writing

Recently, I've been reading The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. The book is about a writer. For part of his life, he worked for artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. In these relationships, Kingsolver explores some questions about art, including its purpose and function.

In one section, the protaganist, Harrison Shepherd, considers the difference between the artwork of his two employers. Diego's murals "[command] men to rise from their knees and fight!" Frida's, however, are "smaller . . . Something people would find dear" (p. 161). It's Frida's work, not Diego's that inspire Harrison to want to write "something beautiful, that people would find very moving" (Ibid).

Side note: I doubt many people would consider Kahlo's work "dear." But Harrison doesn't speak about the surrealism of her work but the smallness and purpose of her work. She doesn't paint political paintings or see her job as doing something big. She observes her life, her world, small as it is, and translates that to painting.

In another scene soon after that, Frida takes seriously the task of decorating a table for dinner. Harrison says about this event, "It's a lot of work to use flowers as paints. By the time the party ends, they'll be a mess of wilted petals. Stains on your white tablecloth that could have been prevented." Frida reacts: "Unnecessary stains and dead flowers! Soli, excuse me but what else do I have for making my marks on life, if not lo absurdo y lo fugar." Harrison supplies the definition to fugar (or attempts to) as "things that run away with time" (p. 169).

Later, Harrison and Frida have a conversation about art. Frida asks Harrison, who journals every day of his life as well as types away his novel, why he doesn't consider himself a writer. He answers, "To be a writer, you need readers." She retorts that she is no painter, then. "Who ever looks at my dumb little pieces of shit?" (p. 197).

My point being: In today's global world with its global problems, we think of our lives in global terms. How am I changing the world? How is my art changing the world? How can I have the largest impact, the most readers, the best marketing? J.D. Salinger said, "There are no writers anymore. Only book-selling louts and big mouths."

But in these passages, I found something freeing. I can create something small. I can focus on making something small and beautiful that might move only a few people. I don't say that I wouldn't like to have millions of readers who read my books and find something beautiful, moving in them, that I wouldn't want half a nation to see my words and realize they're not alone. I'm not even saying that we shouldn't market our art.

But that's not the point, is it? The point is "writing . . . with eye and ear and heart" (Adam Gopnik, "Postscript: J.D. Salinger," The New Yorker). As Andy Crouch says, we create unuseful things (as opposed to utilitarian things). And this is beautiful.

Image via Wikipedia

I've picked up Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradise) to study for my WIP.

(Side note: thank you, Kindle, for making this selection available to me for free. We love you, Kindle, oh yes, we do.)

A couple of interesting observations from my study of the poem and the little I've read on it (mostly in order to understand the references):

1. The Roman Catholic concept of purgatory originated with this work, which is allegorical. Most likely, Dante intended Purgatorio to represent the Christian life. Some things never change when we take allegory too literally.
2. The arrangement of sins--which is worse, in other words--differs from how the evangelical church would today arrange sins. While Dante's work isn't divinely inspired (and therefore not the biblical standard for arrangement of sin), it provides an interesting anthropological study in how our cultures affect our view of sin. To clarify: this doesn't imply that lust, for example, is a sin in one culture and not in another, or that the culture itself defines lust. It shows how we as human beings attempting to grapple with sin, its effects, and transformation from sin into life, do so differently in different ages. Dante's culture, and the problems therein, affected which sins (while all worthy of punishment and separation from God) seem more harmful. It brought to light the sins we prefer to gloss over because of our situation.
3. Dante struggled with God's justice and mercy. He reiterates that those in hell reside there because they denied Christ. And, above all, separation from God is a horrible thing. But you also see in Dante this hesitation to see good people in the hands of an angry God. So men like Virgil, Homer, Julius Caesar, Plato, and other great philosophers and thinkers, while apart from God (and quite upset to be so, to Dante's credit) are not actively tortured as others are. These men reside in a meadow in hell, which wouldn't seem so bad except for the complete lack of presence from God. Dante asks, "Is this eternal? Or will there be reprieve?"
   
   This subject continues to bother us. What is hell? What is the gnashing of teeth? What about those who seemed so close to baptism?
4. Dante incorporated Greek and Roman mythology (popular during his day as mythology saw a resurgence in the Renaissance). He uses it almost sacramentally: everyday items infused with God's grace to draw the unknowing to God.
5. Finally, an amusement: Dante had no quelms about putting real people in hell, men he admired, and men he blamed for the downfall of Florentine society. This is the writer's ultimate retribution, is it not? Cross me, and I'll put you in my novel. We may change the names (Dante didn't bother to do even that!), but we carry out our ideas of justice and revenge in our own ways.

Recently I finished Unveiling by Suzanne Wolfe (an excellent read I highly recommend due to her poetic prose, complex characters, and willingness to enter into suffering and beauty). In it she comments that museums, with their metered environments, lose the contexts of churches and homes for art. This made me think about museum installations. Are they the artist's desire to create context where none exists?

I suppose "no context" is impossible. How about sterile? Removed? Unfamiliar with the breathings of our daily lives?

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Over the past several years, memoirs have invaded Barnes and Nobles. I recently read an article about this plethora of memoirs. The author (Daniel Mendelsohn) compared this to the phenomenon of reality TV. He remarked, "If you can watch a real lonely woman yearning after young hunks on a reality dating show, why bother with Emma Bovary?"*

In a global, transient, cyber world, are memoirs our attempts to grasp a lost context? The question, "Where are you from?" becomes more and more difficult to answer without giving an essay.

Mendelsohn also notes that this may stem from a misunderstanding of the type of truth presented by fiction, "'a truth' about life," he says, "whereas memoirs and nonfiction accounts represent 'the truth' about specific things that have happened." While not wanting to dismiss all memoirs by any means, in a world where specifics shift faster than we change our shampoo bottles, perhaps we look for specifics rather than general truths in the books we read.

*quote from "But Enough About Me" in The New Yorker, Jan. 25, 2010, p. 73.

He's probably lounging on a beach in the Caribbean sipping a gin and tonic, goggling the girls with his one good eye.

Meanwhile, I'm stuck, senza Muse, to figure out what to do with this writer's block.

I've deleted more words than I've written. How is that mathematically possible, you may ask.

Exactly.

I'm in negative wordage. Which means I have to scribble words on random surfaces until I'm back at zero and can return to my manuscript. I write on Post-It notes, backs of receipts, and bathroom stalls. (Yes, I've discovered the mystery. Messages on stall walls were written by blocked writers, not delinquent teens. Tommy Tutone cured his artistic block by scribbling "867-5309" on a bathroom wall.) I create grocery lists I don't intend to buy, to-do items I'll never do.

The next time my Muse goes on vacation, I'm going with him.

One of my regrets: I didn't write down the stories my grandmother told me at the kitchen table. I didn't ask her to write her memoirs.

Whether as a legacy to family or as a book for the masses, memoir is story made from real life. I asked Mary DeMuth, whose book Thin Places: A Memoircomes out in February, to guest blog on writing memoir.

***

Heather kindly invited me to write about memoirs. I’m thankful to have the opportunity. I wrote Thin Places (releasing in February) only after I gave myself permission to say it all. More on that later.

First, one clarification about memoir: no memoir can be 100% accurate. Every memoirist must recall, to the best of his/her ability what happened in the past. Only God knows what truly happened! And to protect the people listed in a memoir, I’ve changed names and distinguishing characteristics. That’s allowable in a memoir, and is often expected.

To make a memoir work, it must be:

1. From someone famous.
2. Or a story so strong and surprising, the story carries the book.

I’m of the latter category since I am by no means famous. But my story is raw and redemptive. And a bit out there.

The most important thing for a memoir is that it be memorable and beautifully written. If you don’t have a platform, near perfect writing is a must backed up by an intriguing/surprising story. Think of a memoir as a novel with rising action, climax and denouement. Consider writing it as you would a novel, with characters, dialogue and a plot (even if the plot is your life!).

A great example of a memoir that tells an amazing story is Parting the Waters: A True Story: Finding Beauty in Brokennessby Jeanne Damoff.

But even though the story is beautifully written, Jeanne shopped the story to every publishing house far and wide through her agent. Though it was a great story, she faced a lot of rejection.

Eventually, after much prayer and seeking wisdom, she decided to self-publish the book through WinePress. It’s got a wonderful cover and is selling well.

Another amazing memoir is Startling Beauty: My Journey From Rape to Restorationby wife Heather Gemmen. Wow. It’s one of the most beautifully written, achingly painful memoirs I’ve read.

It’s not easy to write a memoir. I fear that some people are so afraid to do it because the people involved aren’t yet dead. So they work on a fictionalized version. Is that really honest? What is the purpose of telling your true story if you make it fiction? Of course, you can take elements of your struggle and life and place that in fiction, but I’ve found that tacked on messages seldom make a book.

My best advice: obey God. Write what He tells you to write. If you’re too afraid to write a memoir, then don’t do it. Prayerfully consider whether your need to get it all out is, instead, a form of catharsis that no reader really needs to see. And if you add some of your story to the memoir, consider that story is the king. The story must support what you write about.

Author of three parenting books, four novels, and a memoir, Mary E. DeMuth helps foks turn their trials into triumphs. Mary has spoken at several national writers conferences and has had the privilege of teaching in the US, Europe, and Africa for various churches and church planting ministries. She’s appeared on national TV in Canada, and WFAA’s Good Morning Texas. Mary and her husband, Patrick, reside in Rockwall, Texas with their three children. They’ve returned from breaking new spiritual ground in Southern France, where they planted a church. 

Last night, my husband said to me, "You know that character you wrote about in the story for Generate? That's how I'd feel if I took that job."

That's why I write. To connect with people and let them know they're not the only ones who feel that way.

I'm speaking of New Jersey, of course, the land upon which God will model the new earth.

As much as I love this great state, I had second-guessed my decision to take my annual trip. With finances what they are (or aren't, rather), did I need this research trip? I know the area, the mindsets, the lifestyles. I know how things work.

Going was the right decision. I had been afraid about writing my next novel for multiples reasons. Those fears haven't left. But ideas begin to shout over the fears. Besides some logistics, as I walked the streets of the town, Sarah began to emerge. She told me about her childhood, where she went to school, and the beauties and pains of early marriage. She told me about the chemical spill across the street at the dry cleaners.

Now, I'm ready to tell her story.

I suppose this relates to the importance of setting. It's more than the location of the story. Setting dictates the rhythms of life. It's bound up with character. I needed to breathe Sarah's atmosphere to know her.

And I might have snuck in some fun while there, too.

Let me preface this with two statements:

1. Evangelism and social justice are necessary and normative to the Christian life.

2. Art has a place in shining light on and practicing in both these issues.

For years, Christian writers have been decrying the idea that every book by a Christian author must be evangelistic. I don't think anyone means that a book necessarily can't have an evangelistic idea in it. After all, conversion is central to story, whether that conversion be Christian or not (meaning, the conversion could be that someone realizes something about themselves or solves a murder or gets the girl).

As we've been discussing this, I've seen a rise of books addressing social justice issues. These books have been celebrated for their message. And while many of these books are good, and, as I mentioned above, I believe art has historically had (and should have) a connection to social justice and other concerns of its day, I wonder if we are simply substituting one message for another. 

I'm wondering aloud here, mind you.

Art does something--that I'll concede. It draws you to beauty or works through suffering or lets you know you're not alone, for example. 

My question, then, is how much does it need to do? At what point do we subjugate it to utility? At what point does it stand alone?

Small print: Title quote from Woody Allen

"Me-me-me-me."

Everyone warmed up?

Today I'm guest blogging on Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner's blog. The topic? Finding Your Voice: A Musician Looks at Writing

Don't worry. I don't once break into song and/or dance in the post (though I may have once or twice during the writing of said post).

Enjoy.

It may not pay well, it's true (with a few exceptions--Stephen King, cough, cough), but the job is priceless.* Not only does it allow me to run around with my imaginary friends instead of dealing with real people, not only does it allow me to travel to the land I love (South Jersey) on a regular basis (in imagination, if not in real life for research), but now, it's given me an all-expense paid trip to Israel.

My friend and mentor, Sandi Glahn, had suggested me to the Israeli Tourism Board as a journalist for their upcoming Christian Press Tour. I will be participating as a representative for bible.org. 

To be honest, I've never had this desire that apparently all good Christians have to pilgrimage to our mecca, but I'm getting excited about walking on water, tasting wine fresh from the cleansing water jars, and splashing around in some healing pools (I hate being nearsighted). 

In all seriousness, our itinerary includes traditional stops (this is where tradition says Jesus died, for example--I can't imagine that being an easy visit, even if it's an unverified traditional site), archeological digs (where I plan to discover something like the Rosetta Stone), and historical sites (Jonah ran from this port--he is my cowardice hero, after all). After my last post on the mindset of setting, I have a feeling this tour will reveal more about biblical stories.

It may not pay well, but I could do worse.

*Post sponsored by Mastercard.