It's in the...twang

Writing a manuscript is something like making a new friend. You have to learn all your characters quirks, their likes and dislikes, their speech patterns.

Did I mention…

Their.

Speech.

Patterns.

I’m from Texas. So I speak…Texan. Complete with the slang and abbreviated words. Not to mention I drop the g on all words ending in ing. It’s just…Texas. It’s how we talk.

I’ve read books set in Texas that were obviously written by authors that weren’t from Texas. The characters had this aggravating habit of saying things like ‘did you’, ‘do you want to’, ‘I am’, ‘we are’, and the like. That was the only clue I needed to know the author wasn’t from Texas. Because here in Texas we don’t say things like ‘we are. We say ‘we’re’. And for ‘do you want to’…we make it easy. It’s just ‘don’tcha want to’.

See easy.

Less words. Why say all those words when we can shorten it? Now this isn’t somethin’ we think about down here in Texas. It’s just the way we talk. I’d have thought everyone understood us but…I was wrong.

I had to experience this first hand to realize that what sounds natural to me, what flows naturally in my speech isn’t always understandable to others. The first time I talked to my husband he told me I sounded…like Texas. I understood what he meant.

Sort of.

It wasn’t until I spent weeks in another state that I fully understood the difference. I knew I had an accent. The concept isn’t foreign to me. And I’m rather…fond…of my accent. I like the way I talk. Even if my daughter is right when she tells me that if we were to write in our manuscripts the way people in Texas really talk we’d all sound like a bunch of outlaws.

Here’s an example: ‘I cain’t git this ta work. I’m fixin’ ta run to the store an’ git another one. ‘Cause This’ns broke.’

Yes, we really talk like that in Texas.

But it wasn’t until recently that I began picking up on just how different our speech patterns are. In one of my manuscripts…the only one not set in Texas…my heroine gets mad and starts talking. Her new husband is shocked. His thoughts… Now he’d managed to marry a woman that wore Texas like most women wore dresses. She’d hidden it well, right up until her temper had kicked in, then she’d opened her mouth and let it spew out.

I wrote that long before I fully understood the differences in our speech patterns. It was just…normal to me then. Now I can see the differences. I hear the differences on a regular basis. When my Louisiana husband says ‘what are you saying?’ or when he says something and I catch the difference in how he says it and how I do.

Not long ago we were talking about meat from wild game. Nothing special in that conversation. I said ‘it’s wild caught’. He asked me over and over what I was talking about. Wild caught…like caught in the wild. About the fifth…or tenth…time he caught on. He said ‘wild caught’. That was what I said. Then he informed me I was saying ‘wild cot’. Now I was saying ‘wild caught’ and I knew what I meant. But…

Apparently when I said it…

Texas came out.

When I tried to say wild caught as wild c-a-u-g-h-t I can’t say it. Literally. My mouth is incapable of pronouncing it as caught. It’s either cot or mumbo jumbo.

Here are a few other examples of differences I’ve noticed. In Texas we have acorns. In Louisiana they’re acerns. The o is pronounced er. In Texas we have Wednesday. In Lousianna…it’s Wednesdee.

These may sound like little differences and they are but multiplied by a few thousand words they add up to very huge differences.

I was told by a judge in a contest that western romances set in Texas are cliché. Maybe they are but since I’m from Texas I write what I know. That way I don’t have to worry about getting the speech patterns wrong.

Now all I have to do is worry about how much my Louisiana husband is gonna effect my Texas accent.

Looking at the future

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:34

What is it like to look your future in the face?

Is it even possible? Yes, I firmly believe it is. There are just some moments in life when we can look ahead and know (to some extent) what is coming in our future. I'm not talking about foretelling the future but in just being able to see something coming and knowing it will change our life. The way an expectant mother knows her life will be forever altered with the birth of her baby, or the way a couple can know that their life is changing as they say their wedding vows.

But what is it like to stand and look at someone or something and have a good idea that your future will forever be changed because of that person or that moment? We've all had those times when we experienced something and knew as it was happening that we would be forever changed because of it.

Sometimes a person passes through our lives that changes who we are. Sometimes they change the course of our lives. A new friend. A new spouse. Even a stranger that makes a big impact on us.

All of those have the potential to change our future in a moment. They can effect who we thought we were, who we want to be, what we thought we wanted in life.

If those changes are good we give thanks for the changes that came, pray in gratitude for what we've been given. If they're bad we may complain and question 'why me?'

The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. Proverbs 16:9

Whether or not we like what comes our way it is part of a plan that is much bigger than we can ever imagine. Bigger than anything we can see. Our future stretches before us like an open book, one in which we cannot read the words. The lord is writing the story as we make our way through the pages. He's guiding our paths, directing our steps. Taking us to where he wants us to be.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[a] for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Romans 8:28-30

But what happens when we stand on page 200 and we catch a glimpse of what we think may be coming up on page 300? When we can see the plot twist coming but we can't tell exactly what it is?

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5


Conflict.

Plot twist.

As an author those words are what makes the story flow. It's what keeps things moving. But every so often when those things show up in real life I find myself feeling sorry for my characters. I don't like conflict and plot twists in my life. And I throw those things at my characters with just about every scene I write. It is the way manuscripts are written. It is the nature of books. Because who wants to read a book about characters that are plodding through life at a slow pace where nothing ever changes, where day after day everything goes without a hitch? Readers want barb wire fences thrown up in front of the heroes and heroines. They want outlaws, kidnappings, bank robberies, missing children, tornadoes, etc. They want conflict. They want plot twists. They want excitement.

And we give it to them.

Because we're writers. Because it's what we do.

But do we ever put ourselves in our characters boots? Do we ever strap on their spurs and wear them around the yard for a while? Not because we have to but because doing so just might make us a better writer. It just might make our scenes better, or our story seem more believable. 

When our heroine has something looming in her future that scares and worries her....who does she turn to? Does she turn to the hero? Tell him all her thoughts and fears? What if he's involved in that? What if she doesn't want to give him more to worry over than he already has? Then what?

Who does she turn to? 

Who hears those fears? Catches her tears?

Does your heroine have someone she can talk about all those things to? Is there someone in the story whose shoulder she can cry on? Does she call her closest friend? Send an email? Does she find peace and solace in prayer? Scripture? Listening to music? Where does she find her peace?

How does she pull herself together when she needs to fall apart? 

It is so easy to throw catastrophe after catastrophe in front of our characters. So easy to give them conflict even when we don't want to. After all if our story is going slow we can bring in outlaws to speed it up. We can make the wagon wheel break causing the wagon to tumble down a ravine into a fast flowing river. We can make anything happen because we are the writer but do we remember to put ourselves in our characters place, to make them react the way we would? 

When they're facing the hundredth conflict in six months, when their world is falling apart...

How do we feel and act and react in similar situations?

Conflict isn't fun. Plot twists are confusing. Facing things that we don't want to see happen have the potential to tear our world apart, to make us hurt even before it happens. They can make us dread something we know is coming, make us want to grab hold of today and never let go, grab hold of someone and never let go. They can make us hurt and be happy at the same time. Make us cry, or want to, because we can't do anything else.

Do we, as writers, remember to make our characters experience all those conflicting feelings when they go through their trials?

Living in a make believe world

As a writer I am privilaged to be able to share my alternate world with my daughter. When I speak of word  counts, characters, or made up places she understands and can discuss them with me the way most people can talk about family relationships and doing laundry. She simply understands.

It is a language she knows without me having to explain what I mean when I say I have to use that in a manuscript. Or he would make a great outlaw. Or how can I rework that to make it fit my work in progress.

She knows.

But what happens when you're faced with someone that doesn't? I've gotten many a questioning look from my mother and sisters, a few from other relatives and friends but tonight I discovered what it was like to talk about writing and a particular manuscript with someone that isn't a reader and had no idea what we were talking about.

It started when this person made a statement that made my daughter think of a character in one of my manuscripts. I knew what my daughter was thinking by the look on her face. This character is one that is weird and creepy while being funny and unforgettable at the same time. And a few words was all it took to make my daughter think of this character.

As we explained the character to this person, gave a brief summary of the plot, told the story of the main characters we got a chance to see how our world looks to someone that doesn't enjoy books the way we do.

In the end my daughter read her favorite scene aloud, commenting from time to time about this character that holds no real significance in the manuscript but it one of those people that give the story life.

And I was given a look into the world of people that does not share my love of books.

It was an eye opening experience.

Love

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 22: 37-39

 

In a recent post I wrote about the effects other people have on our lives. How they can change us, make us grow. I did not realize when I wrote that post that the Lord was using me in someone’s life even as I felt the effects of others in my own life.

There is a girl that passes through my life once a week. I hardly know her and rarely see her but the Lord puts us in the same place every week. A couple months ago I hugged this girl, or she hugged me. I don’t remember who instigated it but I did notice that when she hugged me she clung like she never intended to let go. After that day when I see her I try to make a point of hugging her.

Those hugs are special for me but they were but moments in my life. It was something I did because I felt like she might need it. She has managed to work her way into a spot in my heart but even at that I could not see what was happening during those brief, but clingy, encounters.

Yesterday, through my daughter, the Lord has shown me what it all meant. While I was nowhere around this girl told my daughter “no one hugs me like she does.” When I heard that, my heart became hers. This girl that could so easily have passed through my life without me paying her any attention has now become one of those moments that changed me, but more important I marvel that I may have become one of those encounters that will affect her for life.

Dear reader, Scripture commands us to love others as ourselves. This is often a hard task and is so easy to forget to do as we go about our daily lives. But we never know when the simple act of showing someone we care can mean all the difference to them. May we be the voice and the touch of Christ so that others might feel His love through us.

Entertaining Angels

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

                                    Hebrews 13:2

 

Every single day of our lives the Lord is working. He works on us, through us, in us, and around us. He fits us into His plans, molding us as He sees fit to get us where He wants us to be. He takes a little from our lives here, adds a little there. Like a potter molding clay He smooth's out wrinkles on this side and creates something beautiful on that side.

If we climb out of bed in the morning there is a good chance that He will use us in someone’s life and may, quite possibly, use someone else in ours. Sometimes we never know the impact we have on another. The simple act of smiling at someone could change their lives.

But then there are the times when someone comes into our lives and we see the impact. Have you ever stopped to think about the sheer odds of what it takes for you to meet someone new? No matter who they are or what role they play in your life. You had to be there, in that spot, at that moment to meet them. And so did they. In our usually busy lives what does it take for two complete strangers to wind up in the right place at the same moment so that they can touch each other’s lives?

I’ve seen this happen in my writing, among the new friends I have made in the writing world. There is an author that worked closely with me this past winter. We stumbled on each other because I asked the right question, in the right place, at the right time. Through her guidance I learned a lot about what it takes to take my story and make it fit the guidelines set in place by agents and publishers.

Another author showed up in my life because I won several contests where her books were the prize. We exchanged several emails and through her I was encouraged. Later, the same woman judged a contest I entered. Her kind words of praise for my entry lifted my spirits and encouraged me in my writing in a way no one else has.

I’ve seen this same miracle happen in life, many times, but some of those chance encounters have meant so much more than others. The Lord has recently brought one of the most amazing women I’ve ever met into my life. I was drawn to her from the first moment we met. In only a few short months she has captured my heart. We are born into our families, blessed by the people the Lord has chosen to make a part of our lives through family ties, and then there are the ones that are family of the heart. This woman is that for me.

There are more of these people that have worked their way into my life in ways that should have been impossible. A close friend that became that simply because we were drawn to each other online, through conversations that held nothing of a personal nature until we are now more like sisters than friends.

Another friend I met when I was somewhere I did not plan to be, at a time I had no intention of being there, at a time that this friend did not want to be there either. And yet we were. Through a few short words, and a smile, we have become friends in a way that has touched me deeply and changed my life.

Dear reader, I am sure that there are people like these in your life. Friends you didn’t expect, strangers that may have only passed through your day but changed your life. Who are they? How did you meet them? Will you share some of these miracle friendships with us?