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| Sydney Avey |
How much thought have you given to the purpose of your
writing? Author Sydney Avey challenges us
to dig deeper into what determines our writing world with her beautiful and
thought-provoking article.
~ Dawn
Your
Writing World
Settling into a folding chair in the Scottsdale Civic Center
Library’s Gold Room, ready to mine the deep cave of writing genres, I listen
carefully as the seminar leader points to one rich vein after another: cozy
murder mysteries, political thrillers, space opera sci-fi, medieval fantasy,
Viking romance, and so much more. I leaf through three pages of genres. Women’s
fiction seems to have been commandeered by chick-lit. Where does my work fit?
“If it’s not on this list,” the seminar leader says, “then
it’s literary fiction.” I picture a rusted train car sidetracked on a weedy
railroad bed while sleek, modern, high-speed rails whizz passengers to
pleasurable destinations.
I move to the auditorium to listen to a presentation on
setting. “Give me three words that describe your writing world,” the presenter
says. “What’s the mood and ambiance?”(Try this exercise. It will sharpen your
focus on your purpose.) Hands pop up with lists like dirty, dark, and
dangerous; sexy, sensual, and seductive; delicious, delightful, and delectable
(did I mention that culinary mystery is a sub-genre?) I touch pen to paper and
my fingers freeze. The words I hold back seem too precious, too affected.
What
determines your writing world?
What engages your imagination and makes your heart beat
faster? What causes you, on a sensory
level, to perceive the vital essence of your story? Is it adventure into
uncharted territory? Is it fascination with otherworldly creatures and their
scary intentions? Is it yearning for a relationship that promises to deliver
happy-ever-after?
My writing world is character driven, stylistic, and fueled
by themes and ideas. Family legends about my ancestors have invited me to think
deeply about the effect of their actions on subsequent generations. Love of
literature that elevates the human condition leads me to explore what motivates
people to rise above difficult circumstances.
Truth, beauty, and
hope are seed stock for my stories. Truth, both gritty and great; beauty found
in darkness and in light; and hope in the expectation of Psalm 27:13, “I remain
confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living.”
Literary fiction, known as general or mainstream fiction in
its lighter form, is not the sole proprietor of truth, beauty and hope. There
are truthful, beautiful, and hopeful moments in many other genres. In Others of my Kind, a noir story about
abuse, James Sallis explores a larger theme, the role memory plays in identity.
“The past is what we are, even as we’re constantly leaving it,” his
horrifically abused character says. Her redemption seems to lie in her
resilience and an unselfish act, where neither was demanded of her. Grace can
shine in any genre.
Our passions are as varied as the rising number of genres
and subgenres. If truth, beauty and hope are part of your writing world, then
grace will abide.
A feast of family can be a
plate-load of problems!
It’s
the Sixties. Modernity and tradition clash as two newlywed couples set up house
together. Dee and her daughter Valerie move with their husbands into a modern
glass house Valerie built in a proudly rural Los Altos, California
neighborhood. When their young relatives start showing up and moving in, the neighbors
get suspicious. Then a body is found in the backyard and the life they are
trying to build comes undone.
Father
Mike is back to guide Dee through a difficult time with humor and grace, even
as his own life is unraveling. Now he’s going to have to take some of his own
advice about love.
A sequel to The
Sheep Walker's Daughter, The
Lyre and the Lambs explores the passions that draw people together and the
faith it takes to overcome trauma.
Sydney Avey lives in
the Sierra Nevada foothills of Yosemite, California, and the Sonoran Desert in
Arizona. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of
California, Berkeley, and a lifetime of experience writing news for non profits
and corporations. Her work has appeared in Epiphany,
Foliate Oak, Forge, American Athenaeum, Unstrung (published by Blue
Guitar Magazine) and Ruminate.
She has studied at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. Sydney is the author of
two novels, The Sheep Walker’s Daughter and The
Lyre and the Lambs. She blogs at sydneyavey.com on topics related to love and
mystery, family relationships, conflicts between generations, and how faith
functions in real life.
You can connect with Sydney in a number of ways:
Email: mailto:sydneyavey@gmail.com
Website: http://sydneyavey.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook/sydney.avey
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SydneyAvey
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sydneyave
y
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/yosemitesyd/boards/
