A Darker Travel
Notes on a writing project
While I give some basic outlines of my writing projects and progress in the monthly “Writing Update” posts, I thought it might be interesting to share some more details about my projects—what they’re about, where I’m at in working on them, what questions and discoveries are driving me. This first one is about A Darker Travel.
A Darker Travel - Overview
As I say in all my writing update posts, A Darker Travel (ADT) is about a bereaved father who visits heaven in his dreams. While he waits to meet his deceased son in heaven, he receives a “tour” of the afterlife.
Each night, the protagonist-narrator steps into a “continuous dream”; that is, he picks up where he left off the night before. He is told on the second night of the dream that he will get to see his son on the final night of the dream, one year away. In the meantime, he is commissioned to write about what he observes and experiences in heaven. His guide is a giant talking owl.
Similar to Dante’s Divine Comedy, the narrator and his guide move through various regions of the afterlife. So far, I’m writing “one region per dream,” but this will make the story enormously long. I’m averaging 4-5 pages per region. Multiply that by 365 and you get a very large number.
I am also going to include “daytime” events in the narrative, most likely via a journal that the narrator keeps. Events in the day and in the dreams will connect, but I hope to keep those connections subtle, hidden, separated enough that the reader will delight in making the connections themselves.
I may also include a separate writing project of the narrator’s. It may be cliché that the protagonists of many novels just so happen to be writers (“write what you know,” am I right?), but I’m going to see if it works for this story. The writing project will be, in a way, another guide for the narrator to come to terms with his grief.
Driving Questions and Discoveries
This project is an opportunity for me to work out my theology in a narrative, rather than expository, manner. It’s also a place for me to navigate my own grief (like the protagonist, I too am a bereaved father). Below are the questions that have spurred my creativity and curiosity.
Are there emotions in heaven? If so, which ones? How do these emotions manifest? Do we only feel emotions we consider “happy” or “positive” in heaven, or are the “unhappy, negative” emotions also present? If the “dark emotions” are present, how might they appear in heaven?
What does healing look like in heaven? What do we even mean by “healing”? How do spiritual/resurrected bodies incorporate or heal wounds from our time on earth? How do psychic wounds get healed?
What kind of growth might we undergo in heaven? Are growth and healing related? Might there be “purgatory” where we continue to unlearn the sinful patterns we fell into while on earth (both personal and systemic sin)?
The “web of love” post I wrote last month came out of writing this story. I will likely write more posts in the future based on ideas that arise from the writing process. That’s what this blog is about: the writing under the writing. One of my primary problems in my creative writing is that I explain too much—I have become too naturalized to academic writing, and I need an outlet. Hence this blog. If I write more expositorily here, then I can write more freely, associatively, and evocatively in my other genres.
What do relationships look like in heaven? I’m thinking family (parent-child, ancestor-descendent), romance (partners, spouses, etc.), and earthly friendships. How will new friendships be formed in heaven?
How is heaven different from the new heavens and new earth that come at the fulfillment of all things?
What do angels look like? Based on a comment on a random video I saw on Instagram, I am making most of my angels look insectoid. Based on biblical descriptions, one could make an argument for this: many eyes, multiple wings, humans are terrified at their appearance. This is a fun way to keep things interesting as I write, and it also opens up new theological and practical possibilities.
Will we recognize “famous” people in heaven, or will we not really care about their earthly renown?
What will our new names be in heaven? My proposal is that a person’s new name will be a story—the story of that person’s life as God understands it. To speak someone’s full name is to speak their life: their eternal life, their deep life. I write about this somewhat in the post “Eternity: A Meandering.”
Hopes for the Project
My hope is that I can finish a rough draft of this project in the next five years. That may sound like a long time, but not at the pace I write. I need to work out some logistical details (like, does it really need to be a whole year of dreams? Could it just be a month? Do I need to include everything I think about heaven in this book? Probably not, but at this point I want to!).
I hope this project will be a way for me to process grief and theology. So far, it has done so in surprising and meaningful ways. If this story ever gets to a point where I want to submit it for publication, I hope that it can be a benefit to others as well. And I hope it’s interesting and entertaining. A giant talking owl and insectoid angels. That will keep readers on their toes.