Three-Dimensional Characters and Inspiring People

Today’s prompt:

Someone (or more!) who has inspired you this year.

1. Hudson Taylor. I listened to a book called Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret this year. It was very, very, good. Much more interesting and relatable than several other books I’ve come across this year about other missionaries! I think the main thing that inspired me about Hudson was his complete trust in God. Although he was in the middle of China with no money and hostile people on all sides he still trusted that God would come through—and He always did. Pretty profound for me.
2. My mum. It’s pretty inspiring to see how she faithfully cares for all of us, day in and out, asking for nothing back. Thank you, Mum.
3. David Livingstone. I started to listen to an audiobook about him a while ago but never got through it because it was SO boring! But one thing I did get out of it was his devotion. He left all—his family, wife, children, home, everything—so that he could share Jesus with (until then) unreached Africans. Pretty powerful story!
4. George Mueller’s wife. Her name escapes me now, but her willingness to follow her husband’s leading—although it could mean complete poverty—is very, very inspiring. She’s a good roll model if I ever have read of one!
5. Corrie ten Boom. I’ve listened to The Hiding Place over and over. Her story is so…encouraging and inspiring! And I love the place where she tells about the time she had to forgive one of her guards after the war…very touching and eye-opening.
6. A dear old man in our congregation. If you got to know him just in passing you’d think he was just an elderly Kiwi farmer who loves Jesus and is trying to serve Him. But just last Sunday, we learned a little more of his backstory. And I’m amazed to realise just a little more—like getting to know a character in a book—what the things are/were in his life that made him the person he is today (a little more on this later).
7. Simon Peter’s wife (the Peter in the Bible). Imagine how it would be to have your husband suddenly start following this perfect stranger all over the place…and then have him begin acting strange after Jesus went back to heaven…and then him going all over the country speaking about Jesus…I think I would wonder what happened to him! But maybe she was behind him all the way, I don’t know. It definitely would have taken a lot of devotion and forbearance as his wife to experience those things! I’d like to write a story about it one day, perhaps.

Well, it’s rained today. When I last checked it this evening we had gotten about 32 mm. (1 1/4 in.) so far! Praise the Lord!

Back to our elderly friend. I’m afraid, since writing this latest novel, I’ve been more writerly-minded than ever. And I suppose that isn’t all bad. But I’ve been comparing A LOT of daily life with writing things. So it was kind-of interesting as we were on the way home after a good day of fellowship to listen to what my brothers had to say. They spent a good part of the afternoon with another friend, who was telling them some very interesting stories.

One was about this man in our congregation. He was in a bad accident about ten years ago, wrecking his motorbike (fourwheeler) completely and getting severely hurt himself. I don’t know exactly what all was hurt, but I know quite a few ribs were crushed and his lungs were crushed and he ended up losing a shoulder blade in the whole mess. The doctors told him he’d never be able to walk again.

He’s been a farmer a good bit of his life. After hearing what the doctors said, he has progressed and now walks normally (at least, as far as I can tell). Apparently, after losing a shoulder blade however, it became very difficult to raise his arm. It hurt a lot to even raise his arm to a 90° angle from his body. But he managed to rig up a kind of pulley system in his house, and even though it hurt a lot today his arm is strengthened enough that he can raise it as high as any normal person could. But it took a long time, and a lot of painful work to get it back to a semblance of what was before.

Now the point I’m trying to make here is that sometimes your book’s characters have a LOT more in their history than you’d ever imagine. I had no idea that this man in our church had ever been through such a terrible ordeal. Imagine—trying to lift your arm when it screams in agony at the slightest movement! But he endured that pain, and now he can use it again. I don’t know if it still hurts or not, but I’d imagine that it would at least sometimes.

I didn’t know anything about this part of him. Now that I’ve found it out, though, it makes him into a more rounded character. (Oh, my…this is making it sound like he’s just a character in a book!) I’ve gotten to see another layer of his personality, the things that make up who he is as a person. By getting to know this side of him a little more, I think it makes it more possible for me to understand him as a person better. To sympathise with him a little more.

So, if you’re building a character for your book right now, try to dig deeply into who he/she is. Come up with both possible and impossible things that they might have experienced. Get to know them inside and out—not as flat characters, but as living, breathing, three-dimensional characters. I promise, it will be worth it in the end. Getting to know them as early as possible really makes it real for when you’re writing about them. Maybe they had something happen that affected their vocal chords, so they speak strange. Maybe they were emotionally hurt sometime in childhood, and they’re still angry and bitter about that today. Whatever it is, you need to dig it out of them. Bring the things that build up who they are to light. It will be worth it in the end.

Alright, I think I’ve talked about characters enough for now. I need to start working on some of the ones in the book I’ve just written—most are pretty flat and boring. So this was addressed to myself as well as to you. And I sure hope you’re a writer so you can understand what I’m trying to say and take it to heart. ;)

My question to you today: Have you ever had sudden revelations like this? And, if so, what did they teach you?

Hope you’re having a wonderful last week of November! :)
~Esther