Friday, June 27, 2014

The Need for Conflict by Donna Reimel Robinson


Donna Reimel Robinson
Conflict is important in our personal lives and the lives of the characters we create. Why? Today on Seriously Write, author Donna Reimel Robinson tackles that very question. Enjoy! ~ Dawn


The Need for Conflict
by Donna Reimel Robinson

If you’re a fiction writer, you’ve probably heard the old adage, “Put your heroine up a tree and throw rocks at her.” In other words, give that lady conflict in her life. Then make things worse, and don’t let up until the end—when everything finally works out, and she reaches her goal.

Conflict is necessary in a book. If nothing is fighting against the protagonist, the story becomes dull and predictable—boring. And no author wants to write a boring novel.

But in real life, we want boring! We want to sail through life on smooth waters. We want everything to work out, with not a hint of trouble.

So why does the Lord bring trials and tribulation into our lives? Why doesn’t He let us have that boring, predictable, easy life?

For one thing, conflict builds up our faith. If we never had problems in our lives, we might forget that the Lord is taking care of us.

Moses had this concern in Deuteronomy, Chapter 8. The Lord was willing to bless His people, but when everything was going great, they needed to beware. Beware of pride, beware of forgetting the Lord.

This is not only a good lesson for us, but for our story characters as well. Many times an author will pen a character who claims to be a Christian, but who has forgotten the Lord. This person is trying to run his own life, but things go from bad to worse. In a Christian novel, this character needs to turn to the Lord. A change on the inside, not just a change of circumstances, makes a powerful impact on readers. It could even cause a reader to think about his or her own spiritual walk.

When my first novel was published, which is the first story in Tumbleweed Weddings, a reader contacted me. Several tragic events had recently happened in her life. She said, “I want to thank you. I just got over some bad feelings I had at God.... Your book has helped me a lot, and I hope you write more about Fort Lob and all its lovely people. God bless you.”

So bring on the conflict! But don’t forget the Lord. Let your character realize that without God in his life, there will be no Happily Ever After.




Tweetables:

Why does the Lord bring trials and tribulation into our lives? Why doesn’t He let us have that boring, predictable, easy life? Click to tweet.

Conflict builds up our faith. If we never had problems in our lives, we might forget that the Lord is taking care of us. Click to tweet.

A change on the inside of our characters, not just a change of circumstances, makes a powerful impact on readers. Click to tweet.





In Tumbleweed Weddings, you’ll meet the Brandt siblings—Callie, Tonya, and Derek—who live on a sheep ranch with their parents near Fort Lob, Wyoming. That part of the country has rolling hills, a sparse population, and tumbling tumbleweeds when the wind blows. Callie Brandt thinks she’ll be single all her life until Lane Hutchins comes to town. But there’s something mysterious about him. Tonya Brandt wants to marry a handsome man, but who is her secret admirer? Derek Brandt doesn’t want to marry until he’s forty. That’s a problem for Cheyenne Wilkins who needs to get married right away to fulfill the stipulations in her grandmother’s will.

This is a collection of three contemporary romances under one cover, previously published separately by Barbour Publishing. 

To read the first chapter, visit Donna’s website: www.DonnaRobinsonBooks.com

 


Donna Reimel Robinson is a member of JOY Writers, a local critique group, as well as ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers). As a pastor’s wife, she plays the piano for their church and teaches a Jr. High Sunday School class. In her spare time, Donna enjoys sewing and working jigsaw puzzles. She and her husband have four grown children and ten grandchildren. They live in Denver, Colorado.

To learn more and connect with Donna, please visit”