Into the Fire

I do hope you enjoyed the pictures of the last few days. When it's nearing 11 PM and I've got nothing to say, I discovered looking at some pictures gave me a breath of fresh air. So. Whatever you do, if you decide to look up "free pictures of fun", don't. Make it "funny" or "enjoyable times" or anything but "fun". Now of course, some of you will go directly to that caption. (I probably would too.) All I can say is beware. Some people's idea of "fun" pictures will shock you. Enough said.

Writing takes us all over the map physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Some writers actually travel to faraway places for "research". Good for them. I would too if I could. Some study maps and Google places for precise information. Nothing beats setting foot on physical ground, but authors do the best they can with what they have to capture the beauty, the history, the rugged terrain, the horrific, whatever the enticing material for scenes and story backdrop to make the story richer and more visual.

Investing the emotion it takes to build characters can be exhausting depending on your approach, your predicaments, your passion. I know this much: I am passionate about the people in my books. And I can tell when an author has little emotion invested in their created characters. If you can't muster passion about these people, how do you expect the reader to find some? Years after writing a novel, I can return to certain pages and live inside the skins of those characters. I've cried writing passages and rereading them years letter. Crazy? Silly? Fine, but it's true. I'm 100% invested in these people.

The kicker is the spiritual investment. Transmitting the reality of the spiritual realm via the gospel, the supernatural, or any facet of the biblical approach or context or message in story requires extra care. Anyone can write biblical principles into novels – whether or not they intend to do so. Anyone can write preachy passages about Jesus or in the broader sense God. I think it takes real effort and divine inspiration to communicate the beauty and truth of the God of the universe within the pages of stories. To transcend the earthly versions of such efforts, to rise above the obvious, to make the spiritual passages of novels originate within the core of characters and story is no easy job. That's why I suggest it takes divine help to be effective, to be profound, to be moving, and to make the story better than it would be without any mention of the spiritual aspects.

The fullest and richest characters reveal the three-part makeup. We all contain these dimensions and without them, no matter how beautiful the prose or enticing the story, two-dimensional characters portray incomplete images.  

God, you're all I'm livin' for . . . Help me to write what you want me to write, the way you want me to write it. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.