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| Eleanor Gustafson |
Sometimes we glean knowledge by studying the craft of
writing; other times we learn by doing and seeing what works—or doesn’t work.
Author Eleanor (Ellie) Gustafson tried
different approaches to her stories, then landed on success for her and
readers. Enjoy as she shares her personal journey to publication. ~ Dawn
Lessons
Learned on the Path to Publication
by
Eleanor Gustafson
“Writing is like driving a car at night. You can only see as
far as the headlights, but you make the whole trip that way.” ~ E.L. Doctorow,
writer (b. 1931)
A friend sent that to me, and it’s a pretty good start for
any statement on writing. A murky business, at best.
How did I become an author? Blame it on my mother. She read
to me every night before I went to bed, not knowing she was planting seeds that
would later destroy her dream of my becoming an organist! I began making up my
own stories at age five or six, but later, after reading my early attempts to
write, she told me straight out: Stick to music as a career. I did become an
organist, but story had too strong a hold on me. I began publishing both
fiction and nonfiction in 1978.
After these early successes, I got brave enough to try a
novel. Appalachian Spring sold well,
but not content to simply pump out saleable fiction, I next tried a time travel
set on our tree farm. Modern girl meets boy of 1796 over a stone wall in
Vermont. Good novel, bad ending. Learned from that and tried a dramatization of
the gospel using no religious language and creating a made-up world. Bad novel,
in that raw evil balances off the Christ figure, but a good ending. Learned
from that and came out with my signature book, The Stones: A Novel of the Life of King David. Good book, good
ending, though dauntingly long—600 pages! But how can you shrink David to less
than that?
Brings us to Dynamo,
a novel that takes in my passion for horses and my passion for God. This one is
a genuine page-turner, but again, I engaged in risky writing. The book is
complex. One layer is horses and the high-stakes world of horse shows and
stable intrigue; another is the good, bad, and ugly of human relationships; but
the bedrock layer is the sovereign God who interacts with Jeth in unusual and
unpredictable ways. The Big Question: Can or would God do these sorts of
unusual things in a person’s life today?
I’ve gotten some pushback on that, but I think I have made a good case in the
novel.
Obviously, I am not writing to sell books to make lots of
money. I try to write my passion and let God take care of the rest. My name as
an author may never be more than a footnote on the publishing world, but God
has freed me to write what he has placed in my heart. His judgment and not the
world’s is the only thing that really matters.
Again—writing is like driving at night and seeing only as
far as the headlights. It requires a great deal of faith, but as Christians,
faith is the only safe path to walk.
Tweetables:
“Writing is like
driving a car at night. You can only see as far as the headlights, but you make
the whole trip that way.” ~ E.L. Doctorow Click to tweet.
Write your
passion and let God take care of the rest. Click to tweet.
Writing requires
a great deal of faith, but as Christians, faith is the only safe path to walk. Click to tweet.
Jeth
Cavanaugh is searching for a new life along one of Pennsylvania's mountain
ridges when he stumbles upon a stable of show jumpers owned by Rob and Katie
Chilton. Throw in a volatile gaited stallion named Dynamo, and Jeth will do
anything to work there. He earns his living by training and showing Rob's
jumpers, but Dynamo is his primary passion.
Everything
changes when God enters his life—in the unconventional form of a hard slap by
an old girlfriend—and ignites a new, greater passion within him. But along with
fervor comes fear at the undeniable evidence of God's hand on his life.
Inexplicable events, both good and bad, make him moan plaintively, "Why
does God do this to me? I get the feeling I'm being set up for something."
He is,
indeed. Jeth's life is anything but predictable, much like the God he serves.
The real Dynamo and his ultimate trainer emerge out of an excruciating mix of
disaster and brokenness, which are never beyond the reach of redemption.
This
story is God in your face: Who is He, really? What does He ask of us?
Ellie Gustafson
writes pretty good books these days. She’s been at it long enough to learn a
few things. It all started in 1978 with her first published article, “I Saw a
Thing Today,” about a couple of weasels she met on a stone wall in Vermont. A
bunch of short stories and other articles followed, and then came Appalachian
Spring. BIG learning curve. The editor slashed characters, whole chapters, and
made a lot of red marks everywhere. Had to rewrite the entire book—on a brand-new
Apple II computer she had no idea how to operate. The novel was well received,
however, which led to more novels and more painful learning experiences.
In many of her stories, Ellie explores the cosmic struggle
between good and evil in light of God's overarching work of redemption. Having
graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois—where she met her husband while
teaching horsemanship (funny story there)—she has since been actively involved
in church life as a minister's wife, teacher, musician, writer, and encourager.
A host of other experiences, from mouse wars to house building, help bring
color and humor to her fiction. She does like to laugh a lot.
She and her husband live in Massachusetts, where he teaches
online college courses in philosophy. They travel a fair amount, spend time
with three children and eight grandchildren, and enjoy camping at the family
forest in Chester, Vermont.
Some have said that her latest novel, Dynamo, is her best book, so old dogs can learn from experience!
Dynamo is her
fifth novel and builds off her lifelong love of horses.
To learn more and connect with Ellie:
E-mail: egus@me.com
Website: www.eleanorgustafson.com
