How He Wrote It

Copperfox

Well-known member
We know from C.S. Lewis' own testimony that a mental image of a mythical Faun walking in snow came to him before he had written even one line of "Lion/Witch/Wardrobe." We also know that, as he was developing the concept of Narnia, the character of Aslan came leaping into his mind.

Perhaps others here have formed opinions of what it must have felt like for Lewis himself to be INSIDE the experience of writing the story.
 
Certainly he had his own private way of hearing the characters and seeing them...their mannerisms and backstories.

It would have been great if CSL had possessed the talent to draw these fleeting images for posterity.
 
You both being writers, I'm sure you've experienced the phenomenon of having a character either just "show up" in a story, or take on additional character and depth and "run away" with parts you never expected. I know that's happened to me - in fact, one of the most vivid characters in my recent book was just one of those. I was trying to mentally picture a certain scene in the story, and this character just showed up out of the clear blue. She went on to become a major personality in that part of the story.

Not only did Lewis experience it, but so did Tolkien. I remember reading a snippet of a letter he was writing to someone about the story he was writing, and how the journeying hobbits had just arrived at the inn at Bree. Tolkien wrote (paraphrasing from memory here) that "this shadowed character has just shown up at the Inn at Bree. I don't know what he's doing there, but I'm sure he'll play some role."

That was Aragorn.

ARAGORN!

One of the most central figures in the entire story, one of the most beloved figures in all literature, arguably THE character around whom the tale revolves, yet Tolkien didn't even begin the story with him in mind, and he just "showed up" along the way.

So clearly Lewis wasn't the only one to whom that sort of thing happened - and neither am I.
 
Didn't Lewis say that "a lion came bounding into the story" and took it over from him? I forget where I've heard that...but I don't think it was by accident.
 
I can't swear that those were the precise words, but that was definitely the impression that Lewis gave in a letter he wrote to a friend about the time he was seriously composing Lion. I remember reading an excerpt from the letter. Incredible, isn't it? You'd think that Lewis would have had Aslan central to the story from the outset, but apparently He was a later add-in.
 
Yes, Lewis did say something like that about Aslan. He was already a firmly-committed Christian before Narnia took shape in his mind, but remember that, in his journey TO faith, God had graciously USED his enjoyment of mythical stories to help him understand what he was looking for. Thus, even if Narnia had somehow been developed WITHOUT Aslan, I'm sure that Lewis would have included SOMETHING of genuine spiritual merit in it; but it was the most natural SUPER-natural thing in the world for Aslan to "bound in and take over."

As for Aragorn, in his VERY FIRST form, he was an adventurous HOBBIT going by the name of Trotter.

About characters taking on their own life:

When I write fiction, I am pretty deliberate about my characters. Alipang Havens is EXACTLY the kind of person I wanted him to be; and Eliot Granholm, the rebooted version of my Grey Eagle character, also has PRECISELY the temperament and feelings I want him to have. But although my CENTRAL characters usually "obey" my wishes, major SUPPORTING characters will often get the bit in their teeth and take off running. For instance, in "The Possible Future of Alipang Havens," the sexpot character of Osmawani Jalil has turned into a much more complex personality than I originally intended.
 
Those who remember my Byron on Wells stories would be surprised to know that the fox pup Bramble was merely Buck's sidekick in the original idea.

Characters with obvious leading merit will begin to demand a larger role. It's hard to explain to someone who is not an author.
 
I certainly remember Byron-on-Wells. I urge all new members to track down those old specialized Narnian-world stories. With a clarifying note: the NAME "Byron," in the real world, was really a WORD which then BECAME a name. The WORD "byron" is a sort of geographical term, which is how Badger used it when creating the imagined PLACE Byron-on-Wells.
 
For me, when I write, it feels more like an investigation. I get a basic plot for a story and then figure out who was involved and everything that happened. Of course, sometimes it feels like parts of the story just write themselves. I remember one story I was writing, without even thinking about it, the sibling dynamics of three secondary characters came together perfectly.

Where the stories come from, sometimes, I will read a sentence from another story and get an idea from there. I can understand completely how an image can inspire a story.

MrBob
 
MrBob, what you just wrote reminds me of how some sculptors will say that they know the final shape is IN THERE, and they just have to set it free from the stone.
 
This is a good thread folks. I recall seeing somewhere(but I don't recall where) many of the places that C.S.Lewis frequented as a boy, and as an adult. The pictures showed beautiful forests, meadows, beaches, countrysides, etc. Looking at the pictures, it was easy for me to see correlations to many of the things he described in Narnia. I cannot remember the website, but it is probably still out there.

For me, when I write(stories that are God-breathed that is) I will have about five minutes worth of storytelling and no more. The interesting and fun thing is He usually will not give me any more until I write what He has already given me. Once I write it, He downloads the next part to me. So, many times I myself have ideas about what might take place, but won't know for sure until I reach that part of the story.
 
There has never been a time or situation when things I wrote were simply _handed_ to me in a complete form by the Holy Spirit. I've had to work and choose for myself. But I _have_ on some occasions been given clear _guidance_ for something. Probably the most distinctive instance dates back to my days in music ministry. One evening at home, subject matter and the start of a melody were practically _shot_ into my head all in a moment. What I received, became a song about Christ's temptation in the desert.
 
It's a fascinating interplay, in my experience. Sometimes I will see things so clearly that it's just a scene I essentially transcribe. Other times I get a general idea of a scene, and as I write out the events and dialog it "comes into focus". What's really interesting is when I "see" a scene, and am writing it out, and realize, "Oh, that won't work" - either I'm writing it poorly, or it needs to be changed to harmonize with something else in the tale, or whatever - so I rewrite it, and the new part I'm writing is just as "right" as what I'd been doing.
 
My characters seem to stop and tell me that they feel ridiculous saying a certain line, and I change it.

That's why I took out the plot to shoot scud missiles at Cair Paravel, but I digress.....

Characters in a story are real and very much alive. This is so because the thoughts they think are actual thoughts in an actual mind. Problem is they don't own a mind, they rent the mind of the author and have to time share. Every feeling Buck and Bramble felt were felt by the same set of feelings that have served me well for 53 years.

Looking at the life of Jack Lewis, I'm impressed by the mind and feelings that the four Pevensies had to share when they thought and felt.
 
All of the Narnian novels had already been written by the time Lewis met the love of his life. I wonder whether having Joy (here I mean the woman, not the mental sensation) in his life sooner would have had any effect on the content of the Chronicles?
 
All of the Narnian novels had already been written by the time Lewis met the love of his life. I wonder whether having Joy (here I mean the woman, not the mental sensation) in his life sooner would have had any effect on the content of the Chronicles?

I don't want to contradict anyone, but I'm not sure what you mean, Copperfox, by
All of the Narnian novels had already been written by the time Lewis met the love of his life.

Being curious and thinking I remembered Mr. Gresham saying something about Lewis sharing his writing with them and so I looked it up.

In the "Prolog" of the "Focus on the Family Radio Theater" for the Magician's Nephew, Mr. Douglas Gresham (as the host) says "I remember well living in Jack's House in Oxford while He was writing the Magician's Nephew. How he would often bring down from his study whatever chapter he'd just finished writing and the chats we'd have about it."

MN was written (according to Google) 1955 and Joy did not die untill 1960 (according to wikipedia)

The prolog of the Radio Drama (for the horse and his boy) mentions him presenting the brothers with a typed manuscript of the book. (about to go to the for release) I know he dedicated the Horse and His boy to Mr. Gresham and his Brother.

Sorry, that doesn't really answer your question...:(
 
I think Horse is dedicated to Douglas and David Gresham, so he was still writing the series when he knew Joy and her family.
 
According to wiki, CS and Joy first met in 1952 after they had corresponded for two years. Its possible he wrote LWW before his first contact with Joy.

PotW, you are right, H&HB is dedicated to David and Douglas.

MrBob
 
In the "Prolog" of the "Focus on the Family Radio Theater" for the Magician's Nephew, Mr. Douglas Gresham (as the host) says "I remember well living in Jack's House in Oxford while He was writing the Magician's Nephew. How he would often bring down from his study whatever chapter he'd just finished writing and the chats we'd have about it."

MN was written (according to Google) 1955 and Joy did not die untill 1960 (according to wikipedia)

The prolog of the Radio Drama (for the horse and his boy) mentions him presenting the brothers with a typed manuscript of the book. (about to go to the for release) I know he dedicated the Horse and His boy to Mr. Gresham and his Brother.

Sorry, that doesn't really answer your question...:(

Don't apologize for being right! And for making my question a non-issue!

 
This thread raises some fascinating questions about the creative process, and the writing process of Jack Lewis in particular. So I am hereby resurrecting it.

I'm not a fiction writer, so I have not shared the experiences cited by Copperfox, Evening Star and others when a character shows up and takes on surpising vitality and impacts the plot in totally unforeseen ways.

However problem-solving or creating ideas for crafts, -- and especially when I am thinking of lesson plans for children's worship-- ideas for modifications or solutions needed often come to me when I least expect it, so I can kind of relate.

Also, when such inspiration is put into reality I feel a sense of energy and joy; and usually things work out just fine, in fact better than I would have imagined. I guess since this serendipitous creativity most often happens at church, I see it as evidence of God at work, helping me to adapt or revise the lesson to better meet the interests and needs of where the children happen to be.

Creativity certainly can take us on surprising journeys!
 
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