So I’m guessing that right now you’re pretty confused. What’s going on? Where’d these angels come from? Well, read on and you’ll find out.
I call this The Opening because it isn’t really the beginning of the story. I could begin this story at The Beginning, if I wanted to. I watched it, and that is where all stories really begin. All the tales ever written, imagined and told are just branches and leaves, while the roots for all begin with The Beginning. The ending of all stories was planned at The Beginning, for that matter. However, I really don’t care to go over ancient history again. It’s in Genesis, after all, and Paradise Lost, if you’re at all interested. I don’t want to tell a story that’s been told before, and I imagine you don’t want to hear a story you’ve heard before, either. To begin this story at its real beginning means doing that, so I decided that I would skip ahead to a point that seems like a good place to open the tale I want to tell. This tale nobody knows but me. Well, from every angle, inside and out. Well, God knows, but He knows everything.
So, this story starts with me, if you absolutely have to have a beginning for it. The story isn’t about me much, although I do show up for some of the crucial scenes. I’m important because I saw pretty much the whole thing, from beginning to end, and can tell you all about it. That’s not the only reason I’m important, but that is why I’m the narrator.
Who am I, you ask? Oh! I’m sorry. I should have introduced myself sooner. Where I come from, everybody knows pretty much everybody else, so I forget sometimes that you ephemerals need introductions. I am Raphael, one of God’s seven archangels, beloved of Heaven. My name means “God Heals,” just in case you’re wondering. Some people do. Wonder, I mean, about names. Have you ever wondered what yours means? They all mean something, you know.
God does heal, you know, if you ask Him right and really believe that He will. Sometimes He’ll even surprise you and do it when you don’t ask. And I don’t mean little things like paper-cuts or hangnails. God could heal those, don’t get me wrong, but He prefers to find ways to lead you to healing your soul, for when balance is brought to the spirit, the body follows. Remember that, it’s important and there may be a test later.
But, I digress. For an angel, I do that a lot. Take my brother, the archangel Michael, for instance. He would never digress. He’s always straight to the point, serious as anything. You can’t really blame Him, though, because of all the responsibilities on His shoulders. He leads Heaven’s armies and has to be on constant guard against evil and Satan’s minions. The Adversary never rests, so neither can Michael.
Me, I’m more light-hearted. That’s kind of rare in angels. We’re all nice people, don’t get me wrong. However, being the closest thing to perfect in the universe this side of the Father and the Son can make you take yourself a little too seriously, if you know what I mean. You know the type on Earth, I’m sure, people who can be self-righteous and almost snobby because they do everything right. Angels virtually can’t make mistakes, since we’re God’s servants and everything. Some of us act like perfection is a sacred institution that must be upheld like it was a law or something. I’m a little more relaxed about it. Don’t ask me why. Take it up with God if you really want to know. He made me. Why are you the way you are?
Part of my different attitude is probably because of my exposure to humans. I was the first angel to speak with them, you know, in the Garden. I warned Adam about Satan, (Once again, Paradise Lost, for those who wonder) and ever since I’ve had an interest in the ephemerals.
My interest is kind of what inadvertently got this story started.
After the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, humanity grew and began spreading across the Earth. We angels were set the task of watching them, and some of the Watchers got a little too interested in Mankind’s affairs. It’s right there in the Book:
When mankind had spread all over the world, and girls were being born, some of the sons of God saw that these girls were beautiful, so they took the ones they liked. Then the Lord said “I will not allow people to live forever, they are mortal. From now on they will live no longer than 120 years.” In those days, and even later, there were giants on the earth who were descendants of human women and the supernatural beings. They were the great heroes and famous men of long ago. (Genesis, 6:1-4)
Some of the Watchers, also called the “Grigori” if I remember my history, became known as the Fallen, for they took Mankind’s daughters in lust, which is a sin for Man and angels alike. They were cast out of Heaven for their sin, much like Satan and His minions were cast out at an earlier time for the sin of pride, a desire to rule.
There were angels that actually fell in love, however, which is different. Love, real love, is a bonding of spirits. Parents and children love each other because the child’s spirit was created by the mingling of the parents’, they all spring from a mutual source. That familial wellspring of spiritual connection also bonds you to your grandparents and cousins, aunts and uncles. Exploring that feeling, and an exercise in logic, could lead someone to love the whole human race, because you are all connected.
True love is even more powerful. God created souls in pairs, perfect matches that are each other’s destinies. When two souls like that come together, they complete each other, their love binding them and making them stronger. If such a love bears children, the souls born of that union are stronger, too, because of the pure love that birthed them. I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s true.
This story opens with true love, and ends with it, too, for that matter. What else really counts in all Creation? John’s first epistle, chapter four, reminds us that God is love. Maybe there is nothing else that matters.
So, here’s where the story opens. Finally.
No Man an Island 
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December 8, 2007 at 6:35 am
Bertram
“So I’m guessing that right now you’re pretty confused. What’s going on? Where’d these angels come from? Well, read on and you’ll find out.” This reads like author intrusion, not the introduction of a character. So does most of this chapter. If you don’t want to lose your readers, you will have to tighten this up. It seems just a bit too cute.
December 10, 2007 at 11:59 am
nomananisland
I don’t know how much first-person narrative you’ve read, as you’ve already stated a preference for third. But there are numerous authors who have hyper-aware narrators who know that they’re telling a story. Robert Heinlein did it, particularly in “The Cat who Walks through Walls,” “Number of the Beast,” and “To Sail Beyond the Sunset.”
A trend in post-modern literature now is “Meta-fiction” where authors inject themselves directly into the story. I have no wish to be trendy, and created Raphael long before I heard of it, but he’s essentially a twist on that idea — instead of the author being a character in the story, the character narrates as if he’s the author.
Stephen King thought that the trend was pretentious, and yet felt it necessary for The Dark Tower to make himself a character within it, because there was no other way to tell the story that was in his mind. I believe I may be able to improve story flow by possibly moving chapters around, but I don’t think it’s possible to tell the story I want to tell without Raphael’s narration blurring the lines between story and reality.
Because that line is the story.
December 24, 2007 at 7:06 am
sonjanitschke
I won’t comment about the whole first person thing….but Raphael doesn’t sound like an angel, much less an arch angel. He seems incredably human, more so than any of the characters thus far. Which is nice, and ordinarily I’d praise you for it, but since it’s an angel (rather an archangel)…
December 24, 2007 at 1:32 pm
nomananisland
Maybe I need to work harder at showing it — but Raphael himself points out that he’s an exception from the behaviour of other angels and is closer to humanity. It’s a major part of his character and a major theme in the book.
January 17, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Katie
Maybe you’ve changed it since December, but I thought it was fairly clear that Rapheal was different than(from?) the other angels and archangels.
The first paragraph or so sounded like The Author speaking, but then it was fairly clear that is wasn’t. I liked it; it was an interesting switch.
January 17, 2008 at 8:22 pm
nomananisland
I am reasonably certain I haven’t changed it, and I’m glad you read it the way I meant it, and liked it. That’s always good for a writer to hear.
February 27, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Allan T Michaels
The opening paragraph could sound Meta, except that last chapter we read the first person account. Once I realized that the first paragraph wasn’t an explanatory note from you, I read it as if Raphael was writing it.
October 30, 2009 at 1:57 am
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It’s slightly confusing to switch from third person to first person, but you made it unnecessarily so by having the first person speak directly to the reader. It seems like something a twelve year old would do! your characters’ maturity also don’t match their age. You also have some trouble sculpting a post apocalyptic setting.
By no means I’m saying my writing is surperior to your’s, but as a reader, I would like to point out that some of the errors, the most noticable being having the narrator speak directly to the reader. Just saying that for alot of readers, that would be considered a major turn off…
October 30, 2009 at 2:42 pm
nomananisland
The switch from third-person to first actually happened last chapter, chapter 54, when Raphael met Ethan. And, it makes all of the third-person narration actually first-person, as Raphael narrated everything in the story (except for Gwen’s chapters, which are also first person). Raphael just didn’t mention himself while narrating, because he wasn’t in any of the scenes, just observing them.
And, if you compare chapter 54 with chapter 31 (https://nomananisland.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/29-gwen-ethans-stories/)
you might see part of the secret to the entire story, which (when solved) will show why the things you see as “errors” are integral to the theme, plot and characterization of the story. Nothing is as it appears.
As for the maturity of characters — I have met very mature children, I was one myself, and I’ve met very immature adults. Maturity is on a spectrum, in any case. However, their characterization is in fact idealized for a purpose, related to the comparison of chapters 31 and 54, and other clues throughout the story.
The entire novel has experiments in narration, both to tell a story and for me to test my abilities as a writer. One learns by doing, and then seeing reader reactions. For some people the shifts in perspective can be jarring, for others they are interesting, and for those that read the entire novel, they become integral to its structure and the mysteries at its heart.
October 30, 2009 at 2:45 pm
nomananisland
Furthermore — the narrator speaking directly to the reader (breaking the fourth wall) is a post-modern trend in meta-fiction (as the discussion throughout the above comments mentions). However, it is not as modern as people think it is — the Bible itself refers to its readers, particularly in the letters of St. Paul. It draws its audience into the story it is telling, including them in its world.
Given how much this novel draws on the Bible, I just thought I would point that out.
October 30, 2009 at 11:22 pm
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Well spoken points. I can see why you chose “change” to an ominescent first person. Still,
“So I’m guessing that right now you’re pretty confused. What’s going on? Where’d these angels come from? Well, read on and you’ll find out.”
-Still sounds very childish to me.
October 31, 2009 at 10:56 pm
nomananisland
I don’t know how “childish” it is when it’s a common technique. Whether you’re talking about films where characters speak directly to the audience or Shakespeare’s soliloquies, interaction between a story and its recipients is fairly common across the so-called “fourth wall.”
Basically, I asked myself why any story in the first-person gets told at all. Unless a story is pretending to be a diary, wherein normal people often include their thoughts and the events of their lives, first-person narration doesn’t make a lot of sense. Who is the narrator speaking to? Why are they telling their story? Is it a memoir? A report? A journal? Very rarely does the convention get explained.
Third person narrative makes sense, as a recounting of history. But even then the omniscient narrator will address the audience. I recall Tolkien doing something similar in the Hobbit, but folktales and legends grew out of a tradition of listening to a story-teller by fireside, and interacting with them with responses and questions.
But why should any third-person narrator (omniscient or otherwise) know what they know about characters’ feelings and thoughts? So I came up with a rationale — an omniscient third-person narrator who occasionally has first-hand experience of the story as well. I needed a rationale because I need reasons for things, I’m just that type of person.
Childish, perhaps, in that fables, folk and fairytales are associated with childhood today. But it was for adults as much as children, historically, and still permeates our arts. Given that this story is a synthesis of my experience of how all stories affect their audiences, shaping their view of reality, it seemed necessary to include components of the fairytales, legends and myths I grew up with.
The “Everyman” of Medieval morality plays and the “Hero of a Thousand Faces” theory of J. Campbell indicate that stories are necessary for our self-understanding. Here, in this story, Raphael understands he’s inside a story, written by his Creator, and he tells his reader so.