The Write Stuff

by Ashley Lister

Broken Rainbows

I saw a rainbow this morning.  It was a huge thing: impossible colours arced across a faded-denim sky.  Even though the weather was cold, and flecks of rain spattered against my head and shoulders, I stood for a while admiring its improbable beauty.

According to Greek mythology, the rainbow was a path made by the messenger Iris, between earth and heaven.  According to the Bible the rainbow is the sign of God’s promise that earthly life would never again be destroyed by flood.   And, according to most folklore, the rainbow is the sign showing where a leprechaun’s pot of gold is hidden.

And then there’s the scientific explanation: a rainbow is a meteorological/optical phenomena caused by sunlight shining onto droplets of moisture in the atmosphere.  The scientific explanation is probably the most accurate and it also happens to be the dullest.  In short: scientists broke the rainbows.

Over the past three years I’ve been studying writing.  Now I’m teaching writing. 

I’d written before.  I’ve got an opus of a couple of dozen novels to my credit as well as a couple of non-fiction titles and too many short stories to count.  But, for the past three years I’ve been learning the mechanics of writing so I can more effectively teach the subject.

In many ways it’s like science.  There are rules that need to be followed to make a narrative cohesive, coherent and enjoyable.  There are laws of communication that have to be obeyed to transform an idea into an experience worthy of being called literature.  And, just like science, the efforts of examination and inspection offer the dullest explanations and invariably threaten to break the rainbow.

Under critical examination, rainbows stop being pretty arcs of light stretched across the sky.  They become refracted and reflected beams of light perceived through droplets of atmospheric moisture. 

Under critical examination, novels and short stories cease to be entertaining pieces of fiction: they become expositions of an unwritten feminist manifesto prior to emancipation; or a Marxist commentary on the inequities of a tiered social system; or some other stream of prolix verbosity that’s far removed from its original intention.  Whatever they become, they’re seldom described as ‘a bloody good read.’

I have to admit, there have been times when I’ve found this whole situation to be disheartening.  What’s the point of working on a story when I’m no longer sure what it is I’m writing?  Why struggle to tell a story when, under analysis, the fruits of my struggle become lost beneath a burden of interpretations, criticisms and puzzling, over-complicated phrases.  Am I able to tell a story?  Or is story merely the argument of causal versus casual in the events of a character’s bildungsroman fate?  And, even if I am able to tell a story, shouldn’t I be showing a story (because we all know that writers should show and not tell). 

In short, after wilfully breaking so many rainbows, I became a little disheartened. 

But, this morning, I had an epiphany.  Admittedly, I was only staring at refracted and reflected sunlight as it shone against droplets of moisture in the atmosphere.  But it was one of the prettiest specimens of refracted and reflected sunlight I had seen in a long time.  And it was pretty enough to make me smile.

And that’s all that writing can ever hope to be.  Regardless of the mechanics that create a piece of fiction, whether it comes from a writer steeped in knowledge about the tradition of the novel, or a newcomer with a burning desire to tell a story, the results can be (and often are) a beautiful experience.

All of which is my longwinded way of saying: I’m now going to re-immerse myself back into my writing.  I shall attempt to spend 2010 creating more fiction.  And, even if I do have the opportunity to break some more rainbows, I won’t be harming them until after I’ve chased my way to their ends to see if the pot of gold is still there.

Have a good holiday season and a New Year that exceeds your expectations.

Ashley Lister
Decmeber '09 - January '10

If you have comments or questions about this column, please send them to Ashley Lister

Find more of Ashley's Write Stuff in ERWA 2009 Archive.

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"The Write Stuff" © 2009 Ashley Lister. All rights reserved.

About the Author:  Ashley Lister is a UK author responsible for more than two-dozen erotic novels written under a variety of pseudonyms. His most recent work, Swingers: True Confessions from Today's Modern Swinging Scene (Virgin Books), a non-fiction book recounting the exploits of UK swingers, is his first title published under his own name.
Ashley’s non-fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines, including Forum, Chapter & Verse and The International Journal of Erotica.  Nexus, Chimera and Silver Moon have published his full-length fiction, with shorter stories appearing in anthologies edited by Maxim Jakubowski, Rachel Kramer Bussel and Mitzi Szereto.  He is very proud to be a regular contributor to ERWA.
Email:  Ashley Lister
Website:  www.ashleylister.co.uk

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