by Jan Drexler
I have a problem. The hero of my work-in-progress, The First Rose of Spring, is the epitome of a nice guy. He’s smart. He’s brave. He’s willing to sacrifice his future for the well-being of a stranger.
And a cowboy.
Some of you are asking, “What’s wrong with that? He sounds perfect!”
Yes, we all love the nice guy. But the problem is that a perfect character doesn’t lend himself to conflict. And without conflict, there’s no story.
What is an author to do?
Justice Cooper’s biggest problem is his perfection.
Think about it – no one is really perfect, right? If someone appears to be perfect, you know it’s only on the surface. Underneath that smooth exterior there’s a flaw.
A big one.
The bigger the better.
Justice Cooper’s biggest problem is his perfection.
Think about it – no one is really perfect, right? If someone appears to be perfect, you know it’s only on the surface. Underneath that smooth exterior there’s a flaw.
A big one.
The bigger the better.
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Coop’s character will only grow when he becomes broken – when he realizes that he is not strong enough, not smart enough, not brave enough to be the man God has called him to be.
My job as the author of this story is to break Coop. Bring him to the lowest point he can possibly reach so that he is forced to look outside himself for the answer to his problems. The way to do that is to tap into his internal conflict.
Finding your character's internal conflict is a post for another day, but in a nutshell, Coop's internal conflict, the Lie he believes, is that God requires him to be perfect before he can be used for His glory.
That brings me to the theme of the story.
What is the theme? In general, it’s the Truth you’re trying to convey to your readers. In a Christian book, the theme quite often involves a Bible verse – in fact, that’s why I include a verse in the front matter of my books.
The verse for this story is, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV
How do I convey that theme to my readers throughout the book?
This is a subtle process because we want our readers to discover the all-important truth of our theme through our telling of the story.
I start by brainstorming images that will illustrate my theme of “strength in weakness through relying on God.”
A delicate wild rose on a windswept prairie…
An abandoned mail-order bride standing up to her tormentors…
A preacher who is failing until he bends to God’s will…
And then I write those images into my story.
The next question is: How do I do this?
I am always thankful for people who are smarter than I am. We learn how to write through reading blog posts like this one, talking to other writers, and reading craft books.
The craft book that helped me the most with relaying the theme through my story is The Moral Premise by Stan Williams. I first heard about this book here on Seekerville back in 2012.
The Moral Premise is used by many people as a method of outlining their stories, but once I had that mastered, I dug further into what the moral premise was and how to use it to deepen my story-telling.
Here are the links to Stan William's appearances on Seekerville: October 15, 2010, Myra's interview with Dr. Williams from October 1, 2012, Missy's take on The Moral Premise from January 13, 2014, and a post from Myra on Irony and The Moral Premise from October 15, 2015.
Here is the link to Stan William's website where you can find all sorts of information, encouragement, and free tools: Stan William's website
And, of course, you can buy his book on Amazon:
Leave a comment to tell us what you do to add depth to your story or share your favorite writing craft book. One commentor will win a $10 Amazon gift card - you can use it to buy a book to add to your TBR pile, or to purchase your own copy of The Moral Premise. :-)
Meanwhile, watch for the release of The First Rose of Spring this summer!
