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Archive for February 13th, 2008
Writing about Failures
February 13th, 2008 | 
Author: Welcome back to Writing Wednesday!!! I was watching a movie (Bridal Fever) the other evening and heard an exchange between two characters that struck me as being so simple yet profound for writers.
Character 1 on including certain information in her memoirs: Why should i share my failures?
Character 2, the editor: Because it will make you a great writer.
One of the old adages of writing is to “write what you know.” Why?
Because the words will seem more realistic to the reader. Anyone can
write a story about the horrors of fleeing a fire, but someone who has
been in that situation will be able to include details and emotions that the rest of
us can barely begin to fathom.
But what is so powerful about sharing failures? It goes hand-in-hand with writing what we know – we know failures. Life wouldn’t be life without failures. Every person experiences failures and deals with those failures differently. Without including failures in your stories, your characters seem unrealistic.
How will sharing our failures make us a great writer? By writing about failures, even as a fictional character experiencing the same or similar situation, we have to expose the emotions and details we experienced. Perhaps we know what caused our failure – do we really want our character to make that same decision and walk the same road?
Consider David in Psalm 51. Wow! If David did not include his failures, what would that Psalm be like? Would we truly understand what it means to have a broken and contrite heart?
Remember that as Christians we have the obligation to teach through the failures of our characters so that our readers may know Him.
Character 1 on including certain information in her memoirs: Why should i share my failures?
Character 2, the editor: Because it will make you a great writer.
One of the old adages of writing is to “write what you know.” Why?
Because the words will seem more realistic to the reader. Anyone can
write a story about the horrors of fleeing a fire, but someone who has
been in that situation will be able to include details and emotions that the rest of
us can barely begin to fathom.
But what is so powerful about sharing failures? It goes hand-in-hand with writing what we know – we know failures. Life wouldn’t be life without failures. Every person experiences failures and deals with those failures differently. Without including failures in your stories, your characters seem unrealistic.
How will sharing our failures make us a great writer? By writing about failures, even as a fictional character experiencing the same or similar situation, we have to expose the emotions and details we experienced. Perhaps we know what caused our failure – do we really want our character to make that same decision and walk the same road?
Consider David in Psalm 51. Wow! If David did not include his failures, what would that Psalm be like? Would we truly understand what it means to have a broken and contrite heart?
Remember that as Christians we have the obligation to teach through the failures of our characters so that our readers may know Him.
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