Authenticity and Elephants - by SC Skillman
Inspired by Fran Hill's post (published yesterday on this blog) about Learning From Mistakes and elephants in the room, I thought once again about the true appeal of fiction. What really is the point of reading a novel? Why do we gain more insight into our lives from reading fiction, than we do from living life itself? As I read what Fran had to say, I realised that the answer lies in the phrase "elephant in the room".
Having elephants in the room, and ignoring them, is all about the lack of authenticity. It happens regularly in real life. But when elephants wander round the pages of fiction, being ignored by the author, then the story collapses. One wise adviser once said to me, "If you're going to be a writer you must come clean with yourself." Well, it's a moot point whether I ever have, in real life. But within the pages of fiction, you absolutely have to come clean with yourself as the author, or be sure your reader will find you out.
A while ago I attended an evening with novelist Mike Gayle, in conversation with his editor Nick Sayers about the relationship between author and editor.
I remember Mike saying, "The job of the editor is to point things out to me a year before I'm reading about them in a 1-star review on Amazon."
Authenticity is all about our inner and outer worlds, and how we live, and how we write in ways that are real and honest and true to ourselves.
At a church weekend a few years ago I listened to speaker Annie Naish on the subject of Authenticity.
She invited us to consider how as members of a Christian community we can be "real" with each other, our authentic selves, sharing our sorrows and troubles, recognising we are wounded people, and that we all need each other.
But how easy is that, conditioned as we are by the world and the society we live in? She suggested we prepare the way by showing sincere and practical love, looking for the good in people, putting others first, being willing to be vulnerable, and showing humility and practising forgiveness.
This all reminds me of St Paul when he said we must "bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone."
I sometimes think it's the work of a lifetime to understand exactly how "bearing with" one another relates to vulnerability and honesty with "elephants in the room." Perhaps in your comments you might suggest to me how you see this working out in our lives.
But within the pages of fiction we see this life, somehow blended with another life: a life in which we do know the hearts of others, rather than make guesses through the surface appearance Just such a novel is one I finished reading yesterday, "All the Lonely People" by Mike Gayle; so touching, honest and compassionate: as you read you find your heart either warmed or broken, and you recognise yourself and the society we live in.
I wish I could write with such vulnerability and honesty, a book where the elephants in the room are revealed, and we can all recognise them in our own lives.
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| Elephant in the room - image credit Anna Sofia Maag - Wikimedia commons |
Having elephants in the room, and ignoring them, is all about the lack of authenticity. It happens regularly in real life. But when elephants wander round the pages of fiction, being ignored by the author, then the story collapses. One wise adviser once said to me, "If you're going to be a writer you must come clean with yourself." Well, it's a moot point whether I ever have, in real life. But within the pages of fiction, you absolutely have to come clean with yourself as the author, or be sure your reader will find you out.
A while ago I attended an evening with novelist Mike Gayle, in conversation with his editor Nick Sayers about the relationship between author and editor.
I remember Mike saying, "The job of the editor is to point things out to me a year before I'm reading about them in a 1-star review on Amazon."
Authenticity is all about our inner and outer worlds, and how we live, and how we write in ways that are real and honest and true to ourselves.
At a church weekend a few years ago I listened to speaker Annie Naish on the subject of Authenticity.
She invited us to consider how as members of a Christian community we can be "real" with each other, our authentic selves, sharing our sorrows and troubles, recognising we are wounded people, and that we all need each other.
But how easy is that, conditioned as we are by the world and the society we live in? She suggested we prepare the way by showing sincere and practical love, looking for the good in people, putting others first, being willing to be vulnerable, and showing humility and practising forgiveness.
This all reminds me of St Paul when he said we must "bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone."
I sometimes think it's the work of a lifetime to understand exactly how "bearing with" one another relates to vulnerability and honesty with "elephants in the room." Perhaps in your comments you might suggest to me how you see this working out in our lives.
But within the pages of fiction we see this life, somehow blended with another life: a life in which we do know the hearts of others, rather than make guesses through the surface appearance Just such a novel is one I finished reading yesterday, "All the Lonely People" by Mike Gayle; so touching, honest and compassionate: as you read you find your heart either warmed or broken, and you recognise yourself and the society we live in.
I wish I could write with such vulnerability and honesty, a book where the elephants in the room are revealed, and we can all recognise them in our own lives.
 |
| SC Skillman psychological, paranormal, mystery fiction and non-fiction My next book 'Paranormal Warwickshire' will be published by Amberley Publishing on 15th November 2020 |
I do admire your ability to take a post from the previous day and build on it to write your own, Sheila. It takes me weeks to produce a post for this blog!
ReplyDeleteIt often takes me a long time to assemble a blog post, Susan what with ideas, good expression, finding appropriate images, creating captions and links and choosing tags & categories. I found this easier as Fran's courage really struck me and I had only just finished reading and reviewing Mike Gayle's novel.
DeleteThanks Sheila. A timely reminder for me about vulnerability in particular
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found it helpful Eileen.
DeleteA very thoughtful post - thank you
ReplyDeleteI hope others will find that it resonates with others. I found it easy to write because of the examples of Fran Hill and Mike Gayle!
DeleteThanks, Sheila. I love this. It made me think about my own writing.
ReplyDeleteI think your writing is full of authenticity Wendy because it's so sparky and sassy. I love the banter between the police and the constant references to their junk food habits! I bet that's authentic!
DeleteBearing with each other - that reminded me of things from the past. I can remember situations I thought would never change but the Lord stepped in. Helping us as writers to be authentic, He can gently whisper to us. I loved what Mike Gayle had to say - this is a great blog, and I too am very impressed at your quick turnaround after reading Fran yesterday!
ReplyDeleteI don't often do that Ruth but I couldn't help imagining the scene Fran described - standing up in front of a group of people intending to be funny and not getting the response you hope for. Perhaps it's one of my own nightmares - doing things in front of people and feeling mortified. However probably many people feel like that which is why they never take the risk of putting themselves in the situation.
DeleteSheila, I'm glad my thoughts were able to spearhead your thoughts for your really interesting blog post. I love the way you've used the elephant in the room and related it to fiction. As for showing vulnerability in what we write, I really learned from a blogger friend of mine who read a draft of a novel I'd written a couple of years ago. He said, 'I can't help feeling you're holding something back from the reader here. There's something you're keeping from us. Something deeper.' That influenced me a lot in writing my recent memoir.
ReplyDeleteOh goodness, where do we begin? I say this as ever since joining ACW the subject of honesty, openness, and authenticity has hovered around. And before that, it was periodically raised at church - not by the Vicar/Minister, but by the ordinary, lay members. Yet church can be the place where wonderfully superficial, or sadly more like awkward avoidance of being 'seen into' conversations and attitudes remain... I'm saying this because sometimes the more 'authentic' you are, the more people shun you, don't think you'd better be one the PCC/in a responsible post there/are perhaps not a 'real Christian'. I had post natal depression. Not severe, but enough that I was labelled 'the depressed mum' , as not being over the moon with joy. And treated as 'vulnerable' rather than 'responsible'. Just one small example. We've all seen this, haven't we? Society makes demands and the church is no different - demands that people should be polite, happy, not grumble, etc etc... and those who don't are marginalised. And YES! fiction is a wonderful place where people can read (and mark, and inward digest, as the saying goes) how real people really 'work', what is underneath the smile, or the shun, how the 'perfect' family is actually an abusive one, how having the next baby is not at all what that young mum with the 3 under-fives wants... learn about lives not our own... learn the sort of stuff 'God knows because he knows us all intimately'. So, YES!, more thoughtfully written novels from Christian writers prepared to write it how it is (but with respect for the characters, and as good literature and readable, and funny when appropriate, etc). Be prepared people may not like what we write, of course. Sorry for the rant - hopefully totally on-topic though.
ReplyDeleteMy goodness Fran he must have been discerning. I would find that quite unnerving - and I have been unnerved in the past by things readers have pointed out to me. On another level, things readers will pick out in novels by unwary authors include snobbery, class-consciousness, sexism and racism. When I think of all the novelists who've been called out or banned from libraries, I cannot help wondering... some of them have been authors I enjoyed reading.
ReplyDelete'But within the pages of fiction we see this life, somehow blended with another life: a life in which we do know the hearts of others, rather than make guesses through the surface appearance...' This really jumped out at me and is so true. Thanks, Sheila for this eloquent and inspiring post. The process of self revelation in our writing is terrifying but so nescessary for authenticity.
ReplyDeleteThank you Deborah for your encouraging comment.
ReplyDeleteClare, thank you for your thoughts on this and you are so right about how we can be in church communities. All this stems from the centuries-old fatal error of associating 'being a Christian' with 'being holier-than-thou'. Yet it is the ultimate hypocrisy that Jesus hated so much. But the irony lies here: how do we reconcile 'bearing with each other' and acknowledging 'the elephant in the room'? I suppose preachers of integrity have had to wrestle with this for centuries too.
ReplyDeleteGosh, I feel so passionate about this! In order to be believable we need to be real. That's whether we write fiction or nonfiction. Brilliant, Clare.
ReplyDelete