Plot-Characters-Faith-The Cord of Three Strands

By Mary Connealy

We are celebrating our BIRTHDAY MONTH!

In addition to these weekly prizes and the iPad Mini grand prize, I'm doing some giveaways too!

A signed copy of my newly released Fire and Ice, also a signed copy of the novella collection (released last year as 12 separate books, so you might have read some of them) The 12 Brides of Christmas, and an Amazon Gift Certificate in the amount of $28 (get it, 28? To celebrate our 8th birthday???)

This is a Bible verse we hear a lot at weddings.
But when you think of the most fundamental building blocks of a story, in the Christian market, you realize our novels are built with a cord of three strands.

Plot. Character. Faith.

Now I’ve had those conversations before—Is your book plot driven or character driven. And I get the difference between the two a little.
But I think, fundamentally, there really is no such thing.
Plot vs Character is just one of those things authors talk about while they struggle to put into words things that are just plain HARD to put into words.
I think of Jack Reacher. Now those stories are all about plot, but the character of Jack Reacher and how he responds to the plot are what make them unique.
How do you separate the two halves of this book. Without Jack Reacher the story would be completely different. But if someone didn’t start killing people right in front of him, I think Jack would honestly be a peaceable guy. I mean it’s not like he actually goes LOOKING for trouble, right? (well, maybe he’s a bit too eager when he finds any little bit of trouble, but still…)
I've you've read a Jack Reacher book, tell me, which are those books. Honestly, bottom line, the plot and character are so intertwined that the book doesn't exist without both.

The Wilde at Heart Series with women disguised as men, now that’s honestly character isn’t it? Their reasons behind it go to backstory, motivation, why they are there, so setting. All of these character traits are so fundamental to the plot -- how do you separate the two?

I don't blame you for worrying,
sometimes, it is said, Mary never really has a point!

This leads me to the point of the day!

I think Christian fiction can be so much more powerful than secular fiction. And it’s that third strand—Faith—that strengthens it. 
Back in the olden days, like 1970—you know the ancient times—romance novels, even without saying so, were guided by Christian principles. Heroines were virgins. Heroes were upstanding and honorable by Christian standards (they rarely even said cuss words).

Those were foundational parts of any book.

I often say that Gone with the Wind couldn’t be published today as a secular book because for all the madness swirling around in GWTG, there’s too much God in it.

The underpinning of faith gives the entire Christian book a depth. The hero is called to save the day, sure, but he has to do it with honor—as opposed to Jack Reacher making himself judge, jury and executioner—which I admit is extremely efficient.


Click to Buy

The heroine can be any type of character, a damsel in distress, a feisty lady rancher, a hard working business woman, a sweet, shy widow trying to raise two kids and hold down a stressful job, but she needs to do whatever she does with her Christian values in place (or if it’s a redemption story for either hero or heroine then they need to be moving toward their faith).

Click to Buy

And to me, the best of all is that the attraction, the sexual (<<< sorry!) tension still has power.
Remember Moonlighting? Will they/won't they? Remington Steele? Of course Christian fiction ask will they/won't they end up married so that's a little different, but still. As opposed to many books where the tension is 'will they/won't they' wait until the second date!
And you know what? Let's be honest here. There’s a huge market for secular books, I know it. I also know that many of those books have gone too far and that has created a fiction line for us.

Mary Connealy 
Who is holding off getting a 
new professional photo taken
until.......
she is thinner and younger 
and maybe a little bit smarter looking

Work for people who write books about faith. Books for people who prefer to read books that don’t go against our beliefs…in case our mothers would read it, you know? Or our children?

We write a cord of three strands

Plot—Character—Faith

And it makes for stories that are not easily broken.
Let’s talk about the faith of our characters and how that shapes your book. How would your book be different, weaker, without the faith of your characters.

Because we are giving away a RIDICULOUS number of prizes, to the point almost everyone will win at least one, I hesitate to overdo it, HOWEVER if ever there was a time to overdo things, it’s during SEEKERVILLE BIRTHDAY MONTH!
So today if you leave a comment, you’ll get your name in the drawing for a signed copy of Fire and Ice, and a signed copy of The 12 Brides of Christmas. And, I'll toss in a $28 Amazon gift card. Three prizes, three winners.

Let’s talk about the faith of our characters.