Lately, I’ve been thinking about this quote I heard on Pinterest, “I don’t ‘make characters’ I break myself into pieces and give the pieces names.” – Unknown Author.

As I write my novel, I’ve come to realize how true this really is. Every character represents a different part of me. Some of them I like more than others, but then again, that’s just like me. I like some parts of me better than others, but that doesn’t make the parts I don’t like any less a part of me. Another thing I love about this idea is, even if we as people try to break the pieces up and assign them to very specific parts of our lives, it never really works. In the book Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the protagonist tries to separate the parts of himself in an effort to eliminate one of them, but it doesn’t work and never could have. Every part of us serves a purpose, even if that’s just to prove to others that we aren’t perfect. Now, going back to the character analogy, the villains of the stories we write are just as much a part of us as the heroes are and that’s the beauty of it; we can be whoever we choose to be. I’m not saying you’re necessarily going to become a rocket scientist, but you can choose who you are going to act like. Choose to be the hero, no matter how hard the choice is. In the moment you can still choose. You will always have that option. Choose to live for Christ, not the world.

~Elowyn A. Archer