Saturday, October 6, 2012

"Write So That No One Despairs"

A long-time professor of creative writing and successful novelist himself, John Gardner advised his students "to write with the assumption that one out of a hundred people who read one's work may be dying, or have some loved one dying. " He urged them "to write so that no one commits suicide, no one despairs...Every writer should be aware that he might be read by the desperate, by people who might be persuaded toward life or death."

For this reason, he cautioned, "The true artist is never so lost in his imaginary world that he forgets the real world, where teenagers have a chemical propensity toward anguish, people between their thirties and forties have a tendency to get divorced, and people in their seventies have a tendency toward loneliness, poverty, self-pity, and sometimes anger. The true artist never chooses to be a bad physician. He gets his sense of worth and honor from his conviction that art is powerful--even bad art" (Gardner, The Art of Fiction, 201-202).

Writers' conferences, workshops, and blogs insist that we strive for commercial viability. Is our work marketable? Is it entertaining? But Gardner confronts us with a question even more insistent: Is our work encouraging?

Our readers may be caught in the gears of daily life, like Charlie Chaplin in "Modern Times." They read our stories to find respite from the pain; and yet, because we try to portray life as it really is, we run the risk of drawing them in deeper and making their pain acute. Even fatal.

I remember reading F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby in a high-school study hall. The book left me in such despair that I struggled with depression for months afteward and swore off reading novels for years. Great literature? Yes. Great reading for a teenager trying to find his way in the world? It certainly wasn't that for me.

The next novel I read four or five years later was The Bishop's Mantle, by Alice Sligh Turnbull. I suppose Turnbull will never be as well-known as Fitzgerald, and I'm sure her novel didn't sell as many copies, but God used it as a healing balm for my soul. Turnbull helped me to see that the world still had room for compassionate, sacrificial young men, and I could be one of them.

Joe Allison and his wife, Judy, live in Anderson IN, where Joe serves as Coordinator of Publishing for Church of God Ministries, Inc. Joe has several nonfiction books in print, including Swords and Whetstones: A Guide to Christian Bible Study Resources. He's currently writing a trilogy of Christian historical novels set in the Great Depression.

Visit Joe's blog at http://hoosierwriter.wordpress.com

13 comments:

  1. Such GREAT advice! Thanks! An English teacher for decades, I have always regretted that so many teachers/schools teach "Death of a Salesman." I think that novel has an annual impact on HS suicide rates (increasing them). I hope to write about THAT someday. . . weekend blessings and hope! :-)

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    1. Millie, I never thought about required literature being a trigger for the suicides in kids. That's an astute observation. And very sad. If only all children could have a Christian Education with Christian literature.

      When I was in high school our English courses were broken up into 4 segments we could choose as a theme. One of them was death education. I don't remember why I chose it or if I was required to. But part of the curriculum was listening to death rock and roll. Can you believe it?

      Why must we feed kids defeat when there is HOPE TO BE READ!!

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    2. Appreciated your comments, Karla! In fact, I always enjoy what you share here, altho' I rarely "tell" you so! New week blessings and encouragements. . . :-)

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  2. Very good article, Joe.

    Several novels I've read have given me hope. These include Peretti's Darkness books, Amy Wallace's Defenders of Hope series (especially the middle volume, Healing Promises), Randy Singer's "Self Incrimination" and "The Cross Examination Of Oliver Finney" (recently re-released as "The Judge", and Kathy Tyers' "Firebird".

    Even Christian fiction can be depressing. I found "The Oath" by Peretti to be a downer, and to a lesser degree "Prophet".

    Jeff

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    1. The book that had the greatest impact on my life as a young Christian woman was CHRISTY by Catherine Marshall. In my adult life I find myself living a very similar life as Christy's and I chuckle because she was a real role model for me as a young woman. (I think I read her around the age of 14-16.) Then, as an adult, Paretti's darkness books did indeed open my eyes. Of course, as a teen and young Mom I'd read all the Janette Oke books. But Christy had the biggest impact of all. And I don't remember the name of the book unfortunately, but it was a very inexpensive, not all that well-written pioneer woman type book. I was going through a difficult time in my marriage many years ago and the decision that the main character in that book made for her difficult marriage in the story had a huge impact on me at that time. I don't know why I remember that but I do. It really is true that fiction influences and encourages believers!

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    2. PS My apologies to Peretti for misspelling his name in that post!

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    3. Thanks for sharing your experience with the unknown "pioneer woman" novel, Karla. I've heard so many similar accounts from people who were at a low point in life, desperately trying to find direction from God, when they found their path blazed by a fictional character. As Gardner said, even a piece of "bad" genre fiction can be a source of hope.

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  3. Wow. I can't begin to tell you how much this post ministered to me. What a blessing you are to the writing community. Thanks SO MUCH for your post!

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  4. Oh, yes. I do like this. As I think of the books I like best, I like them because they encourage me in some vital way. That certainly comes ahead of marketability. Yes. Oh, yes.

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  5. Yes, yes, yes! I've noticed some writers are so attached to realism that they forget to include the redemptive side in their work.

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  6. Joe, Thank you so much for this post. I bought Gardner's book years ago but confess I haven't read it. What you quoted here just affirms to me the importance of offering a cup of cold water to the thirsty world in Jesus' name--even if they don't realize it's coming from Him. Your post also affirms to me I need to read Gardner's book! Thanks again.

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