Characters in the making

Believable, authentic characters that people can relate to and empathize with. That's my goal. Lately I've been focusing on getting inside of the characters even more than I have already, wearing their skin, feeling their feelings, experiencing their experiences, developing who they are and how they see the world.

There's some challenge to that...how do you get inside a character that lives in an entirely different world? The setting is ancient Israel, 1000 years before Christ...that's 3,000 years ago! They had a totally different world view, diet, manner of speaking, style of dress, daily life and tasks, and a thousand other cultural and environmental differences compared to what we have in our world today. Yes, some of my research has helped me flesh out the details...but yet so many details are missing. Yes, there will have to be some informed, creative imagination goin on in order to bring this story to life. My characters have to speak in a way that modern readers can appreciate and understand...so for the most part they are using dialogue that sounds more modern than archaic. Obviously what they talk about and even some of the idioms they use have to be relevant to their timeperiod.

On the other hand, people are people. What overcomes cultural and time-period differences is going to be real-to-life human emotions, thoughts, reactions, personality differences, conflicts, love interests, ambitions, dreams and the list goes on and on. I want you to get into the characters I create and deeply relate to them on a human level. We may live in a totally different kind of world than they did back then, but many of the flaws, emotions, fears, joys, dreams, struggles that we have today have been experienced by people throughout history. I want you to relate to Benaiah, who is a complex character with a unique personality and a difficult set of circumstances and a journey that will reveal to him the depths of his personality and his need. He has a spiritual hole in his soul that only the true God can fill. He has a deep need for love and forgiveness and spiritual peace that the world cannot give. His journey will take him to the brink of himself and challenge him physically, mentally and spritually. He will experience things that we can only imagine. His friends, his family and his fellow soldiers play a huge role in that journey and each of them are unique and interesting personalities. This is where this story is coming to life and where I am having the most fun writing it. I am enjoying developing these characters, making them come alive on the pages and telling their story. Please keep me in your prayers as I continue to write and rewrite and research and create and pray that God can use me and this project for his glory and the good of his mission in the world.