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Redeeming Bible Villains–Jezebel

Jul 11

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This post is continuing with the theme of finding redeeming traits that might make characters based on Bible villains more three-dimensional.

Of all the villains in the Bible, Jezebel is one of the most fascinating. Even among those who aren’t avid Bible readers, mention of her name conjures images of wickedness and seduction.

Her name appears in the Bible twenty times, although one refers to the Jezebel of Revelation 2:20. This Jezebel, though also a seductress, does not have quite the wicked reputation as the Old Testament queen.

When Jehu conspires to kill Joram after being annointed king of Israel, Joram asks if he’s coming in peace. Jehu answers, “What peace, as long as the harlotries and witchcraft of your mother are so many?” (II Kings 9)

Unlike Cain, to whom the Lord gave leniency, Jezebel was sentenced to death by her own servants and eaten by dogs. 

I love these Old Testament stories, with all their twists, turns, and gore. But to write a Jezebel–how can she possibly have any redeeming qualities?

At first, I considered the possibility that perhaps she didn’t WANT to marry Ahab, and she might have been at least somewhat obedient there. Yet I Kings 21:25 says:

But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up.

It’s hard to picture her not enjoying being a powerful queen, manipulative and murderous. This verse has the same feel to it as Adam’s blame in Genesis–the woman made me do it! 

So, admittedly, these might be a stretch, but here goes–

  1. She was zealous in her idolatry. In how many other instances would a woman marry a king and not be expected to adopt his faith? Especially in Bible times where women wouldn’t have had the freedoms we relish in today. 
  2. She was effective in her evangelism. In I Kings 16:31-32, we see that Ahab not only fell into worshipping Baal, but he also built altars to worship in Samaria, which he surely knew was an atrocity to God. In this, I picture her as perhaps a smooth talker–the seductress side of her winning him over. And perhaps, that alone would be a redeeming enough quality for a Jezebel-type character, charismatic enough that readers are swept into the seduction.
  3. She accepted her death with dignity. Although there was no dignity in being eaten by the dogs, Jezebel did face her fate head on. Unlike the warden in The Shawshank Redemption, who ended his life in the final moment before the authorities came for him, Jezebel put on makeup and adorned her head, and waited for Jehu. She even asked him, as Ahab had, if he came in peace, knowing full well the answer. 

There you have it.  Redeeming qualities of Jezebel. On to the next villain!

 

 

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Redeeming Bible Villains–Cain

Jul 11

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You’d think in a Christian fiction story, writing a good villain would be simple. After all, the Bible spells out all the character traits in plain and simple terms in many places. Perhaps, none as clearly as Proverbs 6:12-19:

A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth; He winks with his eyes, he shuffles his feet, he points with his fingers;
Perversity is in his heart, he devises evil continually, he sows discord.
Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly; suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.

These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.

It’s a challenge to write a character with all of these traits who doesn’t come across as unidimensional, as I discovered a couple of years ago in a NaNoWriMo debacle. But just because it’s Christian fiction, that doesn’t mean we have to stick to black and white, pure evil versus sinless good.

There are articles all over the Internet advising writers to give their villains redeeming qualities. Which got me thinking–what are the redeeming qualities of Bible villains? Can Christian fiction writers not draw inspiration from them?

Genesis 4 opens with Eve giving birth to Cain and sayiing, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.”

If he came from God, he had to be good, right? The Bible tells us “in the process of time” it came to pass that Cain and Abel brought their offerings to God. I’ve wondered so many things about this story–how old were Cain and Abel when this animosity first arose between them? Teenagers? Young adults? Middle grade? Did they argue all the time like my kids do, and need continual redirection to make wise choices in how they relate to each other? What kind of parents were Adam and Eve? After all, they didn’t have access to billions of parenting self-help blogs. Did they neglect discipline to a point that Cain’s anger and jealousy thrived?

Even sin was new to them–no one before them had ever learned from such mistakes. Did Adam and Eve have explosive arguments and struggle with their own tempers? Sometimes I think we like to throw them in the garden all happy-go-lucky after the apple incident, but I suspect they were humans like the rest of us, struggling with daily sin.

Yes, Cain was a murderer. Yes, he was prideful. A heart full of malice, intent to rebel against the will of God–all the makings of a good villain.

But God also showed him mercy, lessening his punishment by placing the mark on him so that he couldn’t be killed. And though Cain separated himself from God, he went on to build a city and raise a family.

Mario Puzo’s The Godfather comes to mind. How could those men could murder in cold blood and then embrace and hug their children in practically the next breath? Did Cain, like Michael Corleone, destroy others through evil acts, or did the guilt from his brother’s murder change him? Did he raise his children with a heavy hand? Execute wrath on his wife? The hints of vanity and lustfulness in Genesis 4:16-24 show us that sin ran rampant within his family, yet surely there were tender moments of humanity.

And I think that’s the key–a lot of novels only loosely develop the antagonist because it’s hard to reveal such details without having to work around POV. Good writers will find some way to pepper that backstory in without making it seem contrived.

Now, off to analyze my WIP to see where I might throw some of that backstory in.

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Let it Go (the emotion, that is…)

Jul 3

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Confession. I have not yet read The Fault in Our Stars. I’m sure it’s a lovely book. Everyone I know is talking about it. And I haven’t read it for the same reason that I’ve never made it all the way through A Walk to Remember, and The Notebook. My chest constricts just thinking about it. Tears well up in my eyes and I start wandering the room for chocolate. I’m not a fan of sappy.

I know, I know. So many good books I’ve missed out on because I don’t like to face that raw emotion.

Then there’s my temper. I teach teenagers. I’m paid not to lose my temper. And with that, I’ve learned to let things roll off my shoulders. It takes a lot to make me mad these days, which makes it really hard to write a dramatic scene in a novel.

Yet, I’m working on a scene where I need to vamp it up. And I’m stuck. I guess I’m going to have to grab some tissues and force myself to read a few of those sappy books.

Joe Bunting, founder of The Write Practice, wrote this article on writing about raw emotion. His first thought was to draw inspiration from music. That, I can do. I can actually listen to songs that evoke that sort of emotion as I write. I’ve never been a playlist writer, but I know that writers are. Bunting suggests using repetition and restraint to convey the emotion. I like the thoughts, but I felt like the article could have given a few more examples. So I Googled on.

Nevermind that when I searched (when should a character let emotion go) and found Elsa, or (when should a character break down) and found Twilight. 

But finally, I came across this little gem: Character Rants and Breakdowns–Let ’em Rip by Beth Hill. I realized how much of the problem is me–holding back my own emotions, so I hold back the emotions of my characters. Writing and reading is an escape. Catharsis is acceptable on the written page, and it will lead readers to compassion for my characters.

This reminds me of Romans 12:15, one of my favorite verses on compassion.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

It’s exactly what readers want to do. Now, to push my sleeves up and make them feel that scene.

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That’s a great first line!

Mar 29

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So… a few weeks ago, I was named Area Coordinator for the Eastern Kentucky branch of ACFW. Whoo hoo! Other than the only other Christian writer I know of in the area  is the girl who teaches across the hall from me. Lots of work to do!

Today was an amazing day. A friend and I joined three writers at a quaint little bookstore/bakery to find out a little more about what needs to happen in an ACFW chapter. I can’t stress enough what a difference this organization has made in my life. The free classes, the contests, the encouragement–like anything else, you get what you give, but I’ve received some fantastic feedback and feel closer than ever to my goal of someday publishing.

One thing that stands out to me from the day–

As we got to know each other, we laughed and told stories. One of the ladies kept exclaiming, “That sounds like a great first line!”

I think about first lines all the time, stress over them, in fact. But this woman, within a span of about 30 minutes, had already turned our simple conversation into several great ideas.  So, a new challenge for myself and anyone who reads this. Every day for the next week, just listen to everyone around you. Pay attention to their quips and greetings, and find as many great first lines as you can.

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My Writing Process Blog Tour

Mar 24

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Thank you to Kimberly Grenfel, aka Devon Winterson, who invited me to participate in the “My Writing Process” blog tour, where I answer four questions my writing process.
And where did the last two months go? Oh, yeah, right. No snow days and working like a fiend! So much for New Year’s Resolutions! LOL. I will try to be more dedicated to researching and making blog posts. I have actually read a couple of great books to blog about over the last couple weeks.
My Writing Process . . . answered by author Monica Mynk:
1) What am I working on? – Cavernous. Its a YA dystopian Christian fiction where Callie Noland’s world falls apart when her mother goes missing and turns up in handcuffs on national TV following a presidential assassination. In the aftermath, seven US states declare themselves seceded and create a new, somewhat unstable government.  Callie is snatched from her father and hurled into the new government when men claiming to be federal agents bring DNA results that seem to prove that he’s not really her father. Okay, yeah. I really need to work on the blurb. But that’s the general idea. Will Callie compromise her faith to blend into this new government safely or even to escape and get back to her father?
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre? – As far as I know, there are not many people out there writing YA dystopian Christian fiction with a political/social media spin. The ones I’ve found are either older, like 1984, or more fantasy/sci-fi oriented. My dream is that this story will be the Hunger Games/Divergent of Christian fiction an inspire faith in young ladies everywhere. One of the accusations of YA dystopian novels is that the characters are sometimes underdeveloped. The romances are not fully evolved, etc. I’m hoping to do better at that.
3) Why do I write what I do? – Honestly, I’m not sure. Some of the things that show up on my page end up surprising me. I have this dark side that doesn’t physically manifest itself, I guess LOL. I write Christian fiction because I am a Christian and I don’t want to ever be pressured into including something in a book that isn’t up to my spiritual standards. I want to write books that my kids will read and be inspired to deeper faith.
4) How does my writing process work? – I always start with the idea, which usually comes from an observation or dream, and write until I have about 10,000 words of gibberish. Then, I sift through the garbage and try to find my story. After that, I outline a general timeline, which will certainly change eight or nine times. I research for a few days and then push up my sleeves and write a few chapters. Usually I find things I need to go back and explain, so what ends up being my chapter one is about six or seven chapters earlier than my original chapter one. I try to avoid prologues.
Once I have a full draft, I try to find holes–places where adding another chapter will enhance the story. My full drafts tend to be around 50,000 words and I want 70,000. Then, I add things to deepen the POV and details to make the characters and setting pop off the page.
I am working with a freelance editor/writing coach for my current story. This really helps because she finds the big flaws in my story and rewrite them before it gets too far in. I also participate in several writing sites, primarily Legendfire, and Scribophile 
Next Monday, on March 24th, I’m supposed to have three other writers give you their own “My Writing Process” answers. I asked several people who couldn’t do it for various reasons, so if you’re a writer and you’d like to participate, feel free to tag along. All you have to do is link back to my blog, answer these four questions, and then find three other writers do the same in the following week.

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Writing as Art: Is it really my prerogative to write however I want?

Jan 25

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Final post  the discussion from Richard Bausch’s “Letter to a Young Writer.”

I could sing the praises of forums all day long. In fact, I’ve had a free education from them and owe them many dues. Still, I hold this one offense against them.  They are full of people who refuse to listen to helpful advice and keep on writing bad stories.

An argument that’s often made is that the author has the liberty to create whatever they wish. If they want to self-publish their dribble, they’re the ones out the money and it doesn’t hurt anyone except for them and the ten people that purchase their books. Maybe so.

It’s always hard to listen to criticism, even when it’s given in the kindest spirit. Still, it’s 100% essential.

At the same time, sometimes it’s just as important to not listen. Not everyone who gives you writing advice will give GOOD advice. Also, it’s important to find your own voice and style.

Bausch’s final piece of advice is “Be wary of all general advice.”  He says:

Destroy everything that precedes this commandment if, for you, it gets in the way of writing good stories. Because for every last assertion in this letter, there are several notable exceptions. Finally, try to remember that what you are aiming to do is a beautiful, even a noble, thing _ trying to write or make the trust as straightly and honestly and artfully as you can.

Once, I had an art professor lean a broom up against a crate and challenge the class, asking us if it was art.  After much spirited debate, we decided that it depends on who you ask. I think a story is the same way, even a poorly written one.

After all, at the end of the day, why do we do it? We all have a story burning inside us that we want to get out. And audience or no audience, fame or no fame, there’s a lot of merit in just getting the words down on paper. True writers, I believe, write for themselves with the tiny sliver of hope that someone else might someday read and enjoy it.

Bausch says this much more eloquently than I can, so we’ll finish this post up with his words.

It is also always an inherently optimistic act because it stems from the belief that there will be civilized others whose sensibilities you may affect if you are lucky and good enough and faithful to the task at hand. No matter how tragic the vision is, it is always a hopeful occupation. And, therefore, you have to cultivate your ability to balance things, to entertain high hopes without letting those hopes to become expectations. To do your work without worrying too much about what the world will have to say about it or do to it. Mostly, of course, the world will ignore it. And so, you will have that in common with many very great writers, good men and women who came before you.

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Taking Time to Read

Jan 15

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Here’s the first in a list of ten pieces of advice Richard Bausch gives in his “Letter to a Young Writer.” 

Read. You must try to know everything that has ever been written that is worth remembering and you must keep up with what your contemporaries are doing. Fitzgerald’s advice to his daughter, Scotty, is as good as any there is on the subject. “You must try to absorb six good authors a year.” This means that you do not read books as an English major is trained to read them. You swallow them. You ingest them. You move on. You do not stop to analyze or think much. You just take them into yourself and go on to the next one. And you read obsessively, too. If you really like something, you read it over and over through the years. Come to know the world’s literature by heart. Every good writer I know or have known began with an insatiable appetite for books – for plundering what is in them, for the nourishment provided there that you can’t get from any other source. 

While reading writing help blogs and articles, I continually find advice for a writer to read from the genre they hope to write in. As a new writer, you might not know that, so my suggestion is to look at the top of the New York Times list of bestsellers.That’s where I found my favorite book, Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns. The title intrigued me, the story gripped me, and I might have never found it, had I not looked over that list.

I love Bausch’s advice about not stopping to analyze, and just losing yourself in the book.

If you don’t like to read, you should know that when you write, there’s a lot of time spent reading your own work to try to make it better. Write, read, revise. Write, read, revise.

Though I do think it’s important to not stop to analyze, I also believe that analysis at the end is essential. Some have called Stephenie Meyer brilliant; others do not have much nice to say about her writing. No one argues that she doesn’t know how to sell a story.The Twilight series speaks to people in a way that many other books can’t. The same is true for The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Mortal Instruments, Harry Potter, and The 39 Clues. Ask yourself questions, like why there are so many middle-aged people devouring these books that were written for a young adult audience.

Well, off to follow my own advice. Can’t wait to read Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed!

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