Part Two of Great News!
(Continued from last week)

In the same way my great-nephew has turned our world upside down with his presence, for authors of fiction, so should the characters in our novels. Developing their stories gives them flesh and feelings and a future which is hard for a writer to shake simply because she is finished writing for the day. And if I do my job right, my readers will sense this as well.

Remember when soap operas were all the rage (not that I watched them regularly but certainly could not escape others around me who did) and you would overhear someone in the grocery store talking to another about the death of a supposed mutual friend? Then to your shock, the shopper would mention the name and you would realize it was only a character on one of the daily programs!

There is a reason those TV shows endured for such a long time and were so popular with women—the characters jumped out of the screen and into the hearts of the viewers, becoming alive in more ways than one to them. They had a stake in what happened to them, how they felt during it, and where it would take them in the future. In other words, they lived their tragedies and joys along with them!

Unfortunately, my great-nephew lives in another state and I haven’t gotten to hold him yet. Nevertheless, he is alive to me and powerful in his impact on my heart. It’s because after months of praying for him and anticipating his birth, now I’ve seen his photos, read the comments of his parents and other family members who are there (thanks to FaceBook!), and felt with my heart how real he is. Just this morning I saw a photo of his little hands, folded in front of his face while he slept, and my heart melted all over again!

How can I translate this emotion onto the printed page and into the lives of my characters? In what way can I use this powerful feeling I have about someone I’ve never met and translate it for the characters in my novel, bringing them to life for my readers? It has to begin with experiencing the emotions for myself, then I will more easily be able to put them into words which will pierce the hearts of my readers and stay with them long after they complete the book. I don’t have to birth a child to know how it makes me feel, though it helps. Having loved one is enough to allow me to convey the complexity of this special experience in written form, to show and not simply tell about it.

For the past week, God has been instructing me through this precious little one and now I’m eager to push my characters even deeper, so they might live in yet another dimension instead of being restricted to the pages of my novel. They have a message to share with others and I am only the tool the Lord has used to help them do so. I hope some day people will talk about my characters in the grocery store and with great excitement read and re-read my works to discover more depth than they saw the first time through. It is then I will know I have succeeded in validating the emotion I’ve felt this past week for my great-nephew as well as how my heavenly Father can continue to stretch me as an author.

Look for similar situations in your own life and see how God can expand your horizons as a writer and as a human being, made in His image and inspired by His love!