Thinking aloud, but not on the bus

 

Looking...

It was February when spring came creeping into our garden with snowdrops under the magnolia and daffodils braving the wind, with the croak of frogs in a starlit pond, followed by frogspawn in the shallows, the annual miracle of new life. Nature gets on quietly with things, scattering leaves and seeds in generous abundance, and and to her time seems immaterial. She takes as long as she needs. This may be good advice for us when we're writing or editing. Turn off your inner pressure-critic! Or at least ease up a bit. Maybe we should learn to be kind to ourselves. To take our time.

Listening...

Jesus didn't write a book, of course, but he sows the seeds of kindness and understanding in abundance. He stops beside the well in Samaria, tired and thirsty, needing a bit of peace and quiet. Then he speaks to the Samaritan woman. 

(What? Him? A Jew? You mean he spoke to a despised Samaritan, never mind one who had to come creeping to the well at midday, when no-one else was about? What kind of woman was she, eh?). 

Jesus treats her kindly and they have a conversation that changes the woman’s life.

On another occasion, Jesus looks up at Zacchaeus in the tree...

(What? That hated tax-collector, working for the Romans, blinkin' traitor!)

and says how much he'd like to come to his house. 

(Who? Me? You can't mean me. You've made a mistake.) 

A moment later, down slithers Zacchaeus, embarrassed, perhaps over-awed. Or maybe bolshy. I imagine him cautious, expecting the worst, but it doesn’t arrive. They go to his house, where he provides a meal for Jesus. They get to know each other, and I bet Jesus didn't preach at him, not once, and we can be sure Zacchaeus was a different person after that. 

Understanding...

Jesus understood people because he listened to them. For those of us who write fiction, it’s interesting to imagine conversations with the characters we create. Have you ever had bossy ones, determined to have their say no matter what, inclined to sulk if not given a free rein? And what about the nervously shy characters? Or the generously kind? By listening to them all, we have the opportunity to understand them better, and perhaps ourselves as well.

One word of warning. Don’t chat with your characters aloud, on the bus. 

 

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Veronica Bright has won over forty prizes for her short stories, now published in three collections. She is still trying to persuade literary agents that her two novels for children are FANTASTIC! Veronica is the ACW short story adviser, and runs the ACW Writing for Children group, whose members meet up on Zoom. For more details look on the Writing for Children Facebook page. She writes occasional book reviews for Transforming Ministry.

http://www.veronicabright.co.uk