The Truth About... Writing Faith
Merry Christmas, reader- and writer-friends!
I hope you're all getting into the spirit. I'm in the writing cave typing like the wind to finish The Truth About Letting Go , a new book that's a companion to The Truth About Faking (link) .
TTALG is different from TTAF in that it's not a romantic comedy. It's a romantic drama. But it's still a coming of age story set in Shadow Creek (the ritzy neighborhood next to Shadow Falls).
The main character is Ashley Lockett, who you briefly meet in the last bathroom scene in TTAF. And like TTAF, one of the main characters is a person of faith, which causes a unique set of "problems" for Ashley.
Back when I started TTALG in 2010, Laurel Garver and I exchanged first chapters, and we were struck by the similar themes in our books. Fast forward almost three years, and I did a post on her blog about religion in romantic comedies (link).
Laurel is here today to discuss how she tackled issues of faith in her new book Never Gone (link) . So without further ado, I turn the spot over to Laurel~
Getting Real About Faith... and Doubt
by Laurel Garver (link)
In my novel Never Gone (link) , fifteen-year-old Dani believes her dead father has come back as a ghost, in part because the strain of trying to live without him is unbearable for her.
GarverFrom the outset, it’s clear that her dad gave her a lot of emotional support and encouraged her artistic talent. But he also shaped her values by raising her in the Anglican church, just like he had been.
The way Dani identifies her dad and her faith so closely makes grief especially complicated. Her devout dad is happily in heaven now, everyone tells her, so she’s really not supposed to be upset. But the very real pain and anger she feels can’t be easily argued away or healed with nice-sounding platitudes. The secure faith of her childhood begins to waver.
In places of great pain, any belief system will take a beating—even if it’s a secular belief in the power of friendship or family love. I think that aspect makes my novel a relatable story no matter where you are on the faith/doubt/indifference spectrum.
Still, it’s hard to ignore how deeply polarizing religion can be. When I initially sat down to write this post for Leigh, we were in the midst of one of the ugliest presidential races I’ve ever witnessed. And I have to admit that during that time, when faced with the task of discussing how I use religious themes in my work, I emotionally imploded.
Christians on both ends of the political spectrum were behaving badly, and any attempt to have a civil discussion was looking pretty fruitless. I don’t know if it was wise or simply cowardly to hold off writing this post; all I could see was how Christianity had become the Tar Baby. So I’ve waited to let the rancor subside and to gather my thoughts a little longer.
Writing religion is risky. Beliefs and values are so core to our identities, our vision of the good life, and these beliefs often come into conflict. And yet teens need to see themselves in fiction. In this Huffington Post interview, “Religion lifts YA books from ‘darkness’,” YA author Rae Carson expresses well the idea that pushing religion out of books marginalizes groups and their real experiences.
Spiritual questions about the nature of life and of a higher power naturally come up when a person is grieving. To remove religious thinking on the topic seems to me inauthentic.
My approach was simply to write a character for whom faith is a natural part of life. It’s Dani’s framework for understanding the world, just like her artistic ability is. The imagery and stories of her faith weave through her thought world as much as the language of painting and drawing. Like any teen raised in a Christian home, she goes through a coming-of-age process in which she has to decide if she truly believes for herself, rather than believing in her parent’s belief.
Most centrally, Never Gone is a dramatic story, not a handbook or a “how to grieve well” manual. Readers walk with Dani through sadness, longing, first love, turmoil, broken relationships, confusion and doubt. The adults in her world sometimes help, sometimes fail her badly. She has to come to grips with what is really real, with who God is, and with how she must grow and change in order to become her best self.
I don’t think you have to be a Christian to read a story like mine and get something positive out of it. I’m not Jewish, but I really love Chaim Potok’s stories, which give me a glimpse into Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish communities. One of the most lovely things about literature is how it opens a window into other worlds, gives us a chance to understand other perspectives by living inside them for just a little while.
====
Laurel Garver is the author of Never Gone, a novel about grief, faith and finding love when all seems lost. A word nerd, Indie film enthusiast and incurable Anglophile, she lives in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter.
Trailer for Never Gone
Add it on Goodreads. Read a sample chapter.
It is available as an ebook and a paperback at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, CreateSpace.
I hope you're all getting into the spirit. I'm in the writing cave typing like the wind to finish The Truth About Letting Go , a new book that's a companion to The Truth About Faking (link) .
TTALG is different from TTAF in that it's not a romantic comedy. It's a romantic drama. But it's still a coming of age story set in Shadow Creek (the ritzy neighborhood next to Shadow Falls).
The main character is Ashley Lockett, who you briefly meet in the last bathroom scene in TTAF. And like TTAF, one of the main characters is a person of faith, which causes a unique set of "problems" for Ashley.
Back when I started TTALG in 2010, Laurel Garver and I exchanged first chapters, and we were struck by the similar themes in our books. Fast forward almost three years, and I did a post on her blog about religion in romantic comedies (link).
Laurel is here today to discuss how she tackled issues of faith in her new book Never Gone (link) . So without further ado, I turn the spot over to Laurel~
Getting Real About Faith... and Doubt
by Laurel Garver (link)
In my novel Never Gone (link) , fifteen-year-old Dani believes her dead father has come back as a ghost, in part because the strain of trying to live without him is unbearable for her.
GarverFrom the outset, it’s clear that her dad gave her a lot of emotional support and encouraged her artistic talent. But he also shaped her values by raising her in the Anglican church, just like he had been.The way Dani identifies her dad and her faith so closely makes grief especially complicated. Her devout dad is happily in heaven now, everyone tells her, so she’s really not supposed to be upset. But the very real pain and anger she feels can’t be easily argued away or healed with nice-sounding platitudes. The secure faith of her childhood begins to waver.
In places of great pain, any belief system will take a beating—even if it’s a secular belief in the power of friendship or family love. I think that aspect makes my novel a relatable story no matter where you are on the faith/doubt/indifference spectrum.
Still, it’s hard to ignore how deeply polarizing religion can be. When I initially sat down to write this post for Leigh, we were in the midst of one of the ugliest presidential races I’ve ever witnessed. And I have to admit that during that time, when faced with the task of discussing how I use religious themes in my work, I emotionally imploded.
Christians on both ends of the political spectrum were behaving badly, and any attempt to have a civil discussion was looking pretty fruitless. I don’t know if it was wise or simply cowardly to hold off writing this post; all I could see was how Christianity had become the Tar Baby. So I’ve waited to let the rancor subside and to gather my thoughts a little longer.
Writing religion is risky. Beliefs and values are so core to our identities, our vision of the good life, and these beliefs often come into conflict. And yet teens need to see themselves in fiction. In this Huffington Post interview, “Religion lifts YA books from ‘darkness’,” YA author Rae Carson expresses well the idea that pushing religion out of books marginalizes groups and their real experiences.
Spiritual questions about the nature of life and of a higher power naturally come up when a person is grieving. To remove religious thinking on the topic seems to me inauthentic.
My approach was simply to write a character for whom faith is a natural part of life. It’s Dani’s framework for understanding the world, just like her artistic ability is. The imagery and stories of her faith weave through her thought world as much as the language of painting and drawing. Like any teen raised in a Christian home, she goes through a coming-of-age process in which she has to decide if she truly believes for herself, rather than believing in her parent’s belief.
Most centrally, Never Gone is a dramatic story, not a handbook or a “how to grieve well” manual. Readers walk with Dani through sadness, longing, first love, turmoil, broken relationships, confusion and doubt. The adults in her world sometimes help, sometimes fail her badly. She has to come to grips with what is really real, with who God is, and with how she must grow and change in order to become her best self.
I don’t think you have to be a Christian to read a story like mine and get something positive out of it. I’m not Jewish, but I really love Chaim Potok’s stories, which give me a glimpse into Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish communities. One of the most lovely things about literature is how it opens a window into other worlds, gives us a chance to understand other perspectives by living inside them for just a little while.
====
Laurel Garver is the author of Never Gone, a novel about grief, faith and finding love when all seems lost. A word nerd, Indie film enthusiast and incurable Anglophile, she lives in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter.
Trailer for Never Gone
Add it on Goodreads. Read a sample chapter.
It is available as an ebook and a paperback at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, CreateSpace.
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