I’m holding a writing workshop on Monday so I thought I’d unpack a few items I will be talking about. I’ll start with imagery.

When I started writing Beauty Rising, I didn’t want it to be an interconnected mess of episodic writing. I wanted overarching themes and imagery which would, hopefully, drive home what I was getting at while providing a richness that goes beyond mere storytelling.

That was my goal. I won’t begin to give a self-assessment as to whether I achieved that or not. Once again, that’s up to my readers. I will, however, give an example of what I am talking about in hopes it might be helpful to readers of my work or other writers.

The image I want to talk about is the phuong flower.

See Picture of phuong flower HERE!

The phuong flower is one of Vietnam’s most beautiful. In my novel I described it as “… brilliant red in the shape of fan with a serrated edge.”

The phuong flower became a symbol of Martin’s trip to Vietnam. It was the symbol of “the Vietnamese girl he could have gotten if he would have had money.”  He put it in his Vietnam book and looked at it often to remember his dad and his trip to Hanoi.

Then into his life walks My Phuong. The second part of her name means ‘phuong flower’ but also ‘phoenix’ – the mythical bird that rose out of its own ashes.

So I use the imagery of the flower to keep Martin’s thoughts of his dad alive, but also to bring the story along once My Phuong comes on the scene. So whatever happens to the flower in the story becomes very important to what is ultimately going to happen to Martin and My Phuong.

***** Warning! Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t read the book, stop here! *****

So the Phuong flower of a symbol of both My Phuong and his journey for redemption for his dad; it becomes crucial to the story.

In walks his Martin’s mother. His mother lived with a husband who had been emotionally destroyed by the Vietnam war. He left his heart in Vietnam, at the place where he met a special Vietnamese girl, and the place where his comrades died.

So when My Phuong walks into Martin’s life, Martin’s mother makes a determination that she will not allow ‘Vietnam’ to destroy another person in her life. The stakes for her become extremely high. She will do whatever is necessary to keep My Phuong away from Martin.

The imagery and foreshadowing of what is to come is wrapped up in the phuong flower. Martin’s mother discovers a book about Vietnam that Martin has been keeping in the house. She throws it in the trash. In the process, the phuong flower falls out of the book and she throws it in the ‘burn trash’. The flower ends up being destroyed when she burns the trash one evening. The  flower is now nothing but ashes. (Now I’m playing off both the flower imagery and the Phoenix imagery.)

The flower being destroyed is a subtle foreshadowing of what is to become of My Phuong. She will be destroyed by the hands of Martins’s mother.

But out of the ashes of her destruction, Martin will be finally able to rise out of the ashes and shadows of his parents and finally become the man he was meant to be.

So a simple flower petal becomes a powerful and important image which is woven throughout the novel to add richness to the story.

Images, such as this, can be a simple way to add symbolism and interesting depth to any story.