Creating Hope through Writing

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 Creating Hope through Writing

     Sarah felt defeated.  Her new life had barely started and now it was over. This will never work. Looking at the stranger standing in front of her, she knew her relationship with Michael had reached its end. How could she sit across from this man at every family dinner, feeling… feeling what?

     She searched her mind for the right word to describe what was stirring inside of her. Anger, bitterness, loneliness.  None of these feelings seemed to name the way she felt.  How could the hurricane raging inside of her be summed up in one word? 

    Glancing towards Michael, her heart broke.  How would he react when he learned what his father had done? He was so close to his family; she couldn’t ask him to choose. Grabbing her purse, she fled through the front door. It was best to put some distance between them. Why plan a future when you’re stuck in the past?

     Sarah, like many of our readers, was in a tough spot.  Upon meeting her future father-in-law, she discovered a truth that changed her life.   She felt hopeless and without seeing a positive ending, she did what she always did when things got tough. She fled.

     Ever felt hopeless? Defeated? Scared? Alone?

     We have all experienced these emotions in our lives.  As writers, God can use these experiences to make our writing stronger. By using our emotions, our characters leap from the page and become real.  Readers are concerned about them. I remember a time I was so deeply affected by a story that I found myself thinking of the heroine as I cleaned the house.  I wondered what would happen and how the problem would end.  I felt her struggle. The author had created depth to this woman making me a part of her journey. I was invested to see it through, to cheer her on, and to see how it all turned out.

     Creating characters, like Sarah, lead our readers through her story. They can relate to the people we write about in our books. Understanding what it is like to wrestle with these same questions, readers go through the messy middle.  They watch as characters change their beliefs about themselves, perceptions of others, and of God. Readers experience encouragement, love, grace, and strength just as our characters do.  

     But the story is safe.   

     Our readers aren’t personally suffering.  They aren’t living the story. They merely are observing it. Without personal attachment, readers see clarity, solutions, and God’s handiwork. Inspired by the characters, people who read our books can find courage to change and hope to endure through their own trials.

Here are just a few ways our characters experience pain: 

Character against Character

• ·         Lies
• ·         betrayal
• ·         pain of the past
• ·         unable to forgive
•           sexual abuse
• ·         disagreements with a co-worker or neighbor

Character against society

• ·         euthanasia
• ·         racism
• ·         moral dilemmas
• ·         judgement

Character against nature

• ·         loss of a loved one
• ·         infertility
• ·         natural disasters
• ·         lost in the woods
• ·         wild animals
• ·         illness

Character against technology

•  identity theft
•  cyberbullying

Character against supernatural

• ·         anger at God
• ·         to question if God really loves him/her when he/she is suffering

Character against self

• ·         doubt
• ·         fear
• ·         lack of confidence
• ·         addiction

     As writers, our mission is to encourage our readers through the impossible by making it feel possible. Helping them to see unbearable obstacles as ones they will survive.  Some readers might even dare to become a better version of themselves.