Craft & Creativity of Writing. Learned or Developed?

YVONNE LEHMAN is a best-selling, award-winning author. Hearts that Survive – A Novel of the Titanic (Abingdon, March 1, 2012) is her 50^th book. Others to be released in 2012 are A Knight to Remember (Heartsong, April) and Let it Snow (Heartsong, November), the 2nd and 3rd in a series. Yvonne founded and directed the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference for 25 years and now directs the Blue Ridge “Autumn in the Mountains” Novelist Retreat held at Ridgecrest, NC in October. She is a Mentor with the Christian Writers Guild. She will be signing the Titanic book April 27, 28, and 29 at the Titanic Display in Pigeon Forge TN.

THE CRAFT OF WRITING

Can be learned.

Material about the CRAFT of writing is all over the internet, at conferences, in books, English classes, Literature classes, writing courses, critique groups, internet loops where we ask and receive questions and answers. All those are great. It’s our education. We read others’ writings and discover how they did it. We experience rejection (returns!) which can teach us whether we’re truly committed to writing, why we write anyway, and encourage us to learn more.

No matter how much we learn about a subject, a profession, it means nothing unless and until we put that knowledge and experience into action. Craft enhances creativity.

THE CREATIVITY OF WRITING

Must be developed.

At my writers conferences, many beginning writers have bemoaned the fact that God called them into writing, they’ve been writing for two years or more and still get rejections. I tell them they are to start in the stock room, not as president of the company. Some may never become the president, but we can become a valuable employee in the organization of writers.

This is an example often used because it’s so apt. When a child is discovered to have talent in playing the piano, does he quit taking lessons and apply to be a concert pianist? No. That’s when extra lessons and extra practices begin. That’s when more is required. The same with writing. If we have a talent, then it’s time to being studying the craft and practicing the creativity, and continue.

Most writers long for the time to write. I hear this over and over - I have family, I have a husband, I have a job. My reply is that this busy time is our training center. We’re learning to be everything so that we have something to write about. So often, the difficulties and challenges in our lives that we don’t want, but go through, are what enrich our lives, our faith, and our writing.

We spend a lot to time learning the craft of writing, and we should. We likely can never know enough. Too, we should spend considerable time taking a subject that is not new, that is not original, and make it exciting, beneficial, new to the reader because we say it, experience it, learn from it, in a way no one else can.

Moms could be given the assignment to write about how they discipline their children. Each might have the same method of standing them in a corner. However, the results would be different with each child, or their reaction would be different, or the moms’ reactions would be different, or each would have her own unique way of telling (showing!) the story.

Twenty-one of us published writers wanted to show other writers that we could use the rules (craft) of writing, write about the same subject, even use the same elements in a short story and each would be different. The five elements to used in each story are:

The first line: The wind was picking up.

Mistaken identity

Pursuit at a noted landmark

Unusual form of transportation

The last line: So that’s exactly what she did.

The book of short stories is titled What the Wind Picked Up (iUniverse). We showed that a story can be told many times, include the same elements, and yet be different because each writer has his own unique style and voice.

Sometimes we hear, “That’s already been done.” Critics might say that about the Titanic and I suppose everyone watched the movie. Yes, the sinking of the ship has been done. However, the stories of my passengers, my characters, had not been done until I wrote about them in my novel Hearts that Survive – A Novel of the Titanic.

This 50^th book of mine is a composite of what I’ve learned about life, craft, and creativity in my thirty years of writing.  I could not have tackled a Titanic story with confidence had I not experienced the years of learning, studying, teaching the craft, practicing, writing, re-writing, failing, being rejected, and being accepted.

Those who succeed are those who don’t give up, but continue to study the craft, practice the creativity, work through the challenges, because it leads to the joy of publication and having our words mean something to another person, as the Lord created us to do

Hearts that Survive – A Novel of the Titanic

Of all the unbelievable things that occurred, the strangest phenomenon took place. The floating half of the ship began to melt like a dollop of butter on a hot roll. It just melted smoothly into the ocean and the hoard of people were in the water. Their hair didn’t get wet. No water splashed on their faces. For an instant they didn’t scream. They couldn’t. A communal gasp went out over the sea, produced by hundreds and hundreds of terrified people who unexpectedly stepped into icy water up to their necks.

The ship of dreams vanished, disappeared as it sank into the sea.

In its place emerged a nightmare.

The sinking of the “unsinkable” Titanic was not the end of the story for the 2207 passengers, plus the crew. It was the beginning of an unforgettable event that changed history, changed culture. There were only a few hundred saved in the 20 lifeboats. Not only were hundreds and hundreds of souls lost that night, but the event touched people throughout the world. Each person had family, friends, acquaintances and their lives too were touched and changed. Being saved was not the end, but the beginning for those who struggled not just to survive, but to live again.

Read this incredible story of

ONE SHIP… TWO FAMILIES… THREE GENERATIONS.

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Author Interview ~ Gina Holmes

Gina Holmes is the bestselling author of Crossing Oceans and the newly released novel, DRY AS RAIN. She's the founder of Novel Rocket, (formerly Novel Journey), a registered nurse,  wife and mother who makes her home in Southern Virginia. You can learn more about her at www.ginaholmes.com 

Your debut novel hit ECPA, Amazon, PW and CBA bestsellers list (some throughout the span of a year!) For several weeks Crossing Oceans was the #1 free kindle download and then stay in the top hundred for a long time.

Beside the commercial success, your book was a finalist in every major Christian book award, including: Christy, ECPA, Retailer’s Choice, Carol Awards, and won RWA’s Inspirational Reader’s Choice and an INSPY. Does having that kind of success put the pressure on for your second book?

I try not to think too much about it. I didn’t expect that kind of success but am very grateful for it. I had a lot of pressure on me on this releasing novel, not because of the success of the first book, but because, unlike the first, I didn’t have all the time in the world to write it. Some books flow smoothly, this one I had to yank out like a bad tooth. I faced multiple rewrites, some of them pretty major, all while trying to promote my all important first novel. I was still working full time, mothering, running Novel Journey (now Novel Rocket) and all of that, so this was a tough tough book for me to produce.

Tell our readers about your latest release, Dry as Rain:

I'm a really bad pitchman so I'll just repeat the back of the book copy:

Behind every broken vow lies a broken heart.

When Eric and Kyra Yoshida first met, they thought their love would last forever. But like many marriages, theirs has gradually crumbled, one thoughtless comment and misunderstanding at a time, until the ultimate betrayal pushes them beyond reconciliation. Though Eric longs to reunite with Kyra, the only woman he has truly loved, he has no idea how to repair the damage that’s been done.

Then a car accident erases part of Kyra’s memory—including her separation from Eric—and a glimmer of hope rises from the wreckage. Is this a precious opportunity for the fresh start Eric has longed for? Does he even deserve the chance to find forgiveness and win back Kyra’s heart . . . or will the truth blow up in his face, shattering their last hope for happiness? A richly engaging story of betrayal and redemption, Dry as Rain illuminates with striking emotional intensity the surprising truth of what it means to forgive.

You can read the first chapter HERE. 

"Holmes grabs the reader with a unique storyline about infidelity and what it truly means to forgive after betrayal.  By looking at the situation from a different angle, the author provides a great deal of food for thought and contemplation." RT Book Reviews – September, 2011


Library Journal says, "Fans of emotionally packed domestic fiction will love it."

This novel feels so much different than Crossing Oceans. Why did you choose to take such a different path?

I didn’t intend to write something completely different and I think it feels that way because of the characters telling the story. In Crossing Oceans, Jenny was our narrator and she was a melancholy, all woman sort.

In Dry as Rain, we have Eric, who is a man’s man and doesn’t think in flowery language and descriptions so it would have been wrong to write him that way. While both books have a heavy subject matter, Crossing Oceans was much more so. You can’t get heavier than dying, so it was bound to be more emotional, no matter how I wrote the next book.

But, my genre seems to be relational drama which both are and I like to pepper in a quirky cast and that’s true of both books.

You took a lot of chances in this book. First writing first person from a male’s perspective, secondly to have the protagonist someone who does a lot of things that aren’t very Christianly, like cheating on his wife, drinking, lying, etc. Are you afraid this might hurt your sales in the Christian market?

Afraid? No. Concerned, sure. While I don’t personally have a problem with Eric drinking a beer, the rest I have a problem with too. The thing is Eric’s a nominal Christian at the beginning of the book, lukewarm about his faith like many who call themselves followers of Christ. This is his journey though and he doesn’t end up where he begins. I wanted to tell the story as truthfully as I could and at the end of the day let the chips fall where they may.

What happened to your long time website, Novel Journey?

www.noveljourney.blogspot.com is now www.novelrocket.com You can get to it by either address but we decided on an overhaul because we wanted to drop the blogspot address and just have a dot com. The guy who owned Novel Journey didn’t return our emails to sell so we had to do something a little different. This turned out to be a good thing maybe because we’d been chewing on broadening the site for some time. We’ve got some exciting changes now, the most notable is the addition of “Rocket Pages” a sort of Craig’s List for writers to find the services they need to launch and sustain their career.

What’s going on with you personally?

Well, I’m blissfully married, mom to two, stepmom to three, and owner of 2 dogs and a fish. I bought a guitar and hope to start fiddling with that soon and just writing a lot. Nothing too exciting over here but that’s the way I like it. I’m the happiest I’ve been in my life. I’ve accomplished many of the dreams and goals I’d hoped to and I always tell my husband, if I died today, I’d feel I lived and full and rewarding life. Not that I’m looking to die just yet.

What are you working on now?

I can’t give the title yet as that’s a work in progress but it’s a story very close to my heart. I’m more excited about this one than anything I’ve ever written. Hopefully my publisher agrees and you see it on the stands in the next year or so. That’s really all I can say for now.

Tell us something we don’t know about you.

I’ll tell you a few. I thought I was afraid of heights until I bungee-jumped and loved it. I’d love to skydive for the first time in the next year, white water raft and get at least a little skill on the guitar. My husband is a talented songwriter. My kids are the sweetest in the world, (yes, the world!), and I love to get my hands dirty. That should do it. Thanks for having me!

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Guest Blogger ~ Ron Benrey, Part II

Ron Benrey is a widely published writer who has coauthored nine Christian romantic suspense novels with his wife Janet. Ron wrote two novellas independently and has written ten non-fiction books. His latest book, Know Your Rights, is an easy to understand guide to everyday law, will be published in December. Ron taught writing courses at the University of Pittsburgh. He currently teaches at major writers’ conferences on topics ranging from plotting and publishability, to Fiction After 50®, the fine art of becoming a novelist later in life. Ron holds a degrees in electrical engineering, management, and law. He’s a member of the Bar of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Ron and Janet live in North Carolina.

NJ: Ron delivered this keynote to the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in May, 2010. This is Part II.

Let Novel-Writing Teach You Christianity ... and Vice Versa, Part II

Once I felt certain that my model was a true two-way street, the inevitable happened. I’d apply the fiction-writing analogy every time I listened to a sermon. I’d often leave church with fresh guidance about writing novels. And cheerful feelings about a dull sermon.

The first tidbits I gleaned were fairly minor. A sermon about the lack of information about Jesus’ early years convinced me to eliminate all details, no matter how interesting, that don’t directly advance the story. And, a message about Judeans finding signs and wonders in the miracles done by Jesus drove home the point that showing is better than telling.

Then came my first high-powered epiphany. It happened when our pastor preached on Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” His message stressed that each of us was created for a purpose.

The obvious fiction-writing parallel is that every character I create must have a definite purpose. Every character, even the extras, must advance the story. Or heighten the drama. Or reveal a truth that reinforces the novel’s theme.

I’d only just wrapped my brain around this concept, when the analogy delivered another startling insight: As the creator of a fictional world analogous to God’s Creation, I should love my characters. This broad notion morphed into a sharply focused commandment. Don’t invent any characters you won’t (or can’t) love.

A while ago, I thought about writing women’s fiction because Christian publishers buy so much of the stuff. Well, I struggled mightily and wrote several angst-filled chapters. But I knew, really truly knew, that I’d never love those characters.

Delete! I felt wonderful afterwards.

My musing about lovable characters led me to deeper ponderings about story: We all know stories must move forward, and story movement can happen in plot events or in the hearts of characters who change during the progression of events. I began to wonder: Is Christ’s story plot-driven or character-driven? I finally decided the Gospels demonstrate an interesting hybrid. The Hero followed a complex plot line, but emerged with his inner natures unscathed. However, the men and women who interacted with Jesus experienced industrial-strength character arcs.

Will this work in a novel? I hope so. It’s the plotting scheme I’ve used in two new novels I’m planning.

At this point I have to issue a safety warning. Mostly to keep me safe. My next observation, which flows directly from the fiction-writing analogy, will annoy-off many Novel Journey readers.

Awhile back, our pastor sermonized on Ephesians Chapter One, Verse 5. That’s the teaching that God chose us for redemption before the foundation of the world. In my opinion, the unmistakable insight for novelists is we should know the destiny of every character before we write our first chapters. In other words, be an outliner rather than a seat of the pants novelist (what some call “instinctive writers”).

Think about it! Planning ahead is the way God manages his Creation. Perhaps it’s also the right way to create fictional worlds.

Enough controversy! Let’s retreat to the shelter of an obscure theological mystery, an aspect of the Biblical creation story that I call the enigma of Adam and Eve. I’ve always wondered why God didn’t zap the pair and start over with two humans smart enough to obey instructions? After all, His “investment” to that point was only a few hundred pounds of clay and dust, and two whiffs of His breath.

The fiction-writing analogy suggests an answer. Anyone who’s been to a meeting of a fiction critique group knows that novelists fight fiercely to not modify their creations. We wince at minor changes and we disdain major rewrites, even when key players go off the rails. We also strive to rehabilitate errant characters, because we do love them. We’re delighted when our prodigal creations begin to behave.

Coincidentally, I worked this out a few days before a guest pastor talked about freewill and humankind’s proclivity to disobey God. Naturally, I applied the analogy, because I (like most novelists) have run into heroes, helpmates, and villains who won’t cooperate, who seem determined to do their own things.

The reason, I think, is that we must give our lead characters a kind of freewill: Somehow, I have to keep Me the author out of the characters I invent, or else they will parrot my likes, my dislikes, my personality, my world view, my age, and my gender. I want female characters to act like women, kids to act like kids, and none of the men to echo me.

Because I simultaneously juggle dozens of plot and personality issues I have to assign each character to an individual part of my mind and let these “people partitions” (as I call them) run on “autopilot.” Like it or not, some characters will go astray. I think that’s how fictional freewill works. However, I’m open for other suggestions.

Recently, I used the fiction-writing analogy to examine a problem that is plaguing the novel-writing biz. The traditional route to publication has become so challenging, that some frustrated novelists are thinking about switching to something with greater odds of success. Say, responding to a Nigerian email scam.

Does the fiction-writing analogy have anything to say on the subject? Another big Yes, indeed. A recent sermon on covenant theology convinced me that those of us who create fictional worlds also make covenants with our characters. After all, they rely on us to uphold and sustain them.

Christianity affirms that the Creator of the Universe keeps his promises. However, Christianity also teaches that a creator can make a new covenant when it becomes necessary. And so, with apologies to Jeremiah:

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Novelist, when I will make a new covenant with the characters I create, not like the covenant that I made to put them in local bookstores. For no longer do readers buy novels that way, but chiefly at Wal-Mart, Amazon, supermarkets, and airports.

And this is the new covenant that I will make after these days. I will write my characters’ lives on Kindles and iPads. I will embrace ebook publishing and Print on Demand. My characters will dwell securely at Winepress and Lightning Source. I will not bemoan the loss of the traditional publishing model, but espouse the new paradigm.

For no longer shall each reader find book reviews in newspapers, or browse bookshelves, and read blurbs on the back covers. But savvy readers shall say: “We know this Novelist for his website, for his blogs, for his Twitter Tweets, and for his other social networking.” I shall establish this new covenant so my characters will thrive and prosper. They will know that I am their Novelist, and they shall entrance my readers forever.

Hey! It could happen.

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Guest Blogger ~ Ron Benrey

Ron Benrey is a widely published writer who has coauthored nine Christian romantic suspense novels with his wife Janet. Ron wrote two novellas independently and has written ten non-fiction books. His latest book, Know Your Rights, is an easy to understand guide to everyday law, will be published in December. Ron taught writing courses at the University of Pittsburgh. He currently teaches at major writers’ conferences on topics ranging from plotting and publishability, to Fiction After 50®, the fine art of becoming a novelist later in life. Ron holds a degrees in electrical engineering, management, and law. He’s a member of the Bar of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Ron and Janet live in North Carolina.

NJ: Ron delivered this keynote to the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in May, 2010. He was gracious enough to allow Novel Journey to print it here.

Let Novel-Writing Teach You Christianity ... and Vice Versa

Much of what I know about Christianity I learned from writing novels. I agree that’s a weird approach to studying theology. But what has surprised me even more is Christianity returned the favor and gave me lots of great advice about writing fiction.

To understand how all of this came about, you need to know I was a stubborn non-believer for most of my life, someone who saw Christianity as foolishness (to use Paul’s word). I considered the Incarnation the most nonsensical teaching of all. I couldn’t begin to accept that a Jewish carpenter in a jerkwater Roman province was also God.

But one August afternoon in 1998, I had a weird idea. I could write myself into my own novel. Ron Benrey, the author, could create a literary self-portrait: Ron Benrey, the character. If I did that, Me in the novel would be fully Author and fully Character, at the same time. I realized that a fictional self-portrait is a nifty way to model the Incarnation.

All at once, my mind shifted gears. When I thought of Jesus as God’s self-portrait, the other Christian teachings I’d rejected stopped seeming foolish. In about 30 seconds, I rocketed from non-believer to believer.

I know that my ideas about literary self-portraits didn’t pop into my head by accident. They were precisely what I needed to grab hold of the Incarnation. However, the fiction-writing analogy upsets some believers. I’ve been told on several occasions that true creativity belongs to God alone, that only He creates stuff ex nihilo (out of nothing). Although we think of ourselves “creative,” novelists merely move around pieces of God-created stuff. Consequently (the naysayers claim) comparing human creativity to God’s is the very essence of wrong thinking.

I’ve found that most of the folks who reject my favorite analogy aren’t novelists. They’ve never put together a complex storyline, or tamed an unruly character, or squeezed a three-hundred page story into a one-page summary. Novelists may not be creators with a capitol C, but it sure feels like we create fiction out of nothing.

Happily, there are sound arguments in favor of the fiction-writing analogy. Exhibit One is a statement from Dorothy Leigh Sayers, the late British mystery novelist, the creator of Lord Peter Whimsy. Dorothy was also a highly respected self-taught theologian, much like her good friend C. S. Lewis.

She wrote, “It may be perilous, as it must be inadequate, to interpret God by analogy with ourselves, but we are compelled to do so; we have no other means of interpreting anything. Man measures everything by his own experience. He has no other yardstick.”

That’s why scripture is chock full of figures of speech: similes, metaphors, and analogies: God as a Father. The Kingdom of God as a mustard seed. God’s grace as the wages paid to workers in a vineyard. Jesus as the Lamb of God, and a king, and a vine.

Two of the most important figures of speech are God the Creator and God the Maker of the Universe. Dorothy notes they also have meanings that reflect our human experience. “If they didn’t, they’d mean nothing at all to us.” This is because, “The experience of the creative imagination is the only thing we have to go on when we formulate the concept of creation.”

More evidence for the defense comes C. S. Lewis. He wrote, “Shakespeare could in principle, make himself appear as author within his play Hamlet, and write a dialog between Hamlet and himself. The ‛Shakespeare’ within the play would of course be at once Shakespeare and one of Shakespeare’s creatures. It would bear some analogy to the Incarnation.”

I consider “some analogy” a perfect example of British understatement! However, I admit that Clive Lewis was right to be cautious. All analogies are limited. They break down if you push them too far. We’re not characters living inside God’s novel. Nonetheless, thinking of myself as a creator of fictional worlds has yielded a steady stream of mind-opening theological perspectives.

One of the earliest came during an unusually lively meeting of my fiction critique group. I don’t remember why, but the discussion turned to whether mystery fans are loony because they enjoy reading about murder and mayhem. Someone said: “Mystery novelists are even loonier, because we enjoy writing about murder.” Someone else said: “True! In fact, everyone likes fictional homicide except the unfortunate characters we create. Imagine how they’d complain, if they could.”

For example, a victim might say: “You invented me, then killed me off in my prime. Why do such a thing?” And then the murderer might counter: “You made me poison the victim ... and then you punished me for what I did. That’s not fair!”

While everyone else chuckled at the idea, and tried to invent snappy responses to their characters’ complaints, I thought about my fiction writing analogy. Back then, I was just beginning to study Scripture. I knew that a familiar Bible passage applied perfectly to the situation, but I couldn’t recall which one. Later that night, I tracked down Isaiah 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

For the first time, ever, I truly “got” that creatures can never understand the mind of the Creator. But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying to make sense of Christianity’s mysteries.

The Incarnation is the central miracle of our faith, but the Big Kahuna of Christian confusion is the Trinity. How can there be three divine “persons,” yet only One God? You’ve probably heard the maxim: “Try to deny the Trinity and you’ll lose your soul; try to understand the Trinity and you’ll lose your mind.” Some attribute that saying to Augustine of Hippo, although I think it was made up by some frustrated seminarian.

My original self-portrait analogy encompassed two out of the three persons. Is there a fiction-writing analog for the Holy Spirit? Yes indeed! Think of the “God-like” narrator in a third-person omniscient novel. The narrator guides the story, orchestrates the action, explains the heart and mind of every character. The narrator never appears, but is present behind the words.

If I wrote an omniscient novel with me as the protagonist, we’d all be there. Me the author/creator. Me the omniscient narrator. Me the rich, handsome, spectacularly lovable hero. (Clearly I’m writing a Romance.)

Of course, if the self-portrait model holds water, the Spirit analog should also be present in first-person fiction, and also in a third-person POV novel that doesn’t have an obvious narrator. He can be, if he precedes from Me the Novelist. I can send my Spirit analog to convict the lead characters, to comfort them, and to establish their all-important internal goals. And these days, I do send him.

My Spirit analog is at work in every story I write: poking, prodding, guiding, shaping the protagonist and the antagonist. And here’s another weird admission. I include my Spirit analog on my list of characters. I also give him specific tasks in my plot outline. Readers don’t know he’s present. Neither do the hero or the villain. But Spirit’s behind their consciences, their perceptions, their abrupt changes of heart.

This process of integrating the Spirit analog in my fiction writing went so smoothly, that months passed before I realized the self-portrait analogy had flipped roles. Christianity was giving me useful advice about writing fiction. I expanded my analogical experiments to see what else I could learn.

If you run the fiction-writing analogy backwards, a novelist seems to have modest powers of divinity, starting with transcendence. We’re outside “story time,” even if our novel spans a gazillion years. We can start writing at the end, or at the beginning. We can jump to any point in between. We’re also outside “story space.” We can switch locations instantly. The speed of thought is much faster than the speed of light. And once we get to the story time and story place of our choosing, we’re omnipotent down to our fingertips, with the power to make our will be done in our fictional worlds.

Whoa! I can hear you thinking: "Christian novelists ain’t so sovereign. We’re stuck with the “no-no” rules ordained by Christian publishers." In fact, nothing stops us from bursting the bounds of the Christian fiction genre when we write. However, remember that omnipotence doesn’t include the power to do things that don’t make sense, like squaring a circle, or committing a logical fallacy.

The term “Christian fiction” is a label for a specific genre. Like any other genre (say mystery, romance, or historical) there are rules that reflect reader expectations. An author who sits down to write a “Christian novel,” but ignores the requirements of the genre, produces a different kind of novel. Not wrong, mind you; but different. That’s true whether the author seeks a traditional publisher or plans to take an alternative route to publication.

Tomorrow, we'll bring you the second half of this post. You won't want to miss it!

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Guest Blogger ~ Dan Walsh

Dan Walsh is the author of The Unfinished Gift and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. His newest novel, The Homecoming, (Revell) has just been released on June 1st. Both books received 4.5 Stars from Romantic Times. Best-selling author Colleen Coble called The Homecoming, “One of the most delightful and touching love stories I’ve ever read.” Dan is also a pastor and lives with his family in the Daytona Beach area, where he's busy researching and writing his fourth novel. Visit Dan at his website, read his blog, or follow him on Twitter.

Getting Into Character

I haven’t been a seven-year-old boy for 46 years. I’ve never been a woman. I’ve never been a bitter, angry old man (although there is still time for this to happen). I’ve never been an Italian grandmother. I’ve never been a black man, who’s whole life has been oppressed by poverty and racism. But in my debut novel, The Unfinished Gift (Revell, September 09) I had to become all these people.

In the just-released sequel, The Homecoming, I had to become two more people I’ve never been. The same woman in book one, but now a woman in love (really, a first for me). And a B-17 pilot who flies through deadly German skies, whose plane is shot down, who saves his entire crew and becomes a national hero (those who know me would say I’ve got a better chance of becoming a woman in love than filling these shoes). Even worse, after accomplishing all this, our hero returns home to find the love of his life has died in a tragic accident. Thankfully, the love of my life is sitting by my side as I write this, and has been for 33 years.

To me, writing novels is way cooler than being an actor. Look at all the parts we get to play.

Some of the most fulfilling and encouraging feedback I’ve received about my books goes right to this issue. I love it when people say things like: “You made me feel everything that little boy was feeling.” Or, “Your characters are so real. It’s like I could see everything through their eyes.” All of the best books unveiling the secrets of getting published say it’s essential to create characters readers will care about and believe in.

For me, the best way to accomplish this doesn’t begin with my pen, but in my mind. I start by doing something actors have been doing for ages, called “getting into character.” Before I write a scene, I spend a good deal of time just thinking about it, daydreaming really. I imagine the scene as it plays out in my mind, see where the characters are standing, look around and see what they see. Soon they begin to talk about the situation I’ve put them in. I let them talk. I listen. Since I write historical fiction, it’s almost like traveling back in time for me, peering at the scene as an invisible observer.

At some point, I know which character’s POV would tell this scene best. I replay the whole scene again from his or her perspective. But now I move from invisible observer and jump inside that character’s head. What are they thinking, seeing, feeling? I begin to think, see and feel the same things. The dialog begins. I feel the sting of a harsh remark, the relief of a danger passed, the warmth of a loving glance.

I keep my laptop nearby. When I get to this level of clarity, I begin to write. I describe all these things. Sometimes, the pictures are so strong, I am just a scribe taking dictation, the words flying faster than I can type. Other times, I must pause and search carefully for just the right phrase to faithfully represent what I’ve seen or heard.

I love it when this happens.

To me, it’s one of the most rewarding things about being a writer. As I get further into the book, it becomes increasingly easier to “get into character.” Because now I know them. A new plot point is introduced. I know how my characters’ will react. They are almost real now. The dialog comes naturally and normally, flowing within the bounds of their personalities.

Some of the best things that have happened in my books have been complete surprises to me. They come from moments like these, where I’ve simply let the characters say and do what they must. After I’ve captured their ideas and written them down, I feel almost compelled to thank them.

But really, the One I thank most for all these things is God. The Bible says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). Our imagination is one of those marvelous gifts. And so is the gift to be able to write down what our imaginations create so that others can share our experience.

Now obviously, I’m describing the creative side of the writing process. My books don’t flow out of this process perfectly formed. Like everyone else, after these creative surges the other side of my brain must engage. I edit, refine, rewrite. Wait a little while, and do it again. I listen to my lovely wife’s input and wonderful editor’s suggestions, and rewrite some more.

By and by, the book is ready for print.

If you’d like to study this idea in more depth, I’d encourage you to check out a book I became aware of as I researched this article, written by Brandilyn Collins. It’s called “Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets A Novelist Can Learn From Actors.”

If you haven’t tried this method for creating realistic, relevant characters you’re in for a treat. If you’ve been doing this awhile, share some of your stories with us. I’d love to hear some of the roles you’ve played, especially those most unlike the real you.

The Homecoming

No sooner is Shawn Collins home from the fighting in Europe than he is called upon to serve his country in another way--as a speaker on the war bond tour. While other men might jump at the chance to travel around the country with attractive Hollywood starlets, Shawn just wants to stay home with his son Patrick and his aging father, and grieve the loss of his wife in private.

When Shawn taps Katherine Townsend to be Patrick's nanny while he's on the road, he has no idea how this decision will impact his life. Could it be the key to his future happiness and the mending of his heart? Or will the war once again threaten his chances for a new start?

Dan Walsh does not disappoint in this tender story of family ties and the healing of a broken heart.

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Bad Week, Good Words

It’s been a bad week. The day before yesterday my last living aunt passed away. Her name was Liz, and she was a hoot. If you’re old enough to remember Phyllis Diller or Carol Channing you’ll have a general idea of how much fun she was. I’ll miss her so. Then yesterday I had lunch with a friend whose wife just filed for divorce. My friend has a drinking problem, and his wife decided she can’t take it anymore. After lunch I spent time with another hurting friend whose only child is down to one last hope—an experimental therapy—to beat his cancer.

Meanwhile, I have to write 1,000 good words today, and do it again tomorrow, and every other day until September if I’m going to meet the deadline on my next novel. But with so many troubles all around, lately it’s been all I can do to write 500 good words a day.

The word count isn’t the real problem. I’ve been at this writing game a long time. I’ve written amidst the distractions of airports, coffee shops and shopping malls. Even with all of this emotional turmoil I could probably still deliver 5,000 or even 10,000 readable words a day. But good words . . . aye, to quote the Bard, there’s the rub.

It’s tempting to lose focus and begin to wonder why I bother. In a world like this, excellence in the arts can seem like such a trivial pursuit. Indeed, never mind excellence, the reason art matters at all is sometimes questioned. With grief, loneliness, addiction, pain and fear all around us, what’s the point of literature? Why paint? Why sculpt? Why dance, or act, or sing? Why not devote oneself to something practical instead?

Near the end of the book of Job, after that unfortunate man has lost his children, his fortune and his health, after he has suffered the interminable counsel of well-meaning friends who insist he somehow brought disaster on himself, after he has come perilously close to blasphemy while demanding an accounting from his creator, after all of that, Job finally encounters God. Strangely, when God appears it is not with explanations. Job learns nothing of the reason for his suffering. He gets no answer to Rabbi Kushner’s famous question, ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ Even so, in the end Job is satisfied. God appears, and Job says, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” God appears, and his appearing is enough for Job.

My friend Brad, a professor at a well-known college of fine art, tells me it’s been fashionable for many years in the art community to question the existence of beauty. Not to question beauty’s definition or value, understand, but to question its very existence. One person finds Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d'Avignon lovely, while another person thinks it’s ugly. In the world of art theory this divergence of opinion has sometimes been taken to mean beauty is nothing but a social construct.

It is an old idea. It is the lament of Ecclesiastes. Everything is meaningless under the sun. Yet not everything, for Job saw God and that was enough.

Once I suffered from severe depression. Like Job I cursed the day of my birth. I was saved from the temptation of suicide by snowcapped mountains, golden birches, and the sparkling Milky Way. I was saved by reflections of God’s beauty.

I don’t mean to say God is beautiful. No mere adjective applies to him. St. John tells us “God is love.” God is beautiful in exactly the same way. Like love, beauty is God’s essence. Beauty does not describe God; it is the fact of God. It is his glory, his weight, the very thing the prophet Moses begged to see on Sinai.

The gospels tell a story of a woman who poured very expensive perfume on Jesus. His disciples were indignant. "Why this waste?" they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor."

And what was Jesus’ reply?

"Why are you bothering this woman?” he asked. “She has done a beautiful thing . . .”

Beauty exists because God exists. To reveal beauty is to reveal God. Therefore, if our art is beautiful, if we struggle to write good words instead of merely readable ones, then sometimes, just for an instant, God appears and God’s appearing is enough. In a world of grief, loneliness, addiction, pain and fear, no act of man could be more practical than that.

Athol Dickson’s novels have been favorably compared to the work of Octavia Butler (Publisher’s Weekly) and Flannery O’Connor (The New York Times). One of his novels is an Audie Award winner. His most recent novel, Lost Mission, is his fifth novel in a row to be selected as a finalist for the Christy Award. Two of his novels are Christy Award winners. Athol lives with his wife in southern California.

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Forgotten Beauty

Athol Dickson’s novels have been favorably compared to the work of Octavia Butler (Publisher’s Weekly), Daphne du Maurier (FaithfulReader.com, by Cindy Crosby, Christianity Today fiction critic), and Flannery O’Connor (The New York Times). His last four novels were all finalists for the Christy Award, which he has won twice. Other honors include the Audie Award, a Booklist Top Ten Christian Novel of the year and a Christianity Today Novel of the Year finalist. His most recent novels are Winter Haven and Lost Mission. Athol lives in southern California.

It was an obvious mistake. Long ago during my life as an architect I designed a restaurant’s floor plan with the front doors swinging inward. If there had been a fire and a crowd rushed out, those who got to the doors first would have been unable to open them because of the press of people coming from behind. In the years since then as a full time novelist, I have spent a lot of time with other authors exploring the best practices of plotting, characterization, theme, setting, and craftsmanship. Strangely, I cannot recall a single conversation about beauty. This is remarkable omission for professional writers, easily as inexplicable as an experienced architect who draws a pair of entry doors that swing against the flow.

When I first realized what we were missing, I thought perhaps it was because the goal of beauty in a novel is so obvious we think conversation is unnecessary, much as people rarely talk about the importance of air.

Yet that can’t explain it, since we spend so much time discussing other aspects of good fiction which are also obvious. If we feel characterization is worth our consideration, or plotting, or theme, why not beauty, too?

Next I wondered if we might ignore the topic due to the mistaken belief that beauty is the end result of every other aspect of a novel. If we do those other things well, beauty will—so the theory goes—follow naturally. But it seems to me this makes no more sense than a pair of tourists who plan a journey to the last detail without ever mentioning their destination. To arrive at a place, one must set out for it. To set out for it, one must have it in mind.

Maybe we’re embarrassed by the idea of discussing beauty in our work. Maybe we feel it is immodest to admit pursuit of such a goal. Or maybe we’re intimidated by the subject. Maybe we fear open talk of beauty makes us more accountable for its absence from our words.

Whatever the reasons, I think it strangest that I didn’t notice this omission earlier. When novelists get together to talk about their work, beauty (or the lack of it) is the elephant in the room, the emperor’s new clothes, the front doors swinging inwards. This is particularly odd for Christian authors, who write in service of the One who “shines forth in beauty” as the Psalmist said, and who are commanded to pursue an unfading beauty which “is of great worth in God’s eyes.” We create because we were created in the Creator’s image. God called all creation “good,” which is to say, beautiful. Since beauty was God’s end result, it must have been His intention in the beginning. Should it not be so with us?

The modernist movement in architecture, guided by Louis Sullivan’s famous statement “Form ever follows function,” brought us those boring glass boxes that now pass for good design among the skylines of our cities. But consider something like a rose. Certainly its scent and color serve a purpose, but does the rose exist in all its glory simply because form follows function? I think not. We are taught to focus on grace and good works will follow. So it should be in a novel. Beauty ought to be intentional, not a byproduct of craftsmanship and characters, plots and settings.

If our work is an offering to God, let us not rely on accidents to make it worthy. Let us search out the finest words deliberately, with beauty as our goal, as shepherds once searched through their flocks for lambs without a blemish.

Perhaps some will object that they find glass boxes beautiful. If so, far be it from me to disagree. Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder, if I may fall back on cliché to make the point. What I am concerned with here is not some universal standard that makes a novel beautiful. I am simply saying a novelist should strive for beauty with all his heart and soul and mind and strength. If lust equals adultery, and anger equals murder, surely the principle works in the positive. What matters most as people and as writers is what we hope, what we dream, what we strive to do. Even the most discriminating art collector would find a misshapen lump of clay beautiful beyond compare if it was formed as a gift by the small hands of a loving son or daughter. If a Christian author’s novel is her offering to God, let her strive to make it beautiful however she defines the term, and it will be so to God.

Commercialism, fads and apathy toward the subject are perhaps the worst enemies of beauty in fiction. Commercialism begins with the wrong motive, when motive is a fundamental quality of beauty as I have just said. The pursuit of fads, while popular with some marketing professionals, yields nothing more than slavish imitation, when nature’s infinite variety reveals beauty and originality as inseparable. And apathy is the opposite of love, when love is the underlying purpose of all things beautiful. An author who cares about beauty in her work will rigorously avoid these things.

The best friends of beauty in a novel are deep contemplation, honesty, intentionality, originality and love. Deep contemplation, because lasting beauty is never superficial. Honesty, because duplicity is ugly. Intentionality because true beauty comes only from beautiful motives. Originality because again, nature’s variety proves it inseparable from beauty. And love, because it is both the purpose and the Source of all things beautiful.

Sadly, our culture values instant gratification above everything, even at the cost of ugliness and mediocrity. Television, fast food restaurants and tract houses testify to this. Even more sadly, Christian readers are as guilty of it as anyone. The popularity of simplistic answers to the many paradoxes in the scriptures is one proof of this.

Only pride or money could explain why a novelist would pursue readers who demand easy answers to the vast enigma of the Godhead, who have no time for sunsets, who find an ocean view too empty, who barely see the roses, much less stop to smell them.

We are told no one can serve two masters. Write for pride or money, and you do not write for love or beauty. Yet we are also told our novels must burst upon the reader’s mind with all the urgency of a fire drill. We must hook them. We must do it right away or they will rush off to the next shiny lure, and we must keep them on the hook, wiggling like a dying fish until the bitter end. But beauty does not operate that way. Beauty demands nothing. It does not insist. Beauty whispers. It entices.

For those who love in spite of the unknown and unknowable, for those who gaze in awe at sunsets, ocean views and roses all ablaze with color, there is another sort of hook. Just to pick one fine example, consider One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Marquéz. I found little in the plot to justify so many pages, and today I do not recall a single character’s name, but the words . . . the words! Contrary to the usual advice, for me it was no page-turner. Instead my mind lingered, dreading the coming end because each page turned meant one page closer to the ceasing of those beautiful, beautiful words. The joy they sparked within me will not die until I do.

How I wish the world was filled with novels of such beauty! How I strive and strive to write such words, every single one an offering without blemish to the Source of beauty. And how I search for those who also strive to write that way, that I might have a chance to read them when the Lord is done.

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Two New Books on Writing

The Maeve Binchy Writer's Club, Maeve Binchy

"This warm inspiring guide to writing and publishing is backed with Maeve Binchy's signature humor and generous spirit. From choosing a subject and creating good writing habits to sustaining progress, finding an agent, and working with an editor, Binchy prescribes practical, concise advice for every step."

On-Sale, March 9, 2010












The Weekend Novelist Rewrites the Novel, Robert J. Ray

"You've finished the first draft—congratulations! Think it's ready for publication? Think again. The next stage is all about revisiting and reworking your manuscript—fine-tuning the plot, adding or improving subplots, and fleshing out characters; in short, addressing important structural issues that make or break a novel. . . . Also included are checklists, timed exercises, plot diagrams and charts—all aimed to get you rewriting and revising your draft with confidence. "

On Sale, Feb 16, 2010

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