I was facing a rewrite. My editor printed a report by a beta reader from AutoCrit. This report was not from a feel-good, fun-and-games alpha reader, but a critical reader who reported serious findings, while giving an in-depth summary of my book.
What does an AI robot know about writing? Apparently, more than I do. Wow. I love my more than 80,000 words; I thought they were wonderful. The report says I didn’t create the word picture I thought I had. My words were lacking and in trouble. Whether spoken or written, we are responsible for our words.
I thought I was nearly finished and ready to publish. The book had been through many edits by some of the best readers and editors. It was just a matter of tweaking a few words. Wrong. I looked at 32 reasons why my book wasn’t ready. It meant major overhaul.
I had put two years into this study on Song of Solomon. It was too important to me to settle for just an OK, setting-on-the-shelf finish. A three-star rating wasn’t good. I wanted a classic read that would stand the test of time. I wanted five stars. It was going to take work to accomplish this feat.
The beta reader noted that some of the interpretive passages didn’t raise the stakes, introduce new evidence or deepen the character’s spiritual growth.
How do you grow a spiritual character and raise the stakes? How do you measure faith or love? Can you measure the wind? It just happens. It’s like a young teenage boy. One day you look, and his pants are 4 inches too short. That’s when you know he has grown.
When the wind blows, we can’t see the wind, but we can see the leaves shaking on the tree. Well, the wind blew when I received that beta report. It caused broken windows, pulled up trees by the roots and brought down some high electrical lines. I could settle with an OK book or face some serious work.
I studied the scriptures once again to understand the growth of the little Shulamite, how she escalated as a character, how her emotions deepened and moved the story along. Her journey is an allegory that comes alongside the maturing of a Christian who is called the bride of Christ. How do we grow spiritually? We measure our spiritual pants and find that we have outgrown them. It’s time to do something about them, get a new pair.
How do I make my words right? The same way I must deal with the broken glass when the storms come. I admit that something isn’t right and needs to be fixed. Sometimes it is putting down our pride and listening to others. If it means a rewrite, I have to do it. Every edit or critique makes my writing better. That’s how I grow as a writer.
When I look back to where I’ve been, there are certain landmarks of places, events and choices where I grew in character. Usually they were hard places I faced. A place where my comfort was disrupted. Where I had to give in to the situation and trust the Lord to see me through.
In my memory, I think back to that first landmark in a little church in Las Cruces, N.M., where I was touched by the Lord. He came to my vineyard, just as King Solomon came to the Shulamite’s vineyard. I came alive to his touch. I had never been touched with such love before. I would never be the same. The Shulamite would never be the same either.
I was asked to believe in King Jesus. The Shulamite was asked to come away with King Solomon. She hid behind her wall and refused him. She was too busy tending her vineyard, and also fearful of going to a new place.
This is a picture of when we as Christians are asked to follow Jesus, and we are too busy tending to our lives without Him. In time and repentance, we surrender in faith and follow Him. We start to grow as a new believer. Our emotions change inside, and we act differently.
It’s the same way we grow as writers. When we are presented with better ideas, we must tend to our words. We are known by our words, by what we say and write; it is our choice.
When we get busy and fix the broken windows, we show good faith in what the Lord has asked us to do. We face the rewrite, each word on the page is weighed. Does it fit, does it move the story, does it build the character?
Final brushstroke: I ask myself: How important are my words? Are they worthy of all the work that it will require to finalize this book? They are worth the honesty that one might face when growing as a writer.
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