Rachel Starr Thomson

My latest article is up on Boundless.org today! “Now for the Not-Yet” is all about examining the paths we’re on to make sure they lead where we want to go — living fully today, living fulfilled tomorrow. Check it out!

Incidentally, Boundless is celebrating their 10th year this month. I am one of many readers who have been blessed by their encouraging, convicting, intelligent articles on young adulthood and what it means to be a Christian in this day and age. This article, written to celebrate the last decade, was encouraging to me as a writer, too — words really do make an impact.

Not long ago, I received the following email from a homeschool student who, like me, loves to write. She asked some questions that I thought were interesting, so after answering them, I asked if she’d mind my posting the short correspondence here. She didn’t mind, because she’s very nice that way, so here it is . Feel free to join the conversation!

Dear Rachel,
 
I am a 10th grade homeschooled student, and I am trying to develop as a writer.  My family is rather large (there are seven members), and I am the eldest child.  It’s difficult for me to find time to write my novels.  Could you give me some tips about the way you managed to write amidst a large family?
 
I have read Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled and I loved it!  I babysit a lot, and I can certainly relate to the chapter where you said babysitting is like tennis.  I also loved the chapter about The Great December Games.  Seems to me that my family plays Try-To-Go-Home every time we have to travel somewhere, even to places such as church.  It takes half a decade’s time to get all seven of us into the van. (slight exaggeration )  
 
I have also read Worlds Unseen.  I simply couldn’t put it down!  I’ve been trying to draw pictures of the characters.  Is the plot of the exiled king who would return one day allegorical to Jesus’ return?  What exactly did you mean when you said that some of the characters were Gifted?  I can’t wait for the other two books!  I think you do a great job of writing.
 
Sincerely,
Elisabeth

I answered:

Dear Elisabeth,

Thanks for writing! I love to “meet” my readers, and I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed some of my writing. My favourite thing about “Tales” has been hearing how other families and homeschoolers can relate to it, so thanks for sharing bits of your own life .

How to find time to write: Treat it like a job. If you need to, talk to your parents and let them know that you’re hoping to write for X amount of time each day so they can help you clear yourself of responsibilities for a little while. Schedule the time. Get rid of distractions (don’t check your email!). Often, you’ll feel like X is being wasted because you’re not inspired just then, but show up on schedule and try to write, even if you feel like you’re writing junk. The more disciplined you are, the more inspiration will learn to come when you call it . Novels may look like big ponderous works of art, but they’re written one word at a time, so whatever amount of time you can take, it will be enough .

I personally find that I work best if I can work in one solid chunk in the day, rather than trying to come back to it at different times. I also like to use headphones with instrumental music (movie soundtracks work really well), because the noise helps me concentrate and drowns out the cheerful sounds of the household — but music with lyrics is distracting, because I’ll think about the lyrics and I’ll end up singing along!

I also write best when I have a cup of tea beside me, but that’s just me . For a special treat, or if I really need to concentrate to get some serious work done, I’ll go sit at a local coffee shop for a few hours.

Hopefully some of the above is helpful to you!

I’m so glad you enjoyed Worlds Unseen! I’m just finishing up a major revision of its sequel, Burning Light, so that should be out in December — right on schedule . Worlds is not straight allegory, but it definitely borrows from our-world truths. In other words, the King is not Jesus, but he’s certainly based on Jesus, or at least on certain aspects of Him. I’d like people who read the trilogy to feel an urgency to know their own Lord better. The Gifted are people who possess unusual abilities or enhanced “gifts”; they’re fictional, but in some ways they parallel many of us. I blogged about that a while ago, you can read it here:

http://www.rachelstarrthomson.com/2008/03/gifted/

Now, with all that said, would you mind if I posted your email and my response on my blog?

Blessings!

Rachel

It’s interesting to work as both a writer and editor. The first position tends to generate accolades; the second is just as likely to generate hard feelings. After all, everyone who writes does so because they’re passionate about writing, about their stories, about their messages. And editors, who are not always mean, hard-hearted, and calloused as the stereotypes would have it, nevertheless often have to deliver opinions or news that writers would rather not hear.

While editing professionaly may sometimes make me a member of the least popular people club, it also reminds me of some important lessons that apply just as much to my writing life:

1. Be humble. I’m not perfect, infallible, or dazzlingly brilliant. Realize that God has called me to serve others with my work.

2. Respect the creativity, hard work, and abilities of others and listen to them . They can see things I can’t.

3. Keep perspective. If every top editor in the nation was to reject my work, it would not be the end of the world. I will learn, write another book, soldier on. Not only that, but the sun will rise, people will bless me, God will still love me, and tea will still comfort. What am I so worried about?

4. It’s not over till I’m dead! And even then, seeing as Jesus has given me eternal life, it’s not over .

Despite my recent post consigning all serious writers to freeze out their lonely occupations in garrets , I am a firm believer in community. Ultimately writing is NOT a solitary pursuit, because eventually your words (the better ones, anyway) will find their way to other people, and they will in some way influence those other people’s lives. So writing, really, is about community.

All this to say there is nothing wrong with throwing the occasional party in the garret. On Monday I was in Michigan visiting my cousin, and while she was occupied for two hours, I parked myself in a Starbucks to catch up on business email. Lo, a friend walked in while I was there — one who has recently taken up writing in a fairly serious way. She brought a manuscript with her and we sat and talked, and it was all very jolly and nice.

I love talking shop with people who actually care. My friend told me about her writer’s group that meets at Caribou Coffee once a month, and she invited me to come in October (since I’ll be performing again this month). I think I’m going to make the effort, international border or no, because community isn’t all that easy to come by when you’re a writer who spends all of her time in her room.

So, my recent and charming readers who comment, where do you get your writing community? Who do you talk shop with? And will you be my friend on Facebook? I recently started a group (Rachel’s Writing: Friends of Rachel Starr Thomson) and would love to drum up some community there .

In related news: After a long search, I have FINALLY found a writing buddy to attend my first writer’s conference (in NYC!) with me. My dad .

Blog titles … not book titles. Book titles I like. CHAPTER titles, on the other hand, I waver about. In Angel in the Woods , the chapter titles (no numbers, always lowercased) were part of the whole feel of the thing. I wrote chapter titles for Worlds Unseen when I did my third draft, but I haven’t got any for Burning Light — in the interest of trilogy consistency, I’m wondering if I should add some.

Speaking of Burning Light , he liked it .

It does have a few problems yet, but nothing I can’t iron out. The biggest one is what to use for the cover! My talented sister Deborah, illustrator/photographer of all my covers, is going to paint one, but I’ve left her waiting for months while I try to come up with a concept. I sigh. At least it will be something I like, which is a comfort authors who write for big publishers cannot always count on.

Finally, yesterday I told an aspiring author to end as many sentences with prepositions as she likes. If the grammar police come looking, I moved to Bolivia.

Adios!

This morning I put the final touches on my revision of Burning Light, attached the manuscript to an email, and sent it off to a friend who’s kindly offered to be a beta reader for me. I thought that was that, but a few minutes later, I felt this quiet little thrill.

Someone is about to read my book who has never read it before. Someone who has no idea what plot twists, new characters, and intricate settings unfold in its pages.

Way back when I was a writer in a garret — scratch that, when I was a writer in a garret WITHOUT multiple manuscripts under the bed or chucked in the Thames — I was pretty reticent to let people see my writing. I just didn’t want to. But now it’s kind of thrilling, and very addictive.

I hope my friend enjoys it.

In the good old days, they say, writers wrote in garrets, all alone, driving themselves mad by candlelight as they scribbled, erased, threw drafts across the room in crumply fits, and occasionally burst out in brilliance. Things have changed. I know, because I am both a writer and a freelance editor. The Internet provides writers with community; often with readership. The many many avenues open to self-publishers have also changed the face of writing, in many cases, I think, in good ways.

However, I have noticed a new trend that disturbs me. As a freelance editor, I get to see a LOT of writing, and lots of it, to be honest with you, is pretty bad. It’s not that the writers are without talent or good ideas, but when you first get started as a writer, it’s not that easy to turn out sparkling prose. Writing takes practice. Experience. Hard work. And a lot of what I see does not reflect especially hard work.

It seems to be more and more common for writers to churn out a poor piece of writing and tell themselves, "That’s ok, I’ll just hire an editor." Or to have a manuscript rejected for very good reasons, but decide they’ll go ahead and publish it themselves.

In the old days, I like to tell myself, writers did things a little differently. They wrote. They wrote badly. Sometimes they recognized their work as the flotsam it was, but they were writers , so they chucked their first works into the Thames (or under the bed) and wrote some more. They wrote until they turned out something good. And then they sweated over it, revising and editing, alternating between painful obsession and wild joy, until they knew it was as good as it was going to get. Only then did they approach editors or other industry professionals with their work. And when they did, they were professionals themselves.

Now, I’m not suggesting that we should get rid of the wonderful community provided to us by the net, or that we should never put early work online for readers to enjoy. I’m not saying that freelance editors have no place in a serious writer’s life (if I thought that, I wouldn’t be one) or that we shouldn’t look for outside feedback. But I do think we need to hang on to the old work ethic, realize that no one else is going to tell our story for us, and sweat it out, no matter how hard it is.

This applies more to writers of fiction than of nonfiction. In nonfiction, writing tends to be all about the message. If you have a message you want to get out, it’s perfectly valid to hire a ghostwriter or an editor to help you tell it well. But if you’re writing fiction, realize that the story is in the telling. If you want to be a writer, you’ve got to work at it. Revise your novel until you’ve done everything to it that you possibly can. Hire a coach if you want to. Hire an editor, but do it so you can learn from the changes they make, not just so they can cripple your manuscript through. Aim to become a better writer–a garret-style professional.

Author Steve Berry offered 8 Rules of Writing at this year’s Maui Writers Conference, shared in this Writer’s Digest article . My favourite:

Shorter is always better. Write tight. It makes you use the best words in the right way.

Writer’s Digest offers a free e-newsletter with great articles from the print mag, as well as blog links and other interesting and helpful stuff for writers. Visit www.writersdigest.com to sign up.

Last week, I posted a prayer request for the Drews family, whose little boy, Christian (aka "Dozer"), passed away at the age of three. The Drews are special to a lot of people, and I’ve felt privileged to join in the prayers for them. Amy of Dandelion Seeds is putting together a prayer group to cover the family 24 hours a day until September 25th, the one-month anniversary of Christian’s homegoing. Join us here: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/DandelionSeeds/583961/

This morning, I learned that a good friend’s mother had suddenly passed away in the night. She has been fighting cancer, but the family expected to have her for another few months at least. I am — maybe the word is "shocked" — by the fragility of human life. I KNOW this, and yet I forget how real it is. Scripture says we are a vapour in the wind, yet God loves and cares for us. That is an amazing thought.

Thank you for your prayers for both these families.

One of my ongoing projects this summer has been coaching a student of mine through a novel revision. Josh is a young teen, about the same age I was when I wrote Theodore Pharris Saves the Universe (which my dad’s revision comments helped shape in a big way!). His novel is a lot of fun. Throughout the summer, I’ve chopped the manuscript up into chapters and commented on each section. I send each section back for him to revise, then comment again after he’s done so. I hope he’ll continue to work with the book on his own, making it stronger as he learns more about his craft.

This morning I put the first comments on the last chapter, as well as marking two new scenes which he sent me. These represent some of his latest work. (The novel was complete when he sent it to me, but since I began coaching him, he has rewritten the ending.) I can SEE the growth in his writing so clearly. I was so proud . He’s worked really hard, and it shows. He’s learning how to listen to the rhythms in his writing and how to bring scenes to life. I work with students every semester on short papers (usually two to three pages), but you can’t see the progression of skill quite so well as you can with a novel.

In totally other news, today I got some really cool books in the mail that I’m supposed to review for HomeschoolingToday Magazine: three on C.S. Lewis/Prince Caspian, and one on writing historical fiction based on your own family history. I’ll let you know how they are .