Why Did I Write What I Wrote?
One question that is always asked of me: “How did you come up with your book?”
Well, it is simple and complex. Like the helix shape of a DNA strand
that holds four proteins in an infinite combination, my ideas are a lot
like that. My first book,
Mississippi Nights, started off as a book from my childhood. I wrote
One Big Happy Family
when I was about 16. It was buried and put aside for so many, many
years. And after the line-of-duty death of my husband in 2005, the idea
of resurrecting that novel percolated for some time. Finally in 2010, I
took the story, revamped it, and drew from life to create a story about
the prodigal son who returns home to family. It wasn’t just his story,
but a story about his brother, a family friend, and a little girl.
Mississippi Nights brought to life the story of alcoholism and how a person can fall into that addiction.
After that book was published, I started thinking: “What if someone
saw death, hurt, and sorrow on a daily basis? What if that person didn’t
have Jesus to lean upon? What would he do?”
And that’s how Alabama Days was born. While Mississippi Nights dealt with alcoholism, Alabama Days dealt with drug abuse, and in this case, prescription drug abuse.
Yet it was much deeper than that. What if the person was a really
good guy? He was likable, generous, loving, yet he lacked that one
relationship that would bring him peace. If he were someone who did what
was right, no matter what, what would happen if he committed a wrong
act only to find that his wrong act saved the life of another?
I had so many ethnical questions thrown at my characters. How would a
Christian and a non-Christian react to certain circumstances. Because
life isn’t always clear-cut, yet the Bible is, I wanted to show the
messiness of being human.
We know that as Christians, we all fall short. We all sin at times.
The difference is that when we sin, we know we can receive forgiveness
and “Go and sin no more.” But how would a person who ran from God think?
How would I react if I were like him?
Writers play around with what-ifs. We see the many facets of
humanity. And that’s how our stories are born. And why we write what we
do. For me, I want to show the many sides of human nature and behaviour
and show that in all things, Jesus is the answer. Jesus is there for us
all.
So, why do I write what I do? To bring glory to His Name and hope that through my words, people will come (or return) to Christ.
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