Julie here, and holy cow, it's hard to believe I had that much hair at one time, but time—and hair—marches on!
Welcome to the Best of the Archives! I chose this particular article because it talks about spirituality in our writing, a subject that ties in with this week's release of a Heart & Soul, a bundle of five bestselling novels of which Ruth Logan Herne and I are part.
The theme of Heart & Soul is "Deeply Inspirational, Utterly Romantic" because these five novels possess a particularly deep spiritual depth interwoven with heart-pounding romance, so I hope you will check it out HERE.
It's not often you get FIVE full-blown novels for only $3.99, which is approximately $ .79 per novel, so it's a sweet deal for a limited time only. And trust me—I've read four of the five novels, and they are AMAZING!
Thanks for coming by today, and now on to redeeming our bad boys. Please note that comments are turned off today, but prayers always appreciated! :)
Myra
here. Welcome to another Best of the Archives Friday! Since November is
almost behind us and the busy Christmas season is beginning (or may be
well underway for many!), I'm reprising (and updating) a post from
December 2009, when I wrote about how to stay motivated and keep your
priorities straight during this often hectic time of year.
So grab a cup of hot chocolate, put some carols on the stereo, and sit
back and enjoy!
- See more at:
http://seekerville.blogspot.com/search?q=Best+of+the+Archives#sthash.VbyX2ay4.dpuf
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Move over, Tammy Wynette!!
Okay, I can't sing worth a hoot, but ’ll be the first to admit—I am an AVID Inspirational
romance reader/writer with a weakness for bad boys. Not just any bad boys, mind
you, but those smoldering, still-waters-run-deep kind of guys that weaken your
knees.
You know the type—the tall, brooding men with a questionable past
and a penchant for the ladies? Because somehow, someway you just KNOW that
underneath all those bad decisions these guys make, there’s a hurting little
boy inside, desperate for a love that will save him. And I’m not just talking
about the love of a woman, here, although I do like plenty of that in my books
as well. Nope, I’m talking about the love of God, that deep and mysterious
component that for me personally, ignites the WOW factor in a hero.
To me, there is nothing stronger than a wayward guy gone good. It
takes strength of conviction and a lot of humility for a man to bend his knee
to God, but when he does, he rises as a tower of strength and manhood, not in
his own power, but in God’s. It’s like epoxy—the strength of a man combined
with the strength of his Savior, recreating man as he was meant to be—a
warrior, a protector, and fiercely devoted to both God and the woman he loves.
Which is why there is ALWAYS some form of a deep spiritual-redemption scene in each of my books for the hero. Why, you ask? Well, it’s
my humble opinion that not only does a powerful redemption scene strengthen the
hero in your reader’s eyes, but it strengthens and deepens a novel as well, so
I encourage you to give it a try if you never have. And honestly, who better to
redeem than those stubborn bad boys?
Which
is why the heroes in all of my books were, at one time or another, bad
boys—womanizers, drinkers, thieves, men driven by lust rather
than love. Human beings with a painful past that throughout the course
of my
books, become human beings with a future of hope.
So … how do I like to stand by my men? Well there’s
#NOLIMITS to the ways to do this, but here are a few things I’ve noticed in my
redemption scenes that make the hero’s “redemption” more powerful for me
personally:
—Redemption scenarios always follow a series of conflicts that slowly strip the hero of his own strength
and ability to deal with the problem.
—Redemption scenarios are almost
always internal monologue (hero thinking/talking to himself) because somehow
for me, the privacy and intimacy between him and God allows the hero to remain
strong and retain his pride without exposing his most intimate act of surrender.
— Heroes in redemption scenarios
always experience a peace that takes them by surprise.
— Redemption scenes have to be believable (thank you, Artist Librarian!) or they will have the opposite effect you want, possibly turning the reader away. Tapping into the emotions of a hero during a life crisis or deep disappointment is one of the best ways to do this, in my opinion, since redemption is such an emotional thing for each of us. Which means it can't happen over the course of a couple of scenes (thank you, Audra!), but needs that thread woven throughout the whole book.
— Redemption scenes have to be believable (thank you, Artist Librarian!) or they will have the opposite effect you want, possibly turning the reader away. Tapping into the emotions of a hero during a life crisis or deep disappointment is one of the best ways to do this, in my opinion, since redemption is such an emotional thing for each of us. Which means it can't happen over the course of a couple of scenes (thank you, Audra!), but needs that thread woven throughout the whole book.
—
And one of the few times it's okay to have a hero cry in a book is in a
redemption scene when he's alone with God, and frankly as a weepy CCDQ
myself (certified caffeinated drama queen), I kind of like to make the heroes cry every now and then, you know? :)
With that in mind, here
are
scenarios I’ve utilized to implement a redemption/faith message in my
own books as well as excerpts for the first three only, in the interest
of time. I hope you can feel the power of
redemption in each and every one.
—Radical Redemption: A
bad-boy hero goes from night to day, beginning with an early scene that
reflects a lifestyle totally opposite of Christian values: womanizer, drinker,
bitterness toward God, etc. A slow breakdown of his resistance throughout the
book follows until a mid-point life-jolt scene, finished off with a conversion
scene close to the end for a more powerful punch.
—Reluctant Redemption:
A hero is forced into redemption against his will via a twist of the arm by
someone or something he loves/respects, not really embracing it fully until he
begins to see the positive changes in his life.
—Reawakened Redemption: A hero who was raised with faith but
just goes through the motions for his family’s sake, no real heart commitment
until the light goes on following a series of conflicts and counsel from
someone he loves/respects.
—Renewed RedemptioN: A
reformed bad-boy hero who has embraced faith, but hasn’t given it his all until
a mid-point scene rocks him, which deepens his faith when he is counseled by
someone he loves and respects.
—DESPERATE REDEMPTION: This is a hero whose fears drive him to push
past a surface or shallow commitment to faith in order to battle something or
someone, eventually deepening his faith for the right reasons.
1.) RADICAL REMDEMPTION:
You know, I’ve never been one of these timid, take-it-easy
type of gals when it comes to romance. For me, it’s all or nothing with
extremes that I love to reflect in my stories. As a CCDQ, I want lots of drama and angst because there are few things more
powerful to me in romance novels than the redemption of a bad boy.
Case in point: Collin McGuire in A Passion Most Pure. I knew it was risky having a player for a
hero, a womanizer who used women for his own gratification, and believe me, I
got my fair share of 1-star reviews over having that kind of hero in a Christian
novel. But I gotta tell you that Collin’s dramatic redemption not only spoke to
me, but to my readers as well who voted Collin their #1 favorite of all my
heroes. Here are clips showing the before, during, and after of Collin’s
redemption, and you tell me if seeing a bad boy fall to his knees before God
isn’t one of the most powerful turnarounds you can put in a Inspy romance
novel.
COLLIN’S ORIGINAL BAD BOY IN THE BEGINNING:
He heard her soft moan as she pressed against him, and for the briefest
moment, he froze. In his mind's eye, it wasn't Bree’s lips he tasted, but Faith
O’Connor’s. An unfamiliar ache stabbed within. Where the blazes did that come from? One brief encounter and some
woman had him thinking about her? Wanting her? Well, it wasn’t going to happen.
He would be the one who decided whom he wanted and whom he didn’t. As long as
he had a breath in his body, no woman would control his thoughts, and
certainly, no woman would possess him.
The ache was replaced by an icy anger that stoked a cold resolve
within. He wanted to push Bree away, to tell her that her kiss produced nothing
but contempt. That neither she nor any woman, least of all Faith O'Connor,
would ever own him. But he didn't. Instead, he jerked her close, his lips
returning her passion with a hard fervor. And in the heat of their embrace, in the
smoky midst of Brannigan’s Pub, he quickly seared the memory of Faith O'Connor
from his thoughts.
COLLIN’S COME-TO-JESUS MEETING 2/3 OF THE WAY THROUGH THE BOOK WHEN HE’S
DRUNK IN A BAR:
"Collin,
it doesn't have to be like this. You don't have to let this control you
anymore. This is not the way to get the love you want. Faith knew that, and you
can too. Trust me, Collin. I wouldn't steer you wrong, and neither would she.
Faith loves you, and the only thing standing in the way is this––your rebellion
against God and everything He represents. He
wants you, Collin. He wants you to pursue Him instead of your lust."
Collin
might have been asleep, for all Brady knew, now lifeless and still, his head
buried in his arms. But as Brady finished speaking, Collin’s body stiffened,
and when his head lurched up, Brady barely recognized him. His face, blotched
and swollen, was pinched in shock as his bloodshot eyes fixed on Brady’s.
"What did you say?" he whispered.
Brady
blinked. "I said it doesn't
have to be like this …"
"No,
the last thing––what was the last thing you said?" Collin's eyes were
crazed.
Brady
thought about it. "I said He wants you, Collin. He wants you to pursue Him
instead of your lust."
Brady
watched as this grown man trembled before him. He had never seen Collin like
this. For that matter, he had never seen anyone like this before, and he sensed
something spiritual was going on.
Collin's fingers shook as he ripped them through his hair. He seemed almost fearful as his eyes locked on Brady's. "That's just what she said, Brady, word-for-word, the first time she talked to me about God. How could you know that? How could you?"
Collin's fingers shook as he ripped them through his hair. He seemed almost fearful as his eyes locked on Brady's. "That's just what she said, Brady, word-for-word, the first time she talked to me about God. How could you know that? How could you?"
Brady
exhaled slowly, a shiver traveling his spine. He smiled. "I didn't,
Collin, but God did. What I want to know is, what's it going to take to get
your attention?"
Collin
sat there in a daze and shook his head. "I don't know," he said in a
hushed tone, "but this is a devil of a start.”
COLLIN’S EVENTUAL REDEMPTION DURING THE WAR:
Collin
vaulted off his bunk and bent in to where Brady slept, reaching for the Bible
he always kept by his side. He clutched it to his chest and hurried outside the
billet, the moonlight cutting shadows around him like the noon of day. His
fingers fumbled the pages in a rush, seeking the Scripture he had read before
his last shift in the trenches. His hand stilled as he found it, and for the
first time, he understood its meaning with frightening clarity.
To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge
and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up
wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a
chasing after the wind.
The
verse pierced his heart. Overwhelming grief brought him to his knees in the
dirt, not caring who might see or who might hear. He had spent his whole life
chasing after the wind, and it had never yielded anything more than emptiness
that blustered cold in his heart. No more, he thought, it was over. The life he
led was over, and with God’s help, a new one would begin. He had allowed the
prayers of Faith and Brady to go forth on his behalf, but had never uttered
them himself. And looking up into the heavens, he cried out to their god, and
in the instant it took for him to speak, that God became his. Like the shaft of
moonlight washing over him, a holy peace flooded his soul. For the first time,
he understood the fervor he’d seen in Faith, the peace he saw in Brady, and he
was filled with awe. Every conversation he’d ever had with Brady convinced him
he would never be happy until the desire of his heart was one with God’s, just
like Faith had said. Only, his heart had heard it too late to have her.
Slowly
Collin rose from the dirt, astounded at the serenity he felt. He breathed in
deeply to fill his lungs with the cool, night air. He couldn’t have her, but
she would always be a part of him. He knew to the depth of his soul that it had
been her prayers that had saved him. It was a debt for which he would always be
grateful. He wished her well.
No,
he thought, there was no wishing to it. He would pray that God would bless her
with the marriage she deserved. He owed her that.
Quietly,
he entered the billet and returned the Bible to Brady’s side. Crawling into his
own bunk, he closed his eyes and slept, finally, the slumber of a man with
peace in his heart.
2.) RELUCTANT
REDEMPTION:
In Love at Any Cost,
Jamie MacKenna is a handsome pauper looking to marry well in order to provide a
surgery for his crippled sister. When his sister refuses to have a surgery bought
by his engagement to a wealthy socialite he doesn’t love, he’s forced to
surrender to God against his will.
JAMIE’S ORIGINAL BAD BOY BITTERNESS:
Bram shook his head, easing his car past a
peddler on a bicycle. “You’re something else, MacKenna, you know that? One of
the nicest guys I know, hard-working, smart, give the shirt off your back. Yet
under that heart of gold is a fortune hunter with the glint of gold in his
eyes. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, you know?”
“Sure it does.” Jamie grinned. And why not? His dreams were worth it—from his hopes to provide a
surgery that could heal his sister someday, to his drive to be the youngest
senator from the state of California and effect change in the Barbary Coast. He
gave Bram a wink. “May as well fall in love with a rich girl as a poor one.”
“So you say,” Bram said with a shift
of gears, “but it’s been my experience that life doesn’t always comply. You
fall in love with whom God chooses, Mac, and sometimes a fortune doesn’t come
along with it.”
Jamie propped hands to the back of his
neck, absently staring down Market Street with a stiff smile. “See, Bram,
that’s where you make your mistake—leaving everything up to some deity who may
or may not exist. Well, not me. I’ve gotten this far on my own ingenuity, so I
see no reason to depend on some fairy tale for the most important thing in my
life—” his smile veered into a scowl—“marrying well so I can take care of my
family because God hasn’t had the time.”
JAMIE’S RELUCTANT REDEMPTION:
Jess glanced
up with a smile so full of love, it thickened the walls of Jamie’s throat.
“Promise me, Jammy,” his sister said, using the nickname she’d given him when
she was two, “that you’ll lay your will down for God’s so he can bring us the
miracle we all so desperately need.”
Pulse
staggering, he stared at her, his breathing shallow. Lay his will down for
God’s? Pry his fingers apart and let go, just like that? Trust a God he’d never
trusted at all, just on a whim? His eyelids weighted closed. No, not on a whim.
On a request from the sister he loved, the mother he cherished, and the friend
he respected. The sting of tears burned in his nose when Cassie’s image came to
mind. And the woman I want.
His breath
caught at the twine of Jess’s fingers in his. “Let go, Jamie, and let God be God,”
she whispered, the trace of an imp in her smile. “He does it so much better
than you.”
Let God be God. He
closed his eyes and in the whoosh of an exhale, he felt his will crack, a
fissure of hope no bigger than a thread in a smothering shroud of disbelief.
Relinquishing a weary sigh, he finally nodded, Bram’s words echoing in his
mind. “Faith can move mountains, you
know—be they granite . . . or pigheaded pride.”
His mouth
quirked despite tears burning his lids. Pride he had plenty of, but faith? He
drew in a shaky breath and released it, fluttering her ebony ringlets as he
pressed a kiss to his sister’s head. “Okay, Jess,” he said, finally willing to
let go—not the precious sister he cherished in his arms—but the pride that
separated him from her God.
Delicate
arms quickly swallowed him whole.
Her God,
yes. His heart skipped a fractured beat. And now, apparently—his.
3.) REAWAKENED REDEMPTION:
In A love Surrendered,
Steven O’Connor is the bad boy turned good for the wrong reasons, out of guilt
rather than faith. He goes to church with his family because it’s expected, but
his faith is in name only. Until conflict coupled with a series of talks
throughout the book from people he loves and respects finally bring him to his
knees.
“God
will help you do the right thing.”
His father’s parting words opened his
eyes, prompting him to search the heavens. “Will you, God? Will you help me to
do the right thing—not just with Annie, but with the rest of my life?
I . . .” His whisper broke in the dark, hoarse and cracked and
so desperate for change that emotion choked the words in his throat. “I-I’ve
made so many mistakes . . . with my father, with Maggie, with You.
I’m begging You . . .” A heave shuddered his body. “Forgive me,
please . . . and change me like you changed my father . . .
and help me to become the man you want me to be.”
The steady beat of the rain drummed on
the roof while the cold air chilled his body, the cool and damp of impending
winter heavy in the air. And yet somehow, Steven felt warm, his breathing
shallow as his eyes scanned the sky. There were no bolts of lightning to
illuminate the dark nor peals of thunder to herald anything new. Only the still
small voice of God in his heart, stirring a flame of hope that brought peace to
his soul.
He
leadeth me beside the still waters . . . He restoreth my soul
. . . He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness . . .
“I don’t understand,” Steven rasped,
eyes brimming with tears. “Why do you even care?
Because
you are mine, the thought came, and Steven bowed his head and wept.
Because for the first time in his
life, he finally understood.
He was.
Thanks for coming by today, and now on to redeeming our bad boys. Please note that comments are turned off today, but prayers always appreciated! :)
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Thanks for coming by today, and now on to redeeming our bad boys. Please note that comments are turned off today, but prayers always appreciated! :)
____________________________
Comments are turned off for the day... but prayers are always welcome! God bless you! - See more at: http://seekerville.blogspot.com/search?q=Best+of+the+Archives#sthash.VbyX2ay4.dpuf
Myra here. Welcome to another Best of the Archives Friday! Since November is almost behind us and the busy Christmas season is beginning (or may be well underway for many!), I'm reprising (and updating) a post from December 2009, when I wrote about how to stay motivated and keep your priorities straight during this often hectic time of year. So grab a cup of hot chocolate, put some carols on the stereo, and sit back and enjoy! - See more at: http://seekerville.blogspot.com/search?q=Best+of+the+Archives#sthash.VbyX2ay4.dpuf
ABOUT JULIE: Julie Lessman, award-winning author of The Daughters of Boston, Winds of Change, and Heart of San Francisco series, was named American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Author of the Year and voted #1 Romance Author of the year in Family Fiction magazine’s 2012 and 2011 Readers Choice Awards. Julie has garnered 17 RWA and other awards and made Booklist’s 2010 Top 10 Inspirational Fiction. Her latest novel, Surprised by Love, appeared on Family Fiction magazine’s list of Top Ten Novels of 2014. Her indie book A Light in the Window is an International Digital Awards winner, a 2013 Readers' Crown Award winner, and a 2013 Book Buyers Best Award winner.
You can contact Julie and read excerpts from her books at www.julielessman.com, or through Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus,
or Pinterest,
as well as sign up for her newsletter.
Check out Julie’s group blog, The
Seekers, Writers Digest 2013 and
2014 “Best 101 Websites for Writers,” and Julie’s own personal blog, Journal Jots, voted blog
of the month in the Readers’ Choice poll of Book
Fun Magazine.
