Write With Love

by Bruce Brady @BDBrady007

In my quiet time with God, He’s shown me a common thread that runs throughout both the Old and New Testaments.

It is love.

It was love that freed the Israelites, time and time again. It was also the love of Christ that freed us all. God even tells us that love covers a multitude of harmful actions and words—which I understand to mean we can’t sin while acting in love.

But what does this have to do with writing?

A recent revelation has shown me it has everything to do with writing. However, for the sake of brevity, let’s just consider love for our readers and love for our characters.

Unselfish love for our readers will motivate us to write for their benefit above our own. No longer will we consider fame or fortune, nor will we fret over the challenges of marketing and publishing. We can write freely, trusting the Lord to cause everything else to happen with perfect timing.

Writing is hard work.

I know that writing is hard work, and many of us need to earn a living from our writing. So I’m not suggesting we all give up on our dreams of being published or becoming bestselling authors. These are noble pursuits.

I am suggesting that writing with love for our readers will make our pursuits less stressful because our primary focus will be on blessing our readers with our words. Doing this will produce the types of manuscripts that agents, editors and publishers are seeking, providing they’re well crafted.

Whether writing fiction or nonfiction, our readers will be more engaged when they can empathize with our characters. And they will, if we love our characters.

Like God, we love our characters.

Like God, when we love our characters, we’ll do all we can to help them achieve the best possible life. We can’t help but create them as complex, believable, likeable people. Even the bad guys. We’ll invent them with flaws and perfections— just like real people. The more realistic they are, the more our readers will love them.

And let’s not lose sight of the fact that agents, editors, and publishers are also readers.

I’ve struggled for a long while with my middle grade novel. Just recently, I realized my difficulties arise from my lack of intimacy with my characters. I don’t know them because I’ve not developed their histories enough to make me fall in love with them. And if I don’t love them, why should anyone?

God loves us unconditionally. So if we love our characters unconditionally, then we’ll devise them in ways that will make us, and our readers, sympathetic to them—no matter how good or evil they are. And we’ll all root for the good guys to win and the bad guys to become good.

The bottom line is this: loving our readers and our characters can only result in better writing. And better writing is never a bad thing.

So what do you say? Do you love your readers? Do you love your characters? Let’s keep this conversation going. Even if you disagree with me, please leave a comment.

TWEETABLES

Write with love - thoughts from @BDBrady007 on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Loving our readers & our characters leads to better #writing -@BDBrady007 on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Bruce Brady is an author, writer and playwright. His work has appeared in Focus on the Family’s Thriving Family, www.ChristianDevotions.us, and on stage. Currently, Bruce is working on a Young Adult Novel about a boy who must deal with the death of his dad, being bullied, and helping his mom through her grief. His first five pages took third place in the ACFW South Carolina Chapter’s “First Five Pages” contest.

When he’s not writing, Bruce spends time learning from and helping other writers. He serves as Mentor of Word Weavers International’s Online Chapter, and as a member of Cross ‘N’ Pens, The Writer’s Plot, ACFW’s National and South Carolina Chapters.

“My dream is to entertain my readers and give them hope as they travel the rocky road of life.”