In this episode of the Sharing the Heart of the Matter podcast, Wynne Leon is with co-host, Dr. Vicki Atkinson, and writer and author, Brian Hannon. Brian is one of our colleagues on the Heart of the Matter blog and we love the inspiration he brings forward about writing and creativity on a regular basis. In this case, it was an article on Writer’s Digest by Sierra Godfrey entitled, 4 Ways to Write Complicated Families.

Oh boy. What family isn’t complicated? So we get Brian to talk about Sierra’s four points: pair the darkness with humor, use character imperfections, leave room for characters to grow, and have empathy.

The great thing about having good source material and a great writer to comment on it is that it adds up to a fantastic conversation about how to actually do it. Brian talks about writing about family members, whether in personal narratives or in fiction, from a three-dimensional viewpoint. We dig into the humor of Vicki’s book Surviving Sue as an example of how to lighten up the load that came with Sue’s dysfunction.

Brian asks me a great question about my book, Finding My Father’s Faith that is based on conversations that I had with my dad. Could we have talked in-depth about life, religion and spirituality ten years earlier than we did? Nope, because as Parker J. Palmer says, “The inner life of any great thing will be incomprehensible to me until I develop and deepen an inner life of my own.” I wouldn’t have been able to have those conversations until I was ready.

Timing is such a key to writing about family and the three of us talk about it. Vicki brings up the readiness factor – that we have to have done enough work in order to be able to follow Sierra Godfrey’s points to write full characters.

And through it all we affirm all that writing can do for us, especially when dealing with complicated characters and family. Brian borrows from Jerry Maguire, “It completes me.” We get to work through our stuff, leave room for our own growth as a character in the story, all the while leaving a story so that others know they aren’t alone.

This is a great episode about great tips that comes with writing about all the facets of family. We know you’ll love it.

Episode 44 show notes

Brian’s personal blog: Writing from the Heart with Brian

Sierra Godfrey article on Writer's Digest: 4 Ways to Write Complicated Families

Vicki’s recently released book: Surviving Sue

Wynne’s book about her beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith