Why mess is good - by Fran Hill
Have you read 'Messiology' by George Verwer? (It was previously published as 'More Drops'.)
Our church held a 'church weekend at home' recently and George Verwer was the visiting speaker. For anyone who doesn't know, he is the founder of 'Operation Mobilisation' which aims to spread the Gospel world-wide. You can find out more about George and OM here but that's not the main point of this blog post.
On the Sunday afternoon, I embarked on the journey home from church, which usually takes 20 minutes on one bus.
Two and a bit hours later, I reached home.
First, I got on the wrong bus and toured more of Warwickshire than I really intended. Then the next bus that eventually got me home was over an hour late.
Every cloud, though. I had time, therefore, to read George's short book 'Messiology' which is, ironically, about when life doesn't turn out the way you think it will.
His basic premise is that God works through our fallenness, our humanity, our mistakes and our misdeeds. The world may be in a mess. God's church may be in a mess. Our own local churches may be in a mess. Our individual lives may be in a mess. But God chooses to work through it all, not waiting around for us to sort it all out. (If he did, he'd be waiting for ever, and although he does own eternity, that's still a big ask.)
Also, as Verwer states, God's glory is seen through weakness and frailty more than it is via human strength and power. That's just the way he's organised the world.
I find this idea touching and appealing. And surely it can be applied to what we write.
Messiness is at the heart of so many storylines. We take a character. We give them a mess to sort out. Then we give them another one. They don't know how they're going to solve it, and neither do we. So we keep reading. The mess seems unmessable. How will it be unmessed?
Oh, THAT way! Of course! Why didn't I spot that?!
But, without the mess, there is no story. No one wants to trek all the way to the bookshop and pay £7.99 to open the book and find that the character had a super day, thank you, and has no complaints.
Mess is inevitable in life and in fiction, then. Jesus even promised us mess. To be fair, he slips it in between two more positive statements, maybe thinking we wouldn't notice ....
John 16:33 I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
However hard messiness is in real life, it's the inevitability of it in stories that attracts us to reading. For a start, we like to read about others' messes. They make us feel that we're not alone. Oooh, we think, as we see the character struggling. How do you think you're going to get out of THIS one, sunshine?
But, more than that, however much we've enjoyed seeing the character battle life's circumstances just as we do, we like to see the messes cleared up. We're reassured. It will be all right in the end. Justice will be done. Wicked stepmothers will get their just deserts. Cinderellas will get their princes. No need to fear.
This is why, when a TV drama ends ambiguously, social media goes bonkers complaining about the messy ending.
Be really tough on your characters, then. Give them the worst time. Give it to them all over again. Give them the mess above all messes.
Then let the mess untangle in surprising and delightful ways, so that they, and the reader, can breathe once more.
That is, until you write the sequel .....
Fran is a writer and English teacher living in Warwickshire. Her teacher memoir 'Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean?' will be published by SPCK in May 2020. You can find out more about Fran and her writing on her website right here
Our church held a 'church weekend at home' recently and George Verwer was the visiting speaker. For anyone who doesn't know, he is the founder of 'Operation Mobilisation' which aims to spread the Gospel world-wide. You can find out more about George and OM here but that's not the main point of this blog post.
On the Sunday afternoon, I embarked on the journey home from church, which usually takes 20 minutes on one bus.
Two and a bit hours later, I reached home.
First, I got on the wrong bus and toured more of Warwickshire than I really intended. Then the next bus that eventually got me home was over an hour late.
Every cloud, though. I had time, therefore, to read George's short book 'Messiology' which is, ironically, about when life doesn't turn out the way you think it will.
His basic premise is that God works through our fallenness, our humanity, our mistakes and our misdeeds. The world may be in a mess. God's church may be in a mess. Our own local churches may be in a mess. Our individual lives may be in a mess. But God chooses to work through it all, not waiting around for us to sort it all out. (If he did, he'd be waiting for ever, and although he does own eternity, that's still a big ask.)
Also, as Verwer states, God's glory is seen through weakness and frailty more than it is via human strength and power. That's just the way he's organised the world.
I find this idea touching and appealing. And surely it can be applied to what we write.
Messiness is at the heart of so many storylines. We take a character. We give them a mess to sort out. Then we give them another one. They don't know how they're going to solve it, and neither do we. So we keep reading. The mess seems unmessable. How will it be unmessed?
Oh, THAT way! Of course! Why didn't I spot that?!
But, without the mess, there is no story. No one wants to trek all the way to the bookshop and pay £7.99 to open the book and find that the character had a super day, thank you, and has no complaints.
Mess is inevitable in life and in fiction, then. Jesus even promised us mess. To be fair, he slips it in between two more positive statements, maybe thinking we wouldn't notice ....
John 16:33 I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
However hard messiness is in real life, it's the inevitability of it in stories that attracts us to reading. For a start, we like to read about others' messes. They make us feel that we're not alone. Oooh, we think, as we see the character struggling. How do you think you're going to get out of THIS one, sunshine?
But, more than that, however much we've enjoyed seeing the character battle life's circumstances just as we do, we like to see the messes cleared up. We're reassured. It will be all right in the end. Justice will be done. Wicked stepmothers will get their just deserts. Cinderellas will get their princes. No need to fear.
This is why, when a TV drama ends ambiguously, social media goes bonkers complaining about the messy ending.
Be really tough on your characters, then. Give them the worst time. Give it to them all over again. Give them the mess above all messes.
Then let the mess untangle in surprising and delightful ways, so that they, and the reader, can breathe once more.
That is, until you write the sequel .....
Fran is a writer and English teacher living in Warwickshire. Her teacher memoir 'Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean?' will be published by SPCK in May 2020. You can find out more about Fran and her writing on her website right here
Lovely, lovely, lovely... is a big mess that gets resolved in the end. Too true, Mrs H. Great post.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing, Fran. Glad to hear that your extended bus journey had compensations.
ReplyDelete