Introduction

Do you desire to write a book about how God helped you in a life-changing situation? Writing a personal experience book (P. E. book) challenges the writer deeply, personally and technically. Personal experience books are the most exciting for some writers and the toughest for others. They can be especially painful and potentially discouraging for first-book or unknown authors.

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It is quite hard these days to find publishers for P. E. books. However, do not give up a writing desire that remains with you. Keep readers in mind, and consider these seven important steps as you think through your reactions, feelings, and readiness as a writer:

(1) Writer attachment, (2) Memories, (3) Dual roles, (4) Dramatic fiction, (5) Giant leap, (6) Preparing for editors, and (7) God, who brought the writer through the difficult, true events.

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(1) Personal attachment to the story entangles the process of P. E. writing unless the writer actively guards the process. You, the writer, may still need time to heal, to prepare, and to build helping networks.

The failure to manage emotions in P. E. writing can lead the story astray; on the other hand, a narrative style that is too controlled could rob the story of its vital emotional connections for the reader, a big loss. Find ways to assess where you are regarding these potential pitfalls. Find ways to move your emotional involvement to a place where it still helps you yet cannot overtake the work to a point of injury to you or it.

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(2) Memories strongly influence the process of writing a P. E. book. Many P. E. writers keep journals of thoughts, events, interactions, feelings, and prayers to help them let go of paralyzing emotions connected with a personal experience crisis of the past. Your journal record, as well as healed memories, can help you access past facts and guide the details of the story. I advise praying for and being open to supportive relationships with Christian mentors or a writers’ group.

As a personal experience writer, you can avoid writing paralysis by focusing on the needs of many readers who desire to read books about God’s powerful working through tough times. They are searching, often, through their own pain or loss of faith.

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(3) Dual roles belong to the personal experience writer: the one who has lived the story and the one responsible for its presentation to editors and readers. Personal and professional hats uniquely apply to personal experience writing. This is perhaps the hardest unavoidable part of the process.

Because approaching book editors is unavoidable down the road, P. E. book writers must study and work hard to improve existing writing skills and develop determination, confidence, and positive attitudes. This situation creates new opportunities to draw closer to God, seeking His guiding wisdom!

If you do not yet think of yourself as “a professional,” then I advise you to begin doing so now, if you feel emotionally ready and far enough into the manuscript draft process.

When the manuscript is almost ready, after re-writes, you would do well to choose a local or long-distance peer review team. You may need to deal with personal issues of shyness or fears. Your attitudes and personal character—as the one who lived the story humanly and had to develop to write it professionally—will affect how the public, eventually, will perceive your work.

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(4) The personal experience writer must know elements of dramatic fiction. Those elements drive the best-told personal experience stories because, conversely, elements of real life drive the best dramatic fiction.

The successful author, Catherine Marshall, wrote about her beloved husband. She was a young widow. She had little to no financial security. She had a very young son to raise.

Mrs. Marshall decided to develop her enjoyment of writing. Love and need propelled her forward. She wrote To Live Again, her true story. She met the requirements of the best of dramatic fiction. She used the dramatic true story of love and loss to reach readers in powerful ways. She wrote an outstanding book able to help others grow in faith, survive, and trust God for their futures.

Knowledge and use of fiction elements will help develop your work. You lived the plot—the hard, true story of what really happened. It will find expression through your eyes, your life, your perceptions, and your interpretations. Be careful with yourself and each of those areas as you work and revise the manuscript.

Big questions affect the P. E. writer’s choices about how to arrange the progression of events: story; back-story; characterizations; interpretations; dialogue; description, and other parts. The whole will come together through decisions you make. Your confidence and decision making about writing tone, style, tempo, and flow will grow through trial and breakthroughs.

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(5) A writer takes a giant leap in writing a full-length book manuscript, as opposed to writing articles. This leap is not unlike that of an actor carrying a film in the starring role rather than being in a film in a supporting role. Awareness of the huge difference helps avoid heartache, discouragement, and quitting.

Awareness helps build determination, faithful continuance, and perseverance. Perhaps you will lose interest in finishing the book. That is an option, permanent or temporary. Not every true story needs to be in a book. Many articles based on real events of faith help multitudes of readers.

If you continue with a book effort, then awareness of what is “normal” can help you to remain prayerful, hopeful, and willing to continue. It is normal to experience sadness, regrets, discouragements, frustrations, doubts, and heartaches while writing a personal story.

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(6) The writer prepares for further editing and critique processes, once the book manuscript is finished. Book editors working for publishing houses want to know that the P. E. writer is aware of and ready for the likelihood of a tough and critical editing process.

Editors know that writers of personal stories are likely to be highly resistant or defensive about editing and critique. They respect that the story is highly personal.

However, as with any publishing venture, the genre of P. E. books requires editorial frankness. Only you can decide if you wish to go through such a process or if you are ready, or if you need to wait until you have healed more, with time, or come to better understanding of all that happened to you and around you.

As the writer, you have the right to defend creative decisions. I hope you will prepare for the possibility and have reasons for major decisions, such as in the last paragraph of (4) above.

Remember that you will be relating to professionals with perhaps decades of experience. Argue with yourself, during the writing, about your creative choices. If you can defend them to yourself, then to peer reviewers, then you will be more confident about your organization and expression of a very important time of your life. Your heartfelt story deserves your best thought, writing, and advocacy.

There may be—and perhaps likely will be—points at which you will need to give a publisher’s editor strong defense for certain creative decisions and times when you will need to yield to other approaches, per editorial advice or requirements.

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(7) God, who brought the storyteller through the book’s true events, is due honor for what He has done. God is able and ready to help you with the after-effects mentioned in (5) above—the sadness, regrets, discouragements, frustrations, doubts, and heartaches that most writers face while working on a personal story.

With thanksgiving to God through Christ, you can work, strive, and deal with interpersonal challenges, by faith. It may take many years. You may put your book’s manuscript aside for periods of time.

You may find a publisher or decide to self-publish. Whatever the outcome—the scriptures remind you and me of ultimate things beyond writing and books:

The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore (Psalm 121: 5-8).

Send questions to Jane Bullard at info@opinebooks.com © 2008 – Jane Bullard [Not All Roads Lead Home]