As a writer, I experience a certain hesitancy with every new novel I open. As an author, I’m both apprehensive and anticipatory of experiencing the wow factor. Truth be told, every once in awhile I smile at those moments in my own storytelling when the language and the situation merge with stellar results. Now who knows if I’m the only one who feels that way about a certain sentence, passage, or dialogue exchange, but when it happens, it’s WOW! And I know who gets the credit for it. Not me.
Oh go ahead and roll your eyes, you skeptics. You think because you’ve learned your craft and your muse is workin’ it, that little sentence or sketch or clever repartee appeared from your nimble mind, an expression of your innate and learned intelligence. Well . . . I can’t claim that. I know it comes directly from the Holy Spirit to me because I’m not that clever or smart enough to be responsible for something moving and important in the world of writing books.
So what is “That WOW! Thing”? Who knows? Seriously. What makes me stop and whisper wow might get passed by in your reading. However, there are always a handful of writers who get that wow thing goin’ on from a diverse group of readers/audiences.
Yesterday’s post alluded to the difficulties in impressing other writers. I find it fascinating that so many accomplished authors and other professionals in the Christian publishing industry read extensively in the general market simply because they admire the writing. They find that wow thing in most books with little or no redemptive stories—not saying here that all general market novels don’t contain redemptive themes but many of them certainly do not. The general market does present some magnificent writers but don’t fool yourself into thinking that’s all they produce. Not true. And if you used the proportionate production of novels in the general market to the number of novels in the CBA, you’d probably find the percentage of well-written to not-so-much close to the same.
You’d also find that some of the bestsellers in the general market (i.e. Brown’s Code books and Meyer’s Twilight series) have managed to sustain the reputations of their authors being “hacks”. I can’t say whether or not this is true. None of their writings interest me. Their success, however, in spite of the accusations, accentuates that people just want a “good” story. What transpires as a “good” story always sets up another animated argument—er, discussion.
That wow thing means something occurs outside the “norm” of reading—or writing—stories. The way the story is told, the words used to tell it, the twists, the opening, the events, or the conclusion—something touches the reader and brings their sense of involvement to a new level. Whether it’s admiration, identification, involvement, affinity, or all of the aforementioned factors, the author manages to create a sense of having experienced something truly different and something remarkably special from reading the words on the pages.
Let’s be honest. As writers, most of us want to present our readers with that wow thing. We’re wise enough to know it’s very hard to do. But because we value it in our reading experience, we labor to produce it, sensing without God’s intervention, the genuine wow factor is elusive—and divine.
At least I do.
Father, please incorporate the divine into my writing. Nothing could be better than your touch. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Into the Fire 
Leave a reply to Nicole Cancel reply