Giving the Reader Credit

Wednesday's Writing on Writing

I'll never be mistaken for a literary writer. When I am criticized, it is for pedestrian writing. Well, I am a pedestrian, and am proud to write for the pedestrian reader. If I were more intelligent, perhaps my writing would be deeper. I wish I were smart enough to write a book that's hard to read.

When I discuss theme, I'm not talking about the cosmic, overarching, universal, symbolic metaphors found in literary novels. Even mainstream fiction must have a theme. And in my mind, it should be clear to the average reader.

For example, in Though None Go With Me, my theme is the cost of true devotion to God. My main character is a woman born in 1900 who grows up with the Twentieth Century. In her early teens, she makes a decision to make the rest of her life an experiment in obedience to God.

Almost instantly, she becomes a female Job, and her commitment affects her entire life. Anything that can go wrong, does. The questions become: Will she remain true to God? Is it worth it? Is there any payoff for that kind of a life, this side of heaven?If your reason for writing is to pontificate, for example, on the dangers of certain habits or lifestyles, you risk sounding preachy. I see this problem in many manuscripts: all talk, straw men, plots contrived to make a point, but little that grabs and subtly persuades the reader.

As you might imagine, preachiness is the bane of too much writing today, especially in the inspirational market.

We are trying to make the same kinds of points that preachers do. But no one complains that his preacher is too preachy. That would be like saying a ballerina is too dancy.

But preachiness on paper offends readers' sensibilities.

If you're like me, you like to be given some credit as a reader and thinker. Even as a child, when I heard the story of the boy who cried wolf, I got it. I didn't need someone saying, "So you see, Jerry, if you lie often enough, no one will take you seriously when you're telling the truth." The beauty of morality tales is that they make their own points.

Not even the greatest moralist ever explained His parables. In fact, when His disciples asked, in essence, what in the world He was talking about, He often said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." In other words, either you have spiritual insight or you don't.