So you got me thinking, Ben-El. Why do I like to go to the Gatherings? What is it that "captivates" me about the experience to the point of wanting to repeat it? With that in mind, I read through my notes again. They aren't great notes, just words and phrases that I wanted to remember. But they are enough to provoke the same feelings I had when I heard them the first time.
A bit of Gathering history, first. The Gathering is a yearly celebration from The Circle series, written by Ted Dekker. The people of the forests would travel to Middle every year for something akin to a circus or con or harvest celebration.
In 2007, a few people who knew each other at the TD web site decided to have a Gathering in Nashville, a little like the Friday Challenge people meeting at the con in August. Ted wasn't even there.
The next year they did it again, only they made a bigger deal out of it, and there was more emphasis on writing, and Ted showed up to host a round table about writing. You had to bring a manuscript to get in to that discussion. The web site was at that time a place where the members could post a chapter of what they were working on, and others would critique it, so there were a lot of people who wanted to be writers. That year was also the culmination of the game, which was a promotion of the Lost Books, and a lot of people had become close friends during the game. When I read about that Gathering, I knew I wanted to go to the next one. It was the writing discussion with Ted that attracted me.
Shortly after that one, they announced the 2009 Gathering, to be a Production, in Nashville, with free books, dancers, storytellers, and pictures and Q&A with Ted. I bought a ticket and contacted three relatives to put me up for one night each.
This year, they decided to split it between two places, Chicago and Houston, and take out everything except the Q&A with Ted, which was organized ahead of time, rather than being impromptu. Anyone could submit questions, and they were compiled into an outline by topic. Ted spent three hours satisfying our curiosity. He told us about his childhood experiences, what it's like for him to write, why he writes, what he eats while writing, just about everything that has anything to do with his writing.
It's the writing emphasis that attracts me to the Gatherings, and it's because of Ted's books. There's something different about them. I've never before felt such a sense of purpose, of mission, infused into an ordinary thing. It's not just a man writing stories. I can almost see the hand of God superimposed over Ted's fingers as he types, or more likely, God's finger poking ideas into his brain. That's what I get from the Gatherings. And that's what I want from writing. I'm not looking for money or fame or even the fulfillment of creating a beautiful piece of art. I'm looking for purpose. I want to see a reason for my existence and my writing, some bit of goodness in God's creation.
Last year's Gathering was full of beauty and magic. The dance was a wordlessly expressive portrayal of the way God loves us, based on the relationship of Thomas Hunter and Chelise in White, book 3 of The Circle Series. There's a piece of it on Ted's Facebook page and his web site. Then there was the skit where Ted acted out bits of his characters, intertwined with the effect each character had on him during the writing process. That was fascinating and hypnotic.
There were two things I heard at last year's Gathering that have stuck with me. "The shortest way to a man's heart is through story." That was from a publisher's speech. And Ted talked about the cooperative creative process experienced by the writer and the reader. The writer puts down the bones of the story: the plot, characters, and action. Then the reader fleshes out the story by imagining what everything looks like and sounds like.
This year there were many more words. Now I'm digging out my notes. Here goes.
Who am I?
- Who they say you are
- The real you, the one you might discover
- You lose your true self by others' definition - layers are added
- Escape
- Strip away layers around you, the layers of protection. You see yourself naked in the mirror of the story. You are stunningly beautiful.
- This happens for both the reader and the writer.
- to ask questions and explore answers. Some examples:
Why am I so afraid of death?
What does beauty look like?
What does it mean to love?
What is love?
What does God's love look like?
What's right? Wrong?
Who am I in the world? I really am strange, but it's OK. I am different.
- to escape this world to find God and heaven
- to bring God to this world (Showdown)
- to feel afresh the treachery of deception
- to explore and relive redemptive history
- to get a junkie's fix, brief glimpses of the beauty of humanity
The writer asks the questions; the reader answers.
Enjoy the telling of your own story.
Write an authentic journey by the protagonist.
Writing is an experience. The reader must be pulled in to that experience and it must be harder to be distracted than to continue reading.
Ted told us about his first novel, To Kill With Reason, which was not published. He wrote it the first time, submitted it, and it was rejected. So he started over completely. It was rejected again. He kept starting over, until the fifth time or so, when it became Black, book 1 of The Circle series. Funny thing, up until the last time, it always had spaceships in it. So he started out as a SF writer? Anyway, it's encouraging to me that a writer that has produced so many captivating books had to develop his skill. He wasn't born with full-blown novels flowing from his fingers. There may yet be some hope for me.
Tosca Lee, author of Havah (review here) and Demon: A Memoir, was at the Chicago Gathering to interview Ted on stage about what he's like while he's writing, or in his dungeon, as he puts it. During that interview, they announced that they are co-writing a new series, Forbidden. It is about the future earth, when everyone except one man is really dead, even though they are still walking around.
Lest you think I am strange and fanatical about an ordinary writer's stories, here's part of a review written by a reader who was given the opportunity to read:
Immanuel's Veins, which is coming out in the fall:"Immanuel’s Veins" was a heart-wrenching journey of redemption and hope that left me sobbing, laughing and clinging to every word. An elixir of pure love to a thirsty heart. Like a blanket that covered me, drowning me in the most mind-blowing, cleansing love I ever thought I could feel. I dove in, my arms spread wide, with a smile lighting my face. I felt like a train screaming down a hill with no brakes; I didn’t want the ride to end, but I couldn’t stop reading to save my life. Within five days I had read “Immanuel’s Veins” three times, and two weeks later I was on reading number seven.What ordinary story could inspire that?
You better be ready for a transformation of your very soul. This book will make you whole again in ways that you can hardly imagine.
I come away from the Gatherings wanting to write more than I've ever wanted it before. That's why I keep going back.
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