Welcome to Story Insights, our Friday exploration of writing life and creative discovery. Here you’ll find real-time insights from my writing desk, reflections on the writing journey, and ways current events can enrich our fiction. Whether you’re mining life for story ideas or seeking deeper meaning in your work, Story Insights helps you connect craft with creativity, reality with imagination.
As 2025 opens, Bret Johnson, the protagonist of The Boaz Student, faces his own new beginning. Like many questioning their inherited beliefs, he returns to school after Christmas break, knowing everything has changed. His former youth group friends have chosen sides. His sister’s questions grow bolder. His parents’ concern deepens.
From the Writing Desk
This week’s challenge: capturing the weight of return. How does a seventeen-year-old navigate a familiar space when he’s no longer the same person who left it? In Chapter 16, Bret walks those school halls with new awareness, seeing the prayers posted on lockers, the Bible verse announcements, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes posters through changed eyes.
Progress: 873 words, mostly focused on the subtle shifts in hallway dynamics. Sometimes the smallest details carry the most truth.
Real World Resonance
A local news story caught my attention: “Students Lead Interfaith Dialogue at Mountain Brook High.” While different from Bret’s experience, this story of students creating space for diverse beliefs offers interesting parallels. The article describes how a student group organized lunch meetings where peers share their various faith traditions and philosophical perspectives.
What fascinates me as a novelist:
- The courage required to start difficult conversations
- How physical spaces (like a lunch table) become symbolic
- The ripple effects of small actions
- The power of student-led initiatives
Transforming Truth into Fiction
This real-world story enriches my understanding of Bret’s journey. While he starts his philosophy club from a place of questioning rather than inclusion, both narratives share core elements:
- Young people seeking authentic dialogue
- The school as both setting and symbol
- Community resistance to change
- The price of speaking up
Writing Forward
As we begin 2025, I’m reminded that every story is about transformation. Whether in fiction or life, new years and new chapters share this truth: change demands both courage and cost.
Next week: examining how winter’s starkness serves story themes.
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The Pencil Driven Life 