Letting Go of God is a CD by Julia Sweeney. She reveals her journey from a believer to an atheist.
She does it in such a comedic way that the majority of believers can laugh and take in her story with little judgment (or at least that is my hope).
As writers, when we write on a subject that is controversial or uncomfortable for others to hear, it is part of our “job” to make the story palatable. This doesn’t mean that we have to use humor as a tool (though, you may), but we do have to find a way to put sentences together that encourage readers to turn the page. We have to pace the story so that readers aren’t bombarded with negativity. It’s important to let the reader breath.
This is where subplots come in handy. Wiki defines subplots as follows: subplots are distinguished from the main plot by taking up less of the action, having less significant events occur, with less impact on the ‘world’ of the work, and occurring to less important characters.
Though I’m not actively editing Mija (the novel I finished last month), editing ideas to creep into my little brain when I don’t even know I’m thinking about the book. But subconsciously, Mija is always with me.
Yesterday, out of nowhere, I began to panic because my subplot may be too “heavy” of a topic. I want to dive in and start editing. But I will resist the temptation. Mija has to sit for at least two months before revisions. Why two months? I think that’s the amount of time I will need to separate my emotions from the writing. Originally I thought 30 days was even, and if may be for future works, but not for Mija.
(Below is a video that is funny as hell. An atheist goes door to door to convert mormons. Julia Sweeney and the atheist host sure have a way about them. Enjoy!)
Out of thousands of words in a novel, few paragraphs can stand on their own. It’s these paragraphs that everyone can relate to. It’s these paragraphs that take an old story and give it new life. It’s these paragraphs that separate authors from writers.
In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye: “Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man is never safe. There is no gift for the beloved. The lover alone possesses his gift of love. The loved one is shorn, neutralized, frozen in the glare of the lover’s inward eye.”
Toni Morrison is a true artist. It’s her novels that inspire me to write. It’s her novels that weaken my knees. It’s her novels that stop me in my tracks for fear that I will fail miserably.
Where I would simply write:
The Catholic Irishman didn’t notice the little black girl.
Toni Morrison writes in The Bluest Eye:
He does not see her. Because for him there is nothing to see. How can a 52 year old white immigrant storekeeper with the taste of potatoes and beer in his mouth, his mind honed on the dough-eyed Virgin Mary, his sensibilities blunted by a permanent awareness of loss, see a little black girl?
In the embedded video, J.K. Rowling shows us the character sketches she drew for the Harry Potter series. To help you with character development, I have copied and pasted questions for you to consider.
Is your character right or left-handed?
Does your character wear glasses, or contact lenses?
What about weight? Shoe size? Clothing size?
What is your character’s favorite color? Favorite song?
What does your character think is his/her best feature? Worst feature?
Is your character’s handwriting neat and precise, or sloppy and unintelligible? Does your character care?
What kind of car does your character drive? Is it neat and usually washed, or cluttered and “lived-in”?
Does your character have a collection of anything?
What is your character’s attitude toward money? Is your character a bit of a spendthrift, or prone to spend freely?
What are your character’s hobbies?
What are your character’s talents? Do his/her friends routinely call him/her when they need help in a certain area?
What is your character most proud of? Most embarrassed about?
Does your character donate to any charities? Play the stock market? Gamble? Pay child support or alimony?
Who are your character’s heroes?
Click HERE for more At the Podium posts
Click HERE for more character development posts
At the Podium is a new feature I added to the blog. Posted on Tuesdays, At the Podium posts will feature interviews and speeches delivered by writers and other inspirational people. First up is Chris Abani.
Imprisoned three times by the Nigerian government, Chris Abani turned his experience into poems that Harold Pinter called “the most naked, harrowing expression of prison life and political torture imaginable.” His novels include GraceLand (2004) and The Virgin of Flames (2007).
Abani believes the heart of a place can be best understood through its poems and narratives. He talks about African and Nigerian stories — including his own story of artistic and political awakening, which began with an inventive teacher who taught him the forbidden history of his own people. How, he asks, can we reconcile stories of terror and war and corruption with one’s enduring sense of pure wonder? (Recorded June 2007 in Arusha, Tanzania. Duration: 17:49.)
