As characters in stories, otherwise known as our lives, we function as characters more than we do as just people. We experience plot, setting, exposition, conflict, climax, and resolution. Life imitating art, imitating life.
Life is a story. We are characters in not only our own story, but we are also characters in The Story as well.
And the thing about characters is they never do what the author wants them to do. They have their own ideas of right and wrong. They have strong desires. And so sometimes we veer off track. And that's what I've been doing. Until now...I hope.
Except characters don't change on their own. You can't just wake up and say, "I want to change." No, it doesn't work like that. We need something to push us in a new direction. We need conflict. Conflict is the only thing that changes a character, ask Robert McKee. And conflict only comes in what story tellers call "an inciting incident."
"James Scott Bell says an inciting incident is a doorway through which a protagonist cannot return." - Donald Miller
And right now I am praying to God every day He, the Author of my story, our story, just brought Liz to me, not just because we need each other, but because He is hoping to bring about my change. To put me on a path. A better path. A path with a bigger purpose.
I mean, after all, the point of story is character transformation, and what's gonna change me more than God working through conflict and an inciting incident. Nothing.
Liz, may you be the inciting incident that gets me back on writing's path.
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