Pursue Clarity in the Meaning of Your Novel

By Kathryn Comstock

It is happening in everything: school work, literature and even writing. Meaning is being systematically removed and instead, we’re told that “it’s all relative”. There’s no real meaning in anything. This is called deconstructionism.

I heard an analogy that meaning—what deconstructionism does to meaning—is like a red balloon. One person can come up and say it’s a blue balloon. Another can say it’s a green and pink balloon. Yet another person could say that it isn’t a balloon at all; in reality, it’s a pen. I could go on with examples forever, but you get the picture.

Now, according to what the American education system teaches, (because it’s really they who are furthering this kind of thinking), everyone would be right. Meaning is considered to be relative. Because of this, the balloon can be anything or any color people want it to be, based on their thoughts and their desires. This probably sounds crazy, but it is what many people say they believe these days.

So, how does this apply to writing? I’m glad you asked.

As any writer knows, there’s something specific you’re trying to get across when telling a story. If you’re like me, the character may actually be an exaggerated reflection of one aspect of yourself, a person you admire or someone you’re close to. The scenes and situations you put in mean something, and it’s something very specific.

I’ll use an example from my own writing. Currently, I’m working on a story about a girl who escapes from a Nazi death camp like situation. She runs away and ends up, unknowingly, in the governor’s house. The butler agrees to let her spend the night (he isn’t aware she’s a prisoner) in exchange for her working an international dinner that his boss is putting on. Now, because of the fact that the governor has kept Kiah (my main character) and her family imprisoned for so many years, she has developed a deep and intense hatred for the man.

Her first errand at the party is to serve drinks, and she meets the governor. At first, she doesn’t know it’s him. He strikes up a conversation with her and, having no preconceived notions herself, starts to think that he’s a nice guy and all that. This is when it’s discovered he’s the governor. She gets super embarrassed and ends up dropping her tray, shattering and spilling everything she was carrying.

There is a certain thing I’m trying to get across in this scene. Kiah’s heart eventually changes in a good direction toward the governor (no, this is not a romance novel), but it doesn’t start out that way. Near the middle of the book, she realizes that she is sinning by hating this man so much and she asks the Lord to change her heart—and He does.

Hopefully after reading my summary, you know what I’m trying to get across: Don’t judge a book by its cover. The big theme in this book is the fact that we so often as humans stereotype people and that we really should try our best not to do that.

If you didn’t get the same thing I meant when writing that summary, I obviously need to work on my summarizing skills.

When you’re writing, make sure that there is no confusion as to your meaning. What you say should be clear. You don’t want someone reading your book to fall into the trap of relativism and draw something you never meant from the text.

The things in the reader’s mind should always match what’s in the author’s mind. I do realize it’s really hard, but it’s not impossible. I’ve gotten a lot better at getting those to matching it up, but I still have a long way to go. A good way to test if you’re getting across the right thing is to read your scene (or whatever you’ve written) to someone. Make sure you know what you want to get across before you do that. Read the writing and then ask for their thoughts. Ask them what they think you were trying to get them to feel. Hopefully, they’ll say exactly what you’re thinking. If not, tell them what you were thinking and ask them how you could have gotten that across better. It’s daunting to read your work to someone, but it does help.

There is absolutely no such thing as relative meaning, or relative truth. God makes this very clear in His word. He tells us what we should do and what we shouldn’t do, how we should act and how we shouldn’t act. The way in which He tells us leaves no room for confusion as to His meaning. Take a look at the Ten Commandments, or Old Testament rules or commands to believers in Ephesians to see what I mean.

God’s meaning is clear. That gives us no excuse to do anything less.