Another piece based on Linda Hall‘s keynote session from Inscribe’s fall conference.
Life is like a book:
- Prologue:
Your childhood. Research says your memories and experiences from childhood and young adulthood are like the hard drive. They are hardwired. (It’s why old people tend to live in the distant past…) It’s where we develop emotions and carry emotional baggage. Nothing that happens is ever wasted.
- Beginning: characters and plot – intro to the significant people. Beginning writers stat out with wide eyes and optimism. Like toddlers who don’t walk from point A to B in a straight line. Our beginning writing looks a lot like that – darting from place to place.
- Middle: The longest part with chapters, twists, red herrings etc. its how your writing life unfolds. Your purpose and agenda are not the same. Moves through the rising action, the climax, the falling action and denouement. During the rising action phase of your writing life, you will be seeing your goals come to fruition. If writers block happens, allow yourself to be a novice again. Everything changes during the climax.
*Trust the story to be enough! Quit trying to defend the gospel in the story! Readers can spot an agenda a mile away. Give your readers credit for being smart enough to ‘get it’ without having to spell it out. Stories change lives more than debates.
*The middle part of your writing life will also include rejection. Rejection is not the same thing as failure. Rejection is a stepping stone to growth. The proverbial ‘thick skin’ isn’t necessarily what we want to develop. This means you won’t let things in. Instead, let down the armour.
- Climax: Everything changes.
- Falling action: fall ‘up’ instead of down. The first half of life is discovering the script. The second half is writing it and owning it. Be honest about your journey. Never be phoney.
- Denouement: Do what you want. With a writing career you can retire if you want to or not.
- Epilogue: hope for eternity. J Phil: At the name of Jesus every knee will bow. Job; I know that my redeemer lives.
If YOUR LIFE IS LIKE A BOOK, WHAT ARE PEOPLE READING?
