Red Lightning and the Human Heart
“Aim for the absolute version,” editor Tom Jenks advised us during a week-long intensive writing workshop in Denver several years ago. “Write the story so that anyone can understand it.” I struggled to understand this advice. What about the complexities of plot and character? What about hidden meaning and layered nuances? Didn’t I want my story to appeal to the sophisticated reader, the reader who sought out intelligent stories? Surely I didn’t want to write uncomplicated stories that anyone could understand. And yet, that is exactly what Laura Pritchet t did with her novel Red Lightning . I’m not talking simple here; I’m talking uncluttered. Anyone who has ever known or lost a mother, loved a sister or a brother, given up a child, or regained a piece of lost, fractured heart—anyone who’s own small humanity has shriveled because of large failures—who has ever sought forgiveness—will appreciate Red Lightning for the clarity with which it p...