Sunday, August 18, 2019

The Biography of a Novel—Part 3


Welcome back to my exploration of the biography of the novel I’m publishing in the next few weeks. In two earlier postings, I explained that the genesis of the book was my daily walk in a cemetery. There, I began to speak aloud one day. The words seemed to answer the question: “Who is he for you?”

Recognizing that the person being described was Jesus of Nazareth, I reread the four Christian Gospels. There I discovered twenty-seven people whose lives interested me. Asking each the cemetery question, I wrote twenty-seven monologues as answers. Friends who read these monologues encouraged me to publish them as a devotional book.

However, the crisis of faith I was then experiencing did not seem conducive to following through on that suggestion. Moreover, I’d always wanted to write a novel, and I found myself intrigued by what some of these characters had said about Jesus and about their own lives. I didn’t know exactly what to make of all the words that had come.

Then the lightbulb came on.

Someone was asking the question: “Who is he for you?”

That someone could also be a character who could hold the book together.

Given the times—the first-century of the Common Era in Palestine—only a man would be culturally able to travel around the country meeting people and asking that question. So I needed a man who had the time and leisure to do so. Thus, he couldn’t be tied down to a job. Also, he would need the money/means to travel and stay at inns and buy food and papyrus or parchment for writing. He would need to know how to write Hebrew or Aramaic—the languages of the people in Palestine. Given all this, I thought he’d need to have some wealth.

Ta-Dah! The character of Jonathan, a wealthy Judaean aristocrat, emerged and began a dialogue with the characters, asking them to describe their experience of Jesus. In this way, the monologues of Draft 1 became the ribs of Draft 2. The description of Jonathan’s journey to the Galilee to conduct these interviews became the musculature holding those ribs together.

For an hour each weekday throughout the next year, I researched ancient Palestine: where the characters might live, their clothing, their occupations, their tools, their homes and food, the flora and fauna of their region, their Hebrew names. That is, I researched the setting of the novel.

Using this research, I wove the monologues into dialogues between Jonathan and the characters he met as he journeyed throughout the Galilee and Judaea asking his question.

Two friends— Lea Ann Gregerson and Al Rashid—came up with the title for this second version: The Jesus Interviews. Using that title, I sent out query letters to several editors to see if anyone was wanted to read the manuscript. Only one responded.

She praised the writing of the second version, but turned it down. “It’s too predictable,” she said. “Most people already know what happened to Jesus of Nazareth. There’s no suspense. No tension. To create suspense, focus on Jonathan. He’s a wholly fictitious character. Do something with him beyond having him simply interview other people. Give him a life!”  

So that’s what happened next: I began to come up with a background for Jonathan and his life. That led to a third draft of the novel. However, when I asked a biblical professor at a local college to read it, he found much detail that wasn’t accurate. Moreover, both characters and culture weren’t authentic. Clearly, if I wanted a novel, I needed to do more research.

That’s next week’s posting!

Peace.


Map of the Galilee, circa 50 CE, from Wikipedia

22 comments:

  1. I am interested in the editors critique - a positive and useful one, which sadly so many are not.
    Research is wonderful, but I am prone to wandering off on interesting byways, and getting distracted from what I thought was the point.
    Thank you, as always, so much for sharing this journey.

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    1. Dear Sue, you're right--the critique was very helpful. It got me started down the road that ultimately led to "The Reluctant Spy." Peace.

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  2. It is a long journey, but it will have a happy conclusion, I suspect. I like hearing how it has all evolved. :-)

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    1. Dear DJan, I'm glad you are liking these posts. Not many people are commenting, so I've wondered if there is no interest in them. Peace.

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  3. Research is the key. And then, more research when you learn you were wrong. Good research certainly is the focus of accuracy. I like the way you are describing how you were poked and prodded and guided to learning all you had to look at.

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    1. Dear Joanne, yes, "poked and prodded and guided" to what ultimately became the novel the will be published in a couple of weeks. Peace.

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  4. Wello, I for one cannot wait to read this novel!!!!

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    1. Dear Judy, I so hope that when you read it, you will like it. I'm too close to it after all these years to know whether it's well done or not. Peace.

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  5. This is very interesting going on your journey which was harder than you imagined. Research is my favorite part of writing but you have set a serious task for yourself. Sounds like you had some really good advice as you progressed.

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    1. Dear Patti, I did get good advice and not week's posting makes that very apparent. Peace.

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    1. Dear Sandi, there is more to tell in another posting and possibly one after that! Glad you're excited. Peace.

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  7. I hope that when you are finished this book, Dee, that you are happy and proud of your big accomplishment. You have worked so hard and put your heart, soul and mind into this project. I have a feeling that the next blog installments will show us a happy ending.

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    1. Dear Arleen, I do feel some pride but most of all I feel relief that I've finally finished the novel and it will soon be published. That is a happy ending. I'm hoping readers will enjoy it and come to care about the characters as I have now that I've spent so many years with them. Peace.

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  8. dear Dee your devotion to your work reveals that how strong you are inside my precious friend !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    each line is taking me to time when you did this all with deep love and connection ,this is supreme job Dee and your hard work will be rewarded because this is the promise of Lord ! he veer waste anyone's hardwork !Incredible indeed

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    1. Dear Baili, I do so hope that the novel speaks to its readers. thank you for your enthusiastic support. That means a lot. Peace.

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  9. What a caring thing for an editor who turned your book down to point you in the right direction of where you needed to go with Jonathan. You sure have a lot invested in your novel in terms of time, research and dedication.

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    1. Dear Jean, yes, her response was so helpful and that ordinarily doesn't happen. Usually, a writer just receives a form/generic rejection letter. So I've been fortunate throughout the project. Peace.

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  10. You have taken on quite a large task for this novel, but it sounds fascinating!

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    1. Dear Karen, it has been fascinating, but at times frustrating as I tried to find the plot, which eluded me for a while. Peace.

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  11. So many novels irritate me because details aren’t authentic. I just finished one where the southern dialogue wasn’t right and neither were some of the historical details (I had to know whodunnit or I would have quit!). It’s hard work and I admire you for persevering and seeking criticism and using it for improvement.

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    1. Dear Cynthia, I do hope that now there is authenticity in the book. As my next posting will relate, I did a lot of reading! Peace.

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