Tuesday, April 12, 2011

LDS Writers Blogfest - Desire

I've added a new section on the left for other bloggers participating in the LDS Writers Blogfest. Please support them as well.

First off, I apologize for the double post. The Ten-Word Tuesday was preset.

Second, I'm not usually one to procrastinate, but I did save writing this to the final hour and now I'm sick. My head is so muddled that I'm not sure this post will make much sense, but here goes. I thought I'd post just a few of my favorite quotes from the general conference talk that struck me. (That's what this blogfest is about, writing on the things we learned from our semi-annual general conference.) The talk I chose was "Desire" by Elder Dallin H. Oaks.

The first thing he said that resonated with me was this: "Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming."

From a writing standpoint, this could definitely apply, but Elder Oaks wasn't talking about secular desires. He was giving us a map, so to speak, of how to change our wants into spiritual desires. Eternal desires. "To achieve our eternal destiny, we will desire and work for the qualities required to become an eternal being."

It is my belief that we are not on this earth coincidentally, but that we have a loving Father in Heaven who sent us here that we might be tested and become stronger, better than we are. Elder Oaks talks about avoiding what, in our church, we call the 'natural man'. Basically, our carnal desires. "Readjusting our desires to give highest priority to the things of eternity is not easy. We are all tempted to desire that worldly quartet of property, prominence, pride, and power. We might desire these, but we should not fix them as our highest priorities."

He goes on to say that those who follow these priorities can fall into traps such as materialism. But what I found most enlightening about Elder Oaks' talk was how empowering it is. We truly are in control of what we become. I believe that with all that is in me. We can choose what we desire, but maybe you're wondering how you can do that.

"How do we develop desires? Few will have the kind of crisis that motivated Aron Ralston, but his experience provides a valuable lesson about developing desires. While Ralston was hiking in a remote canyon in southern Utah, an 800-pound (360 kg) rock shifted suddenly and trapped his right arm. For five lonely days he struggled to free himself. When he was about to give up and accept death, he had a vision of a three-year-old boy running toward him and being scooped up with his left arm. Understanding this as a vision of his future son and an assurance that he could still live, Ralston summoned the courage and took drastic action to save his life before his strength ran out. He broke the two bones in his trapped right arm and then used the knife in his multitool to cut off that arm. He then summoned the strength to hike five miles (8 km) for help. What an example of the power of an overwhelming desire! When we have a vision of what we can become, our desire and our power to act increase enormously. Most of us will never face such an extreme crisis, but all of us face potential traps that will prevent progress toward our eternal destiny. If our righteous desires are sufficiently intense, they will motivate us to cut and carve ourselves free from addictions and other sinful pressures and priorities that prevent our eternal progress."

The entire talk was wonderful so I'll post it here: https://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/desire?lang=eng

Can this be related to writing? Absolutely! My spiritual goal to be a better person (it's perpetual for sure) affects what I write, why I write and certainly how I interact among the writing community.

"Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming."



I hope after reading my thoughts on this, you'll have a better understanding of me and why I spend quite a bit of time focusing on the moral content we choose to put into our books. I'm not trying to be contrary or confrontational. I really am just trying to be better than I was yesterday and I believe that we, as writers, can be a very powerful force for good in this world.

17 comments:

  1. Very intriguing post! Though I'm not LDS, as a Catholic I share your interest in the moral content of fiction. The best authors and the ones I read the most have SOME sort of a moral compass--- because without it, how can you make a distinction between the Dark Lord and the Noble Hero?

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  2. I love your perspective, Nisa. And it made sense, even with your muddled head. Feel better!

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  3. Such a great post and so well said despite being sick! :o) I loved Oaks talk. That quote is exactly what I need to be reminded of today. Thanks!

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  4. Thank you for your post! I agree with you - I think it is so important to make sure to write moral content.

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  5. Thanks for your post- I've had discussions with my mom and mother-in-law (who has also written a book) about morality in writing and not sacrificing our principles. Somtimes it's hard to have an evil or bad character who does bad stuff- stuff we don't approve of but still have to describe in some way.
    I had an author who looked at my first 25 pages suggest I make my YA novel MG because it wasn't dark and dirty enough. But I want to stay true to myself even though I'll probably get flak for it. Thanks for reminding me how important that is!

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  6. I like your perspective regarding this quote:
    "Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming."
    As writers we need to use our moral standards to avoid what people exact to read from our books,mainly bad language and immoral activities. Great post!

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  7. Oh Nisa! This is lovely. I try to give the characters in my stories the same morals I have. I will not swear, (even though I write picture books and middle grade, I have a YA in my head.) And my characters are down to earth with a few real problems. Problems that all children have.

    We have to stick to what is good, right, decent, and honest. The generation growing up now needs us to be.

    A powerful force for good. You rock, Nisa. I love you. :-)

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  8. What a great post Nisa! I chose not to have any language in my current book, and didn't put any immoral activity in it either. I am writing for the National Market, and will not bend on those two things. I know younger teens will be reading it (someday maybe!) and I don't want to loosen my standards, even in a book, and make them think it's okay. Besides. They hear so much language and things every day at school. Why do they need to read it too? :) Thanks for your thoughts Nisa. :)

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  9. Great minds think alike. :)

    I hadn't thought of this talk in terms of empowerment--that who and what I become is totally in my control AWESOME. I love that.

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  10. Wow. Well said.

    It is really hard to balance what I write and what I believe - I know that I have to be okay with any LDS teen reading what I write and that I need to feel okay about all the parts of my book before attempting to send it out there.

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  11. I LOVE that final quote at the end of your post. What a great talk. Thanks for sharing and nice to meet you :)

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  12. Even sick and muddled, I could feel the spirit of your testimony. Thank you for sharing! Oh, and I thought it all made perfect sense, not muddled at all.

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  13. I tried to send out personal responses via email. I hope you all got them. If not, I just wanted to say here that I'm grateful for all your comments and I enjoyed reading your posts. What a great blogfest!

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  14. This is fabulous Nisa. I love this quote, not sure I've heard/read it before. And I think you did a great job outlining why your belief system is reflected in your writing. TFS!

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  15. Hey Nisa! Thanks for your testimony. Writing clean fiction has always been one of my mantras. What a great way to influence the world for good. Look at Shannon Hale and Janette Rallison, LDS authors with high standards who write for the national market. What a force we can be.

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  16. Feel better, Nisa.

    It is all about desire. In every query we're supposed to tell what the protagonist wants.

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  17. Nisa, I know I'm so late to get here, but I just wanted to say that I loved that first line your shared, "Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming."

    That line stuck out to me, too, and it definitely applies to writing. If our goal is to publish a book, then we really have to be careful about how much time we spend doing all this extra stuff, like blogging and tweeting.

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