The Visionary in the Fiction – Michelle Frost
I wrote my first book at twenty-nine, not because I wanted to so much as I had to. It started a decade earlier when I was at Art College. We’d been given an assignment based on the theme “Let there be Light” and as I sat painting the moment of creation as a spectrum… an idea took hold. What if there was a world where such an idea was blasphemy? Where colours were considered evil?
It might have stayed at that level, if I hadn’t dreamt of “him”; a man so vivid that he paced through my dream and into my reality. I wrote out the dream and I painted his face. I even drew the layout of the building he lived in. For several years that multi-coloured flash of inspiration was nothing more than a folder of sketches and copious amounts of rainbow-coloured, abstract meanderings. But the ideas burned and itched inside me.
Eventually, one Christmas holiday, I faced my brand new computer (black and white, dos program) and transferred that dream into a word doc. It would become the first page of my first book and that man would still be striding through the sequel I would write a decade later.
A lot changed between those two books. Mostly myself. I may have set my main character on a road of awakening, but it turned out to be me who was shaken awake. I’d hoped to write books that changed the way people saw the world and in return was changed by the things I wrote. What more could any writer ask for?
When I finished my first book, I printed it out and put it away in a wardrobe. I had no overblown optimism about it ever being published. At the time, I was living in South Africa, which did not have any publishers willing to take a book that did not fit any mainstream genre. I was told firmly that my book was science fiction and they did not dabble in that.
Was it science fiction? It was set on a different world, that’s true, but only because the story line would not work in our reality. It had no space travel, no speculative future science. In fact, it barely had science at all! The protagonist was a monk in a monastery, not a space traveller. Was it fantasy? Hardly! It had dungeons without dragons, miracles without magic and absolutely not one elf anywhere. It did hold a mystery, but even that was more of a quest.
For years I felt embarrassed trying to explain the genre. I eventually discovered steampunk and went with that. Close enough, given the technology and society. I did finally manage to have my book published in the early 2000s, but took it over and republished it myself a few years later. That is a story best summed up as “not all publishers are equal.” Be careful who you sign up with and make sure you keep the rights to your own words.
During that time, I had gathered a few book fans who began nagging for a sequel. I truly thought that would never happen. I had no idea how to take the story line further. At that time I was employed to write elsewhere whilst satisfying my own creative needs with a blog or two. It was my home blog that set me back on track. I’d been busy writing a blog post about the inspirational power of music when a sentence hit me. I’d written,
“Is faith merely (re)learning how to dance on water?
Was the world created in seven days or seven notes?”
Seven notes and seven colours to the spectrum of light… I had the theme for my sequel.
I spent most of 2013 on that book and finally had it ready to publish in early 2014, but I still had no idea what genre to put it under. Then one day in 2014, a few months after I’d published the sequel, my husband called me over and said, “You need to look at this. This is your books.” He was pointing at the page for the Visionary Fiction Alliance. As I read through their website I felt relief and joy. My books finally had a genre that made sense: Visionary Fiction.
I had written my first book in a burning burst of inspiration over one Christmas holiday. The sequel was a completely different type of fire. This one was to be the phoenix funeral pyre of all that I was and all my assumptions of everything about myself. This second book changed me and instead of being merely visionary fiction it became the fiction that set free the visionary. It still awes me, in many ways it frightens me. That book has themes and undertones I never imagined or set into place. It breathes and draws life from its own source. I was merely the midwife.
In 2015, a reader asked me, “What next?” I told her that I had no idea, but that I suspected that any third book would once again be something unexpected. And I was right. In 2017, I was pressed to publish a completely different type of book. This one is the visionary without the fiction.
Book three started as a series of emails to a charming-but-sceptical friend. He wanted to understand how I had managed to navigate my improbable life with such humour and (reasonable) sanity. By the time I’d written 42 emails he was saying, “This should be a book.” My autobiography was the easiest book to write and hardest to place up for sale. I don’t particularly like being visible. I worked as a newspaper columnist briefly and the fact they had my photo in the paper gave me emotional indigestion. Thankfully, my random visionary life story is turning out to be very popular with readers worldwide. And once again I’m being made to change and grow.
I can’t wait to find out what any future book four will do to me.
About the author
Michelle Frost was born in Bulawayo, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. She is the author of two novels, First Light and Wisdoms of the Light. She won second place in the 2001 Klein Karoo Arts Festival for the visionary sci-fi short story No More Empty Faces and won second place in the 2010 John Muir Trust Wild Writing competition for Leap of Faith.
She has worked as a librarian, blogger, commercial artist, astrologer, review writer and advice columnist. Her autobiography, Elephant Songs, is about her mystic experiences as a seer and empath.
Michelle now lives in Moray, Scotland with her family.
Find her at her Goodreads page
or her website, Crow’s Feet
Beautiful story, Michelle! I am so intrigued with your journey and flow of language that I will DEFinitely be checking out your work. Thanks for posting–and thanks for making yourself vulnerable. It seems as if it has been worth it, no?
Sincerely,
Drew Fisher
Thank you, Drew.
That is such a lovely compliment. In fact, I’m blown away by the kind replies here today. It certainly was worth making myself vulnerable!
Your story of how you got from there to here, is very compelling…and how you turned that into your books. It’s cool to find another writer who’s life flows in a similar vein as mine.
Thank you, Vi. 🙂 Yes, I certainly do feel a sense of kindred spirits when I read your posts here as well.
Wonderful portrait of the visionary artist as a (young) woman, Michelle. (By the way, I had to look up steampunk, which led to cyberpunk and various other genre highways that I, as an older guy, wasn’t aware of. Sigh–more still to learn.)
Loved this line: “This second book changed me and instead of being merely visionary fiction it became the fiction that set free the visionary.” This phenomenon can even justif the existence of books we take years to write that sell only a few. I found that faking that I was writing fiction set me free to write as I truly am.
Thank you for contributing this post with your story. We look forward to more from you.
Thank you very much, Victor. I’m honoured to be wanted back here as a writer.
I had no idea of steampunk until a friend introduced me. It’s a fun genre, mixing sci-fi with nostalgia. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your visionary writing journey with us, Michelle. I relate to so much of what you have written, especially that character who is so vivid he could almost be real. Calling out from another dimension, perhaps! 🙂
Thank you, Saleena. From what you’ve told me, and what I have read about your book, I see a lot of similarities. I love the idea that we may be merely writing down the actual people from another dimension. That could be a story in itself! 🙂
Michelle, yours is a very compelling story and personal journey. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
Thank you. I’m very glad I decided to share. 🙂
Love this: “Then one day in 2014, a few months after I’d published the sequel, my husband called me over and said, “You need to look at this. This is your books.” He was pointing at the page for the Visionary Fiction Alliance. As I read through their website I felt relief and joy. My books finally had a genre that made sense: Visionary Fiction.” This is exactly how I felt when I discovered the genre of Visionary Fiction. Welcome to the Visionary Fiction Alliance!
Thank you, Margaret. 🙂
That’s the beauty of VF in that it encompasses so many diverse genres. Even though I write VF, I still consider myself a science-fi/fantasy writer under the umbrella of VF. I think it works better because it frees us up to explore other genres while still remaining VF writers. Gotta stick to our roots. And thanks for sharing yours with us!
Eleni
Thanks, Eleni. Yes, I agree with you. I think most books (and art) tend to fit more than one genre. It makes for more creativity that way as well, I think.
Yours has certainly been a multi-faceted journey! I completely understand the difficulty in trying to decide where your books will sit “on the shelf.” In particular, Elephant Songs is tugging at me. I look forward to reading it. Wishing you much fulfillment and prosperity! Thank you, Michelle,
Thank you, Robin. I am so pleased you feel pulled to read Elephant Songs. That was the easiest to write and the most scary to share. But the need to share always wins. Writing isn’t simply being creative – it’s being driven… rather like the Ancient Mariner? LOL
If you do read my book, I’d love to hear what you think of it.
I love your story and your willingness to be vulnerable in the sharing of it. It gives me the feeling I’d like to sit down with you and a cup of tea and chat. Given that, I can only imagine how your novel’s characters must be so relatable. I will have to put your novels on my to read list.
I especially related to your claim that “… the ideas burned and itched inside me.” Sometimes our novel’s stories are our constant companions, aren’t they?
Thank you, Jodine.
Tea and a chat sounds lovely. 🙂 I hope you enjoy my books, if you ever read them.
The hardest part of writing a relatable character is finishing the story. It’s like saying farewell to a dear old friend. That is the only part of writing I hate… well, that and editing. LOL
I just finished reading the two books of the First LIght/Wisdoms of the Light series. They were SO engaging! The first one was quite inspirational in the way “light” is shined into the ills of the beahviours and patterns present in our own world–our conditioning–and our species. The second book was such a beautifully romantic read though I found myself a little disappointed that the story and characters’ arcs shifted away from general human potential to more more individualized journeys; it became a story instead of the allegory that the first one felt like. Still, the characters and sceneries and events were all SO beautifully rendered! Thank you, Michelle, for bringing such light and beauty into our lives!
Wow… thank you, Drew. Both for actually reading my books and for that very nice summation of the two books. Tomorrow is my birthday and this was the perfect early gift. 🙂
Drew, for many of us the personal journey is the point we look for when we read. I know it always has been for me, even when I was a kid of nine.