Staying True to Your Message

Have you ever heard an instrument off key? I have… my own. My first response to the clamor is to flee, cover my ears, escape. I know, it’d be better if I’d simply tune it.

Like an out of tune instrument, I can get out of tune with the message in my writing and solicit similar reactions...a manuscript plopped down on a desk; a rejection stamp on the front page; a shrug from the mailman as he stuffed the envelop in my box.

It’s easy to get off track, to see something shiny--or a squirrel as I write. John Bunyan’s characters, Christian and Hopeful, found themselves locked in a giant’s dungeon after getting distracted and choosing to leave the straight and narrow way. Fortunately I’ve never had to flee a giant to get my story back on track, then again, in a way I did.

A reader can sense when I take a left turn. At the end of a novel I recently read, the author added a component to wrap-up the story. It didn’t fit. It stole away a message paved and groomed on previous pages. I never finished the last chapter, and haven’t recommended the book. I’d rather edit those giants out before it’s too late.

Last week, Casey shared a bit about her character Jenna. "This is what makes Jenna act the way she does. Her biggest fear is that someday her husband will stop loving her and Jenna does not want to lose her husband like her mother lost her father. She is driven to keep her husband’s love, to the point of never telling her husband about the baby that isn’t his. Because she saw what losing her father’s love did to her mother, and she will not turn into the woman her mother is."  To me, a message of struggle and hope rang clear in this discription of Jenna. A concept anyone could identify with in varying degrees.

This made me think about my WIP. Am I simply writing a story that goes from beginning to middle to end? Will I exhaust my readers with endless action that crescendos from page one and peaks on the last page or is there a message a reader can whittle out and make their own?

Cinderella is a favorite story of mine loaded with good messages. It seems to pop in my mind whenever I dust. I totally hate dusting. From this I’ve seen a well-crafted message sticks with readers long after the last page is turned—even when dusting



TIPS TO HELP:

1. Ask: What is my message? Is there something for the reader to take away?

2. Research my manuscript:

     a. Did my characters hold to the message? In the novel I mentioned above, a dad and mom appeared in a setting and said things not typical of their stature. The impact changed the tone of the message.

     b. Did my plot reflect the message? Sometimes a rabbit trail pulls the reader away from an established message. Red Herrings are different.

     c. Did my setting, action, and dialogue reflect the message? Maybe I got caught up in the excitement and let a character do something they couldn’t--shouldn’t--wouldn’t do.

3. Ask your critique partner or group what the message is. Based on their answer, smile and pat yourself on the back or tweak your manuscript.

I must say the idea for this post came from a recent Bible study I heard on the radio. The speaker spoke about marketplace missions. He asked if we lived true to our message. It struck me that this affects my writing as well. I truly want to live God’s message in my writing, whether the work is for the Christian or secular market. This doesn’t mean I need to shove the Gospel down my reader’s throat. But, it does mean I need to watch for opportunities to appropriately share, as Jesus did.


How have you kept your writing true to the message for the specific work? How do you live God’s message in your writing?