Light and Dark by Allison Symes

Image Credits:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images.

Contrasts are great in stories. An obvious one to use is that of light and dark. Which of your characters will be “light”? Which will be “dark” in terms of attitude and behaviour? Could your story explore them going to the “dark” or coming over to the “light”? Star Wars famously played on this theme when it came to the Jedi “force”. 

We are believers in redemption and our stories (and articles) can reflect on that. Stories often hold a mirror up to our foibles. Jesus shared His message so often through stories. People remember stories.

What could your readers (potential or otherwise) take from your character’s redemption story? Does your character realise they are on the “dark side” and see the need to escape it? What or whom makes them face up to the need to change? What obstacles, including their weaknesses, could get in the way? Answering those questions will trigger ideas. 

I think most of us, aware of our weaknesses, will have a soft spot for the redemption story. I like the idea of characters not having to remain in the dark, there can be a change to the light. It is a positive message the world needs to hear more of, I think. The backbone here would be to work out how your character went to the dark side at all. 

Readers need to be able to see where your characters are coming from. They don’t need to agree with the character’s choices. I can think of some of my own characters I would have a stiff word with if they came to life. But I do need to understand what led to their choices which in turn led to that behaviour, triggering a downward spiral (which will hopefully only be temporary).

Asking questions is a favourite way of mine into creating stories. Two simple ones will give you an outline for any story of whatever length. 

1. What does your character want and why?
2. What stops them achieving this?

I like to know something about my character before I write their story up. I’ve got to know what intrigues me enough about them to want to do that. If I’m not intrigued, why should a reader be interested? Light and dark come into play here as I work out which side my character is on, do they stay there, or can they change.

If a character changes for the better, a reader should be able to see why the character took so long to realise they needed to do this. A reader should also be able to see the character’s struggles (redemption never comes easily or cheaply), but the best stories of hope leave folk feeling relief the character has battled on (usually with help) and hasn’t given up. See The Lord of the Rings for a great example of this. 

 

Light and dark reflect our states of being then. It is not unreasonable for our fiction to reflect this. Indeed I think it should.