The Orange Marble

October 31, 2012 By in Poetry 52 Comments

This morning over toast and OJ, my son told me about a book they’ve been reading in class. On the surface, it’s a story about a donkey who finds a magic orange marble and uses it to change into other things, and to change the world around him. But the unfortunate donkey accidentally morphs himself into a rock and becomes stuck that way. My son’s teacher explained that there is a second story behind the scenes, the marble being a metaphor for the prescription drugs the author’s son became addicted to.

As a rule, books are not a popular topic of conversation at my house. If pressed, my son will offer a plot rundown or give me some of the action-packed highlights, complete with sound effects. But this simple story about a talking donkey got his attention, because of the symbolism. Because there’s something more to it than what’s on the surface, and that deeper meaning makes the story infinitely more satisfying. I remember reading Billy Budd in high school, and listening to my teacher’s discussion of how Billy might be a metaphor for Jesus, and how this explained the profound effect his death had on the other characters.  I remember feeling as though someone had given me a golden key.

My son is off to school now and I am back to work on my synopsis, reading my editor’s notes and wondering what it all means. What’s the orange marble here. Where’s the golden key.

What are you really writing about?

Photograph by Ellen Von Unwerth

52 Responses

  1. what i have found MOST fun about my writing is that the orange marble/golden key is the brightest, shiniest object of the piece…AND YET never visible to me until after the piece is complete.

    the golden key that keeps showing up for me is the lesson that the very thing i’m trying to avoid is the one salvation to finding my way out.

    • “. . . the very thing i’m trying to avoid is the one salvation to finding my way out.”

      I hear you. I won’t even get near that thing I’m avoiding. I’m doing the cha-cha with other issues instead.

  2. You’re in my ballpark with this one, Averil. As a book reviewer I’m always trying to get past the plot and figure out what the writer is really trying to say. And the more possible interpretations the better. I know in my own writing I almost never compose anything without some symbolism, some connection in mind. Some of my most satisfying moments come in writers group, like last night. The other members talked for a good 45 minutes about a simple 10 page story I submitted, offering different takes on the underlying meaning. Of course, they were all right, even if I never thought of how they might read the story.

    EM Forster said it best: “Only connect.” Writing is all about connecting with and engaging the reader.

    • It must be an amazing experience to hear a group of people discuss your work that way. Sounds like your effort to connect was right on with this one.

  3. Yes, the golden key. I’ve been thinking about that more and more lately. What am I writing about? It’s mostly the same things. I hope I remember to dress them up differently each time.

    • Some smarty-pants writer dude (can’t remember who it was at the moment) says that the best writers obsess over certain things, and get at their favorite topics in different ways over time. I think there’s a lot of truth to that.

    • Oh, I don’t know about that. I agree it can be a surprise, but that doesn’t mean you can’t think about it and find ways to enhance the metaphor.

  6. That’s a good question. I think I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that I write ass backwards. By that, I mean that I don’t really know what I’m writing about until the story is well underway (to TKB’s point). For instance, I get a name in my head and then sometimes the title of the book pops in (reference ass backwards). Strange but that’s how it’s worked so far for me.

    My “golden keys” have been contained in the titles – but I didn’t know that’s what they were – till now I think. For instance, the word education in THE EDUCATION OF DIXIE DUPREE is about her being abused and how she coped with it, got over it, learned from it. Redemption in THE REDEMPTION OF TRUITT AMES is about the decision he makes at the end of the book, something he has to do to release himself from guilt he feels over the death of his son, but then there’s a twist at the very end that is his redemption.

    I like to read about writing, but sometimes I feel like there’s almost an overwhelming sense of overthinking things, analysis paralysis sort of stuff etc. I do better just writing without all of the fanfare about what I meant when I wrote this part or that part. Does that make sense?

    • It does make sense. I’m at the point of trying to explain my project and answer questions about it, so I’ve got to figure out what the hell I mean ahead of time. Not the easiest thing to do, but worth it I hope.

      I like the way your titles hold the clues to your characters’ dilemmas. Very cool.

      • When you said you were working on your synopsis, it gave me a start. And what I mean is, I was like “Oh God, I’m going to have to have a book in my head BEFOREHAND? Blech. As you can tell from my comment above, that ain’t the way it works for me. I have a general sense of the story, but as I write it, things can change – completely sometimes. So, your publisher/editor signed you on for the first book which was already written… (?) and I’m assuming it’s a two book contract, which to me means they are wanting to completely understand what you are writing about in the second book?

        For me, it appears I’ll have a nice backlist. Maybe if I ever get a pub contract, they will like what I already have…but I guess that doesn’t mean they won’t have questions about it.

        Thanks for your compliment on the titles! I might be breaking that mold with the third book – which, btw, I keep ripping apart. (that’s the one I was targeting along with your goal to be at about 85K by first of the year. I’m stuck so you might beat me on that goal!

        • That’s how I’ve always written, too: story first, and then try to make the connections. But yeah, this is the second book under contract, so it makes sense to have editorial involvement early on. After all, they want to make sure I’m writing something that works and is in keeping with the contract—no diversions into steampunk or cozy mysteries when what they need from me is another sexy psycho thriller.

          Just keep writing, yeah? And try not to rip things up as you go. (Pot, meet kettle. Most of my first draft is in the trash can.)

  8. Here’s to finding orange marbles. My latest has layer after layer of social injustice tinged with an underlying feeling of connectivity despite it. At least I hope that is what comes across to the reader.

  10. I love The Magic Pebble! Such a good book.

    I’m writing about love and security and comfort zones and family and where the pieces fit, or don’t. And pole dancing.

    Or I will be, starting tomorrow morning!

  11. Nothing as deep as that… Mine always seem to be about overcoming fears and getting what you want. But… Maybe not. That’s the overarching theme half the time at least.

    • There is still and always will be a place for pure stories that aren’t trying to be anything other than what they are. I’m an Agatha Christie addict, and I can’t imagine there’s anything in her mysteries beyond the whodunnit. But she did write some of my all-time favorite books under a pen name, and those are more literary and layered, with lots of open-ended questions for the reader. I like all of it.

  12. Something funny about marbles, especially orange ones. Usually there’s another color mixed in, white or beige, but on this night, this special night of orange and black, the marble is a mystery of darkness. I write about the quirky way I look at things and situations but always, at least almost always, the quirk comes with a bat-bite or seriousness. Something to make you think, don’t ‘cha know.
    Happy Boo !

    • Happy boo to you too. My little reaper is home now and he and his buddy are upstairs zinging around his room on a sugar rush that will last for a week or so, based on the amount of loot they dragged home. Give me patience.

  14. So true. Those are the best books! Ones that have an underlying meaning…or even if the theme relates to a life lesson and I can draw from it directly to my own life, even if the circumstances are different.

  17. I love this question but it really stumps me. Sometimes I worry I write too much about extensions of myself, or what I have seen, then imagined. It all just takes off and I am running in the wake, in the dust, barefoot, screaming Wait for me! Wait!

    I love to read/write in a more sensual (meaning of the senses) manner first, then dig around. I love just being washed over by words most.

  18. I am not answering this question on purpose, because I can’t put it into snappy little words that sound good, and perhaps that’s precisely what my problem is. Or maybe saying the words make it sound smaller than it is in my imagination. (Maybe the sign of a problem.) What is it really about feels subjective. I’d hate to limit my possibilities by offering my own. (I’m really writing about myself. the fiction is its fiction.)

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