COMING UP WITH "NOVEL" IDEAS

A number of times I’ve been asked the question, “How do you come up with the ideas for your novels?” And often on the heels of that question comes another: “Is the story about you?”

In answer to the first question, typically I begin by thinking of an issue that affects a broad spectrum of society, something the average person would likely struggle with. That way the reader will hopefully connect with my main character. From that point I try to come up with a theme—the message I hope to communicate through the story and ultimately pointing back to God. In the end, I realize a dozen different readers could walk away with a dozen different opinions of a story’s meaning, but this is the glory of fiction—it becomes so personal.

In answer to the second question I would have to say yes and no. A piece of me is in each story I write, yet the stories are also a conglomeration of several elements including personal struggles and experiences, aspects of family and friends, discoveries made through researching and interviewing, and finally—pure imagination. It’s the melding of these different facets that makes fiction writing so enjoyable!

In my first book, Soul Cry, the overall theme was the sovereignty of God. Expanding on this, I wanted to convey the message that even Christians undergo horrific trials and are not always shielded from the gruesome hardships of this world simply because they are God’s children. It was a story I needed to write in order to clarify in my own mind that no matter what happens to us, God is intimately in control and is abundantly able to bring good out of bad.

In my second book, An Old-Fashioned Love, the theme was purity. I wanted to demonstrate the crippling effects of sexual immorality upon one’s soul and to show how adhering to God’s design brings great blessing. The inspiration behind this novel was my sorrow over the moral decay of our culture’s sexual values, knowing first hand the pain and suffering that naturally flows from promiscuous living. I wanted to demonstrate cause and effect, although I don’t know whether I succeeded in doing that or not.

Currently I’m finishing up my third novel with the working title The Truth About Shauna McGrath. It's a story about a young, career-minded woman who must come to terms with accepting that she suffers from clinical depression. I recently read a staggering statistic—three out of five women in America suffer from some type of mental disorder. What saddens me is that despite the great strides the medical field has made in this area, the subject matter is still shrouded in stigma and judgment. My goal for this novel is to help dispel the guilt and shame that plagues so many who suffer from this condition.