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What Lies Do We Believe?

Betty Slade • Aug 09, 2023

Today I welcome back author Betty Slade as she shares more insight into our internal thoughts and shares about her latest release.


 

Note of excitement in my world: I received word from Elk Lake Publishing, Inc. that my book cover, Taming Wild Horses, Book One of the Disappointment Valley Series, was one of the finalists for the Will Rogers Medallion Award.

 

Way to go, Betty. Here's crossing our fingers for a good outcome!

 

 

I listened to a webinar by a successful author who has written and published just under a hundred books. She says the first thing she asks before she decides on a plot for her story is what kind of lie does her character believe about herself. And why?

 

She says each of her characters believe in some kind of a lie. How they perceive themselves or others. This drives her story and writes the plot.

 

I am writing the second book in the Disappointment Valley Series. Do I know my character well enough to know what choices she’ll make when she is faced with more conflict and problems? The storyline will be based on her choices according to her backstory and what has happened to her.

 

I went back to the drawing board. What lie does Bree believe about herself? For a few, she believes she isn’t worthy of anyone’s love. She doesn’t trust in anyone and especially their promises. She doesn’t need anyone and is able to take care of herself. The way she reacts and copes with her life is to rescue herself from pain and run from the conflict. She is a ‘runner’.

 

To know her backstory from the first book in the series, the lie started when Bree was six years old. Her mother, Allie Steele, on meth, left her on the streets of San Francisco and forgot where she left her. Her mother promised Bree she’d come back for her. She didn’t. In trouble with the police, her mother fled the area with her boyfriend and disappeared. Bree was told her mother had died from an overdose and Bree entered the foster care services.

 

I turned the question to my writers’ group. What lie have we believed in ourselves that keeps us from writing? Has a lie kept us from following the path marked for us? Did a third-grade teacher laugh at our story? Did someone tell us we couldn’t write? Do we believe we have to be perfect, therefore we can’t write? Why will we believe a lie and oppose ourselves. When we do, we become our worse enemy.

 

To paraphrase Hebrews 12:1,2,3, in The Passion Translation Bible, we need to let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into. Then we will able to run life’s marathon race with passion and determination, for the path has been already marked out before us. People are in intense opposition from the answer they need and opposes their own souls.”

 

As writers, we need to know our characters and how they are wired. If not, the reader will close the book and put it down. How much stronger our written stories will be if we know our characters. How much stronger our lives will be if we know ourselves. Are we opposing ourselves by the lies we believe?

 


About Betty:

Betty J. Slade is an author, columnist, and artist. She has written over six hundred articles for the Pagosa Springs SUN Newspaper in her weekly column, The Artist’s Lane. She also created the Matter of Faith Column.  Betty’s early novels include Spirit of the Red Candle— Journal of Mary Magdalene, and the Heart Bender Trilogy. Her Bible Study books are The King’s Choice—Song of Solomon and Hearing the Whispering Dove Workbook, and Cameo—A Study of Ruth. Betty is published in three current anthologies: Twenty-Three Journeys to Christ, Looking at Life, and A Book of Remembrance. Her recent book to be released is Taming Wild Hearts, Book One of the Disappointment Valley Series.


Connecting Online: 

https://www.facebook.com/betty.slade.92/ - Personal Facebook site –3.4 K reach

https://www.facebook.com/bettyjslade - Writing Facebook site – 1.4 K reach.

Website: https://bettyjslade.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettyjslade/

Nova Bree Steele is on the run after witnessing a murder in San Francisco. She hitchhikes to a ranch in the heart of the Rocky Mountains in search of Joe Crawford, a good man she heard could help her.

 

About  Taming Wild Hearts

Modern-day cowboy, Luke Barrett rescues a rare Curly Sulphur Mustang from poachers in Disappointment Valley, Colorado. He and Bree join the efforts of a doctor working to save the Curly Sulphur Mustang breed from extinction. Relationships are forged with strength and courage to find their purpose.

 

Their lives, and the life of a rare mustang collide in the crosshairs of greedy men and the San Francisco Syndicate. They must find common ground and learn to work together, or they won’t survive the pursuits of evil men.

 

(Fictional based on actual events.)

 

 

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