I’m trying to decide what parts of the last few weeks deserve mention. A return to song writing, the beginning of a new novel, a cartoon-ish fall, unexpected opportunities, or more words about my beautiful niece… I have been here, there, and everywhere, coming face to face with new realities and critical decisions. And now the best words I can find to describe what I’ve learned were not penned by me, but by Grandmaster Writer Lloyd Alexander.
“I make nonsense of the world to help others make sense of it.”
This quote (found in Westmark) is the very essence of why I write fiction. There are enough things I want to say and teach that I could very well litter the shelves with instructionals, self-help books, and devotionals. But the deepest things I learn in reading are found in the struggles of fictional characters, struggles deeper than the words used to describe them. These characters wrestle with things on paper as I wrestle with them in my mind–sometimes unaware that the battle even rages. I take shelter in fiction, daunted by even the task of blogging fact. I can describe the lives of others, but not my own.
“I make nonsense of the world to help others make sense of it.”
There is a truth that rings out in fiction, clear if you open your ears to hear it. Sweet and bitter at once. In the same breath, bold and understated. And it is this truth that keeps me writing, keeps me reading, keeps me searching. I think story-telling, with its power to embolden the hearer and enrich the speaker, is one of the greatest gifts God gave us. Stories make us laugh and weep and celebrate and grieve. They provide context for situations that would otherwise overwhelm us. And, in all things, if you look beneath the surface of a good story, you’ll find a clear pointer to the eternal God who laid the foundations of the Earth and crafted each soul. So if the last few weeks have helped me rediscover anything, it is that stories are a medium worth a life’s work.
“I (will) make nonsense of the world to help others make sense of it.”
The Jessie Mae Hodsdon Blog 