Wandering Wednesdays – Emotion that Resonates

Every writer wants to know their words have a lasting impact in the life of their readers. We write to entertain, but what truly matters for a Christian writer is when someone is blessed by our words. You will only minister to the reader if your words carry a message outside the context of the story, spiritual truth capable of causing them to examine their own heart.

Words which resonate truth echo the personal experience of the reader. You must touch the shared pain of the human heart to make a difference in their life.  Condensing your passion into memorable statements enables your story to remain in the reader’s thoughts long after they finish reading. This is only achieved by writing spiritual truth. It is essential that Christian writing stand the test of good theology, and your words correlate with the words of Jesus Christ.

Words with power seldom appear in the first draft. Memorable writing happens when the writer becomes so immersed in the story, so deep into the minds and hearts of the characters, that they reflect where you have been. To achieve life-changing impact in a fictional world requires delving into the deepest, most hidden parts of your heart and laying it bare to the world.

“The greatest blessings come when we leave the familiar behind and take a step of faith.” The writer must step out on faith, understanding that exposing your heart holds the possibility of it being thrown back in your face. However, “God never says the safe and familiar is His best.” To make great gains, great risks must be taken.

Writing capable of altering lives must reveal how changes in your own life took place. To evoke emotion in the reader, the writer must reach down to gut level, revisiting the lowest of lows, and be willing to reveal personal failures. “If He leaves you with no one and nothing, you still have God and therefore, you have hope…” Have you felt it? What made you doubt God? What made you beg for Him to speak?

When you reach the place where your tears stain the page, begin to retrace your footsteps to spiritual heights, to the moment when you exalted in victory. “There, in place of her fear, was God.” Draw the reader into your heart by laying your emotions bare and inviting them in to see that the cost was far less than the gain of God walking with you every step of the way. “I’m heartbroken and disappointed, but God is carrying me.”

Did the Lord send someone alongside to comfort and encourage? Did someone say to you, “Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean God can’t do it…?” Faith is the certainty of something you cannot see. Was someone willing to speak the painful truth, to say, “If you don’t believe all of God’s word, you don’t truly believe…?” The writer must hemorrhage to the point that the reader bleeds too.

Then, when it seems hope is gone, lead them to the understanding that “Faith is not a feeling…it’s a decision to leave self behind, to leave ‘why’ behind, and choose to believe God.” Cause them to understand that “The single answer to the ‘whys’ in life is God’s sovereignty.”

If your own words don’t return you to those moments of anguish, your story cannot make your readers laugh, cry, worry, sigh, and finally smile. They must “see the pain in the eyes of the characters…as well as the sparks of hope.”

The best writing comes from the deepest places of the soul. Use words which return you to the emotion created by trials and triumphs in your own life. Only then can, you work your way into the hearts of your readers.

All quotes are taken from Land of My Dreams, © Copyright by Norma Gail Thurston Holtman,

Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, April 2014.

About the Author:

Norma Gail is a former Bible Study Fellowship discussion leader who established the first weekly women’s Bible studies in her church in 2003 and continues to lead a weekly small group. Her devotionals, poetry have appeared at ChristianDevotions.us, the Stitches Thru Time blog, and in “The Secret Place.” She has led weekly women’s Bible studies for 18 years. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, FaithWriters, and the New Mexico Christian Novelists. Her debut contemporary Christian romance, Land of My Dreams, set in Scotland and New Mexico released in April 2014.She is a former RN and homeschool/soccer mom who loves family research, history, and Scotland. Norma lives in the mountains of New Mexico with her husband of 38 years. They have two adult children.