Writing for more meaning. Aiming for the Big Picture
Frank A. Hilario
July 04, 2011
Like I said before, you have to take a vacation from your draft, even if it's only a couple of hours. Distract yourself somehow. Then you go back to it, because you must review and refine it, and when you do, you must be able to see the Big Picture.
What do I mean by the "Big Picture" this time? It's something that is bigger than what you have written. Part of it is: Where are you coming from? And where are you going? Your reader will be interested in those.
To illustrate, let me tell you two stories like no one has ever told before.
The Story of Jesus Christ at the Garden of Gethsemane
The Gospel of Matthew tells us that after the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, Jesus, along with the Twelve, went to Gethsemane. Then he told them to sit here while he was going to pray there, bringing along with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee (James the Greater and John the Beloved - newadvent.org). He told the Three he was in agony.
And Jesus went "a little farther" and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want" (Matthew 26: 39 NRSV). If you knew you were about to die, you will agonize - even if you are innocent, as Jesus was. The agony was deeper because at this point in time Jesus wasn't looking at the Big Picture: Salvation of Man. Jesus forgot that he was going to die for the Greatest Good; he was the Sacrificial Lamb. Man, nobody's perfect!
Then Jesus returned to the Three and found them sleeping, and woke them up. He chastised them for not keeping themselves awake to assuage somehow his agony. They didn't see the Big Picture either. They didn't see their subsequent role in the Salvation of Man.
Jesus left for the second time, prayed the same prayer, and agonized more; he went back to the Three who were again sleeping and told them the same thing.
Jesus left for the third time, prayed the same prayer, and agonized even more; he went back to the Three who were again sleeping and told them the same thing.
Now, do you realize that the Agony at Gethsemane was because Jesus the Christ didn't see the Big Picture? Either he didn't see it, or he refused to accept it, that's why he had to ask three times: "If it is possible, let this cup pass from me." As he was thinking like a mere mortal, it was impossible for him to drink from the bitter cup of death. He forgot that his was not simply the death of one man; he was going to die for us earthlings; it was going to be the Death of the Sins of Man. In other words, the Beginning of Salvation.
Now that I've written the story of the Agony at Gethsemane in that wider perspective, you will have noticed that after all those hundreds of years after the first English version of the New Testament was published by a British, William Tyndale in 1525-26 (mtio.com), it is only now, by Frank H, a Filipino, that the Big Picture of the reason for the Agony at Gethsemane has been reported.
My story of Jesus in Gethsemane shows that there is always something new to be said even about the ancient if you open your creative mind to it.
When you review your draft, take a bigger view of things. Where is your story coming from? (What are your assumptions, stated or not?) Where is it going? (Where do you want your readers to go from here? What do you want them to do? It can be either expressed or implied.)
The Story of the Philippine Revolution of 1896
No, you haven't heard this one either - I also invented it.
Andres Bonifacio and his colleagues founded the Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Katipunan) on 07 July 1892, on the night of the sudden arrest and exile of Jose Rizal to the town of Dapitan in Zamboanga del Norte, Mindanao (Floro Quibuyen, 2008, A Nation Aborted, page 253). Quibuyen doesn't mention it, but Rizal the scholar and internationalist was by then much esteemed internationally and locally. And he had a great idea with which he had launched La Liga Filipina (The Philippine League) just a few days before, 03 July 1892, a Sunday: "to unite the whole archipelago into a compact body, vigorous and homogenous" (Quibuyen, 253). (Plus e, should be homogeneous: of the same or similar kind.) This was the Big Picture that Rizal saw and wanted for his country. Progress via Unarmed Revolution.
With Rizal's unexpected arrest and deportation, the radicals in the Liga, Bonifacio included, went into panic and launched the Katipunan, calling for An Armed Revolution. Thus, the Katipuneros missed the Big Picture, the same which Rizal had earliest missed:
A Revolution in Arms in the Philippines was suicide. Not simply suicide - it was mass suicide.
An Austrian told me that. On 30 January 1892, his best friend (BF) Ferdinand Blumentritt wrote Rizal a frantic letter, saying among other things, "Above all, I beg you not to meddle in revolutionary agitations" (see my "Smart about corruption. What Jose Rizal did & Angelo Reyes," 17 February 2011, My Jose Rizal, blogspot.com). BF gave what I call the Blumentritt Blueprint for Revolution and, judging from the circumstances, all these were lacking in the Philippines at that time:
1st, No parts of the Army and the Navy were rebelling. - You can't wage a Revolution without some support from the established Army and Navy.
2nd, No country was at war with Manila. - You can't wage a Revolution in a country that is not distracted by another and more important war with another country.
3rd, No rebel money and munitions were available. - You can't wage a Revolution without arms and without money to buy more arms.
4th, No foreign country secretly supported the Revolution. - You can't wage a Revolution without the active support of a third country.
No, No, No, No!
You know what happened. Today, it remains The Unfinished Revolution. Too bad. Too bloody.
When you write, be sure you get the Big Picture of what you're writing. What is its relevance to your readers - did you imply it or express it? To get an idea of it, read on your topic again. Visit the Internet again. Read your notes again.
The Big Picture of any writing is the bigger meaning that the reader gets from it. With that, he will feel enriched, blessed with your story. Otherwise, it's an Unfinished Story.
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