Three Attitudes that Give Impetus

Beatrice, Irene, and Dora

As I can't picture three attitudes, I thought my grandmother, and my two great aunts might just capture these mental positions.

1. Need
A leading character, either male or female or both, should have some sort of deep need.

2. Determination
If they want to reach their goal, this is necessary to reaching it.

3. Hope
This is that wonderful something to keep striving toward.

Need can be physical or mental. And it can be a real struggle for your character to face the challenge to overcome and when they have the odds against them. They remain conscious of their need throughout the story. Maybe others are aware of it, maybe not, but it's as if it mocks all their efforts.

Determination can also be considered as Perseverance. As we say, 'hanging in there' no matter what. We want to root for our main character - though at times bloodied and nearly beaten - to hold on and come through. Maybe at times with so much thwarting them at every turn they feel like giving up, but still they 'grit their teeth' and get on with pushing toward their goal.

And Hope. What would be do without it? Hope gives us courage. Hope promises better things. Hope helps push us forward. And so with our characters.

As in real life, the great thing is to see our leading lady or man developing stronger characters by what they've been through. Even though, being human, they stumble along the journey, they pick themselves up and move forward.

As Christians we soon learn to trust God in every area of our lives, which means we often need to search out the root of our problem and ask the lord to help us overcome it. So if we write inspirational novels, let's also write our characters so they learn some great lessons along the way.

This is something I am working through right now with two stories, as part of a series. At first my characters were thin. But they are slowly developing as each is showing me throughout the plot how they would react. I am really liking them now. Even though at first I thought, "Oh, you're so boring!" There's no doubt throwing difficulties for them to overcome pushes the story forward, at the same time leaves me, as the writer, scratching my head as to how I am going to get them out of the trouble I've thrown their way. Thankfully, they just seem to find their own path, despite mean old me!

Indie Publisher, Rita Galieh, has written a trilogy of historical novels & has also contributed to several US anthologies. She is now completing a second historical romance series. She can be found on Facebook and www.ritastellapress.com  

Rita studied art at the National Art School then joined the family ceramics studio. After their marriage, she and her husband attended Emmaus Bible College, and currently co-present Vantage Point, an Australia-wide Christian FM radio program. She enjoys giving her fun-filled presentations of ‘Etiquette of the Victorian Era’ in costume.