WRITE WHAT YOU (KNOW) IMAGINE
Write about what you know, the experts say.
If I only wrote about what I knew, what a limited scope I’d have to choose from. Instead, my motto has become, Write What I Imagine.
How can a woman write from the viewpoint of a man when she’s never been a man in her life?
How does a conservative classical-music lover get into the head of an aspiring rocker?
How would a web-footed Northwesterner know about life in San Francisco?
Only through imagination. And lots of research.
If I wrote only what I know, I’d write of a boring, white, middle-aged, single, female writer who lives in Oregon.
I can see the title now. “Single White Female Seeking a Life.”
I’m quite sure J.R.R. Tolkien had never been, or met, a hobbit in his life. (Unless it happens to be a well-guarded secret.) And I would bet Stephen King never practiced telekinesis, or knew anyone who did.
So I had to allow my imagination to soar when I wrote my two novels. I loved “stepping into the shoes” of people considerably different from myself, people with different values, speech patterns, lifestyles, beliefs. I, the grammar geek, learned to “speak” in ghetto slang. I learned how to think and talk like a man. In real life, however, I still speak and think like me.
It’s like being an actor. Like a woman playing a male role. A white woman playing the role of an inner-city Hispanic.
Whenever I look back on my handful of experiences playing a role on stage, I mostly cringe. But the word processor is much more forgiving. If I don’t get it right the first time, there’s not yet an audience to boo me off the stage. I can keep cutting and pasting until I get it right.
And it has stretched me tighter than a rubber band.
DANCING INSANELY
“Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” – Friedrich Neitzche
Or, to paraphrase the great philosopher, Those who were seen worshiping God were thought to be insane by those who could not see Him.
Neitzche the atheist probably didn’t intend to craft a meaningful spiritual analogy. He lived in the physical realm. And dancing is one of the most physical forms of self-expression one can indulge in. Yet it’s obvious his words resonate with Christians such as myself who grow frustrated with the world’s denial of God. To us, God’s existence is the Rock on which we stand. To deny His existence is like claiming one’s own father doesn’t exist.
In my novel Dance to My Lu (click on My Books above), the protagonist is a professional dancer who experiences this truth for herself after her conversion to Christ. Once her eyes are opened, she sees God everywhere: in the sky, in the morning dew, in the leaves on the trees. And she marvels that those around her walk on by God without ever seeing Him. If she were to point Him out, they would think her insane—a “religious nut”, a “wild-eyed fanatic.” When in reality, they are the blind ones who cannot see God.
Dawn V. Cahill - Hot Topic Christian Fiction 