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What Should We Do on the Sabbath?

April 13, 2016
God's Gifts to Us, Ministry, Perspective
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marriage supper of the lamb

In our previous post, we saw that Sabbath meant rest and we looked at a number of verses that talked about when various Christian in the Bible met. Jews traditionally maintained their Saturday Sabbath whereas the Gentile or Greek believers met on Sunday which they considered the Lord’s Day because that was the day he overcame death. If you missed this post, click here to check it out.

Today we are going to continue with this Sabbath theme and discuss what we should do on the Sabbath. (Don’t worry, it won’t be all that painful)

First, Cease from Working

Since the word Sabbath means rest, it is a day when we should rest from our everyday work. since the old testament law is a teacher and a foreshadow of what Christ has for us, we can look at when God first instructed the Jews in honoring their Sabbath. He had taken the Israelites out of Egypt and started feeling them manna. Every day they were supposed to gather their portion of manna and eat it. The only exception was the Friday before the Sabbath Day when they were told to pick up enough for that day too because there would not be any manna to pick up that day. After the Israelites settled, they were to continue the tradition of not gathering or preparing food on the Sabbath. Everyone was to rest from their labors.

What does that mean for us today? Well, if we are to continue resting from work on the Sabbath, I would think that we should also assist others in being able to rest on our Sabbath as well. As much as we are able that its. I think that we should be sensitive to those people who work in food services on our Sabbath. Granted, our Sabbath may not be their Sabbath, but I think that we need to show consideration to those who are allowing us to rest from working, cooking, and serving on our day of rest. I think that one of the worst things that we can do in our Christian walk is to mistreat those who serve us in restaurants. Both my own personal experience in the past as a cook and waitress who had to work on Sundays (my chosen Sabbath) and those I have known in food services all agree that some of the meanest spirited, demanding people who we have had to serve were people who had just come into the restaurant from a church service. And tip? I got far better tips from motorcyclist groups. Not only that, but they often treated me as though I were a heathen because I worked on Sunday. I cannot tell you how many tracts I got in leau of gratuity. When I have brought this to the attention of other Christians, I have been given the excuse that sometimes they just didn’t have the money to leave a decent tip. My response to that is that if they cannot afford to leave a tip, then perhaps they should have gone out for fast food (where no gratuity was expected)rather than to a sit down meal.

Second, Celebrate What God Has Done

The word Sabbath not only includes the concept of resting from work, but it also denotes the idea of celebration. Because God rested on the seventh day after all of his creation, the Israelites celebrated and praised God for his creation. As Christians, we too can do this. This time of year I find it especially easy to worship God through his creation. Everything is coming to life and the colors are so vivid after the drabness of winter. We have so much to be grateful for. We have been given so much. Our gratitude and praise is what God is looking for from us as we rest from toil and focus our attention on him.

In addition to worshiping God for his creation, we Christians also have Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. We also have the gift of His Spirit living  inside of us, our helper, our counselor. We can also celebrate everything that his work on the cross gave to us. In addition to salvation to an eternity with Christ, as believers, he offers us healing in spirit mind, and body..

Third, Gather Together

One of the biggest arguments that I have heard from others about why they don’t go to church is that they can worship God wherever they are. Although that is true, God is available everywhere, I cannot recall anywhere in the Old or New testament where anyone thought that worshiping alone was what they were supposed to do on a regular basis. At first, the goal was to go to the Temple in Jerusalem for as many major days as possible. when the temple was not available, Jews built synagogues in the cities where they lived. Christians throughout the Bible also gathered together even at the risk of persecution or even death, they gathered together to worship God.

We also get together to pray. As the word says, where two or more agree as touching anything,, God will do whatever they ask. That’s some pretty powerful stuff when you think about the idea that one will put a thousand to flight and two ten thousand. Imagine what prayer could do if a whole church filled with people believed what God promised!

When we cease from our labors and gather together in prayer and  to praise of God for all that he has done for us, the Sabbath becomes a day of true celebration. At least one day in seven becomes a day of celebration. Joy begins to radiate in our lives to the point that we are gracious to all those we mean, even those who serve us.

IMG_8330 final copy

 

Donna Brown is pastor at Faith in God Church  1 1/2 miles south of Brandsville, Missouri on Hwy 63. Sunday services are at 10 am and Wednesday night Bible Study at 6:30 pm.   As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and most recently, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga

Her most recent publication were two booklets Help From Kelp and Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard. Available in paperback 

Get a free e-book copy of Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard, when you sign up for my free newsletter

.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her book, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .

Developing Character Back Stories

April 12, 2016
The Productive Writer
2 Comments

I think that the most writing that I ever do regarding writing that never make it into my novels is in writing the character back stories.

Just as Pinocchio wanted to be a real boy rather than a wooden puppet, your characters also want to be real.

Just as Pinocchio wanted to be a real boy rather than a wooden puppet, your characters also want to be real.

 

If you remember from my last post, I mentioned that Pinocchio was a wooden puppet who wanted to be a real boy and that characters in stories are asking  the same courtesy.  The real story behind Pinocchio was that he gained the experience of being a boy. He developed a history that explained why it was important to tell the truth. Like a boy he learned that strangers don’t have your best interests at heart and so one. As he went through his adventures, he became fleshed out as it were. He developed a backstory which made him less wooden and more like a real boy. In the same token, our characters want to be fleshed out with backstory as well.

Happy Birthday Character!

 

I begin my character’s backstory by giving him/her a birthday. This way, as I am writing my story if I want to discover how old a character is at any specific time in the book all I just have to determine the character’s age in context  by his/her birthday. Sometimes it helps to understand the circumstances of a character’s birth. For instance, when I started writing Soldiers Don’t Cry, I worked on the character backgrounds of Rachel Mayford and her younger sister Elizabeth Thorton. Rachel was quite a bit older than Elizabeth so why was that? Rachel and Elizabeth had different fathers. Why was that? This back story  lead to the creation of Rachel and Elizabeth’s parents which lead to the creation of an earlier episode of the Locket Saga: When God Turned His Head.

What was the character’s birth like? In A Coward’s Solace, James McCray had a difficult birth. Did this affect his life long term?

Develop Unique Physical Characteristics

 

Every person is different and the more detailed you can get with the physical characteristics of each character, the more you will get to know their physical attributes. For instance, in one of my future stories in the Locket Saga, one of the boys will be mauled by a bear. In subsequent books, when he is mentioned, he will have to live with the scars of that incident both physical and emotional.

Does your character have a scar? How did he get it? Does she have a birth mark? Did the other kids make fun of it when she was growing up? Does she have a lazy eye? Does he wear glasses?

What Makes Your Character Tick?

Does your character have any unusual ticks or tags that he uses again and again? In When God Turned His Head, a minor character had a habit of smoking a pipe everywhere he went.

Reaction to Significant personal or Historical Events

 

What does your character remember about significant or historical events before the beginning of the story? How did that affect them? Personally I remember when Kennedy was shot. I was four years old and sitting in front of the television eating a bowl of cereal when it was announced.

I also remember when my brother Tom was born a year earlier. I remember that Aunt Mary was cleaning windows when we awoke that morning to learn that Mom went into the hospital “to get our brother”. I remember my brother Allen being dropped off at Uncle Carl’s and my sister Carol and I went to Aunt Mabel’s and we spent Christmas there. I remember waking up Christmas morning and seeing a brand new doll for me under Aunt Mabel’s snowy white Christmas tree. I named the doll Susannah after Susannah of the Mounties played by Shirley Temple.

Create memories like that for your characters.

Include Not so Happy Events

I remember when I was about five or six when we were at my Uncle Warner’s house and mouse was in the house. Family members were trying to scoot the mouse out of the house with a broom. My brother Allen, my cousin Randy and I all climbed up into a chair to avoid the mouse. The mouse in its terror climbed up the back of the chair. I remember seeing its fangs (real or imagined I don’t know. It’s just how I remembered it.).  Allen and I jumped out of the chair and ran to the safety of the couch. The chair went over backwards because Randy moved slower than we did. All three of us were phobic of rodents from then on.

Relationships

How does your character get along with others? Do they dislike certain people? Why? What exactly makes them dislike this person? Did your character and his/her best friend have a fight that never resolved?

In When God Turned His Head, John Adams defends Drusilla. In Soldiers Don’t Cry Peter Mayford has had a falling out with him because John defended the soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. In Sailing Under the Black Flag, John Adams has a cameo appearance early in the book and convinces Peter to include his ships in privateering activities during the American Revolution.

Who does he like? Who doesn’t he like? Why? Why not? Is there a story behind his or her reasoning or is it simply a gut reaction this person has about this other person?

Look at each character write down everything you can discover about this person. The more you work on your character’s backstory, the more real this character will seem to you, the more like a real person that character will become. Your character’s backstory may end up being tens of pages long, but that’s okay. Of course, you won’t be putting every detail of this back story into the story line, but don’t worry about not including every detail because it will be there, between the lines.

IMG_8330 final copy

Donna Brown is pastor at Faith in God Church  1 1/2 miles south of Brandsville, Missouri on Hwy 63. Sunday services are at 10 am and Wednesday night Bible Study at 6:30 pm.   As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and most recently, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga

Her most recent publication were two booklets Help From Kelp and Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard. Available in paperback 

Get a free e-book copy of Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard, when you sign up for my free newsletter

.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her book, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .

 

 

Video Friday: Common Garden Planning Mistakes

April 8, 2016
Video Friday
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All over the country people are planting their gardens. This video shows how you can avoid the three most common garden planning mistakes.

Can you Think of other mistakes? How do you prevent mistakes like this in your garden?

The Garden Planner is available from several major websites and seed suppliers:
http://www.GrowVeg.com
http://gardenplanner.motherearthnews….
http://gardenplanner.almanac.com/
and many more…

IMG_8330 final copy

Donna Brown is pastor at Faith in God Church  1 1/2 miles south of Brandsville, Missouri on Hwy 63. Sunday services are at 10 am and Wednesday night Bible Study at 6:30 pm.   As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and most recently, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga

Her most recent publication were two booklets Help From Kelp and Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard. Available in paperback

.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her book, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .

Marketing Your Brand as a Writer Starts with You

April 7, 2016
Perspective, The Marketing Focus
2 Comments

Stephen King

Stephen King, Author

Who Do You Say that You Are?

Look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see yourself an aspiring writer? A Wanna Be? I say, it’s time to stop. You are either a writer or you’re not. You might be a beginning writer,, a writer in training rather than someone who is aspiring to be a writer. a number of other published authors agree. I have read this idea from Kristen Lamb and Jeff Goins. Stop calling yourself an aspiring writer. If you write, you’re a writer. If you don’t, you’re either a non-writer or a procrastinating writer, but aspiring or wannabe? No, lets drop that idea.

But I am just starting out, you say. I can’t call myself a real writer. Real Writers. . .( you fill in the blank.) These are goals that you want to accomplish because you want to become a real writer. Whatever you answer to what a real writer is, those are goals that you have toward becoming a real writer. Rather than calling yourself a “wannabe” or an aspiring writer,  call yourself a Writer Apprentice instead. You are a writer apprentice studying under the greats. What great writing styles have you studied? Have you read Stephen King’s On Writing, A Memoir of Craft? Now read it again, take notes, learn and apply his style to yours. Do this and you will have studied under Stephen King. The other day I re-read Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography. I studied under Benjamin Franklin. What other authors have you studied under? What authors have you studied the work of greats in your genre? Gresham? Lawrence? Don’t know who they are? Go to amazon and search under your chosen genre. Whose names are at the front page? Apprentice under those writers, learn what makes their writing great or at least popular. How good is your grammar and spelling? Do you need to study those? Include those in your apprenticeship program. Do you write every day. Do you write at least in a journal? Do you do writing prompts? Do you have works in progress? Do you at least have ideas for works in progress. Finally, do what you consider a real writer does. Fulfill what you believe a real writer does and consider yourself graduated from apprentice to real writer.

Your Brand Mirrors Your Goals

I am a real writer and I brand myself as such. Real writers write. Real writers convince others that they are real writers. Not the other way around. I am a real writer because i do what I believe real writers do. I brand myself as a real writer. I dress as I perceive a real writer and author. dresses. I have the confidence of a real writer, and most important, I have the goals that I believe a real writer and author has. I have done my apprenticeship time, I am doing what I believe a real writer like King, Gresham and Lawrence, therefore, I am a real writer and I write fantastic books. So far I have written six books, three fiction, three nonfiction. I am working on two more and brewing several more.

This is the end of the first whole week in April and the end of the first week in the second quarter of the year. I figured that now was a good time to look at my goals anyway, so it makes sense at this point to determine if who I present myself to be lines up with those goals.I found that yes, i have been very productive as a writer, but my marketing has not been what I would like it to be, yet. My problem isn’t hat I don’t think that I am a fantastic writer. No, my problem is that I have not convinced others that I am a fantastic writer.

Become Your Own Character

When writing my novels, I can’t really say that I create them as much as I discover who they are. In a sense, it is the same with branding myself as an author. I am discovering who I am and in the process creating my persona as an author.

Marketing my brand as a real author of great books begins not with the reader, but with me the writer. As stated several times, I know that I am a real writer because I do what real writers do. I writer great books. I am convinced that I am a real writer and marketing involves convincing others that I am an author of great books. How do I do that? To begin, I look like what others expect the persona of  a good author to look like. I need to have the confidence of a genuine author of great books. Developing this personas must be in line with my future goals. It’s not the fake it till you make it. Its more like convincing others about what I already know about myself. Developing my brand as an author involves looking at how I want to perceive myself and emulate who I am.

Last night I went to a meeting and at the meeting I was introduced as the President of the Oregon County Writer’s Group as well as the author of six books. I was proudly able to add that my seven book was to be published soon. That was a place where someone else recognized who I was and my accomplishments. I didn’t have to beg others to “read my book”. I was recognized for my accomplishments. I am developing my persona on a local level. I am developing my persona on the internet as well.

Branding is Focus

There are so many different avenues that I could take in my writing, but I have decided to focus on two areas. One is natural, sustainable living and the other is my fiction series: The Locket Saga. I have written numerous online articles about gardening, written two booklets about natural substances that enhance sustainable living (on the cheap, I might add). My fiction series is historical Christian romance, heavy on the history with clean romance and light Christian content. Since I am also a pastor, this plays into my focus as well. What I write under my pseudonym and under my real name are all part of who I perceive myself as an author and the message that I want to share. Anything outside of that and I would have to develop a totally different brand. Something that at this time, I am not ready to do. I prefer to be true to my beliefs.

IMG_8330 final copy

Cygnet Brown, Author

Donna Brown is pastor at Faith in God Church  1 1/2 miles south of Brandsville, Missouri on Hwy 63. Sunday services are at 10 am and Wednesday night Bible Study at 6:30 pm.   As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and most recently, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga

Her most recent publication were two booklets Help From Kelp and Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard. Available in paperback 

Get a free e-book copy of Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard, when you sign up for my free newsletter

.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her book, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .

How Does the Sabbath Fit Into the New Covenant?

April 6, 2016
Cultural Influence, Perspective
1 Comment

A friend of mine mentioned the other day that the Jews have 613 laws that they follow in the Torah and he said that he only followed ten. I told him that I only follow the two that Jesus said we had to follow and was Love God with all our heart, soul, and mind along with love your neighbor as yourself which sums up the law and the prophets. And actually, we can round that out to just one four letter word and that is LOVE.

The Gospel sound simple put in these terms, doesn’t it. Love God, Love Others as you love yourself. However, there are those who would like to add another law from the ten commandments and that is Honor the Sabbath Day to Keep it Holy. The question then comes to mind, Where does Honoring the Sabbath Day to Keep it Holy fall into these two commandments. Is it possible that Jesus forgot to include it?

The Hebrew word for Sabbath is Shabbath (Hebrew-Strongs 7676) which comes from the word shabath  (7673)which means “to desist from exertion, to celebrate.” This isn’t about God trying to make us stop working on the seventh day so that we follow his law. It is about God blessing us with his rest.

The Bible says that we are to take one day in seven to rest as God rested. The Bible told the Jews that they were to worship God on the seventh day which commemorated the celebration of God’s finished work of creation.

Many Christians today believe that we should celebrate Christ’s resurrection which occurred on the first day of the week. Is there a correct day of the week to enter God’s rest? Is it Saturday or should it be Sunday? Does the Bible say anything about whether we should worship on Saturday or Sunday?

 

There are many references in the book of Acts about the early Christian church meeting together on the Sabbath (Saturday) to pray and study the Scriptures. Here are some examples:

 

Acts 13:13-14

Paul and his companions … On the Sabbath they went to the synagogue for the services.

(NLT)

 

Acts 16:13

On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer …

(NLT)

 

Acts 17:2

As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people.

(NLT)

However, there are also several references to Sunday worship

The gentile Christians began meeting on Sundays soon after Christ rose from the dead, in honor of the Lord’s resurrection, which took place on a Sunday, or the first day of the week. This verse has Paul instructing the churches to meet together on the first day of the week (Sunday) to give offerings:

 

1 Corinthians 16:1-2

Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

(NIV)

 

And when Paul met with believers in Troas to worship and celebrate communion, they gathered on the first day of the week:

 

Acts 20:7

On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.

(NIV)

 

While some believe the transition from Saturday to Sunday worship began right after the resurrection, others see the change as a gradual progression over the course of history. Most Christians today believe Sunday is the Christian Sabbath day. They base this concept on verses like Mark 2:27-28 and Luke 6:5 where Jesus says he is “Lord even of the Sabbath,” implying that he has the power to change the Sabbath to a different day. Christian groups that adhere to a Sunday Sabbath feel that the Lord’s command was not specifically for the seventh day, but rather, one day out of the seven week days. By changing the Sabbath to Sunday (what many refer to as “the Lord’s Day”), or the day the Lord resurrected, they feel it symbolically represents the acceptance of Christ as Messiah, and his broadening blessing and redemption from the Jews to the entire world.

 

Other traditions, such as Seventh-day Adventists, still observe a Saturday Sabbath. Since honoring the Sabbath was part of the original Ten Commandments given by God, they believe it is a permanent, binding command that should not be changed.

 

Interestingly, Acts 2:46 tells us that from the start, the church in Jerusalem met every day in the temple courts and gathered to break bread together in private homes.

 

So, perhaps a better question might be, are Christians under obligation to observe a designated Sabbath day? I believe we get a clear answer to this question in the New Testament. Let’s look at what the Bible says. These verses in Romans 14 suggest that there is personal freedom regarding the observance of holy days:

 

Romans 14:5-6

In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him. Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God.

(NLT)

 

In Colossians 2 Christians are instructed not to judge or allow anyone to be their judge regarding Sabbath days:

 

Colossians 2:16-17

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

(NIV)

 

And in Galatians 4, Paul is concerned because Christians are turning back like slaves to legalistic observances of “special” days:

 

Galatians 4:8-10

So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years.

(NLT)

 

As followers of Christ, we are no longer under legalistic obligation, for the requirements of the law were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Everything we have, and every day we live, belongs to the Lord. Giving him one day out of seven is  the very least that we should give honor his sacrifice to us. We are not to do it as an obligation but as a joyous celebration of his love for us. Finally, as Romans 14 instructs, we should be “fully convinced” that whichever day we choose is the right day for us to set aside as a day of worship. And as Colossians 2 warns, we should not judge or allow anyone to judge us regarding our choice.

Worshiping With Other Worshipers

One thing that I have noticed about the verses in the Bible is that the verses all talk about meeting with other worshippers when they were worshipping. If the worshipers were Jews who worshiped in the synagogue on Saturday, then that was where Paul (or whoever) joined the worshipers. In the case of Gentile believers, he met with them on Sunday rather than Saturday.  One of the biggest discussions in the New Testament about the Sabbath was in Hebrews 3 and 4 which was written not to the Gentiles in the Church but rather to the Jews.

Donna Brown is pastor at Faith in God Church  1 1/2 miles south of Brandsville, Missouri on Hwy 63. Sunday services are at 10 am and Wednesday night Bible Study at 6:30 pm.   As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and most recently, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga

Her most recent publication were two booklets Help From Kelp and Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard. Available in paperback

.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her book, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .

Real Writers Don’t Self-Publish—Part 2

April 5, 2016
Uncategorized
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Another awesome blog post by Kristen Lamb. I am a real writer and I DO self publish!

Kristen Lamb's Blog

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Image courtesy of Wikimedia

All righty, so last time in Real Writers Don’t Self-Publish we talked about a lot of myths that surround publishing in general and I promised to delve deeper into this subject. I hope, at the very least, y’all walked away with one core understanding about traditional publishing.

Traditional publishing measures one thing and one thing only…commercial viability.

Granted, this often means the author is professional and the writing is outstanding…but that’s isn’t always the case. Some works are published for the sole reason that they will sell a certain amount of copies (refer to Snookie’s memoir). Additionally some of the greatest works of our time are not coming to market (initially) through legacy presses (refer to The Martian).

But here’s the deal. While we certainly don’t have to be leggy-pressed to be “real” writers, self-publishing is no panacea.

The hard truth is there is…

View original post 2,120 more words

How To Develop Characters for Your Next Novel

April 5, 2016
The Productive Writer
2 Comments

Just as Pinocchio wanted to be a real boy rather than a wooden puppet, your characters also want to be real.

Just as Pinocchio wanted to be a real boy rather than a wooden puppet, your characters also want to be real too!

Creating Novel Characters With Depth

I am currently finishing the final draft of one novel and finishing the second draft of yet another novel. All this editing has given my muse so much of a break lately that my muse is looking for an outlet so I am thinking about what I want to write about for my next novel that I will write the first draft of in November. Because it is part of a series, I pretty much know where the plot is going, however, where I can focus some creative work right now is with the characters of this upcoming novel. Fortunately I have covered this ground numerous times before so I am going to share how I develop characters who, like Pinocchio go from wooden puppets to becoming real people.

In my article Creating Novel Characters with Depth, I discuss how I start my character process. First I create pages for each of my characters. I then look for pictures to describe my characters and develop the character even further. For more details, check out this article on hubpages:

http://hubpages.com/literature/Creating-Novel-Characters-with-Depth

Developing Characters from Real People

Develop characters from real people. As a historical author, I take real people and make them into fictional characters. In my book A Coward’s Solace, I developed the Real life Lucy Flucker Knox into a character. In addition to using the research about her in my novel, I developed that research into an article about the real person.

http://hubpages.com/education/An-Unsung-Heroine-Lucy-Flucker-Knox

However, you don’t have to use these real people as real people. These same people can be developed into what are called composite characters which combine the characteristics of various individuals. This works well, especially when you are dealing with real people that you know.  If the real person has dark hair, make their hair light. If they are right handed, make them left handed. Combine the characteristics of Uncle James with characteristics of your best friend’s father. Take a tag line from someone else and change it enough so that the individual that you create is unique.

Remember the All Important Back Story

Once upon a time, novels started with the birth of the protagonist and went through that protagonist’s death. We, of course, do not do that today, but just as we weren’t born yesterday, our characters shouldn’t appear to have been born yesterday either. We have a history. If we don’t want our characters to appear wooden, they need a history too. This history is called a back story.  This back story helps to tell the why behind what the character does especially when that character does something quirky, and you want your character to have quirks because without them, they are as wooden as Pinocchio.

I will discuss more on backstory development in a later post (perhaps even another article.)

Building Character Arcs

Just as a character does not begin at the beginning of the story, this same character cannot be unaffected by the events of the story line. Just as the story brings the character that much further down the road, Characters develop through the story in what is called a character arc. Just as the events of the story unfold with a situation crisis, climax, and conclusion, so should a character’s development in the story.  The character should not be the same as what he or she was at the beginning. The person needs to change because of the situation.

For instance, as the protagonist in When God Turned His Head, Drusilla goes from abused wife to contented mother thanks to John Codman’s murder.  In Soldiers Don’t Cry, Phillip goes from stiff soldier to a human being thanks to his relationship with Elizabeth.  In A Coward’s Solace Head of Stone goes from grieving woodsman ready to murder to a backwoods diplomat thanks to Martha’s tenacity. In my upcoming book Sailing Under the Black Flag, Jonathan goes from starry eyed boy to seasoned veteran thanks to his adventures as a privateer.

For more about story arcs, read my article Novel Scene Arc Building: http://hubpages.com/literature/Novel-Scene-Arc-Building

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Donna Brown is pastor at Faith in God Church  1 1/2 miles south of Brandsville, Missouri on Hwy 63. Sunday services are at 10 am and Wednesday night Bible Study at 6:30 pm.   As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and most recently, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga

Her most recent publication were two booklets Help From Kelp and Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard. Available in paperback

.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her book, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .

Google Transcription for Animals

April 1, 2016
Video Friday
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What a neat concept! Imagine how much someone could do with an app like this. Never again will you wonder what your pets or livestock are saying about us!

And in case you didn’t figure it out yet, this is an April Fools Joke! April Fools!

IMG_8330 final copy

Donna Brown is pastor at Faith in God Church  1 1/2 miles south of Brandsville, Missouri on Hwy 63. Sunday services are at 10 am and Wednesday night Bible Study at 6:30 pm.   As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and most recently, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga

Her most recent publication were two booklets Help From Kelp and Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard. Available in paperback

.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her book, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .

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