โThere is nothing to writing. All you do is
sit down at a typewriter and bleed.โ
โErnest Hemingway
My dad always used to say that as a writer you have to scream onto the page so
the reader can hear a whisper. That is how strong the emotion you put into your
writing needs to be. And emotion can only be that strong if itโs real and
vulnerable. It has to be honest, a snapshot of reality, connectable. In fact,
some would argue raw emotion is the driving force of any great story.
What is story without truth?
When I first started writing I was young, barely a preteen, discovering the
world through the lens of fiction. Everything I read influenced the way I wrote.
I was simply copying down what I was observing because I didnโt have anything
else to say yet. I hadnโt acquired a stock of life experiences to draw from.
As I grew and life began to throw lightning bolts at me, I started to understand
what bleeding on the page really was. And the more lightning I received, the
scarier bleeding on the page felt. What if people reject my truth? What if they
laugh at me, toss me aside? What if what I believe truth to be is a joke?
Because the problem with putting yourself in a novel, with being authentic to
your truth, with bleeding on the page, is that you then have to hand those pages
to the world. It basically feels like giving them a part of your soul while
saying, โHere world, read this, judge, and let me know what you think . . .
about my soul.โ
Itโs terrifying, and from speaking to seasoned writersโand transforming into one
myselfโit never gets easier. So then, maybe the sensible thing is to avoid
bleeding on the page at all? Iโve tried this route too. It takes me to a place
with dry, repurposed plots and characters no one can relate to. In essence, it
reads like the magic of fiction is missing.
Because the authors (and maybe thatโs some of you) are the magic of fiction.
Remove yourself to protect against the criticism, and you take out what makes
story so powerful. What takes a reader from comfortable to the edge of their
seats, from skimming to engrossed, from emotionless to bawling their eyes out.
The vulnerability of the author and the experiences they bring to the pages set
the story ablaze. They scream against the pages, throwing themselves into each
sentence, and the reader hears the whispers and is moved. As Stephen King said,
โYou cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until
it has been done to you.โ
As a writer I am constantly challenging myself to be more transparent with my
work. I take myself into my dark places, the ones I am afraid to show people,
and I write about them openly in hopes that someone reading will feel it. That
is the harder road to take, but itโs a road that ends with reward. Because
anytime you are authentic, you channel magic. Story magic.
And all we are is story. Each of us with a past, present, and future; beliefs,
hopes, dreams, fears. We are living, breathing stories, unique and waiting to be
told. Thatโs why we connect with authenticityโbecause we are the same. We can
relate to fear, to pain, to joy. Stories connect us to one another. They often
make us feel less alone and more understood. They can show us something new,
remind us of something we had forgotten, challenge us to change.
They can be like a portal, allowing us to connect to strangers we never would
have encountered otherwise. Itโs one of the many reasons I love telling stories.
As you read what Iโve written, you are feeling what Iโve felt, seeing my world.
The story is impacting you, and it has most definitely impacted me. It connects
us. It becomes real-life magic.
I try to place a part of myself in everything I write. To leave emotions there,
so that the reader feels them when they are holding one of my books in their
hands. Otherwise, why write at all?
The oldest daughter of New York Times bestselling author Ted Dekker, Rachelle
Dekker was inspired early on to discover truth through storytelling. She
graduated with a degree in communications and spent several years in marketing
and corporate recruiting before making the transition to write full time. She
lives in Nashville with her husband, Daniel, and their diva cat Blair.
The Seer
#3
Twenty years have passed since Carrington and Remko Brantโs baby, Elise, was
kidnapped and they were forced to leave her captive in the Authority City.
Though they fled with the Seers far from Authority reach, theyโve never given up
hope of rescuing their daughter from the man who betrayed them. Now Authority
President, heโs ushered the city into a new era of โpeaceโโone where the
Scientist Roth Reynardโs Genesis Serum has eradicated all memory of emotion or
rebellion.
But the mysterious Aaron and his Seers are once again on the move,
threatening the illusion the Authority has worked so hard to build. As the Seers
send seven chosen warriors to rescue Elise and bring restoration to the
Authority City, the lines are drawn for a final battle between light and
darkness. The key to ultimate victory may rest within the strangely powerful
girl who has felt forgotten but was never abandonedโa truth sheโll need to wage
war against the powerful forces of evil.
Inspirational Mystery
| Science Fiction
[Tyndale House Publishing, On Sale: January 17,
2017, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781496402288 / eISBN: 9781496418296]
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