Fiction Tips From My Granddaughter
Last week our family welcomed a new grandbaby into the world. Mama and baby are both fine, thank the Lord. And I had the pleasure of taking care of Lyla, who is two and a half, while mama and papa were in the hospital. I thought I would be taking time off from writing, but it so happened that I learned a few lessons from my granddaughter about what makes a good story.
Lyla currently has two favorites—Moana and The Trolls. I became very familiar with them after reading the books over and over and watching the movie versions of both stories. So I asked myself, what makes the Trolls and Moana so compelling?
The trolls are tiny creatures with a big enemy—the Bergens. When a group of trolls is captured, their leader, Poppy, lays aside her fears and goes to the Bergens’ town to rescue her friends. It’s a story of friendship and courage against great odds that has a happy ending.
Moana is a young girl from a tropical island who also learns to set aside her fears and overcome great odds. Her people and her island are in trouble, so she crosses the vast ocean to try to help restore the balance of nature. Along the way, she befriends Maui and, in the end, discovers who she is really meant to be.
So, here’s what I learned about great fiction. Both stories feature villains, and my granddaughter took great delight in being scared half to death by lava monsters and fiendish Bergens, knowing it would all turn out okay in the end. Every great story needs an antagonist who the main characters have to overcome—even if it’s something intangible like hatred or unforgiveness. Like the trolls, when we struggle to overcome our difficulties, we become better people. And being a little scared is fun too, isn’t it?
Second, both stories have lessons on the importance of friendship, and the value of not trying to do everything alone. Relationships are very important, whether it’s a friendship, a marriage, or a family that’s featured. Moana and Poppy are both strong, courageous women but neither could have accomplished what she did without her friends.
A third theme of these stories is the need for courage to overcome our fears as we attempt to do what others say is impossible. Of course, God isn’t mentioned in Moana or The Trolls but good Christian fiction will always highlight what can be accomplished through faith. God is the source of our strength and courage. Someday my granddaughters will learn that He is the One who provides the courage to face impossible odds.
These are all great elements of good fiction but best of all, both stories provided a picture of redemption. In The Trolls, the power of love transforms the Bergens from enemies into friends. And in Moana, the lava monster is transformed into a beautiful, fruitful island by Moana’s act of courage. Enemies and people who seem unlovable may turn out to be good friends if we give them a chance. Redemption is at the heart of every great story, from Les Miserables to The Cat in the Hat (another of Lyla’s favorites). I hope I never tire of telling the redemption story in a dozen different ways in my novels.
And speaking of redemption, I now have a new chapter to add to the story of my daughter’s cat, Dexter. In earlier blogs, I told how Dexter, a wild, unlikeable, homeless cat from the streets of Chicago, was transformed into a loveable family pet through my daughter’s perseverance and love. He has watched over Lyla from the day she was born, bringing her little toys whenever she is upset. While I was alone with her, Lyla woke up in the night, crying for her mama and papa. I tried without success to calm her and get her back to sleep. Then Dexter came to the rescue, jumping onto her bed and curling up beside her, purring like a furry motorboat. Lyla settled down as she petted him, then curled up beside him and fell asleep, hugging him like a Teddy bear. If I hadn’t witnessed it, I would never have believed it!
That’s the power of redemptive love. It worked in Dexter’s life—and for Moana and the trolls, too. No wonder Jesus commanded us to love our enemies.
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Two more chapters to write and I will be able to type those wonderful words—THE END. The novel I’ve been laboring on for nearly a year is almost finished. Maybe I’ll be able to enjoy the Christmas season with my family this year without stressing over my deadline. But when I tried to start my computer yesterday morning, eager to make the final sprint to the finish line, I discovered that it had crashed. An automatic update had failed, locking everything up. The fatal blue screen wouldn’t allow me access to my computer no matter how hard I tried. I did the only thing I knew how to do—I panicked!
A crashed computer isn’t the only discouraging “glitch” I’ve experienced in my writing life these past few months. On the day of my book launch—a day I waited an entire year to celebrate—the book was unavailable on Amazon. Then I learned that the members of my Launch Team wouldn’t be receiving their advance copies of the book until more than a week after the launch date. And there were several other glitches, each one frustrating and worrisome and stressful. I call them “joy stealers.” Instead of the euphoria of another successful launch or a nearly completed novel, I’m wasting my energy stewing and worrying. Joyful? Not so much.
This week I will celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. It’s a yearly reminder to stand back and get some perspective on how God has so richly provided for us. Have there been “glitches” and “joy stealers” this year? Of course. But in the larger view of things, my family and I have been abundantly blessed. We could have been eating Thanksgiving dinner without my husband this year if a serious health issue a few months ago hadn’t ended well. Then there are our spiritual blessings, such as God’s grace and redemption and love. The security of our heavenly home. And a calling that I love in spite of the glitches.
The young man who stood alone on the pier, gazing out at Lake Michigan was different from me in many ways—his age, his ethnicity, and his style of clothing, to name a few. But like me, he obviously had come to the beach on this warm, fall afternoon to enjoy the gorgeous day and picturesque view. Because I’m a shy, quiet person, it never occurred to me to speak with him. But my girlfriend Cathy is naturally friendly, and she struck up a conversation with him. I decided to step out of my comfort zone and join in.
My husband has always believed in me (even when I doubted myself), so we were among the first households to switch to a computer—a clunky Atari with 3 ½ inch discs. Typos and errors were easy to fix and I could print out flawless copies on my dot-matrix printer. Now my mistakes and frustrations became technological ones as I struggled to learn how to use these new machines. But my writing improved exponentially because it was easy to make edits and improvements. I now own a laptop computer as well as a desktop, which gives me the freedom to write anywhere.
I’m often tempted to look back with nostalgia at the “good old days,” especially when I see changes in the world that frighten me. It’s easy to forget that in those “good old days” my family owned only one car (which my dad drove to work, forcing us to walk everywhere); we had no dishwasher (which meant we had to wash all the dishes, 365 days a year); our clothes dryer was the sun and a clothesline in the backyard; and our telephone was attached to the kitchen wall. I long to return to those “good old days” about as much as I long to write my next book on my antique typewriter!
I’m learning that change isn’t always bad. In fact, God built it into the universe. That’s obvious from looking at the trees outside my office window. So the question is, am I allowing God to use the changes in my life—the bad ones as well as the good ones—to transform me into the person He wants me to be? Am I changing for the better, or becoming a grouch who hates change? As summer ends and I see the harvest all around me, I should to be bearing fruit, too—spiritual fruit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22). I need God to update me into a new-improved version. Because if I don’t, I have a feeling my life will be as frustrating as writing a novel with a quill pen.
A few months back, I looked at my website (
It’s summer. I live within walking distance of the beach. I’ve waited many long months for beautiful weather like this and for leisurely afternoons to enjoy it. Most of all, I’ve waited for my family and friends to visit so I can do all of the wonderful, summer-y things this area has to offer. At the same time, I have a book to finish, a deadline to meet. These conflicting desires pull me in opposite directions. But I’ve learned a few techniques over the years, for staying focused on my book when I’d rather go jump in the lake.
My daughter and son-in-law are brand-new parents. If they go to the park for a few hours or on a vacation to Colorado for a week (as they just did), they have to figure out how to take the baby along. Those of us who are parents understand how much planning (and equipment!) it takes for even the simplest excursion. I’m the parent of a book-in-progress. I can’t afford to leave my baby behind for very long or I’ll have to start all over again the way we do when we’ve read a few chapters of a book and then set it aside for a month. Now, where was I? Who are these characters, again?
My family and friends are smart, fun people. They’re also interested in what I’m writing and seem to enjoy talking about it with me. I’ve learned to take advantage of this “captive audience.” My friend Cathy loves discussing my romantic story-lines, and she helped me brainstorm a future Christmas novella during her visit. My sister Peggy, a university English professor, read my novel-in-progress while here on vacation (bless her!) and came up with several wonderful plot ideas for me. I talked about my manuscript’s spiritual themes with my son Ben and son-in-law Snir while on vacation in the Rocky Mountains and gleaned valuable lessons. Two of our out-of-town guests this summer were my German publisher Anne-Ruth and German editor, Kathrin. We did a lot of brainstorming together and they offered wonderful insights into what my readers enjoy about my books. (It wasn’t all work, though—we also had a lot of fun!) And my friend Jacki was wise enough to help me reconsider some of my over-ambitious entertaining plans so I wouldn’t burn out (she even volunteered to cook). I need all these friends! Writing a book shouldn’t be a solitary endeavor.
I can’t count how many times I’ve had a creative break-through on my work-in-progress after I’ve walked away from my desk to go play. Creativity and play go hand-in-hand, and we’re most creative when we abandon ourselves to it like small children. I know this, but sometimes I forget. My sweet husband helps me take creative breaks from my job when I’m hard at work. He packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch one day and we cycled to a park overlooking Lake Michigan. Another day we cycled to a nearby hotdog stand for corn dogs and onion rings. Not the healthiest lunch, but a fun one, and I returned to my desk re-charged.
The bottom line is finding balance. I need to learn how to balance all the competing obligations and longings in my life in a way that brings both accomplishment and joy.