The Scent of Lilacs and a Lesson in Incorporating the Senses Into Your Writing

Back in April 2010, I wrote a blog post about lilacs and how when each spring their fragrance takes me back to a warm day, likely in May. Miss Thomas, my fourth grade teacher, had raised the windows wide open in our nearly half-century-old classroom to let in some air. Air that was unusually heavy with humidity for so early in Wisconsin. Those kind of days usually didn't kick in until the hot days of July and August.

Lilacs I picked yesterday on my walk.

The lilacs were in full bloom and many of us kids would pick huge purple bouquets of the fragrant blooms and bring them to our beloved teacher. Fast running out of glass vases, she usually resorted to filling whatever she could find--old coffee cans or empty jars--to hold the flowers.

In the near-tropical air that long-ago day, their heavy fragrance seemed even more pronounced, and I sat at my desk, inhaling the scent and reveling in the heady feeling that came over me. Yesterday while out for my walk, I stopped and picked some lilacs, and right now I'm inhaling the scent and for one brief moment I'm transported back to Central School in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

It's interesting how a sense of smell can transport one back to another time in our lives--sometimes pleasant and sometimes not-so-pleasant.

Maybe it's time to revisit that article I wrote back in 2010 about incorporating the senses into our writing, particularly the sense of smell. The book I refer to in the piece is Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin that just released last month, and the scent of lilacs is mentioned in its pages!

April 30, 2010

Yesterday seemed more like March than April in Chicagoland. The southern winds kicked up a lot of debris and flower petals fell from the crab apple trees like a pink and white blizzard.

But one thing I noticed most of all was the scent of lilacs.

I pass a lilac bush on my walk each day, and I always stop to smell the flowers because in a few day's time, that wonderful scent will be gone until next year.

That got me to thinking how in my stories I need to make sure I incorporate as many of the five senses as possible. My current project takes place during spring in my hometown, and I became excited as I realized the novel concludes during May. I'll be able to bring my very precious memory of springtime in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to the story.

No matter what the season your stories take place, be sure to bring in as many of the five senses as possible. The smell of a burning fireplace as your character walks outside on a cold winter's night. In summer, the scent of suntan oil on a hot beach. When I think of fall, the aroma of pumpkin pie baking in the oven conjures of memories of Thanksgivings past. Adding the senses to your story deepens your story and draws the reader closer. If you haven't done so already, be sure to work in smell, touch, hearing, tasting and sight before you turn in that final draft.

Meanwhile, I'd better run outside for one more sniff before the lilacs disappear till next year!

Funeral Homes to Borders--What a Week!

This not-so-typical week held a little drama, a little fun and, of course, a lot of writing.

The most untypical thing I did was spend election day in a funeral home. I was there for a most untypical reason--to work as an election judge. That's the title used here in Illinois for those people who give you your ballot when you go to vote. The polling place I was assigned to was a funeral home! When I first heard about it, visions of sitting next to a coffin while handing out ballots popped into my mind. Those fanciful thoughts were quickly dashed when I spoke with someone who'd worked that polling place in the past. She told me we'd be in a room ordinarily used for wakes, but we wouldn't have contact with any other events happening in the building. In fact, there weren't any wakes or coffins in sight the whole 16 hours I was there!

It soon became apparent that the special pens we gave people to mark their ballots were disappearing as people walked out the door with them. Inadvertently I'm sure. I began telling every person I gave a pen to what would happen to them if they walked out the door with with our pen. Some would turn into a pumpkin, others would have the pen blow up in their face, while another would have his tires punctured by giant nails that would pop up out of the parking lot blacktop. One of the other judges laughed saying he liked how I had a new story for each person. I told him that was the fiction writer in me. It was a long day but I'm glad I did it and will probably do it again.

Yesterday I stopped in my local Borders and headed to the back where the "religious" books are housed. My mission was to see if they had His Forever on the shelf. It wasn’t. As I stood there, a man came up to see if he could help me. I told him I was looking for a new compilation book I’d contributed to. He got all excited and asked me about it. I made sure to point out that my as-told-to story was about a man who lives one suburb over. Book stores love local authors. He agreed they needed to have the book. While I was there he ordered three copies for the shelf. This was my first time pitching my own writing. It’s something all authors need to do for their publications. Next time I’ll take chocolate. Maybe he’ll order six books!

Writing Lessons from Beth Moore

God teaches us many lessons in many ways. This week has been no exception for me. I'm participating in a Beth Moore study at my church called "The Patriarchs." God has gifted Beth so much, and I thank Him for using her in my life the way that He has. God has used His Word through Beth to help me mature as a Christian.

In the Patriarchs study we've been studying Abraham's life. Last night during the video, Beth taught about the testing of Abraham when Abraham was called by God to sacrifice his son Isaac instead of the usual lamb. For those of you who know the story, an angel stopped Abraham just before he was about to plunge a dagger into his son's heart as the boy lay on the sacrificial altar. It was then that Abraham noticed a ram in the thicket. God provided the lamb, just as He would centuries later when He provided Jesus, the Lamb of God for our sacrifice!

I not only learned a lesson about God's testing in our lives, but also about writing and how I need to let my inhibitions go. What Beth does so well is to take one or two sentences that describe a biblical situation and prompt her readers to place themselves in the situation. She got us thinking about Abraham and what he must have been going through. How they had walked for three days to the mountain. Three very long days for a father about to sacrifice the son he'd waited so long to have; the son he loved more than life itself. It's so easy to read biblical accounts of situations without stopping to think about how these are real people just like you and me. They had real emotions and thoughts and feelings just like you and me.

Beth also did this so well with Hagar, when she was sent away with Ishmael, her son by Abraham. After wandering in the desert for a while, both she and her son became dehydrated, and Ishmael was dying. She placed him under a bush and she and Ismael began to cry . Beth reminds the reader how much pain Hagar was going through. How Hagar's tears were likely not silent tears, but wails. She prompts the reader to think about how it would feel as a Mom to be willing to do anything possible to help her child and be so helpless.

What Beth does is like the "what if" practice many of us writers use. But, she takes it a step further. What if you were in Hagar's sandals or Abraham's, how would you feel? Humanize these people and you can appreciate even more how you can apply their situation to your own life.

I've always been an analytical person. My practical, tell-it-like-it-is way of thinking often works well when writing non-fiction, but not so well in fiction. My creative side bubbles with story ideas that I get down on the first draft, but so often I fail to take the reader deep inside the character's heart and soul. Beth has shown me what I need to do to make my characters more three dimensional. What she did with Hagar and Abraham, I need to do with April and Marc, my heroine/sleuth and hero in Murder for Breakfast. I need to turn off the analytical and let my heart feel what they feel, expressing it in words. Words that will transport the reader into my characters' hearts and care about them.

God uses just about anything and everything to teach us. My Bible study lesson this week was no exception!

One Story's Journey & A Writer's Take Away

It's out! His Forever: Stories of Real People Finding Jesus is on the shelves and it contains my piece "Like Son, Like Father." Well, at least it's on the virtual shelves of Amazon, Overstock.com, and the like. I haven't yet found it in a bricks and mortar store. But then it's only been out a few days.


I am so humbled, so amazed at how God has used me to get my friend Frank's story out there for everyone to read and know about. Years ago, I heard Frank tell how he prayed for God to open his dad's mind when Alzheimer's had caused the elderly man to be able to do nothing more than breathe and sit chin to chest for hours on end. The family hadn't had a lucid conversation with him in months. For a few moments Frank's prayer was answered, and Frank was able to lead his father to Christ!


From the day I heard about this God Miracle, I knew it had to be written. I wrote the story, thinking in my ignorance it would be snapped up without question. I envisioned it on the pages of Guideposts, or maybe The Beacon, my church denomination's magazine. All the editors would have to do was read it and they'd be begging me to print it. Boy was I wrong! I received so many rejections I'm sure their weight alone threatened to give my mailman a hernia.


One of the magazines I queried was Decision, the Billy Graham Association's magazine. Like all the others, they sent one of those form rejections. You know the drill:

"Thank you for submitting to our magazine. We're sorry we cannot use your story at this time. We either have already purchased a similar story or, perhaps in your case, the writing is lousy and the topic stinks. Please don't ever write to us again!"

Ha! Not exactly, but isn't that what so many of us writers tend to see when we get a form letter instead of a personal note explaining exactly why the piece is being rejected.


A few months after the Decision rejection letter was papered to my wall along with all the others, I attended the Write to Publish conference. I was excited to see that Decision's editor , the very man whose name was on that rejection letter I received a few months earlier, was on the faculty. What was even more amazing was that he had appointment slots open since I arrived at the conference two days after it had begun. A God thing?? Seemed that way to me. Since I was commuting, I was able to print out the story that evening and bring it to the conference the next day for my appointment.


That editor appointment was an eye-opener for me. I handed him a copy of my story, gulped, and asked him why it had been rejected. He read the first paragraph and said, "I remember this. A wonderful miracle of God." Of course, the second question out of my mouth was, "If that's so, why did you turn it down?" His answer? "There's no take away."


Take away? Huh? For years I'd been leading Bible studies, always making sure everyone learned to make application in their lives for what we'd just discussed. I never realized that in article writing we had to do the same thing. Telling the story wasn't enough. The closing should draw the reader to making application in his own life. It doesn't have to be in-your-face, but it has to be there. Well, duh! Since then I've heard that little "jargon" phrase many times. Everything we write needs a take away. In articles, it can be the summary paragraph restating the lessons already expressed in the story. In fiction it's the story goal. What do I want my story to achieve?; what will my characters learn in the story?; how will my character's growth help the reader at the same time he or she is being entertained by a page-turning story they can't put down? (A girl can dream!)

Long story short, I'd queried so many magazines for Frank's story already, I let it languish in my computer files for, um, five years maybe? During those years I focused on fiction--learning the craft, practicing the craft, and seeking publication. To this day I've not yet sold a fiction story, but I have learned a lot about writing.


Last November I heard about the His Forever Project and Frank's story came to mind. I pulled it out of the file and dusted it off. One read through showed me more reasons why it probably didn't sell other than the needed take away. I went to work, applying the fiction writing techniques I'd been learning over the years. Not changing the story, but enhancing it. And...of course, I made sure to add a "take away."


The rest is history as the saying goes. In a few days I'll be holding the book in my hand. I don't know if the byline will say "by Frank Coppaletta as told to Pam Meyers," or just "By Frank Coppaletta," or maybe there's no byline at all. It doesn't matter. It's God's story, not Frank's and not mine.


What has been my take away in this experience? Last month when I presented the ACFW Mentor of the Year Award to Lena Nelson Dooley, one of the quotes attributed to her says, "God is never early or never late. He's always on time." This was God's time for Frank's story to be told and for me to have the honor of seeing something I wrote in a book. God wasn't going to let it be printed until I'd learned my craft enough to write it well. That is my take away from this experience. That is what keeps me going to writers conferences, attending writing workshops, reading books about how to write well, and reading well-written books to learn how published authors write. God can use all of that. There's a song I learned way back when I first became a Christian that says, "He makes all things beautiful in His time." I can't ask for anything better than that!


By the way, as you can see, I've been messing with the design of my blog. It's not finished yet. Chances are by the time you check back again, it will have been tweaked a bit more. Change is always good. Today I have a new look and a new book, along with a new attitude about being useful to God through the words I write.