Against Tides

There is a particular sentence in my third book, ‘The Hope of Us, Beyond Veils, Book Three’ that really upset my proof-reader when she read it!

Her note was a blunt instruction to delete it, followed by an explanation; “People will be utterly annoyed by this.” Crikey.

This sentence, a mere drop at twenty words in the book’s ocean of nearly one hundred thousand, is not offensive, contains no profanity. It doesn’t incite violence, hatred or discriminate against a ‘type’ of person. It does describe a particular character’s viewpoint that is, debatably, not commonly held, or at least, possibly, commonly held but not often openly admitted.

Perhaps my proof-reader is right. It had definitely annoyed her, pricked her sense of outrage. She had handed me a dilemma. Maybe I should remove it…It is but one sentence. Its absence would surely not leave a massive hole in the narration? What if my readers did become annoyed by its presence, by the perspective it portrayed?

Did I delete the sentence?

Nope. No siree, I did not. I’m standing by that sentence.

I checked my heart. I checked my character’s heart. I asked myself, “am I worried that one person’s reaction might turn into a cavalcade of criticism?” I went back in time and I remembered the moment in which that sentence had been born; travelling from inspiration to imagination, on down to my fingertips on the keyboard, moving the cursor on the screen, typing its letters, I relived its arrival into being. I recalled the exact intention I had in the moment, the desire I held—to illustrate my character, paint her in a particular light. I remembered all of this and I felt peaceful.

In fact, I felt pleased.

This character’s viewpoint is meant to be a different perspective on how the world generally looks and feels to most people. That’s because she is a wholly different perspective on our world. She is intended to highlight and illustrate where we so often go wrong. How we get ourselves into trouble, lead half-lives, make bad choices and abuse our gift of freewill.

Yes, I was pleased this sentence had provoked a level of discomfort. For within that turned-over, newly ploughed land of my proof-reader’s mind, perhaps the seed of disquiet will settle, grow roots, cause her to wonder at why that particular viewpoint exists. Why it might have validity, looked at from different angles than those more habitually taken.

Making the decision to keep my character on the outskirts of ‘mainstream’, I risk some readers closing my books, never to return to them. But, forgive me, dear reader, why should that change what I write? Consider it this way around – if I wrote my books – in fact, if all authors wrote with the sole objective of trying to please everyone, what kind of activity or opinion would characters be ‘allowed’? What words would they be ‘safe’ to say? What is acceptable to everyone, all of the time?

Remember also, the editing instruction was handed to me as a forewarning of mass reaction, even though in reality it was just one person’s, so far. Their warning was crafted as if they had greater insight, a secret knowledge of how the masses will receive and react. This is a tactic often used, and at all levels of society. From the bully in the playground whispering dark promises that “everyone” thinks as they do, to the highly educated, Cambridge honours journalist, in the newspaper editor’s office, setting forth which opinions are ‘best’. Onwards, to the politicians in parliament, broad brushing their platitudinal proclamations, passing legislation for control and subversion.

This behaviour is both common and ‘normal’ - a human trait - it is how most of nature behaves. It is a method of domination.

So yes, perhaps this particular sentence is provocative, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Swimming against a tide, even just standing still against it, is a scary thing to do. At any moment you might be publicly knocked from your feet. People might tut and sigh, shake their heads at you and comment upon how foolish you were to have tried to be any sort of opposition to the mainstream. But without opposition can the world ever have balance? If we were all to sanitise our natures, our thoughts, our opinions so that they matched everyone else’s, what would that world look like?

I don’t believe that, in refusing to be swayed by my proof-reader’s opinion and allowing my character’s viewpoint to exist, I am performing any great act of revolution. I know that this particular sentence will likely not change the world.

Yet – if it makes just one person consider what they had previously taken so much for granted might, indeed, have another side to it – well, then it has, in fact, utterly and irrevocably changed the world.

In my book, that has got to be a very good thing.

Rachel x

P.S. The Hope of Us, Beyond Veils, Book 3: Over a month has passed since I published this, the finale in the 'Beyond Veils Series'! The time has flown. I've already had some wonderful messages and reviews about 'The Hope of Us'. If you've grabbed yourself a copy, then don't forget to let me know what you think of Mona and her answer to the question; can love overcome a legacy of abuse? (If you haven't yet got a copy, then fear not, click here to be taken to the Amazon page).

P.P.S. Audiobook lover? The second Book in the Beyond Veils Series - The Truth of Her, Beyond Veils, Book Two - is now available as an Audiobook! You can download it from Amazon, Audible or the Apple Store. It's about 11 hours of fantastic narration by the wonderful actress, Amy Foley of a story that asks 'how do you remain a good person when bad things keep happening to you?'. Get it now, here.

P.P.P.S I have a podcast too! Published on Apple Podcast - it is called "Letters from an Author" and features me, reading aloud these letters that I send to you, my subscribers, my friends. You can download and listen to the episodes - about 10 minutes or less per episode, because I know how busy we all are - here. I had great fun recording them, I hope you enjoy listening.

P.P.P.P.S *NEW* Beyond Veils Series 'Fan-Club': A quick reminder that the first gathering of the Beyond Veils Series 'fan-club' is on 20th October 2020 from 7pm to 7:30pm. If you're interested in attending, then hit reply to this email and I will send you the Zoom meeting details. Also worthy of mention is that the full series collection has just been published as a single eBook - and at a significant discount of 44% on the total purchase price. Get 'The Beyond Veils Series Collection' for just £9.99 here.