Creating Hope through Writing

Photo by Lina Kivaka from Pexels

 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.

   

What Color Are Those Eyes?

One of my tasks as a fiction editor is to spot discrepancies, and by far the most common one I see has to do with a character’s eye color. In beginning chapters, our heroine has blue eyes, and somewhere in the middle of the book her eyes are brown. This also happens frequently with hair color. He’s a blonde. No, wait! He’s a redhead. Or sometimes a shade of blond changes from strawberry to honey—and maybe even back again. Eyes are azure and later navy.

Harder to spot is when a character’s look changes between novels in a series, which is impossible for an editor to know without having edited previous volumes. And even then, the editor isn't necessarily the keeper of that information or has the memory of that proverbial elephant. Yet rarely, although dye can be involved, do characters change their hair color (other than maybe the blue, purple, green, or pink we see so often these days), and as far as I know only contact lenses will change eye color.

Discrepancies are common in fiction; after all, most everything in novels is made up, and manuscripts are revised multiple times. Discrepancies happen easily. A character has left the house by the front door yet is standing on the back porch. The family is having roast beef for dinner, but the children eagerly eat their lasagna.

But for characteristics like eye and hair color? Like height and build and facial hair and age? What to do?

My solution for tracking characteristics is to create a spreadsheet with each character down the left and categories such as eye color, hair color, age (for each book in a series), and height across the top—or the opposite, if you prefer. If applicable, add a category like scars (over the left eye or over the right eye?) or piercings (nose, lip, ears, other?). When any one of those characteristics or a new one is determined, make an entry. This shouldn’t slow you down much, especially if you review the day’s work and then record those characteristics. Then refer to that spreadsheet often as you revise, and especially during final self-editing.

I’m curious, though, to know what other solutions novelists might employ to avoid characteristic discrepancies. Please share your routines or ideas; I’d love to pass them on to my clients who feel eye-color challenged. As I said, it happens!

photo credit: https://publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=16148&picture=blue-eye-detail

Jean Kavich Bloom is a freelance editor and writer for Christian publishers and ministries (Bloom in Words Editorial Services), with more than thirty years of experience in the book publishing world. Her personal blog is Bloom in Words too, where she has posted articles about the writing life. She is also a regular contributor to The Glorious Table, a blog for women of all ages. Her published books are Bible Promises for God's Precious Princess and Bible Promises for God's Treasured Boy. She and her husband, Cal, live in central Indiana. They have three children (plus two who married in) and five grandchildren.

Mine Your Memories

As I approach my 70^th year, I have a growing appreciation for my storehouse of memories. Many things weaken or diminish with the passing years, but if I’m observant, I can gather fresh life experiences every day. These are a priceless resource for my writing. 

Even painful experiences can serve me well. I remember the utter helplessness when my first serious girlfriend dumped me for another guy. I remember the numbness of being summarily fired from my dream job just before Christmas. I remember the acrid taste in my mouth as I watched my wife lying on her hospice bed day after day, dying of cancer. These experiences cost me dearly. Why should I try to put them out of my mind? They might bring something redemptive to my writing.

A recent movie titled, “The Man Who Invented Christmas,” showed Charles Dickens populating his “Christmas Carol” with characters he encountered in his daily life. He made exact replicas, down to their names. For example, a grumpy old waiter at Dickens club, named Marley, became the shuffling specter of Scrooge’s business partner, also named Marley. 

Now it would not be very creative or legally prudent to use my memories in such cookie-cutter fashion. (My least favorite high-school teacher could sue for slander if I made my villain an exact copy of him!)  But if I incorporate a few of his eccentric habits and colorful phrases into a fictional character, that character gains authenticity.

Rather than trying to use a memory as a template for your character or setting, I suggest that you take inspiration from it. Use it as a litmus test for what you create. How realistic is the character’s response when bad news comes? How authentic does the cooking smell in your heroine’s kitchen? How plausible is that Oklahoma native's slang expression? These are sorts of questions your memories can answer. 

We often hear that a skilled writer has good instincts. Even more important, I believe, a skilled writer has rich memories.

Joe Allison has been a member of the Indiana chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers since 2010. He lives in Anderson, IN. His non-fiction books include Setting Goals That Count and Swords and Whetstones.

Why Should I Care?

I seldom put a novel aside without reading it through, but last week I did. It was a new book by an author whose historical novels I admire a great deal. His new book is a thriller with a contemporary setting, but I don't think my interest flagged because of the genre or setting. So why did I part company with him after reading nearly 300 pages?

Because none of the characters deserved my attention. I felt no emotional tie to the heroine or the people she loved, and most of the others were (How can I put this kindly?) not the sort I would want to be my roommates. Perhaps the author wanted to tantalize me with the possibility that one of them would become a "person of interest" in the investigation, but that was precisely the problem--I wasn't interested in any of them. I'm not a callous person, yet all of the characters left me cold.

I've come to realize that stories I enjoy most are those with characters I care about. I imagine the same is true for you. So why might we care about a fictional character?

We see ourselves reflected. I saw myself in Father Tim of Jan Karon's Mitford series, for example. Having been pastor of a church in Fort Wayne for several years, I heard my former parishioners in the voices of Father Tim's parish. I saw my own foibles and blunders in Father Tim's attempts to serve his people, and I recognized my own feelings of joy when his efforts succeeded.

We get a second chance. When a fictional character is placed in a predicament similar to one we've experienced, we see alternate ways we might have dealt with a problem. Or we may feel vindicated by our own handling of it. Either way, we enjoy reading about realistic characters who afford us a second chance to deal with our own problems.

We become more aware of God. A spiritually mature character sees God at work in situations where we might miss him. Depression Era stories such as "Spencer's Mountain" and "The Journey of Natty Gann" offer us good examples of characters who see God at work in desperate circumstances.

Characters don't have to be likeable or worthy of imitation in order for us to care about them; but unless we care, we're not likely to follow their stories to the end.

Joe Allison has been a member of the Indiana chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers since 2010. He lives in Anderson, IN. His non-fiction books include Setting Goals That Count and Swords and Whetstones.

'Even Thou Art a Little Queer'

Social reformer Robert Owen, who founded the utopian community of New Harmony, Indiana, was exasperated to discover that his closest associates held beliefs quite different from his own. He once told an investor, "All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer."

Many American Christians feel the same way after last month’s election. We are horrified to learn that close friends—often members of the same church—voted for a candidate we voted against because of her/his stance on a particular issue. We wonder, How could any Christian support someone who did that or believed that or advocated that?

This reality is as old as the church: Members of the Body of Christ are not only very different from the rest of the world, but different from each other. We need to recognize these differences within the Body to portray Christians authentically. In fact, these differences can propel our story forward.

I come from an evangelical Holiness tradition, but some of my best friends are Roman Catholics. (Already you feel the tension, don’t you?) We have different beliefs and practices concerning worship, church authority, the use of alcohol, etc. I have other friends who are Lutherans, Episcopalians, and “Holy Rollers.” Ditto, ditto, and ditto.

Such differences are apparent within the same town and even the same family. They can cause friction, misunderstanding, and outright conflict. If that is true in real life, why not in our fiction?

For example, I’m writing a story about a newlywed couple living in the Appalachians during the Great Depression when the husband begins campaigning for FDR—you know, that candidate who wants to repeal Prohibition. This creates conflict with his wife, his pastor, and other members of his church. Does it make him less of a Christian? Does it cause him to alter his behavior at home and “on the road”? This is a powerful undercurrent to the main plot of the story, just as our differences with other Christians influence our relationships today.

“Even thou art a little queer,” we may think. But you are still my brother or my sister, so we need to acknowledge this tension in the stories we tell about one another.



Joe Allison has been a member of the Indiana Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers since 2010. He lives in Anderson, IN. His non-fiction books include Setting Goals That Count and Swords and Whetstones.
 

What Supporting Characters Can Show Us

In high school, I built a reflecting telescope to explore the skies over East Tennessee. We didn't have much light pollution on the farm where we lived, so I could see faint stars and distant planets that would not have been visible in the suburbs. Early on, I learned a trick that helped me see more: Look beside the object you really want to see. This allows its faint rays to fall on more sensitive parts of the eyeball--not the center of the field of vision, where daily exposure wears out the optic cells.

Try it sometime. You'll see more detail by not looking directly at the object of  your interest, but beside it.

The same sort of thing happens when we try to understand another person. Seldom do we get a complete picture of their personality and values by talking only with them. However, as we look at  their family, friends, and surroundings, the real object of our interest comes into focus. Supporting characters do that in fiction.

For example, we only get a flat, two-dimensional understanding of Jay Gatsby if we watch him ply his guests with drinks at a glittering Saturday night party. But by watching Daisy, his long-lost love; her husband, Tom; and Tom's tragic mistress, Myrtle, we see the wide swath of ruin that Gatsby wrecks wherever he goes. They reveal more about Gatsby than he himself can show us.

A skillful writer uses supporting characters with this purpose in mind. Let them truly live and breathe, because they know things about your protagonist that she has artfully concealed--so artfully, in fact, that even she has forgotten them.

The sad goodbye

 When I wrote Sacagawea, a "faction" ebook for Bramley Books for the middle grade market, I was a little sad when I was finished. I grew to love this woman and admire her a great deal.

One of my  reviewers gave me 4 stars out of 5 because it contains spousal abuse. The sad fact is, Sacagawea was abused by her husband,Toussaint Charbonneau. I believe in writing honestly for middle grades.This is the video game age. These are kids whose parents grew up watching Terminator. (Unfortunately.) They can handle the truth about history.

Sacagawea is "faction." We know very little about her from the journals of Lewis and Clark. But from those journals I was able to imagine quite a bit about what her life must have been like. She was the only woman on a gruelling expedition with a group of rugged men. She was a Native American, and not as respected as European women. That is, there was no coddling Sacagawea. She was expected to be just as tough as the men and work just as hard. And she did, too, with an infant in tow.

What's not to admire about such a woman?

One of the exciting aspects of this particular ebook, is that the publisher wanted me to imbed links into the text so that students could actually see the things I described such as certain plants, animals and artifacts. When I couldn't find things online that were appropriate, I created content on my history blog. So when the kids and parents read the book, they also click on my blog at times. It's been a great way to build a fan base in this genre.

When I came to the final chapter, I was actually sad to say goodbye to her. She had won my admiration and I wanted to spend some more time with her.

I only hope my readers wanted to as well.

How about you? Has there ever been a character you were sad to say goodbye to? Let me know. I want to meet them.

 Karla Akins is a pastor's wife, mother of five, grandma to five beautiful little girls and author of the best-selling Jacques Cartier (that went #1 on Amazon in its category), O Canada! Her Story.  Sacagawea was released in Jan. 2013. Her debut novel The Pastor's Wife Wears Biker Boots  is due out in 2013. One of her columns on MNN.com was featured on the CNN homepage. Represented by Hartline Literary Agency, she lives in North Manchester with her husband, twin teenage boys with autism, mother-in-law with Alzheimer's and three rambunctious dogs. When she's not writing she dreams of riding her motorcycle through the Smoky Mountains.

You Don't Need a Cast of Thousands

How many characters do you need in order to tell your story? If you're Hemingway writing The Old Man and the Sea, just two--the elderly fisherman and his trophy. If you're writing "Downton Abbey" or some other intergenerational saga, you need to introduce several dozen people to your readers. Clearly, it depends on the complexity of your plot and the intricacy of your narrative style.

For the sake of clarity and unencumbered pacing, it's best to keep the number of characters to a minimum. By "character," I mean an individual with a distinct name, description, and story role. For example, we may take our readers to a garden party with a hundred or so guests whose raucous laughter and gay apparel contribute to the mood of the evening, yet get acquainted only with our urbane hostess and her scowling maid. We've given readers two new characters and a roomful of party noise. (Trying to keep track of the rest would distract readers, even if we gave everyone name tags!)

So before you introduce a new character into your narrative, ask yourself a few tactical questions such as these:

• Will this person's identity, ideas, or actions move my hero closer to his/her goal?
• Will this person thwart my hero's quest? 
• Will this person's experience give my hero a crucial insight into what he/she must do?
• Will this person "take a bullet" for my hero--pull away someone who otherwise would encumber my hero, or fall victim to a hazard that otherwise might claim my hero?

If all such questions yield a "no," don't introduce the person as an individual character, but let him/her remain in the background. For example:

     "Have I any messages?" Hester asked, stripping her gray flannel gloves.

     The clerk turned to a rank of mailboxes and retrieved a folded half-sheet of stationery with her name hand-lettered on the outside.

     A chill ran down Hester's spine as she scanned its contents. How had Gretchen found her here?

The clerk performs an important function in this scene, but not so important that we need to be introduced. We don't know whether the clerk is male or female, young or old, natty or slovenly...because it doesn't matter. The note's the thing.

I once worked as an "extra" in a crowd scene for a college drama production. The director told us to mill about the stage doing things that a crowd normally would do in the city square, while muttering to one another, "Peas and carrots...Peas and carrots...Peas and carrots..." That way, the audience saw and heard us in the background, but their attention remained fixed on the main characters.

If an individual doesn't really advance your story, don't make that person a character. Let him be a nondescript "extra": No name, no physical characteristics, no inane dialogue--just peas and carrots.

Joe Allison and his wife, Judy, live in Anderson IN, where Joe serves as Coordinator of Publishing for Church of God Ministries, Inc. Joe has several nonfiction books in print, including Swords and Whetstones: A Guide to Christian Bible Study Resources. He's currently writing a trilogy of Christian historical novels set in the Great Depression.

Visit Joe's blog at http://hoosierwriter.wordpress.com

Ye Shall Know Them By Their T-Shirts

By Jeff Reynolds

On a vacation earlier this year, my wife Becky and I stopped at a rest area. As I headed to the restroom, a gentleman walked out wearing a T-Shirt which read, “Sarcasm is another service I provide.”

A second later, it hit me. I need a line on my character profiles listing what T-shirts they have.

After all, the slogan shirts someone has tells something about them. They also can make a first impression. For example, one weekend I was reading at Lazy Daze Coffeehouse when a young girl and her friends came in. Her shirt read, “Cute is what I aim for.” Over it, she wore a sweater with a pattern of alternating roses and poison symbols.

Bumper stickers and posters can be included in that section. In my WIP, my main character leaves his teen-age daughter in the car as he visits a friend at the hospital. When he leaves, he takes a look at an empty car and wondered if the girl ran off. Then, he notices bumper stickers on the car he thinks at his and realizes that definitely isn't his car.

Side note. In this case, I used bumper stickers that the character would not use. The fact that he wouldn't have certain bumper stickers reveal his character just as clearly as one he would have.

I have several T-shirts with sayings on them. Some were given to me when I was a member of the YMCA in Tennessee ages ago, that rarely are worn off my property. A pair were acquired at work. Another four are from political campaigns, two of which were successful and two which weren't. (One of the two was for my former state rep – last year's redistricting gave me both a different state rep and state senator.)

I also have two T-shirts from Voice of the Martyrs. The first has the VOM logo on the front pocket and on the back the eyes of a lion with the words, “It didn't end at the Roman Coliseum. Christians Still Die.” The other's back features Romans 1:16 on the back while the front informs you, “This shirt is illegal in 52 countries” and lets you know how many countries are restricted (where official government policy persecutes believers) and how many are hostile (where the government's not involved but there are attacks on believers by the general population).

T-shirts and posters promoting certain musicians, actors, and movies/concert tours are another means of revealing something about the character. For that matter, so is sports paraphernalia. I remember a story of someone wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey early in '06, after they eliminated the Colts in the playoffs due to a missed field goal attempt. The name on the back of the jersey was Vanderjagt. If that name doesn't ring a bell, he was the Colts' field goal kicker that year.

The sports outfit reflects something about the person. If a character in Indianapolis is wearing a Manning jersey, is that jersey for the Colts, the Broncos, or the New York Giants? If he's wearing a Colts shirt, is the setting Indy, Baltimore, Boston, Nashville, or Beijing? If the name on the back is Tebow, it reflects something about the character regardless of whether the jersey is Broncos or Jets, or for that matter the city the character is in.

Hope my hints are helpful. Sometimes things like T-Shirts and bumper stickers help with developing personality. So does a blog. Today's blog, for example, let's you know that my genre of writing probably isn't historical romance.

Liar, Liar

Liar, liar, pants on fire
Hanging on a telephone wire.


Okay, I really don’t know what that little ditty means and when I turned to the Internet to figure it out, it wasn't much help. But we’ve all heard it, most likely even said it, at some point in our life. I don't make lying a practice in my life (and I hope you don't either) but let's face it, we sometimes need our characters to be able to tell a believable tall tale.

I recently heard about a book written by Janine Driver (with Mariska Van Aalst) called You Can't Lie to Me.  Driver, a” lie detection expert for the FBI, CIA, and ATF,” helps readers recognize when people are telling the truth and when those around you aren’t delivering it straight up. I haven’t read the book, but I think I may check it out. It sounds interesting  first because I’m a parent and I think it would come in handy. I also think it could benefit my writing by making my characters more authentic.

 As writers, we are always playing with characters, developing them, tweaking them, making them unique and memorable. I am a fairly new writer and I have some ideas of unusual or creative places to go to help flesh out characters, but I wonder what you do? What books, magazines, television shows, websites, or other sources do you use to make characters with believable ticks, habits, and mannerisms?

Nikki Studebaker Barcus

Three Tips for Creating Compelling Characters

I don’t know about you, but characters often make or break a story for me.  As a writer, I try to remember what makes some characters and their stories more compelling for me than others.  Here are a few tips I try to keep in mind as I write based on the characters that I love to read about again and again.

1)   Give your characters a few quirks.

Quirks are those things that we all have – whether we acknowledge them – that make us unique. It might be a penchant for constantly getting into trouble ala Anne of Green Gables, the girl who made lots of mistakes but tried to only make the same ones once. Or it might be a foilable like fighting the need to control EVERYTHING in our lives. 

2)   Put those characters into a situation that will force them to do the one thing they promised to never do.

In A Wedding Transpires on Mackinac Island, the heroine Alanna Stone has promised never to return

A Study in Character

Well, if anything will cause you to think about character, it is a house full of 9- and 10-year old boys. Son #2 turned ten today and last night he invited just a few of his buds for an evening of swimming, video games, playing outside in the dark, and eating way too much food.

On my personal blog I call Son #2 Jot because jot means "the smallest character". He is my littlest guy and he is for sure a character. He adores collecting rocks and bones and discovers fossils nearly every week in random places. His tender heart always roots for the under-dog and never wants to see anyone left out, teased, or hurt. As the baby of the family he excels at making us laugh and lightening any tense situation.

As I served up pizza, cake and ice cream last night, I listened to their banter, their negotiating skills, and their humor--all in light of their individual personalities. I have a fondness for studying personality, so this was fascinating to me.

Of the five boys sitting around my dining room table there was the Peacemaker, the Sports Star, the Entertainer, the Old Man, and the Loyal Friend. It was a study in characterization just listening from the other side of the door.

So today I've been thinking about character and my favorite characters.

So, my question for you is: How do you create believable, interesting, three-dimensional characters? What sources, resources, websites, books, charts, or other things do you use when you develop your characters? I'd love to hear some dialogue about how you get those gripping heroes, heroines, and villains.

Nikki Studebaker Barcus

What if Romeo had been called Baxter?

"Oh, Baxter." "Oh, Amelia Bedelia"

Despite Romeo’s claims to the contrary—all that business about roses—names are important. Juliette would have loved him the same, but for readers and viewers, “Baxter, oh, Baxter, where art thou, Baxter?” doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.

    

As a child, the Good Girls in my head had names like Aurora and Raina and Annie while the boys were Alistair and Alexander and John. Names I thought had integrity and strength. Bad Boys were Butch, Bill or Joe. Don’t ask me why, I have no idea. Others would have considered these fine, upstanding names. Whatever your personal preferences, names definitely leave a perception. When you name a character for strength, what names do you choose? Is it the same method for naming the evil or insincere personalities who populate your manuscripts?

Recently it was suggested that the names of two of my protagonists were outdated and readers might relate better if they underwent a name change. Hmm. I wonder. Is why I had trouble connecting with them myself? I usually choose names with care, but these two were such minor characters in the long ago, original version that I hadn’t bothered. I named her after someone I knew whose eyes I’d given her. I didn’t know she was a diva who would claw her way to center stage.

When choosing a name here are some points to ponder:

• Names can reflect nationality and culture. Would you have a Hindi character named Rajesh MacGyver? Possibly, but it better not be by accident. 
•  A strong name for readers from a different culture may not work for readers in mainstream USA.  I have known American men named Evelyn, Kaye, and Gayle. Uncommon in the US, but respectable British male names. Is your character carrying on the family name? Has a boy been named for Evelyn Waugh, his mother’s favorite British author? How will that affect him? 
• If a famous or infamous person shares that name, how will readers respond? What’s the first thing that comes to your mind at the name Lex Luther? Martin Luther? Luther Vandross? 
• When was the name popular? There are many sites to help you with this or you can check www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames  for popular names in the birth year of your character. I was always comfortable with my name even though there were three girls named Mary in my parochial school class. Today, Shanika, Mackenzie, or Flaherty are common. If you’re writing a book about a contemporary character should she be a Mary or a Flaherty? Popularity and age aren't the only considerations. 
• Be aware of nuances of meaning. Does your character personify his name? Does he grow into it as the story progresses? Is the name at complete odds with his actions? Does he like his name? 
• How does the name sound aloud? Is it rhythmical? Is it too similar to another character’s name? A reader may have difficulty differentiating between a Jack and a Jock in the same story, unless you plan for it. What kind of emotion does the name elicit? Think Amelia Bedelia.
• Watch for how the initials or nicknames would look. Did you ever consider the potential travel problems for Karen Kay Kline and her boyfriend Albert Qaeda?  

A well chosen name can help a reader connect to a character.  The character’s personality, strengths, flaws, even her relationship with her family should influence the decision. If the name doesn’t seem to fit or doesn’t resonate with beta readers, choose another. Now, back to 100,000 Baby Names by Bruce Lansky.

Mary Allen is taking a break from renaming full grown characters to celebrate July 4th by attending the big parade with her family and by reading her poetry at the Arts in the Park concert. Have a safe celebration, especially those in drought stricken and fire damaged areas. Remember, in Christ we are truly free.