One of the most exciting things about being a writer is whenpieces of the real world around me fit, reflect, teach or enhance various partsof whatever project I happen to be working on.
I'll hear about a principle that one of my charactersstruggles with, or a song that reflects something one of my characters mightfeel.
These little nuggets—when real life and fictionintersect—are what fuels fiction. It makes the setting, the circumstances, thecharacters, come alive in a writer's mind.
Since I write Christian fiction, very often my intersectionsoccur at church or in a Bible Study. No surprise there, since a spiritualthread runs unapologetically throughout all of my fiction.
Recently both church and Bible study provided someGod-inspired fodder.
My new project, tentatively titled Great Deeds Never Die, revolves mainly around one deed my hero didwhich greatly impacted the quality of his life. My Henry did something heknows was wrong—he's stolen money, and not just a little. He's stolen a lot.Enough, in fact, to allow him to become a rich and influential banker in 1880sDenver.
Since my characters go with me everywhere, even as I'm sitting in church on Sunday morning or sittingat my Bible study session, whenever something comes up that might apply to one of mycharacters, my note-taking may take a brief detour.
At church, my pastor referenced a verse from Titus (1:16).From the Good News version: They claimthey know God, but their actions deny it…
My character, by being an upstanding, church-going man inhis community, knows how to "act" like a Christian. But he gave up anyauthenticity in that area a long time ago, and because he clings to his secret hedoesn't want to change. So his action denies his claim that he knows God.Perhaps that verse will come up in my story to remind him of his struggle…
In the study I'm doing with a large group of women (BethMoore's updated study on the Heart of David), she referenced James 5:16: So then, confess your sins to one another,and pray for one another, so that you will be healed… Through this verse, Beth Moore suggestedhonesty with one another to prevent any sin from ruling over us. Obviously mycharacter is being ruled by the sin of his past. Here's another thought thatmight help free my poor, guilty Henry: a reminder that he's not free. Hissecret sin rules nearly every decision he makes. Won't he want to break free ofthat?
As you can see, it's exactly this kind of thing that helpsme not only to understand what my characters might be feeling, but how theBible would help them out of their troubles—thereby helping me to write acredible and happy ending (once I get there, which at the moment seemsimpossibly far away!).
The only danger here would be to attribute all of these nuggetsof truth only to my characters, forgetting God might have something to teach me along the way, too!
Just so you won't think it's only my hero getting all theattention, my heroine has a song that helps me evoke some of her thoughts andemotions. She's a woman with a mission: she wants to help the fallen women ofDenver, and in a territory that was largely mining towns full of lonely men,there would have been plenty of women for her to help. She decides to open an1880s version of a women's shelter, loosely inspired by Hull House in Chicagoand Toynbee Hall in England.
Whenever I hear Laura Story sing her song "Blessings" I cannot help but imagine myheroine singing it to the wounded and fragile women she's trying to help.
I'll leave you with a YouTube video of this lovely song. Mayit bless you today!

And by the way . . . how do you like the blog's new look?