for me (except there is a fee involved to join most groups). I love the camaraderie, support, encouragement, and yes, even the critiques.

Last Saturday six of us CWOWers (Christian Writers of the West, local chapter of ACFW) joined together to read aloud five pages of our current manuscript or WIP. Reading aloud was a suggestion from literary agent Steve Laube at a mini-conference we all attended in January.

First of all, these ladies are delightful and diverse, especially diverse in their writing genres. One does YA, one does mystery and espionage, one does suspense with a bit of horror, the other does biblical fiction, and one does historical romance. I like to think I do transformational fiction. Now, if any of the dear six from Saturday are reading my blog, that is my take on your genre. If I got it wrong, forgive me. With only five pages to glean from, it’s what I grasped.

My point to this is: What’s the point? If we aspiring writers go to such meetings or groups, what do we want to accomplish. If we get defensive or resent someone’s critique of our work (no, that did NOT happen at this meeting), then what’s the point of our participating in such groups?

When I had time to assess and analyze all that had been said, I grabbed my laptop and began to implement some of the ideas and suggestions I’d received from these ladies at the meeting.

And that, my fellow writers, is the point! Don’t get defensive! Analyze, research, and ask God to enlighten you as to what will improve your craft. If improvement comes in the form of criticism or rebuke, don’t take it personally. Hard to do? Of course. Writing, our WIP – work in progress -- is our baby, our creation, our heart and passion. Everyone should love it like we do, right?

Wrong! But don’t give up. Believe in yourself, follow your heart. And may God be with you and guide your thoughts and ideas.

Why Do I Write?

I subscribe to two different literary agents’ blogs because I think they’re great. One is Steve Laube and the other is Chip MacGregor. As a writer or an aspiring writer and if you’re not currently reading their blogs, I suggest you do.

Last week Chip MacGregor had a blog titled, “Why Do We Write?” It was in response to a question someone sent in. His answer, and I’m quoting from his blog: “Okay, this may surprise you, but I believe most new writers basically want to get published so that they’ll be famous. They want that thrill of holding up a book with their name emblazoned on the cover, show it to their friends, leave it on their coffee table, maybe peruse a copy at the bookstore and casually mention to someone in the aisle, “You know, I wrote this.” I think most new writers are seeking fame and encouragement, that they believe validity and meaning will arrive out of publication. They see fame as offering a measurable amount of worth and competence.”

Hm, I thought, as I scratched my head and then chuckled. That about hits it precisely on the head. I wanted to write! I needed and yearned to write. I imagined instant fame and accolades. I mean, after all, God was laying it on my heart, He was calling me to write. I was as sure of that as I’d ever been about anything. If the Creator of the universe had His hand in it, of course I would be famous.

When that didn’t happen, I was disappointed, discouraged, and doubted that I’d ever heard from God. But I had written a book. I was convinced it was a pretty good book. So I self-published. Nothing wrong with that, but my writing craft was far from perfected. But I did it!  My book is out there, with all the writing flaws that make editors cringe. But I still believe my story is a good story. I happen to love it.

Let’s all admit it, we do want to be famous to some degree or other, if only it’s to be recognized by our family and friends as having talent. I have hopefully reached the place where I just want to touch people with my writing, to move them to tears or laughter. I had to give it all to God, to release it to Him. All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe it all to Him anyway.

Writing That Happy Ending

Besides my love of reading and writing, I am an avid movie buff.  I like romance, comedies, political thrillers, mysteries, and historical dramas. In the movie, Atonement, a main character is a thirteen-year-old girl, Briony Tallis played by Saoirse Ronan.  Briony is a young, fledgling writer, and the actual movie is portrayed through Briony’s telling.

It is a story of young, passionate love between Briony’s older sister, Cecilia, played by Keira Knightly, and Robbie, played by James McAvoy.  Briony and Cecelia live a life of wealth and privilege in a grand mansion, and Robbie, although well educated, is the son of the family housekeeper.  Briony has a crush on Robbie, and because of her jealousy, she accuses Robbie of a crime he didn’t commit, irrevocably and tragically changing the course of several lives.

Through the struggles and heartache, it seems the story will eventually have a happy ending.  I breathed a sigh of relief that all would end well for the young sweethearts.  Then an older, mature woman, Briony, confesses to the travesty of her false accusation, and you realize the story does not end happily for Robbie and Cecelia EXCEPT in the story the now well-known writer, Briony, gave to them in a novel she wrote about them. That was her atonement to the young sweethearts she had destroyed.  In her writing, she gave them the happy ending they should've had.  And my apologies right now if you haven’t seen the movie, and I’ve spoiled it for you.

As writers, we have the power to take words and transform them into anything we want.  ANYTHING WE WANT! We can take circumstances and experiences of our own, or those of people we know, and tweak and twist and turn it into a best-selling novel.  What awesome power at our disposal!

 Go, my writer friends, and let your imagination and creative juices flow!