No Fear | CWBC
School of Life
Through life experiences we are molded and fashioned a variety of ways. Fear, if we are unable to harness and control it, prevents us from participating in life. When God acts as the Master Molder, He uses these life lessons to fashion in us a better witness and a more secure individual. But only if we rise to the task of conquering the fear and integrating these lessons.
When we can accomplish that, we will have peace aplenty.
Peace comes and goes for me. Why? Because a spirit of fear is a constant… companion, you might say. Not a welcome companion by any means, but the imp slumps along behind just the same. He is one of my crosses to bear that improves my character… when I am wise enough to heed the Lord’s hand on my shoulder by way of guidance.
As a writer, fear raises its head at the most inopportune moments, and usually as a tool to sabotage.
How is fear a sabotage?
Fear presents itself as a barricade in our forward progression on the Lord’s path to our destiny. For example, one of the most important things for a growing writer (and we are all growing writers in some form or fashion) is our readers. They are our critique partners. Those that see a dimension of our story and our characters that we cannot.
When fear is involved in our lives, it acts as a deterrent to our submissions, thereby delaying… no, negating our growth. Thankfully, this is one of the fears that isn’t as prevalent as it once was. My family at ChristianWriters.com has made it possible for my confidence to grow and force the imp from its stronghold. Now I am able to submit my writing for others to critique, and that encourages in me not only a stronger ability, but it also affords me the opportunity to network – and create friendships – with other writers.
Fear acts as a sabotage in another way as well, our functional independence.
How is fear a sabotage to independence?
Fear, when it is a secure stronghold in our life, cripples us beyond what we can recognize. It warps our thoughts, our reactions, and our relationships with others. It prevents us from growing into the men/women that God intends as our final destiny.
For example, I am afraid of traveling alone. That isn’t to say I fear traveling as a whole, because I quite enjoy the experience. When I say “I am afraid of traveling alone”, I mean that I am afraid of the coordination and action that must take place in order to get from Point A to Point B… if it is outside my realm of experience.
Everything could be as simple as 1) arrive at the airport, 2) board the plane, 3) arrive at the destination, 4) disembark, 5) rent the car, 6) drive to an address on a pre-printed route… and I will become so emotionally distraught at the possibilities of failure that I suffer from intense nausea!
Fear sabotages me from seeking out new and exciting opportunities. It is this fear that I am beginning to face and conquer. How else will the Lord bless me with opportunities to meet others if I cannot gird myself up to travel there? So, that is my next battle against fear.
There is always something to learn, either from others or from our circumstances. When we acknowledge the lesson and hold fast to the positive side of a negative, that is when we enhance our character. We become one of those people who are made of sterner stuff than those around us. We become survivors with a tool to witness to others, and there is always something to learn a little further down the road. No matter what you have learned in the past.
This has been another installment in the ChristianWriters Blog-Chain. The series this month, School.
Re-Writes
One of the aspects about writing novels that I love [and hate] is the re-write.
The past two weeks my focus as centered on the final revisions of my historical romance, Searching for Sara. I sent the proof copy to my mom for review before setting out on this adventure of finals. Last week, or was it the week before, she finished her multiple readings and shipped me back the proof with her commentary and suggestions scribbled in the margins.
Having a person willing and able to give your manuscript/work in progress a critical review is essential. Why? Because us authors have a tendency of getting either too attached or too distanced from our characters and the story we have to tell. For me it is most commonly the former. The story is so crystal clear in my head that my mind doesn’t notice when words have been left out. In addition to that, because I know the story backwards and forwards, I don’t know when an important fact has been left out, adding to the reader’s confusion about the conflict or a back-story, etc. With my mother as a ‘beta reader’, I have the opportunity of receiving insight into a different level of awareness.
A clean slate, as it were.
If you are able to have multiple people beta-read your WIP, that is even better! Currently I have another friend beta-reading SfS this weekend. In fact, I shipped her the same marked up proof that I received from my mother (upon my friend’s insistence). She wanted the opportunity to read and comment on the commentary. HAHA! If possibly, I will try to find 1 or 2 more people to beta-read the proof… although at this point in time it might be better to send my corrections through and print another proof.
No sense sending around old news?
And I seem to have ventured a little off tangent. Apologies.
Back to the point at hand: the love [and hate] of rewriting. Setting that first draft to paper could be attributed to piecing together a skeleton on an archaeological dig. Scene by scene you put together the proper characters, motivations, goals, conflicts, and rewards that equate to a momentous adventure in these characters’ lives. They will live and/or die by your hands, and what a life it will be!
Part 2 of your duty as a writer comes to play: the re-write.
Once you, the writer, has fit the pieces together, it is time for you to utilize the facts on hand – as well as your own imagination – to delve deeper into the facets of the characters and the story they want to spin. Hidden agonies. Secret joys. Lost loves. Squelched desires for vengeance. They are all there, in that collection of scenes and pages.
The re-write affords us the opportunity to bring those to the forefront. Rewriting scenes to their full potential can be a definite challenge, especially if we are in a ‘lazy’ frame of mind. If that is the case, I suggest meeting up with a critique partner who will kick you in your hind-quarters. 
This is something I have needed to do myself on many an occasion.
But if you are ready for the agony of unlocking the waiting intensity, go for the gusto!
Bring out your thesaurus and dig deep for the perfect word that conveys the vision in your mind. Succinct imagery can be more powerful than we give it credit for (and it can bring our word count down to a more manageable level).
Ask yourself if the scene is necessary, and if it isn’t feel free to take it out!
Read the scene aloud so that you are more aware of flow. If your internal editor [while you're reading] leaves out or adds a word, take a moment to discern if it was a necessary change.
If you know your characters and their story inside and out, they will help you get it out on the page. Your great responsibility is due diligence and, when you think it might finally be done, reading it one more time.
I am a writer. I adore the spinning of the unwritten tale – that lesson waiting to be divulged to others. Each day a new story beckons. One last happy ending. My characters have a life outside of my own, and I always learn from their destiny.
~ Nona ~
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." ~II Corinthians 5:17
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