3-minute read
What is an inspirational love story?
It is a story which makes you want to do or achieve something good or new or different.
I will use this opportunity to confess – I have read many books in the past, and within a short time after reading it, I would have literally forgotten the plot, the conflict, even some of the characters. This is not because I have a short-term memory. It is because I have found that when a story is truly inspirational, it will stay with you for a long time. Therefore, let’s just say I have read some uninspiring books.
An inspirational story is one that will make your readers remember you, and they want to keep coming back for more to read from you. Your books challenge them to think differently – Maybe sometimes, your novels may even make them not happy, but angry. However, the end result is that whatever the story was, it had an impact that made them want to do something different (This may include throwing stones at you, but any reaction is a good reaction, as I would say).
I started a company called Omega Inscribe, Inc., and the niche and goal of this company is to use Biblical inspiration to create supernatural content in storytelling. Therefore, I am, in fact, a maker of inspirational stories, and have often wondered – and implemented – ways of making my novels inspiring. There is always something new to learn, and I love to share what I do learn as I journey on this path of discovery.
How do you write a story that inspires your audience? For me, I look for ideas from the Bible because it is my main source of inspiration. For you, you may be the same, or you may be inspired by other things.
There are 5 key takeaways that I have discovered as useful when constructing an inspirational story, and I just mentioned the first one. To put them in list order, they are:
- Know your source of inspiration: You probably want to start out by knowing what – or who – inspires you first. When you know who or what it is, you know where to always go to get inspired. Using my example, since I know that the Bible inspires me, I always look to the Bible for inspiration.
- Understand it: You know where you get inspired. Do you understand why it inspires you? Let’s say for instance, your Home Economics teacher in high school was a source of inspiration for you. Do you know why he or she was inspiring to you? Was it the way they taught? Was it something about their personality? What was it? Understand the reason for the inspiration. Using myself as an example, I understand why the Bible inspires me. There are discoveries to be made of it every time, something new and different that I hear and want to start doing. It’s like hearing your teacher at school teaching you, and you simply want to get going to practice what you just heard them talk about – In Home Econ, it could be the new chocolate cake recipe the teacher just taught in class. Definitely something to run home to practice!
- Start writing: When you have understood the reason why you get so inspired by something, it is now time to write about it. Let me give you an example: I am writing a novel called Cross Border Dating, preview is available here on my site. I was inspired by something I read about Peter, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ in the Bible. God gave him visions about a man, Cornelius, who the Lord wanted him to visit and teach. Peter was able to know that the man had been in his house, praying to God, asking for that very thing. If you asked me, that is some ability that no average person has – After all, who can know what someone else is wishing for, especially if they have never met that person before? This is the foundation for why I am writing Cross Border Dating, based on a character, and an event from the Bible. Yes, the novel is a romantic novel, and you may be wondering how one can spin romance out of an idea that came from a Biblical character? Well, check out the books’ previews here, and stay tuned for more.
- You may not have a good or strong support – Don’t be discouraged. When starting out on any new venture, you will usually start out with crickets, or a very small support base, if any. Consider it like a business venture such as Amazon, or Facebook or all the other known examples out there. They were not particularly surrounded by supporting fans when they started out, and their fan base grew as they grew to include the good and the bad. I added this as part of ‘how to write an inspirational novel’ because it is an unavoidable part of the process of starting out on something new – and something that has to do with faith.
- Don’t be offended by comments: It is true that whatever inspires one person may not be the same that inspires another. Therefore, as with everything in life, including products, services, and yes, books, you will have those who absolutely love what you made out of that inspirational story – and you will also have those who may send you hate mail for your writing something that goes beyond their comfort zone. It means you did a fantastic job, as it is quite abnormal to have 100 percent cheerleaders for everything you do, right? Well done!
Well, friends, I hope you have been able to take away a point or five on how to get started with inspiring stories. If you have written an inspirational book, don’t forget to comment about it below. If you are thinking of writing one, share it in the comments as well!