Valerie Holladay on Writing Truth

Valerie Holladay, the first speaker at the ANWA Writers Workshop, premiered the theme of the workshop, Write the Truth Upon the Tablet of Your Heart. I opted to review her talk because I liked the theme, and I wanted the chance to meet Valerie, who had been an editor at Covenant Books. It was quite evident that she was known and regarded by speakers and participants alike, both as a beloved helper willing to offer suggestions to aspiring writers, and as one who could love and turn a pun. She kept the audience in gales of laughter throughout her talk, though I will have to admit her speech was so rapid-fire and oft-times so soft of inflection that I missed part of it.

She told a bit about her background and how she arrived at the post of editor, which involved changing her major ten times in an effort to determine what she wanted to be. She arrived at editing after trying and dismissing school teaching, and holding an editing job she didn't like. She finally did find an editing job she liked, and worked with Covenant Communications for a time.

When she began working in LDS publishing, she said she "found it a surprisingly good fit, offering people an option to national books which often do not reflect the LDS lifestyle." She is working now as an independent agent and advisor.

"We must always write the truth," she said, "then it will inevitably be your truth. However, if it hurts or doesn't feel right, then put it away for a season. But if it continues to tug at your heart, as it ineveiably will if it must be said, then get it out and redo and offer it again." That struck me as good advice, and an endorsement for those of us who have been struggling to get our work out for so long, yet with a core of needfulness burning inside, waiting to be said.

"I really like editing," she continued, "which is working with people to help them refine their ideas and choose the words which identify most clearly what they are trying to say, and helping them then to say it, with clarity and understanding."

Truth, she emphasized, is always your truth, though not necessarily the truth, which truth you must never belabor or stretch. Seek to love and share it with others, for this is the essence of writing. We don't come to writing to TELL the truth, she pointed out, but rather, to discover it.

Telling the truth is not necessarily telling a story. She went on to outline what are the elements of a story.

First: Truth does not need a detailed accounting of events, as it may get lost in the telling. Better to tell that story in a short scene or two, and get it across.

Second: Writing the truth does not require a background of writing classes or books on writing how-to's, but rather, a broad understanding and compassion about people and life, while yet being careful not to let those truthful details interfere with or get in the way of the story.

Third and last, she concluded, writers need to learn how to use their writing tools. Such knowledge gives great power, for you are recreating the truth, but not in its original form. That would be impossible, for what you are telling is your truth as you see it. Using plotting, characterization, and dialogue, you tell the story and let your characters be real people in their own right, not as you try to force them to be.

Using your distance as commentator and writer, you show your characters gently, as you open up doors and windows, so [your readers] may see the truth as they become ready to receive it. This, she concluded, is the power of writing. It is to redeem what was lost, and find the design which was hidden and the purpose which seemed nonexistent. This will be healing, both to you and to those who may need to find this truth. This is the power of storytelling, which will take all the skills you possess.