~ E.L. Doctorow
(my writing desk)
Friday Freelance: FICTION
Note: This is not about my publishing journey (an unfinished story presently in the hands of the Lord and my agent of excellence), but about the writing experience, through which I’ve discovered a surprising affinity with my Creator.
If I have an obsession, it is God’s Word. As my blog sidebar says, I am a "writer of all things biblical." For many years, that was strictly non-fiction.
A couple of years back I unsuspectingly ventured into biblical fiction. I’d become thoroughly captivated by the biblical characters I studied—their culture and land, their history and genealogy, and a million other details of Scripture uncovered by the compulsive student. I continually pondered their lives, made reasonable conjectures, and my imagination filled in missing details. The whole process got the better of me and I put the mess down in writing.
Historical fiction presents time's chronicles in a dramatic setting—an effort to make the account captivating. I don't like that one fiction writing manual mentions "telling lies for profit." I’ve remained truthful, not only in scrupulous attention to scriptural and historical accuracy, but also in portraying fiction with credibility, as I’ve seen it played out by God’s hand in the lives of real people.
My method? Unlike non-historical novels, the outline is already written, taken from the pages of the Bible. I study exhaustively and bathe the process in prayer. I shape my characters’ personalities based on their known actions and the meanings of their names. Then I drop them into the story to discover how they act it out. Literally.
I step from my chair to play out scenes. I speak dialogue to taste and hear it. I get into my characters’ minds and emotions to think and feel as they do—weeping with their agony or heart pounding with their anger. I know in advance what they will attain or suffer, yet I am still exhilarated or saddened to experience it with them.
Their destiny is foreordained. I create who they are and direct their lives as I will, yet allow freedom for my characters to do things that I've not planned. More than once, they've done things to surprise me.
Who can tell a man what will happen after him ...?
~ Ecclesiastes 6:12 (NKJV)
Twice in Jeremiah, the Lord says of certain sins, "nor did it come into My mind." At least twice in the Gospels, Jesus marvels at faith or lack of faith. And Peter speaks in his second epistle of us "hastening the day of God."
This has all been very curious to me. Just how much does human free will shape events within God’s sovereignty? What does the Lord fully put in our hands? To what extent does our ability to unite our wills to the will of God, and see things through His perspective, enable us to move His hand in prayer?
The answers do not cease to fascinate me. I’m most anxious to hear your own thoughts on such questions.
(And if you think me quite mad as the novelist I never expected to be, you're absolutely correct.)
Contrasting points-of-view, questions and feedback are invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
