The Seven Deadly Sins--They are all EMOTIONS

The Seven Deadly Sins

Part Three of my series on Emotion

Part one-Putting Emotion on the Page

Part two-The Medium is the Message

And now today, in part three I want to talk about the power of emotions and how God made us a list of the things that can either provide a motive for your bad guy in your books or it can challenge your good characters, because we all wrestle with sin.

It’s what keeps your romance from settling in easily.

It’s what haunts your characters in their backstory.

It’s what drives the plot.

We don’t have to go digging for these emotional hot spots. God has done the work for you.

What I want to comment on is that all seven of these sins, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride can be used in different degrees.

Lust is a sin but desiring your spouse or even desiring your beloved isn’t a sin. It’s what you do with it, it’s when it tips over from perfectly God-blessed desire to lust. Usually for someone you’re not in an honorable relationship with.

Do you remember the movie Wall Street when Michael Douglas says, “Greed is good.”

Well, that’s a little disturbing to us because greed is one of the seven deadly sins. But think of it another way. Not Greed is Good, but rather, it’s human nature to try and better yourself, provide for your family, earn enough to create a good life. That’s why capitalism works because it’s so basic, so normal to work for your own betterment.

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Don’t call that greed.

And envy, where is that line, where you see something and want it, or something sinful awakens in your heart because they have something you don’t.

You can see how each of these sins can be used in a powerful blatant way, or in a subtle way…driving your hero and heroine in a certain direction or keeping them apart.

I remember once, early on in my writing, telling one of my daughters I needed a crime.

I had the story and the characters and it was flowing along but I needed a bad guy and a crime. My daughter sat there and gave it some thought and said, “How about cattle rustling?”

For some reason that makes me laugh. It was a great idea and I used it. It might have been Montana Rose.

But note that my CRIME is an actual physical act. Stealing, like in the Ten Commandments. What we're talking about with the seven deadly sins ... did you notice that they are all EMOTIONS. They are all INTERNAL. After all Murder didn't make the list. Lying. Stealing. Even sexual sin isn't there. It's the emotional life that is all listed...separate from what you do about it. My rustlers no doubt suffered with greed, probably sloth, envy, maybe pride in some twisted version. But those are all internal. That they followed up with stealing is separate from their sinful internal life.

Sometimes we need a crime, a motivation, a barrier to love. So use this list. Use the seven deadly sins and slap one on your hero and heroine in a mild way, or onto your villains in a powerful version.

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Come back to the list God already made for you. The Seven Deadly Sins. 

Tell me about the conflict in your book and whether it fits into the Seven Deadly Sins.

Leave a comment to get your name in the drawing for a drawing. Today, because it’s BIRTHDAY MONTH!!! We have THREE giveaways. (It should have been seven, I apologize!)

A signed copy of Tried and True (if you have another book of mine you’d prefer, let me know and we can substitute it)

Writing with Emotion, Tension and Conflict by Cheryl St.John

And a $25 Amazon gift card.

Three prizes, three winners, seven sins. My whole post is about numbers, huh?