I spoke at a local area library on Saturday. The panel had four authors, the other three all writing for the ABA (general market) while I write for the CBA (Christian market). One of the other authors writes contemporary category romances, one writes historical romances, and one writes single title contemporary romances.
At one point, I commented that I love the way one of the other authors saw the world with her head tilted to the side, and when I read her work, it caused me to tip my head to the side and go, "Wow. That is what it looks like from your point of view." She responded by saying she didn't think she saw the world with her head tilted. (Hope she wasn't offended!) She was right, of course. From her perspective, I'm the one with the skewed view.
But to be honest, this is what all writers do when telling a story. We invite our readers to see the world from our particular worldviews. I want readers to see characters and experiences through my particular lens.
Writers who can take me to a new place, help me see things in a new way, experience a new emotion are the ones I want to read. I love to be surprised, even when stories are familiar to me. Depending upon the "expert" who's written a book about this, there are a very limited number of basic plots (somewhere from 13 to about 30) that all stories come from. For instance, Cinderella stories have been told in many different ways, Pretty Woman being a prime example; Beauty and the Beast has been told and retold countless times. It's the different twists and the worldview the author puts on/into those skeleton plots that makes each story unique.
Right now, I'm trying to whip a couple of characters into shape so they can tell their particular story. Maybe when I'm done and you get to read the book, those characters will cause you to tip your head to the side and say, "Wow. So that's what it looks like from your point of view."
~robin
It’s my favorite thing about reading — seeing the world from someone else’s viewpoint. It makes the world bigger and opens you up to experience other people’s lives.
I’m often struck by how people think, even as Christians, we are all going to think alike. ONe thing about books, it enables you to write someone’s experiences and that helps you understand why they think the way they do.
I’m coming in on the end of this one, so I’m feeling good about having discovered them. That’s always the hard part for me too. : ) Great post Robin, gave me a lot of pause this morning.