Faith, Hope and Charity: Hope

 

Faith, Hope and Charity: Hope by Rebecca Seaton

‘For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.’ (Psalm 71:5)

Just like faith, God’s hope is what we know, so we can demonstrate what this looks like by writing characters who have hope.

Hope, like faith, is often most powerful in the darkest times. There are many Bible stories where characters display a seemingly ridiculous hope. The story of Elijah and the ravens shows God’s words bringing hope. Not long after this (1 Kings 17:7-24), Elijah is able to bring hope to the widow at Zarephath: hope is infectious. Good examples of this in fantasy are Tolkien’s hobbits and J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and his closest friends. When it comes to the final battle in a story, many characters have lost hope and drifted away. Those that still stand on their hope are the more powerful for this. If we have hope in the darkest of nights, it is truly a bright light.

This is often what gets your characters past a trauma, enables them to interact with others in a powerful way and moves them towards victory.

How can we do this?

We can plant the seeds of hope early: a friend or mentor has hope for the main character, the character’s relationship with or deep knowledge of God is present early in the story, they find words of wisdom, such as a prophecy in fantasy fiction. These can also create hope for the reader – our main character may be on their knees, but the reader can recall an earlier prophecy and has hope that the cavalry will arrive.

Show hope in action. A character makes a stand when everyone else is in despair. This doesn’t have to be the main character, sometimes a minor character lifting others with their hope can be significant. The source of hope should always be clear: characters shouldn’t be hoping in a desperate ‘fingers crossed’ manner, they should know where their hope comes from, whether it’s God, a mystical prophecy or the justice system.

There should be results of hope – it isn’t something that just keeps people happy. When hope drives out fear, this frees characters to act: to step into the light and find the elixir, to take the job and succeed.

Ultimately, their actions, like ours, stand out and spread hope to others.

‘Don’t ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility.’

Michelle Obama

Rebecca Seaton came second place in the 2017-18 Pen to Print Book Challenge with her YA fantasy, A Silent Song, which explores issues of faith, forgiveness and belonging. She is currently working on her second novel.

 

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