Writing, Faith and Impact by Rebecca Seaton

 

Writing, Faith and Impact by Rebecca Seaton

Over Christmas, I watched ‘The Man who invented Christmas’, a drama about Charles Dickens’ writing a Christmas Carol. I took a lot of inspiration from this, not least the impact our writing can have beyond what we might predict. Some things Dickens was aware of when writing; this was not the first time he had written about the less fortunate in society. However, the impact of his work could not have been foreseen.

Charles Dickens’ motivations and methods were not miles away from ours today. He certainly lived out ‘write what you know’. He might have written about the poverty he saw every day anyway but having lived it meant he wrote it with passion. Still haunted by his experiences of the debtors’ prison and the blacking factory, his concern for the Cratchits and frustration with Scrooge is all too real.

The process of writing what is now a classic is also a lesson in how our faith has to be bigger than our circumstances. For Dickens, the importance of showing the suffering of the poor and bringing his characters to life is greater than his recent failures and taunts of his contemporaries such as Thackeray. Can we put aside thoughts of rejections to focus on our output?

The body of Christ is also important. Dickens’ loyal wife and friends supported him practically and in their interest in his work. Although not always appreciative of this, Dickens clearly needed this. Who are your supporters? Do you let them know what you need?

Our impact is also significant. Dickens might be credited with ‘inventing Christmas’ but the impact goes beyond this. It is said in the film that the book sold out on its release and charitable giving doubled overnight. Dickens’ words hit home. Can ours do this? If your current work sold out on its release, what would you want the outworking of that to be?

We might not see much to compare between ourselves and Charles Dickens. But like him, our lives contain both obstacles to overcome and events to inspire. When our race is done, have we passed a clear baton to those who share our lives and read our work? What would a dramatization of your life and work look like? We may never see our legacy but we can and should hold those hopes as we write.

#amwriting #amwritingfantasy #ACW     

 

Rebecca earned second place in the 2017-18 Pen to Print Book Challenge with her first novel, A Silent Song. She is currently working on a fantasy trilogy involving a prophet, a dodgy queen and a powerful relic.