Yesterday I was reading the first few verses of Leviticus 26. These are some of the most beautiful verses in all scripture. In these verses, the Lord promises Israel that if they will keep his commandments, he will draw near to them, will bless them, and will bring them peace. This is what I want in my life. This is why I try to keep the Lord’s commandments. I want the things he promises in those verses. I was so touched last night by what I read that I tried my hand at writing a Psalm last night. I’m afraid I’m not very familiar with the rules of usage in King James English, so some of what I wrote sounded awkward, but I was pleased with the end result. It’s written in my personal journal.
I’d like to start working on my novel again. I had made significant progress last year, but the story got away from me and I stopped. The story is about a man named Aron who is immortal, and who is so old that he can’t remember anything about his youth, where he came from, how he came to be. He lives among other immortals like him, who suffer from similar memory problems.
What Aron and the other immortals (called the Nephesh after the Hebrew word for “life” or “soul”) do know is that they have a law among them that no one is to cross the Mavet desert, which lies to the west of the Nephesh city. The tradition among them is that the Admon Adaia temple is across the desert. Admon Adaia was a burying place for a race of mortals called the Anash (after the Hebrew word for weak, sick, or frail). This temple and the death that it covers are an abomination to the Nephesh, and the source of their greatest fear.
Nevertheless, Aron’s curiosity overcomes him, and he chooses to cross the Mavet, leaving behind his friends. As he crosses the Mavet, Aron comes in contact with a group of outcasts called Zarath (after the Hebrew word for sowing seed or conceiving), a group of Nephesh who are outcast because they have had children, which is also in contravention of the law of the immortals. Aron befriends the Zarath, but finds that, like the Nephesh, they are obsessed with producing Gehah, a drug which is consumed by the Nephesh in an attempt to find escape from their meaningless lives spent seeking mostly pleasure.
This is where I lose the story. I know that Aron reaches Admon Adaia, and finds that there is writing on the walls of the temple which foretells that he will bring death to the Nephesh. I know that Aron returns to the city of the Nephesh, and finds that Katherine, his best friend, is pregnant and in danger of being cast out and becoming Zarath. I know that Aron returns to the temple followed by the Nephesh, who seek to destroy him, and that he stands on the steps of Admon Adaia and tells the Nephesh that they will die, that their immortality is coming to an end.
I know that Aron must enter Admon Adaia through the western door to bring death to the Nephesh. I know that Aron shrinks from this responsibility because he wants to marry Katherine, but that he ultimately gives her to another so that he can fulfill his destiny. I know that when he enters Admon Adaia he finds a new place and watches Katherine’s future unfold in a river of water that runs through the temple. And I know that is where the story ends.
But I can’t seem to make the dots connect right. Every time I’ve tried to write down this story, something goes wrong. There aren’t enough reasons for things to happen. I feel like I’m trying to get to the climax too quickly without developing the characters enough for the reader to care anything about them. And I feel like I don’t know how to develop the characters enough for the reader to care anything about them.
I think I need a writing intervention. Anyone that can help~
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