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Getting to the Final Version When I sit down to read a good book, I devour the words, the sentences, the paragraphs. I turn the pages, I go through the chapters, and when I reach the end, I come away with an impression of the book. In many ways, I guess we do the same thing with other facets of our life. We make acquaintances, we have conversations, we spend time together, and we leave each encounter with an opinion on whom, what, and why that person is. I had the pleasure of talking to Amy Wallace about her novel Ransomed Dreams, a romantic suspense that came out in April. We talked a lot about her two main characters: Gracie, who lost her husband and children in a car accident, and Steven, a divorced FBI agent with a small son. As we chatted about their growth and struggles, especially with forgiveness, she talked also about how they were when she first started writing them. Gracie she described as originally being “sugar-coated.” (In the final version, Gracie was so realistic I felt I could have squeezed her fingers in commiseration.) Steven was originally absent the ex-wife that brought many complications into the final version of the novel. And as I listened to her talk about their evolution through the editing process, I just had to smile. Writers have a special ability to hit that backspace button and change anything that doesn’t make sense. If a character is too shallow, they can be deepened. If they’re too stubborn, they can be softened. If they’re too bitter, they can be given a dose of sugar. And when a book goes to the presses, the readers never know what existed in those previous versions—the characters exist only as they do on the final pages. In a way, it would be great if life worked that way, too. If we could revise ourselves so that people only saw the final version, absent the road-bumps and the flaws that just don’t fit with the final picture. Of course, “final” characters in a good novel are realistic—full of all those flaws we’d like to hide—and I think many of us, if we could change ourselves, would make ourselves less realistic. Sweeter, more patient, smarter. We’d turn ourselves into what we think we should be. But Amy had another lesson in her novel and in her interview. When speaking of her hero, she said, “He thought he could have, should have done better, in his life and on his job. With him it was really an issue of coming to grips with the fact that he had no right to hold himself to a higher standard than God did, and no right to play God or walk away from God.” I think that’s an “ouch” for many of us. So often we lash out at ourselves for not being everything we want to be, for not being in “final form.” Yeah, sure, there’s that old plaque hanging on the wall that says, “God isn’t through with me yet,” but it’s just a cliché to us. We see our own failings, we hear our anger at God Himself sometimes, and we’re not content with our progress. “I hope people can see that God isn’t
bothered by our inability or rebellions,” Amy said. If we can all remember that long enough, I think we’ll begin to take joy in the process of editing our lives. Amy’s words make it clear that in each revision, her characters took another step toward becoming knowable, realistic, loveable . . . and flawed. That’s what we expect from the final version of a good book, as much as a happy ending or problems solved. We want to see the heroes reach a breakthrough, which requires a struggle to begin with. We can do the same thing with ourselves. We can go through each trial thanking God, knowing it makes us richer. Our job as the authors of our own stories isn’t to instantly come up with that final version that goes to the presses—it’s to go through the editing process unafraid to make changes, even when they might hurt. And to trust that big ole Editor in the Sky to lead our characters in the paths He’d have us travel. Read the full interview with Amy Wallace Wanna give me your take? Questions, comments, silly statements? Email me at BtL@ChristianReviewofBooks.com View Other Columns:
Celebrating the Tradition |
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