When Stories Disobey

 

David Almond’s novel My Name is Mina is about a 9 year old girl who doesn’t fit in school. She’s too original, too creative. Not willing to conform. Which when you have a class of 30+ is really difficult to manage. But squashing such exuberant creativity out of a child is a tragedy.

We are all different, yet God has created each one of us and prepared works for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). We need to allow everyone to be the best version of themselves. Education needs to find ways of celebrating individuality while maintaining standards and educating all.

But that’s a discussion for another day.

The character Mina loves to write. Just not the way her teacher asks her to write, with clear boundaries and a plan. But she wants to be ‘a good girl’, so she tries.

My Name is Mina by David Almond, p14 (Random House, 2010)

I don’t know whether you plan thoroughly or whether you start a story with an idea and see where it takes you. But I do know that the teacher in this story is not a writer. Because I don’t know any writer who could confidently say, as Mrs Scullery says to Mina,

‘It’s your story. It will do what you tell it to.’

If that is your experience, please tell me how you make it so!

But there is something I find encouraging when I’m struggling to turn my ideas into a coherent story.

‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord. ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’

God has a plan for our lives. I can’t see it as I go about my day to day life. When I face choices, I often wish his plan was easier to spot. But when I look back, I can see how he has been at work: opening doors, shutting off wrong paths, bringing me back to the place he wants me to be. Not despairing of my wanderings, but using them, or gently coaxing me back in line (and occasionally making it very clear!).

Writing a story feels like that to me. The characters roam and sometimes their meanderings make for a stronger story. Other times I have to shut a particular gate and force them to obey. But it’s a journey we’re on together.

The plan is like a recipe, and like all my recipes, it’s a guideline. Useful when I’m teaching my teenagers how to cook. But not to be followed too closely. Because I find the best meals involve a bit of experimentation.