Writing to Discover Truth … and Yourself

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Golly gosh, I’ve struggled writing the sequel to Angelguard. The basic story of Angelguard fell out of me. I was a complete novice (well, I still am really) but the story just kept coming. I’d turn up to the blank page and out it would come.

Nine months later it was done. The first draft. Not to be read by any one, oh, except, Fiona my wife who egged me on and kept giving me new ideas and lots of names for my supernatural beings.

Many years later it was finally published. Even though there had been many many changes to that first draft the essence of the original story of that first draft remained.

Angelguard was a very plot-driven story with a relatively simple premise focused on how the supernatural interacts with the natural world and the significance of prayer in dealing with the darkness.

Second time around I’ve found to be a completely different experience. Where Angelguard was dealing with the supernatural at the “macro-level” I wanted to move to the micro for the sequel. What role do angels and demons play in the daily life of individuals in, for example, their thought life?

Plotter vs Pantser

As you will have gathered Angelguard was definitely written by the seat of my pants. I started with two words (which actually survived the many re-writes and edits) and a general idea about involving angels and demons in it.

But I figured plotting would help shorten the production process. Sure, there’s more work up front, but the actual writing should take less time if you do a reasonably detailed outline.

I started out with an outline for a story that I thought I loved. Tried a couple of “outlining” methods that seemed to work okay and then started to draft the story.

But the story just wouldn’t come out.

So I shifted gears and worked on another angle, and then another, still grappling with outlining while struggling to bring the essence of the story (what I mentioned above) into it.

I gave up outlining and went back to pantsing. I handed the story back to my characters to see what they’d come up with. Slowly but surely, the story began to get legs and eventually it came out.

Hooray!

Wrestling with Shadows

During the course of the last couple of years of struggling with the story I was also grappling within myself. Sorting through my own mess, my light and dark.

Having completed the first draft early in the year I was able to reflect a little on the process. What become apparent was I needed to go through my own season of discovery about myself to be able to write the story.

I recently read an article Francine Rivers wrote in the latest Christianity Today (May 2016) where she talked through how most of her novels came out of her “questions of faith.”

“But questions of faith kept rising up and with them, characters, to play out various points of view.”

Similarly, I’ve started doing a course Ted Dekker has created (”The Creative Way”). One of the opening comments he makes about his own journey is similar to Francine’s:

“All of my novels began with a question I was wrestling with. A doubt or struggle in my life that I wanted to explore in the context of story.”

I recall other authors sharing similar things and I believe that’s why the latest story is often the hardest one even if you’ve written fifty of them. Because you don’t know what you’re going to learn about yourself when you’re writing it.

We write stories to discover the truth. And in so doing we discover more about the Lord and ourselves.

Yes, the sequel has always had the title, Wrestling with Shadows. To write it, I’ve discovered I needed to do just that myself so I could take my characters through their own transformation.

Did I envisage it being such a struggle when I set out? Never. Sure, I knew getting the story would be challenging enough but I had no inkling the personal battle would be so strong.

If you’re presently struggling with your story be gentle with yourself. Spend more time with the Lord and His Word. Simply hang out and talk to Him not just about the novel but the stuff inside you. He’ll help you sift through it (and others may help as well) and in so doing free you to take your characters on an even better journey in the story.

Grace and peace.

Ian Acheson is an author and strategy consultant based in Northern Sydney. Ian's first novel of speculative fiction, Angelguard, is available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Angelguard won the 2014 Selah Award for Speculative Fiction. You can find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter

Book Review A Single Breath

A Single Breath by Lucy Clarke

Blurb

When Eva’s husband Jackson tragically drowns, she longs to meet his estranged family. The journey takes her to Jackson’s brother’s doorstep on a remote Tasmanian island. As strange details about her husband’s past begin to emerge, memories of the man she married start slipping through her fingers like sand, as everything she ever knew and loved about him is thrown into question. Now she’s no longer sure whether it was Jackson she fell in love with - or someone else entirely … The truth is, it was all a lie …

My Review

I was intrigued by this story which drew me into the mystery right from the beginning and kept me wondering to the final conclusion, which is shocking at yet totally believable.  The novel is a great reflection on what happens when a person begins to tell lies, how the first leads on to more and more until life is a tangled mess - in this case one there is no escape from. The challenge in regard to truth telling, it’s costs and the devastation which follows when the truth is skirted around or avoided, is prominent throughout the story, as its complexity grows.

The main characters, Eva, and her brother-in-law, Saul, are well rounded and likeable. It was easy to get deeply involved emotionally with this story because the points of view of both these characters are handled very well. The romantic aspects of the relationships are tender and sensitive. The story will definitely appeal both to those who love romance and to those who like mystery. The pace of the story is good. I didn’t feel there were any parts which dragged and side stories about Jackson’s father, Dirk, and Eva’s best friend, Callie, only add to the  intensity of the main story. To say anything about other characters would give too much away in regard to the plot, which I thought was incredibly well developed.

Most of the story unfolds on a small island off Tasmania and Lucy Clarke describes the environment beautifully and brings it alive to the reader. It’s clear she researches her setting well and also has a good understanding of the diving which Eva and Saul do off the island beach. The ocean, its moods, beauty and terror are woven into the story in graphic and tantalising images. Readers should be warned there is a small amount of bad language in the dialogue, but I was able to accept this as realistically evoked, given the dramatic nature of what was being dealt with by characters.

Lucy Clarke lives in the south of England and travels widely to research for her writing. This is the first of her novels that I have read, but I have already downloaded her other novel, The Sea Sisters. Both are available through Amazon.

 Carol Preston  

Carol writes historical novels based on her family ancestry in Australia from the First Fleet. They include the Turning the Tide series; Mary’s Guardian, Charlotte’s Angel, Tangled Secrets and Truly Free. Her earlier novels Suzannah’s Gold and Rebecca’s Dream have been re-released by EBP. Her new novel, Next of Kin, is soon to be released by Rhiza Press. You can see more about Carol and her novels on her website  

www.carolpreston.com.au

www.amazon.com/author/carolpreston

www.facebook.com/writingtoreach

Creative Nonfiction Part 1 - Nola Passmore

If It's Creative and Nonfiction, Does That Mean We Make It Up?

I once went on a mission trip to Mexico as part of Youth With A Mission.  Our first outreach in Guadalajara was organised by a group of Christian women who wanted to share the gospel in their neighbourhood.  We performed some dramas to a crowd of about forty to fifty.  Then one of the local pastors preached a short message and asked people to indicate if they’d like to receive Christ.  The entire group came forward for prayer.  It was an incredibly moving experience and we were full of praise and thanks to God. 

Although everything I’ve just told you is true, it’s not presented in a particularly interesting way.  The version I had published in one of the Aussie Stories books began like this:

‘It was hot and humid; the air so thick we got puffed just walking around.  Our heavy black tracksuit pants didn’t help.  Every movement was an effort.  We were about to do our first street performance in Mexico.’

Do you think that opening is an improvement?  We know how the weather affected the people and that helps us visualise the scene.  But if it’s so hot, why are they wearing heavy black pants?  Oh they’re about to do a street performance.  So are they a drama team?  A flash mob?  Buskers?  What are they doing in Mexico? Hopefully those questions draw the reader in and make him or her want to learn more.

We come across examples of creative nonfiction all the time—magazine and newspaper feature articles, biographies and memoirs, devotional writing—but what are the distinctives of this genre?

Lee Gutkind defines creative nonfiction as ‘true stories well told’.  The ‘creative’ part refers to all of the usual literary techniques that creative writers employ (e.g. show don’t tell, the five senses, vivid imagery, engaging dialogue, action, character development, use of scenes), but the ‘nonfiction’ part tells us that these stories could be verified in much the same way a reporter would fact-check a news story.  It’s not the same as a novel or screenplay ‘based on a true story’, where the reader or viewer knows some poetic licence has been taken.  Creative nonfiction is true, but the stories are told in an engaging way.

Let’s start with an exercise.  Think of an event from your past that has some significance for you and write a ‘no-frills’ version that just covers the facts.  Then revise it using some of the literary tools noted above.  Consider the following tale:

‘My husband and I went on a bus tour of Italy.  Our first stop was Rome and we couldn’t believe how dangerous it was to drive down the streets.  Girls with no protective clothing would ride Vespas in between buses.  One of our tour guides used to stand behind the bus driver and hold on with just one hand.  I was worried she might fall and hurt herself.’

Boring!  How could it be jazzed up, while still getting across the facts?  Think about it first and then click here to find the actual excerpt from a travel story I had published.  One of the things you’ll notice is that I’ve used exaggeration as a humorous device.  Is that okay?  Didn’t I say earlier that creative nonfiction has to be true?  In the next two weeks, I’ll look more specifically at techniques used in creative nonfiction and give guidelines for navigating some of the grey areas.   

In the meantime, I’d be interested in hearing about the best nonfiction pieces you’ve read and what made them so appealing?

Sources:

Gutkind, L.  (2012).  You can’t make this stuff up: The complete guide to writing creative nonfiction from memoir to literary journalism and everything in between.  Boston, MA: Da Capo Press.

 Passmore, N. L.  (2009).  Mexican encounter.  In D. Dixon (Ed.), Aussie stories (pp. 145-148).  Sydney: Strand.

 Passmore, N. L.  (2014).  Vespas, wheelchairs, and the metamorphosis of Alberto.  In J. Cooper, B. Morton, J. Spencer & C. Tuovinen (Eds.), Tales from the upper room: Tabor Adelaide anthology 2014 (pp. 12-19).  Saint Marys, South Australia: Immortalise.

Nola Passmore is a freelance writer who has had more than 140 short pieces published, including devotionals, true stories, magazine articles, academic papers, poetry and short fiction.  She loves sharing what God has done in her life and encouraging others to do the same.  She and her husband Tim have their own freelance writing and editing business called The Write Flourish.  You can find her weekly writing tips blog at their website: http://www.thewriteflourish.com.au