Letting God Lead Your Writing

[kriswrite]

I've read several of Trisha Goyer's novels; I recommend them to you all. Today I was browsing her website, and I ran across a really great section on letting God lead you in your writing. Trisha tells her own story in this regard, but it really spoke to me. Perhaps it will speak to you, too:

http://www.triciagoyer.com/ Click "On Writing" at the top of the page.

Kristina

[dulcigal]

Thanks, Kristina! I did read that before, but I'm looking at it now from a different perspective, and it's speaking to me again!

[mel3]

Interesting read.

[P.K.mama]

Great advice that I think we all need to remember.

[smokey the dog]

Experiencing God is a great study!

[GentleJourneyAu]

Excellent article. Thanks Kristina.

[kara]

Thank you so much! I really needed that! Gosh! my desire is to know Him so much, and to feel His pleasure in my doing exactly what, when, and how He wants me!!!!
thanks again!

[paulchernoch]

You have given me something to think about.

- Paul

[saz]

Wow...that really touched me. Thank you for posting the link.

[paulchernoch]

I said I'd think about it - letting God lead me in my writing - and I thought about it. For months, inside I could tell there was something important missing from my third novel. For some time I have known the question: how are nations judged - and how should that influence my story? I had no answer, so I went along with what I did know.

I prayed about it. Already I had narrowed the focus to two nations: the US and China. And I had two important characters that got stranded far from the action and needed something to do, a fitting conclusion to their part of the story.

Then it came to me. The important question is not how are nations are targeted for God's wrath, but how they are shown mercy. The evil is everywhere evident, but the anguished prayer of a Jeremiah, an Isaiah, a Moses or an Abraham to spare a people - this is hidden from the sight of men. The divine work of intercession, perpetually undertaken by the Holy Spirit, is the mystery my story needs to reveal.

So Wynona, my intrepid reporter who is always trying to uncover secret plots, will accept the burden of interceding for America for one day. If she can last that one day, America will be spared - for one day - which may be long enough for the hero to win the battle in the spiritual realm. The catch: if she wants to spare the nation, she has to appeal for forgiveness for every citizen - by name. With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. So she is bound to walk the streets of America for what to her is a thousand years, searching out every single American, to touch them and instantly know the depth of their sin, and ask God for a pardon.

When she comes to the end, though, she is one soul short. There is one American whom she cannot forgive, a traitor who is openly cooperating with the forces of evil to bring about the destruction of the world. She is out of strength, the clock tolls the final hour, and her capacity for mercy is overwhelmed. That is when the one who has been secretly following her appears and completes what she is unable to do.

I believe I have found the heart of my novel. I would not have found it without the wonderful discussions on this website. Writing this new chapter, which is to fall two thirds of the way through the book, will be a joy.

- Paul

[kriswrite]

Very cool, Paul.

I, too, have done a lot of thinking about praying about the direction pf my writing. God has surprised me by encouraging me to step away from nonfiction and instead go back to a fiction manuscript I abandoned a number of years ago. The difference now, though, is that it's no longer a secular novel.

I have finally found the kernal that was missing in that book that I always wanted to finish but never could. Goyer's article was the first step toward finding that kernal.

Kristina