While my publisher was making another editing pass on Protector, book one of The Susa Chronicles, I worked on the first draft of book two in my dystopian Esther duology (two-book series).
Book two felt less…literal. In book one the goals were very clear cut and easy to track. In the second half of the story, everything got messier for a while.
Writing that messy bit was hard. I couldn’t see several steps ahead. I was happy if I could see half a step ahead. Compared to the first ten chapters of book two, which came out of me in a flurry, progress on the next section was slow and laborious.
See, in my heart, I want to be a planner. I want to be that writer who outlines the whole story ahead of time and then sticks to her outline. I do this to some extent. If you’re going to retell a Bible account, you need to know how you’re going to address the major points of the historical event. And if you’re going to cut the story in half and write it as a duology, you need to know which major pieces will go in which book.
However, I’m accepting the fact that I will always need to let the characters take the lead. Let them surprise me. Let them make bad choices on their way to transformation.
The first ten chapters of book two stayed true to my notes. There were certain things that had to occur in light of book one. (Golly, this is tough to explain without spoilers!) But when I got past the part of the plot we call the “Break into Act II” everything stopped.
Now what?
Somehow the idea of writing a 90,000-word book does not intimidate me. This will be the third time I’ve written a book of that length, and experience tells me I can do it. Yet, staring down the barrel of Act II, part A had me frozen. All I could see was that stretch of about 27,000 words (ten chapters) between where I left off and the next thing I knew had to happen.
How do I spend ten chapters getting my ragtag crew of characters from this big decision to that epic moment? What do they do between now and then? Should they be fighting, flirting, making good choices, making horrible choices?
Here’s where years of creative work outside of writing fiction kicked in. When creativity pays your bills, you don’t get to wait around for a lightning bolt of inspiration. You sit down and work and trust that inspiration will be there when you pick up the paint brush or open up Photoshop or start typing. You lean into the Source of Creativity.
Each time I sat down to write, I told myself that God had what I needed next. The next line, the next chapter ending, the next problem. I still couldn’t see far ahead. Like a hiker navigating the woods in a fog, I took one step at a time.
Until light appeared in the distance.
The ideas arrived in bulk. I think of it like a van full of relatives showing up at my door unexpectedly with all their luggage and screaming kids and maybe a couple pets. But in a good way.
I knew what would come next and next and next. Writing came quickly and easily. Hallelujah!
Here’s the key: It’s not a coincidence that a flood of inspiration showed up after the weeks of faithfully writing without the big light bulb.
God honors faithfulness. (Just ask Junior Asparagus in the Veggietale my kid has watched on repeat all week.) When we’re faithful in the small things, He hands us bigger things. When you show up and trust Him to give you the five words, He knows He can shine a light on the next five chapters.
Here’s the best part of this story. No joke. Are you ready?
After I had my breakthrough moment, I flipped back through the dozens of sticky notes with scribbled ideas for this book. (Yes, I should’ve done that earlier when the work was more stilted. Not the point.)
One of my notes said this:
Astra learns she doesn’t have to see the full plan just the next step.
This is literally the theme of book two—learning to trust God when you can’t see the whole picture.
I don’t know if I should laugh or cry at that. But I can say through personal experience (including many testimonies well beyond this cute little writing anecdote) that it is true.
We don’t have to understand every detail up front. We don’t need God to submit a proposal with a complete action plan and timeline. That would hardly demonstrate trust. We also don’t have to wonder if He knows what He’s doing. The Bible is very clear on that one.
Spoiler: God has a plan. It’s good. You’ll like it.
Maybe you’re a planner like me, or maybe you’re happy to fly by the seat of your pants. (In the writing world these people are called—no joke—pantsers.) Either way, I invite you to trust the Author of Creation, the Source of Creativity, the Provider, Defender, Comforter, and Guide to reveal His grand design in the prefect pieces.
