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Writing About Angels (fiction)
I was writing my novel and I decided I wanted to write in a twist where one character experiences a spiritual 'awakening.' The character is at the bottom of his despair and I want to write in an 'angelic vision.'
Then I got thinking, I've never read anything like that before. Anyone know of novels involving this kind of scene?
Another question: I'm wanting to write a 'telepathic' conversation between my character and the angel. How should I signify my angel's voice seeing as I'm not using quotation marks? Itallics (ala Eragon)?
A final issue I'm having: does this idea sound cheesy? I don't want to be schmaltzy. The other part of me says this adds a greater depth to the book. It's quite a common thing for people to have this kind of experience while placed under an unbearable stress; so a realistic psychological portrayal would include this.
Please tell me if you think this is crap. I'm just a bit confused why it's rare to see this kind of plot development in fiction (all I can think of is The Lovely Bones.)
Then I got thinking, I've never read anything like that before. Anyone know of novels involving this kind of scene?
Another question: I'm wanting to write a 'telepathic' conversation between my character and the angel. How should I signify my angel's voice seeing as I'm not using quotation marks? Itallics (ala Eragon)?
A final issue I'm having: does this idea sound cheesy? I don't want to be schmaltzy. The other part of me says this adds a greater depth to the book. It's quite a common thing for people to have this kind of experience while placed under an unbearable stress; so a realistic psychological portrayal would include this.
Please tell me if you think this is crap. I'm just a bit confused why it's rare to see this kind of plot development in fiction (all I can think of is The Lovely Bones.)
Comments
It's probably not in the least helpful to say that I think that it depends on the way you handle it and the kind of book it is. :) As a reader, an encounter with a "traditional" angel wouldn't probably work for me. But who says an angel has to be traditional? A stranger whom your main character meets completely unexpectedly at the lowest point of his dispair (and which encounter subsequently marks the beginning of his slow but eventual recovery, for example) could maybe offer one contemporary way of handling it?
I have written it as a voice; not as a physical/solid character.
I don't recall an angel in The Lovely Bones - that was told from the VP of the person who had died.
I think it will need careful writing or it could just degenerate into a 'hearing voices' type scene which doesn't seem to be what you want to achieve.
With The Lovely Bones, I was thinking about the portrayal of Heaven.
my books (the novel has turned into a trilogy. go figure.) are actually about angels, too -- so i hope the idea isn't a cheesy one for either of us!! i think i've dealt with the angel thing in a new, unique way (hopefully), and as i'm maybe 1 or 2 drafts away from sending my baby off, i hope it's a good idea!!
my story isn't the 'spiritual awakening' thing that i think you're going for. mine is actual angels, but i do have my main character seeing visions, and she has telepathic conversations with other characters, too. i did them in italics, to distinguish them from *normal* speech.
i think you should just go with your idea, and you'll know once it's written whether it fits with your story.
also, i came up to the beautiful city of stirling last week, and absolutely LOVED it!! i couldn't get onto my computer beforehand to give you a heads-up, so sorry that we couldn't meet up for that coffee. i should be coming back up in November though, so maybe we could try to meet up then?
i'm so glad i chose stirling as the setting for my story, because it is absolutely perfect. we went to the castle, and i swear, i nearly cried when i walked into the great hall. there's a chapter in book #2 set there, and i hadn't seen any pictures of the inside of the castle before we went. we walked in and it was spooky how close my description of that room was to the reality! i literally stood, mouth open halfway to the floor, staring along the room for about 5 minutes when we walked in the door before i could write notes or take photos. it was bizarre, but brilliant. the castle is fabulous, and i hope my desciptions do it justice. i hope all of my descriptions do stirling justice. you're so lucky to live there.
and everyone was so nice and helpful! we went to logie old kirk, and it is being renovated so was all locked up. i was gutted that we couldn't get in, because that is a really major location in book #1. i phoned the cemeteries service, and they gave me the phone number for the lady who runs the friends of logie group. i spoke to her, and she came out to the cemetery about 10 minutes later to give us a great tour of the grounds. it was so thoughtful of her, cos she didn't have to.
the whole time we were there was like a dream -- like i was walking around in a dream. it was the best, most amazing, most surreal 3 days of my life, and i loved every minute. :D
the good (and strange) thing is that I haven't had to change much at all of what i've written to make it right now that i've been to the real stirling (rather than the one i have in my head!) just a few little tweaks. i reckon i've probably been there in a past life or something, because everything was so familiar to me, and almost all of my descriptions were exactly right. funny, eh?
*SA*
Glad you loved Stirling SA. It's a really beautiful place to live. November sounds good.
As for if it'll work--as has already been said, it depends how you write it.
(Sorry for my naivity....)
Over two days I have written 86 emails to a 'dead' person, a Viscount, as we battled our way through ebay purchases, sending links, checking them out, deciding if they fitted the person we were buying for, then two other spirits got involved ... dead? I think not. This Viscount was not only busy checking ebay he was complaining someone bought him a Starbucks with a loose lid and he spilled coffee on his doublet.
Thanks for the explanation. :)