New (Character) Developments
The main female character of my work in progress has appeared in The Rose Collection before. Ginger Douglass was a friend and coworker of Ally James in Reinvention. Later, in Wise and Mighty, we meet her again as the hostess of Crystal Falls Baptist’s welcome center. Ginger pushes Pastor Jason Taylor to rethink the denominational literature sold by the church and encourages him to read his wife’s work instead. Ginger is also in Kelly’s Wise Women’s Sunday school class and has a one-on-one book club with her for an hour each Tuesday.
Reinvention (The Rose Collection Book 4)Wise and Mighty (The Rose Collection Book 5)Ginger Douglass was a side character who helped me with story development. I could give concrete examples of Ally James’s generosity and empathy through her. Ginger’s refusal to back down made Jason pick up a devotional written by Kelly, giving him insight into his wife’s overlooked talents. She became the encourager Kelly needed to propel her forward as a leader.
It wasn’t long after I had completed one of my last rounds of edits of Wise and Mighty that Ginger muscled her way into my mind and demanded I tell her story next. I objected. I’d already planned to write the next story about two other characters. Ginger disagreed. Then she spent the next few days dropping little hints about her past. I got hooked and started writing.
Just a side note here: it is perfectly normal for writers to have their characters “talk” to them. I’m not a nutter. From experience, I realize that non-writers get a little uncomfortable hearing us talk about our imaginary friends as if they are real, so let me put your minds at ease: they are real — to us. To get a little more insight into how that works, read my previous post, I Character here:
Ginger Douglass came carrying overflowing bags of backstory. She was adopted by a couple who traveled the U.S. in an RV, planting churches. When she was in fourth grade, her parents decided that homeschooling wasn’t working out, so they moved back to their sending church, letting her go to the Christian school there. Later, her parents decided that they needed to get back on the road, so Ginger was boarded with church families. Some took her in out of obligation, not happy about having an intruder in their home, but not cruel to her. Others made her a part of their home, showing love and concern for her and her family. And then there were those who were downright abusive.
Ginger was raised to be a “servant to the servants of the church.” As a child who wanted more than anything to do what was right, she obeyed her authority figures, even when it felt wrong, even when she didn’t understand. She was taught that “delayed obedience is disobedience” so she learned to suppress her critical thinking skills and question her own judgment, making her vulnerable.
Her history is rooted deep in the physical tissues of her body as well as in her mind. Triggers can cause a freeze response. Dreams callously replay the past.
As an adult Ginger creates the life she should have had. One where she feels safe, protected, loved, and autonomous. One where her talents belong to her and are used as she sees fit.
What makes Ginger so compelling as a character is that she is compiled of slivers of real experiences. A few months ago, I was triggered into a freeze response. I couldn’t move, but my brain dispassionately recorded my reaction. When it was finally over, I decided I wouldn’t let it go to waste. I shared it with Ginger. That exhaustion I used to feel when I spent my Sundays on the run, believing I was serving God, when I was actually serving a man-led ministry, became Ginger’s. The exhilaration of finding myself through writing became Ginger’s self-discovery as an artist.
But, of course, I am just Ginger’s author and creator. I am not her. I didn’t experience a fraction of what she did. I found happiness in a different way than her. And she’s a bit more successful in her creative career than I am. But we both have a core group of people who support and encourage us; without them, our work would never see the light of day.
While Ginger always finds new things to paint, I too find plenty of inspiration for my novels.
It’s an uncomfortable amount of inspiration, actually. As long as church leaders are abusive, self-centered, and intent on covering the crimes of their colleagues, I have material for my novels. Or as I said to my husband, “As long as these guys do stupid things, I’ve got plenty to write about.”
This week provided several examples of people in leadership doing “stupid things.” Marco Polo conversations were released, showing conversations between members of a mission board as they openly discussed how to prevent a full-scope investigation into their actions and the crimes of their former leader, or “Jefe” as they like to call him.
On another front, a church that quietly accepted a pedophile into their congregation, with the understanding that he would have no position of leadership/power and no interaction with the minors at either the church or the school, was caught violating their OWN parameters concerning this individual yet again. This has been a years-long issue. When the man first showed up, he and his family were welcomed into the church membership. A story went around that he’d left his last ministry job at his father’s church because of a family disagreement. A seventeen-year-old student was the one who discovered the lie. The man was actually avoiding a bench warrant from the town he’d left. He’d been arrested for grooming and molesting a teen from his church for a period of several months. When the pastor was confronted with the information, he removed the pedophile from his position as 5–6th grade Sunday school teacher, choir leader, soloist, and videographer/photographer. No one in the congregation was told why. There was no transparency. The few people who were aware of the situation were silenced with promises that the deacons and pastor would keep an eye on him and that it wasn’t fair to punish the man’s family for his sin.
But the man did not sit quietly in the pew, worship with his family, and then go home. He constantly pushed himself forward. Before long, he was back to leading music, directing the choir, preaching a Wednesday night Bible study, then during the pandemic, welcoming online visitors to the church’s YouTube page from behind the pulpit. Those who knew this man’s history protested at every turn. The pastor would nod sadly, say he’d take care of things, then remove the man — for a short while until everything calmed down, then put him right back in places of leadership.
This week that man was spotted sitting on the bench at a tournament played by that church’s Christian school. When an eagle-eyed viewer noticed him, his presence was protested online. Some objected that the man was there to watch his own kid, but that didn’t explain his position on the bench or how he joined huddles, giving players advice. The gym was filled with parents watching their children play basketball, but they weren’t acting like an assistant coach the way he was.
It took less than a week for the story to be rewritten. In a letter home, parents were informed that “One of our parents sat on the bench with the boys’ basketball team without permission from the administration. When administration saw him on the bench, they told him he could not be there, and he left the bench area.” If someone reading this note desired to view the video for themselves, they discovered that the site had been scrubbed. The eagle-eyed viewer, however, had watched the entire thing in real-time. The man was on the bench the whole game.
As for the angle that when administration discovered his presence, they asked him to leave, it doesn’t make much sense considering the man’s wife is the school principal. She knew. She allowed him to stay. No one made a move to remove him. The letter home was the usual knee-jerk reaction to conceal and cover-up.
When you read my novels and find yourself saying, “How did no one stand up for this character? How is it that the abuser is given a pass while the victim is criticized for speaking up?” Well, it’s exactly like those two examples above. Leadership that is more concerned with protecting their personal reputations than the people in their churches control the story.
And THAT is why contemporary Christian novels about abuse in today’s church are so important. Abuse not only exists, but it thrives in tightly controlled organizations. Approaching leaders as brothers or sisters in Christ, as equals, is often impossible. There is no true fellowship. There is only a hierarchy of servants working for the leadership — who claim to be the greatest servants of all. Obedience to the system and its leaders is vital and will be enforced at all costs. Even if that cost is a person’s soul.
I often hear the phrase, “The church today is under attack” and I firmly believe that is true. But it is not being attacked from outside. Souls, minds, and hearts are being lost due to what is happening inside.
Ginger’s novel is written. Her story is real. It has been compiled of slivers of real testimony, experiences, and reactions of those in the church today. It’s currently in the hands of a professional editor, Carrie Smith, who is as kind as she is talented. The cover is being created by my “artist-in-residence,” my brilliant daughter-in-law Kaylene Skwarczynski at Ranee Designs, and it looks beautiful so far. My next step will be registering the copyright. After that, I need to format the book, submit it to Kindle Create, and purchase author copies to distribute to my beta readers. Finally, it will be launched as the sixth book of The Rose Collection.
I don’t know when the book will be out. Right now, I can pay my editor and cover designer, but I need to wait until I’ve earned more money from my previous novels before I can cover the cost of the copyright and author copies. While I work on the next novels of The Rose Collection, I’ll keep marketing and folding whatever money I make back into my writing. If you’d like to help, I ask that you purchase the books, review them, and suggest them to friends. It helps more than you know and encourages me to keep writing.
Because I WILL keep writing. I believe there is truth in fiction. I do my best to keep my characters and their experiences realistic and to tell their stories as honestly as possible. I know I’m on the right track because I keep hearing from readers who have found their voices and say, “That happened to me.”
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