“There’s these stories, they live in us, they gotta come out!”
More on how to write a book, AND how to market a book, even while also reading good books.
You’d think writing a book is about inspiration, or even skill…but functionally, it ends up being more about discipline and persistence.
We talk about our concerns about representing our characters well and doing them justice…as peripheral to how the characters represent ourselves.
“You’ll be judged by your first book until you have a more famous book that’s different.” Writer hazards.
You, the listener, get to binge listen to our commentary on Boy’s Life, but in real time, it took us almost a year to work through the story together. In this, we reflect on the experience of taking in stories in binge quantities, versus slowly over time. As a story, it’s more like a mosaic. There is a plot, but the story is moreso driven by the characters, their perspectives, and their inner lives, moment to moment.
Eric says, “It doesn’t feel like he’s trying to tie off all the loose ends; he’s just finishing the story of this season of the boy’s life. These are the things that happened during this season, but it’s more about the boy than it is the actual stuff going on.”
“Less about Cory’s accomplishments, or even his skills, and more about his character and essence,” says Moses.
Cory wins by being the most gentle, and loving, and that’s his superpower.
Moses recalls stumbling across a Robert McCammon quote in real life, during an IFS training.
“We all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it preached out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act out age. Told to grow up. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they’d allowed to wither in themselves.”
“We’re getting inducted into this young boy’s [inner] life, and getting to be free with him,” Moses, on Cory’s life. “Let’s just have some meandering fun, and enjoy it for 500 pages.”
Meanwhile, there’s a parrot cursing in German, a vindictive, jealous piano teacher, the death of Davy Ray, really interesting conversations about faith, doubt, grief, pain, trauma. There’s bullying and fighting, late night train rides through nightmare montages, dream sharing between Cory’s dad and The Lady, and the final showdown between Cory and his dad, and the killer, on the shores of Saxon Lake where everything started.
It’s a very satisfying ending, with a wonderful journey to get there.
At the end of it all, there’s a vitality to our young inner children that typically gets lost as we get older. The wise among us retain access to these young kids, without also being ruled by them.
There is a healing power in connecting to a young child’s energy, being released from obligations to produce or perform, and simply be allowed to be”
Word and Journey relies on the support and participation of followers, patrons, friends, listeners, and readers. If you like what happens here, please subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or offer support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe. You can also follow me on instagram at @mosesbernabe, and you can look up the Word and Journey on Youtube.
Eric Love can be found at https://www.ericshanelove.com/ and that is where you can subscribe to his most engaging newsletter as well as purchase his books!
