The Resource of Shimmering Images by Sandi Somers

Writers occasionally talk about where we get ideas and inspiration for our writing, but we don’t usually think of them as being a writing resource. Yet they are!

Inspiring ideas are so important that the writer Lisa Dale Norton called them “shimmering images”. She explains:

“A shimmering image is one of those memory pictures you’ve had for years.” It is “a memory that rises in your consciousness like a photograph pulsing with meaning ….You have thousands of these images inside yourself.” They stay with you. You can’t get them out of your mind. “They have energy….these images flitting into consciousness are stories waiting to happen.”[i]

Let’s unpack “shimmering images” and their implications for our writing.

Shimmering images can spring from all five senses

While the idea of “images” brings to mind the sense of sight, they’re also driven by the other senses. The aroma of baking bread reminds me of coming home from school with the house filled the delicious fragrance of my mom’s baking that day, and I couldn’t wait to bite into a piece and taste it. I love the feel of the sun’s warmth on my face as I step outside on a warm April morning. I can be absorbed in my thoughts, but when a bird sings, my attention is immediately drawn to the sound of its melody. Yet these experiences are almost always accompanied by sight.

Shimmering moments take us back to the context of our experience

We see our younger selves as we were then, where we were, and the mystery that surrounded us. For example, in a spiritually transformative event in Colombia, I was debating: should I go home to Canada and stay? or should I go home for a break and return to Colombia to engage in wider mission work? I remember where I was in the missionary guest house, sitting on a rocking chair, feeling the overhead fan blow cooling breezes onto me, and hearing the parrot announce, “Tobito! To-BI-to!” as Tobito the cat strolled into his line of vision. I recalled the sacred silence that followed, and knew my place was back in Canada. It was a powerful moment.

Shimmering images can even occur in an unexpected thought

I think of Tolkien. As a professor in Oxford University, he was marking student papers, and out of nowhere popped the thought that went something like this—“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” He said he had no idea where the idea came from, nor what a hobbit was, nor what he’d do with it. However, the image went on to become a major driving force for writing The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Shimmering images can arise from all areas of life

Everyday events, from ordinary to breathtaking, become charged with significance. My years growing up in rural Alberta, my hobbies such as reading, gardening, skiing in winter, quilting, and bird watching have all inspired shimmering images.

Farther afield, I lived in Colombia, travelled to other countries, and taught English to immigrants and refugees from 130 countries. Not only have I grown in understanding of many people, their customs, and beliefs, these experiences have given me a wider world view and new shimmering images that energize my writing.

Shimmering images have great emotional impact

It has been said that we remember significant moments because of their emotional impacts. Something startles us, makes us laugh, gives us joy or awe. Or we remember our hurts, a difficult relationship, our rise of anger when we see injustice. All these emotional impacts give shimmering images their power, and according to Norton, are the source of our most potent stories.

Shimmering images can lead to universal themes that touch the hearts of our readers

Our stories can become effective bridges between us and our readers. Readers may not experience the same situations we write about. But larger themes leap off the page and embed themselves into their lives—themes such as hope, forgiveness, healing, growth in our relationship with the Lord, answers to prayer, and more.

And that is why we write. From the heart of shimmering images to the greater themes that touch people’s lives, the Lord asks us to be His co-writers, sharing His greater story. “Go…and tell (others) what great things the Lord has done for you…” Jesus said (Mark 5:19).

In this way we share His love and redemption to a world that so desperately needs Him.

Sandi Somers’ writing passion is to help readers grow their faith in Jesus, including their vision of what God wants them to be and do. She writes in several genres—devotionals, personal essays, and Biblical fiction. Sandi lives in Calgary, Alberta, the delightful city between the Rocky Mountains and the Prairies.

[i] Lisa Dale Norton, (Shimmering Images: A Handy Little Guide to Writing Memoir, New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2008), 28-29.

Image by Yuri_B by Pixabay

What Are Your Summer Writing Challenges? by Sandi Somers

Ernest Hemingway said that when the weather got too hot in the summer, it was better to go fishing than to perspire at his desk trying to write.

Prompt: What is summer writing like for you? Do you ease off because of the heat and many other activities? Or do you have time off from your job in which to devote to your art? Or perhaps your summer writing is no different from any other season. How does God direct your writing during this time?

A New Strategy

In the past, my writing drops off in the summer months because I’m more active, with gardening, longer hikes/walks, travelling around Alberta more (if I’m not on a longer travel journey) and attending more family events. I’ve tended to spend more time journaling, while letting work on my specific projects be somewhat haphazard or irregular at best.

However, last month’s blog theme focused my thoughts in a new direction: “How could my writing please God this summer?”

As I prayed, God gave me a systematic strategy for these active months.

By providence, I came across a blog post by Lisa Dale Norton, a memoir writing instructor, who advised that during the summer, writers would do well by writing smaller pieces at a time: “write just scenes, and don’t worry about how they fit together yet.” She advocated listing scenes that are essential to your story, record on your calendar a realistic writing schedule, then show up at your computer or desk and write a scene.

“Each time you sit down, you look at the next scene on your list of moments that make up your story. You watch the moment play out in your mind as you remember it again. You transcribe what you see, feel, and hear onto the page--no matter how skeletal the shape...”

Her idea resonated with me. I could do this over the next weeks. I would, however, not schedule myself too hard and fast, as events come up that pre-empt writing.

I listed scenes or short vignettes in my ongoing project—about thirty pieces—each of which I could write in an hour. Some I have to write from the beginning, others need revising or expanding. As I complete the draft of one vignette, I know which one I need to work on next.

Already I’ve received benefits of God’s strategy for more systematic writing through summer; it’s giving me a sense of stability, order and focus. And this process is pleasing to God.

The Apostle John said it well, “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight” (1 John 3:22 KJV).

Shimmering Images, A Review by Brenda Leyland

 Reviewed by Brenda Leyland

Shimmering Images
A Handy Little Guide to Writing Memoir
by Lisa Dale Norton
© 2008 St. Martin's Press, New York, NY

I first came across Shimmering Images a few years ago when I was at the library looking for books about memoir writing. I soon needed my own copy, as it was through this handy little guide by Lisa Dale Norton that I began to unravel the mystery of how to write a memoir.

Ms. Norton wrote this book because she kept meeting people who wanted to write personal stories but they didn't know how to begin. Shimmering Images tells you how -- how to turn your personal memories into memoir, one small step at a time, by using simple tools, including her secret tool, shimmering images.

A shimmering image is one of those memory pictures that just show up. It's a memory that remains vivid and 'pulsing with meaning' no matter how much time passes. Ms. Norton is convinced that "these images flitting into consciousness are stories waiting to happen". 

Norton believes the most successful memoir is written about periods of our lives that are further away in the 'mists of memory', allowing us the distance of time to make sense of events and experiences. She says, "in the world of written stories, the truths we present to readers ring most believable when they are fashioned to include new insights we couldn't see when events transpired."

Just for the record, the author also clarifies what memoir is and what it is not. For example, if you want to write a chronological overview of your entire life from "I was born" to the "here I am now" stage, that is autobiography. If, on the other hand, you want to write about personal experience -- one slim slice of your life story -- and explore its meaning and truth, that is memoir.

Ms. Norton writes in a stimulating, conversational style. The book is easily read, has just over 100 pages in length, with 20 short chapters. It's divided into three sections: The Ideas Behind the Process, The Process, and The Tools To Craft the Process. Lisa gives inspiration to the aspiring memoirist to sit down and begin typing, because now you know what to do with all those Shimmering Images that bubble up.

If your heart is calling you to write your personal stories, this is an excellent resource that will help you take your memories and turn them into rich, readable memoir.

In case you're not convinced yet that you need to read the book, check out these links:

Lisa reads excerpts from Shimmering Images.
Read the first three chapters of the book.
Check out Lisa's website for other info.

Brenda C Leyland, long-time InScribe member, enjoys writing on her blog It's A Beautiful Life. She is currently working on her first memoir with some personal tutoring from Lisa Dale Norton.