Into the Fire

Is it odd to think a story can work if it’s just about life in general? I’ve said before that most of us live ordinary lives, and most of us don’t personally do hand-to-hand combat with terrorists in the Middle East. Most of us don’t investigate serial murders for our occupations. Most of us don’t run escort services. Most of us don’t cook in meth labs because our families are being threatened.

Hey, you all know I read thrillers of all kinds, a bit of horror, mysteries and suspense, and a dwindling amount of romance. I love the excitement, the pace, the chase, the unique episodes with murderers—all of it. You know I watch all the CSIs, Bones, Criminal Minds, and the like. It should figure I would write it. Maybe someday I will.

I still think there’s a beauty in writing about the ordinary. I think the value of portraying lives in the everyday adds meaning to who we are as individuals, as families, as people. Yes, I know: I write romance. I find value in real romance. Real being the operative word. Real romance gets ugly sometimes, and volatile, and tragic, and usually always causes some kind of growth in the hearts, minds, and spirits of those who participate with more than their bodies.

The reality of life often carries with it a certain “mundane” label attached to it, and without a doubt we can slip into a boring existence. But it isn’t always the death defying adventure, the exotic trip to a dreamy place, the isolation of a solo experience, or the overall leaving behind of everything we decide has become mundane that rights the ship of the life blahs. I’m convinced the real perpetrator of such “feelings” and/or assessments can be found in the netherworld of the spiritual journey, not in the physical spontaneity or the adventurous attempts to capture excitement in adrenaline rushes and some superfluous validity in what we do rather than how we truly live in the normal everyday.

People are intricate beings. Some are less complex than others but this fact doesn’t make them uncomplicated. If it wasn’t for our sin nature, we might be less so, but let’s face it: the sinful desires in the most boring lives create “normal” conflict which can prove to be unmanageable to so many so much of the time. Most people after serious dissension yearn for simplicity. They don’t eagerly anticipate the next big ruckus.

I can’t personally understand the love of and attention to the “bonnet books” in Christian fiction. It’s difficult for me to understand the desire to restrict progress as if progress itself is responsible for any or all bad lifestyles. One need only read the Bible to find that every atrocious behavior known to man occurred long before the Amish or anyone else decided to live a regressive lifestyle. Some people yearn for restrictions and legalism as if they will then feel less responsible for structuring their own lives in a busy advancing society displaying immoral and decadent actions in the open. I’m not criticizing the Amish people or even the love for these novels. I just don’t get it.

Even in the mundane, life isn’t simple. People experience emotional dilemmas in relationships, employment, and in all kinds of situations. Sin-laced living cannot be escaped, and it provides fodder for stories which can delve into the substance of living life below “ground level” and in three dimensions. Character-rich and character-driven stories can tackle life’s toughest problems and present attempts at solutions within the hearts, minds, and spirits of human beings. No simple task. To live. Or to write.

The conflict, conflict, conflict, we hear trumpeted from the writing manuals forgets that conflict itself can be boring and tedious. Sometimes the beauty of everyday life is forfeited by grandiose schemes to involve people in circumstances most people never experience. I think those events of the ordinary, those things that everyone lives, can be the things that touch many deeply right where they’re at. Is that a misconception?

Father, you’re the author of life. Period. Each day is a gift. A chance to know you more. An opportunity to learn what you desire of us. Thank you for that. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.