Pearls of Wisdom

by Keith Fisher

In the past, on this blog, I’ve talked about the lessons I’m learning about the craft of writing. We’ve explored together, some of the basics. I sat down to write a blog this week and asked myself, what pearls of wisdom can we explore today? What insights have I learned that might help others on the path to publication?

I thought back on my week. It’s been a great writing week. The new book is flowing from my fingertips. Characters are telling me their story and I find myself correcting them saying, you can’t talk about that in the LDS market. So I tone it down and change words.

I took the first draft of the new book, to critique group and read it there. I hoped for praise because of the fresh idea. I got feedback about the exposition on the first page. I listened, with gratitude, to their findings and I took it home. I need to say that I knew about the exposition. Since this book deals so much with the personal feelings of the characters, I have to work hard at telling the back-story in subtle ways, without turning conversations into info dumps, or worse, having too many flashbacks.

It is a story that must be told, and I’m working hard, telling it right. For the most part, I write the story on notebook paper, including all the back-story and flashbacks. Then, I blend the exposition into dialog and actions. I’m still keeping a few flashbacks, but it’s coming together. I have a feeling that when I bring it to group, the watchwords will be back-story and exposition.

Also, in my weekly recollections, I found another lesson. Because of the cost of a necessary home repair project, we had to refinance our home. During the "paperwork gathering" portion of the refinance, I printed copies on discarded, critique group corrected, manuscript pages. I never thought about using fresh paper.

While I signed my life away, the loan officer commented about reading my manuscript. She seemed curious about it. I asked her if she liked it, and told her I’m an unpublished author. She told me how exciting that is, and that she couldn’t wait until my book comes out so she could read it and have me write something special inside the cover.

Clearly she exaggerated my celebrity. Either that or she’s not familiar with the LDS market, and thinks I’m going to be on Opra. I, of course, being a man, ate it right up. She had me believing I would be a rich, best selling author, and we would finance all our mansions through her.

That delusion lasted all of thirty seconds. Then, my feet touched the ground again, and I returned. If the truth be told, I really spent the whole time trying to explain the LDS market, but it’s great to have someone think I’m special. When My Brother’s Keeper, (the working title of the book I’m submitting), comes out, I hope it touches her heart. Then, I will have my reward.

Those are all the pearls of wisdom I can muster this week. It takes a long time for a clam to manufacture those things.

Good luck in your writing—see you next week.

The Leaky Cauldron

By Keith Fisher

As I mentioned before, I have avoided reading Harry Potter. I’ve seen portions, but I’ve never seen the movies. No particular reason, I just haven’t been much of a fantasy fan. Recently, I acquired the whole series except The Deathly Hallows. Since I was between novels anyway, I decided to read HP for a change of pace.

In the story, there’s a place called The Leaky Cauldron. The image that name presents is the reason this blog has the title it does. Think of it—a vessel that cannot hold any liquid. Put a fire under it and the fluid will extinguish the flames.

I was just finishing the second book in the series when I heard the news. Apparently, the author announced that Dumbledore is gay. (See the article.)

When an author writes a story, there are many facts created about characters that never make it into a novel. The reasons are varied but basically, too much exposition can bog a story down. The reader gets lost in a sea of non-relevant facts and they lose the story.

In the case of HP, the author created a character that teenagers love, the image of that character is set in our minds, and the book series is immensely successful. So why announce this now? Did Rowling let it slip accidentally? Was it an effort to boost her popularity? Nothing more than a publicity stunt? Could it be she’s succumbing to the clouded judgement of the moviemakers that want to include something more in the next movie?

Whatever the reasons for it, HP will never be the same. Setting aside the influence it could have on teenage readers, I can’t read it without thinking about the implications. It might have been different if the author had included that information in the book originally, but now I look at the character differently—I’ve been tainted.

I hope the character will survive. I want the kindly, caring, old man, to live on. As one of the internet news articles said: Put Dumbledore back in the closet.

To all aspiring authors may I suggest, if it wasn’t important enough to include in the book, then, leave it in your heads—especially if the information is as controversial as the information above. Don’t put out the fire under your cauldron by poking holes in it.