What was Pilate thinking? (Yes, THAT Pilate...)

Time Spent: 2 hours

The first thing I did today was continue writing the story I talked about yesterday. This has become somewhat difficult to write as I struggle to not completely copy what's in the Bible, but to remain Biblically accurate in creating a work of fiction. In a way, writing this is similar to writing fan fiction: there are already established characters that most everyone is familiar with, so it's easier to write from that standpoint. It's also easier in that I am rewriting, from a few different points of view, a familiar story - I'm trying to fill in the blanks in such a way that I and the reader can "see" the faces of the characters and "feel" their emotions. Don't get me wrong - I don't think the Bible is lacking those things, but we (I know I'm guilty of this) can become so used to what the Bible says that we can read the words and not really take them to heart. My challenge has been to fill those things in which we take for granted. What did Pilate feel like when he was trying to get the priests to release Jesus? What was Barabbas thinking about when he thought he would be crucified that day? How did it feel for him when Jesus took his place? These were humans who felt and saw and thought the same things that we do; even Jesus, being human, did all of these things. I'm sure He was terrified of going to the cross, but He did it anyway.

Again, this has been part of the challenge of writing stories based on what's in the Bible. Trying to look at stories I know from a completely different angle or point of view that maybe I've not thought of before. This is part of learning to write for me, because when I write a character, it's helpful to get inside his or her head. But the story doesn't stay in just that character's head or point of view. And everyone has a different angle, even if we're looking at the same thing and coming to the same understanding.

The other thing I'm learning (work in progress here), is the "show, don't tell" thing. In writing today, there were a few times where I caught myself thinking, "Now how can I show this particular emotion instead of just saying what the person is feeling?" I gotta tell you, that is a nice thing to have absorbed. It's taken me almost two years, I'm nowhere near where I need to be, but I'm learning! YAY!

The rest of my time was spent looking at another website:
FictionFactor.com
This wasn't quite as exciting as the other websites, but there was a fantastic article on the right things to do when submitting a manuscript. It wasn't anything I didn't know, in that it was everything I've learned to do when turning in a final draft in any class I've ever had. Formatting is the same for both things. But I learned today that doing all of those things keeps me on the right track, and that's a good thing to know; when ignoring those important things, no matter how tiny I might deem them, it means that my unsolicited manuscript might get thrown in the recycling bin instead of being read in its entirety. I'm sure that's going to happen enough without me helping it along further. Ha.