Welcome to Writing for Christ, Lisa Wingate! It's great to have you here.
Firefly Island is a story that begins with a love at first
sight. Do you think love at first sight is
still possible in this busy, modern world?
I think it is, although perhaps,
living in this media-frenzied culture, we’re more jaded than we were two
generations ago when my grandparents met at a dance. My grandfather went home that night and told
his mother he’d met the girl he was going to marry. He just knew it, and he was
right.
I don’t think my grandfather and grandmother
questioned it nearly as much as Mallory does in the story, and I think that’s
where modern culture comes in. Mallory
has a hard time trusting herself, and as a career girl devoted to a life on the
political scene, she has a hard time losing the image of herself that she has
created. She’s worried about what her
family, friends, and co-workers will think.
These days, women feel so much pressure to have it all and do it
all. Falling unexpectedly in love,
getting married, and giving up a career is sometimes looked upon as a failure. While Mallory’s heart knows that Daniel is
the one, she dreads the idea of trying to explain things to the people around
her.
Mallory’s story has been likened to a modern-day mail-order
bride tale.” Do you think this
fits? In what way?
Mallory in many ways experiences the
life of a mail-order bride. Because she
and Daniel have only known each other a short time when the job move forces a
huge leap of faith in their relationship, she finds herself married to a man
she adores, but barely knows. Like any
newly-married couple, they have much to learn about each other, but Mallory is
also facing the sudden step-parenthood of three-year-old Nick, and the trials
of leaving behind her family, her career, her friends, her identity, and all
that is familiar. The challenges of life
on a ranch are completely foreign to her.
In days of old, mail-order brides
faced many of the same challenges. Our
great-great grandmothers attempted to solve the problem by writing letters
home, joining in sewing circles and ladies’ societies in their new locations,
and sometimes by documenting their experiences in journals. Mallory finds herself unwillingly drawn into
the tradition of journaling, but in a much more modern way, when she stumbles
into the blogging life. As the blog
draws fans, she becomes The Frontier Woman, and her world expands in ways she
could never have dreamed.
Do you have a nugget of writing advice
that has completely changed how you view writing?
Well, I’m glad you
asked that! Some of the fun in being a writer is that there are always things
to learn, ways to get better. I’m always seeking out conference sessions and
online workshops devoted to the topics that I feel are holding me back. I study
other authors’ techniques make notes, keep a scrapbook of examples and
notes-to-self.
I’ve learned to watch
for overbalance of narrative in my writing. Nothing slows down the pace of a
story like huge patches of narrative. Narrative produces pages with big, blocky
paragraphs that read slowly, and that tend to “tell” rather than “show”. I’ve
learned, when possible, to work story elements into dialog, action, reaction,
and short thought sequences, rather than using narrative. For example, rather
than describing the main street of the town, I might have a character walk down
Main, greet a neighbor or two, and reflect on a few random childhood memories
of people/places. I work at using these various techniques to avoid sliding
down the slippery slope of having characters engage in meaningless chatter
designed only to dump information to the reader, but to always seek
opportunities to work details in naturally during character interactions.
Sometimes body language can speaks volumes, too.
So, having said that,
I stumbled on a new technique just recently. I made friends with Siri, my
personal iPhone assistant. I began to trust her when I dictated some of these
notes-to-self and email replies. I began to feel a certain freedom of
expression and power, superpower even. One day I put Siri in my pocket and
plugged in my earbuds with the attached mike and spoke a scene -– Yes, I did!.
After emailing it to myself, I copied it to the word processor, fixed up some
of Siri’s errors and was surprised that it all felt good. Then I started
dictating as I was walking around, really getting into my old childhood game of
Let’s Pretend. So, I think I’m hooked. There was a time I only wanted to write
in notebooks and on legal pads. Then there was the phase when I felt the power
of composing on the computer. Now, I feel like I’m in a whole new dimension,
but in a way, I’m back to playing Let’s Pretend just like when I was little.
What fun it is to be a writer!
Where
can readers find you on the Internet?
Thank you for being with us today!
Readers, here is your chance to enter to win Lisa's book!
Please leave an email address! If I draw your name and there is no email, you will not win.
For extra entries:
~Be a follower
~Be a subscriber
Contest is only open in the U.S. and void where prohibited. Chances of winning are based on the number of entries and winner is draw from a non-biased third party- Random.org. I am not responsible for any lost or damaged items for said prize.
Thanks for coming by to enter! Contest ends on February 22nd
Attn Readers! If you're struggling to leave a comment on my blog, please email your comment entries (in ONE email) and I will submit it for you. But PLEASE only do this after you've failed to leave a comment. My email is: caseym.writer(@)gmail.com
