I’ve been working on my main current WIP A Wood So Great and Terrible, which is a non-magical fantasy set in an era akin to the late 18th century. It follows my two leads Annwyl, daughter of Chief Alderic of the Siobhite Clan; and Kian, the son of a blacksmith who resides just outside the capital city of the kingdom of Acton. I recently reached the point in the story where the POV shifts from Annwyl to my main guy. With that shift, I was pleasantly surprised to find that when I started writing Kian’s POV, I connected with him rather quickly and more than I thought I would, considering that his plot line in the story is the one that has given me so much trouble, but as I thought about why I connected to him so much, it hit me: Kian struggles with control.
He’s desperate to find something that will fix the painful situation that he’s in, and so he does the only thing that allows him to feel he has some control over everything that’s going on. He turns to being a highwayman to pay off his family’s outstanding debts and to pay for the care of doctors for his ailing father. It isn’t the right thing by any means, but that struggle of wanting to have some sort of control is one I can relate to. Trusting God and letting Him lead is something I struggle with, and it’s been a battle for me as my health has gone downhill and I’ve lost the ability to be active like I used to. So I have to fight to not scavenge and hold tight to the things I “can” control and instead trust God.
Kian, on the other hand, is scared to trust God, and if he’s honest, there’s a part of him that’s angry. He’s angry that his father, who in his eyes is as close to godly as one can get in this life, is sick and slowly wasting away. He’s also angry that those who have sworn to heal have shown no mercy in the debts they have laid on his family when they haven’t even been able to cure his father. And while his father assures him that he will see him again in the life to come, Kian can’t accept the fact of his father leaving so soon.
Thankfully my lead guy doesn’t stay as we meet him at the start of the story, but it’s a long journey before he learns to give in and trust God with His ways instead of trying to go about doing things in man’s own broken, sinful ways. I’m looking forward to sharing his journey with you all.
God bless!
C. k. Heartwing
This is My Father's World 