In this guest post from author Cathy Gohlke, Cathy takes us behind the scenes of how she creates heartfelt and purposeful novels.
In her latest novel, This Promised Land, Cathy writes about a woman who has inherited her family’s Christmas tree farm and the aftermath of that inheritance for her estranged family.
Learn more about where Cathy’s ideas for her fiction come from and how she is able to create stories that she hopes will bring readers closer to God.
If you enjoy Cathy’s novels, get access to the entire first chapter of This Promised Land, or find your own copy in softcover, e-book, or audiobook at a retailer near you.
I’m convinced God calls each of us for a purpose, and that He prepares us for those purposes through our unique life experiences—the good, the bad, even those—perhaps especially those—that leave deep ravines in our souls.
Through life our purposes may expand or change. Doors open. Doors close. New pathways emerge. The constant is that He is there for us, training/preparing/teaching us, providing all we need to honor Him within the boundaries of our habitation.
Fiction writing for me is a calling from God, a ministry to honor Him, and an opportunity to share His great love through stories. Each book is born of something He burns into my heart—a concern that grieves Him, and joy that flows from His Spirit. I’ve often called those concerns my “pound the table and weep” factor, for they grieve me, too. His joy is the joy that fuels my life—“The LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.”—Psalm 118:14. (HCSB)
Most often those grievous issues are ones I see in the news—injustices, hardships, cruelties, attitudes that break my heart. Conversely, some issues are life-changing truths He’s presented in the Bible that we desperately need.
These are the things that create purpose-driven fiction—not fiction with an agenda, but organic stories that may be seen as illustrations. Mirrors, if you will, so that we as readers may stand back, view the issue or concern objectively from many angles, and draw conclusions. I hope and pray those conclusions draw us closer to the One who offers peace and restoration of relationship with Him.
Those concerns have run a wide range in my books. Issues of slavery and how we respond to help those oppressed fueled William Henry is a Fine Name; Jesus’ sacrificial love for us and His charge to reach out to others in Promise Me This; what Jesus would do about human trafficking in Band of Sisters; how we surrender our anger to God and offer forgiveness to others even when it seems impossible in Secrets She Kept; domestic violence and racial and church abuse in Night Bird Calling; racial abuse and violence in A Hundred Crickets Singing.
In my new release, This Promised Land, the story is a twentieth-century take on Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son and the Running Father—how, like the younger son in the parable, we are all at some point prodigals in need of returning to Him; how, like the older son, we are all at some point guilty of judging others and resisting His compassionate, unfailing love; and how we all have opportunities to emulate the Running Father, ready and quick to forgive, eager to embrace and to include others. Wonderful, too, is the realization that we can all be forgiven.
These are the purposes behind some of my stories, but purpose without story would never reach a reader’s To Be Read stack.
Once I understand the purpose God has pressed on my heart, I look for a time and place in history to set my story, a place where something similar played out. That’s never difficult to find because history repeats itself with astonishing regularity.
Characters emerge as I research the history of the era, the setting, the politics, the culture, the religious practices and viewpoints, popular songs and books, recipes, vocations, hobbies—everything I can imagine about the time and place. Characters flesh out as I learn more about them—their ethnicity and personal history, their environment and that of their parents and grandparents who helped shape them, and so much more.
This is when the story blossoms. I begin to see how those characters will interact with their circumstances and environment, how they will address the issue/concern/purpose that inspired the story.
Often, as characters take over my story the plot tweaks, matures. That’s when the magic is born. That’s when the words of Eric Liddell (the Scottish Olympian who ran with the breath of God at his back) beat in my heart. Liddell said, “God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure. We are all missionaries. Wherever we go we either bring people nearer to Christ or we repel them from Christ.”
When I write not to entertain but to fulfill the purpose He’s burned into my heart, I feel God’s pleasure. I pray my stories draw readers yet closer to His heart.
For more about the writing of my stories: http://authorcathygohlke.com/for-writers/
In This Promised Land, Ginny Pickering Boyden can’t wait for her last day of work, when she’ll be free to pursue a lifelong ambition through a master gardener apprenticeship. But an unexpected letter brings shocking news: Ginny has inherited her family’s Christmas tree farm, a dream she’d long ago given up.
Facing a past laced with memories and lies she’s tried hard to bury, a furious nephew who thought the land would be his, and a failing farm with a mountain of debt, Ginny returns to New Scrivelsby, Virginia, determined to sell. But when her younger nephew, a Vietnam vet, appears with demons of his own and three young children in tow, Ginny isn’t sure what to do. Too much of their story reminds Ginny of her own. She has little hope, however, that three generations of warring Pickerings can set aside their differences to restore all that’s broken, both on the land and in their hearts.
Bestselling, Christy Hall of Fame, and Carol and INSPY Award–winning author Cathy Gohlke writes novels steeped with inspirational lessons, speaking of world and life events through the lens of history. She champions the battle against oppression, celebrating the freedom found only in Christ. Cathy has worked as a school librarian, drama director, and director of children’s and education ministries. When not traveling to historic sites for research, she and her husband, Dan, divide their time between northern Virginia and the Jersey Shore, enjoying time with their grown children and grandchildren. Visit her website at cathygohlke.com and find her on Facebook at CathyGohlkeBooks; on Bookbub (@CathyGohlke); and on YouTube, where you can subscribe to Book Gems with Cathy Gohlke for short videos of book recommendations. Cathy welcomes invitations to virtual book club meetings through the Connect page of her website.
