Author Renee Ryan & Rahab’s Example–& a Giveaway Too!
My guest today is Author Renee Ryan who visited not long ago. She’s back with another morsel of wisdom and another book to giveaway. Leave a comment and you will be entered in the drawing! Here’s Renee:
“Lyn, thanks for having me again. I love writing strong heroines. In fact, when I started plotting my latest Love Inspired Historical novel, DANGEROUS ALLIES, I knew I wanted to write a story about female courage. But that was all I knew. Courage can mean different things to different people. To me, courage isn’t the absence of fear but rather action in spite of fear. Given that definition Nazi Germany immediately came to mind.
Next came the “what if” game. What if I set my entire novel in Nazi Germany? What would that require? What if I put my heroine in a situation that called for courage on a daily basis? What would her life be like? What if I make her a spy? Or better yet, what if I made her a mole (a person who works for the enemy from inside the country)? Now that job would require courage by my definition, especially in Nazi Germany.
Since I write Christian fiction I went to the Bible for my heroine’s role model. I immediately thought of Rahab. Often, we focus on Rahab’s chosen profession and how the Lord used her despite her sinful career. But as I started plotting DANGEROUS ALLIES, I began thinking about all Rahab risked to help the Israelites defeat her homeland.
Rahab wasn’t actually a spy, but she worked directly with spies. She put herself in danger and risked her entire way of life to help strangers who came from a foreign land. If caught, she would have been imprisoned. Or worse, maybe even executed. It’s important to remember that Rahab wasn’t an Israelite. She only knew them by reputation. She also knew their God by reputation, enough that she knew He was the real deal. Although she didn’t know much about God, she chose to obey Him. She chose rightly. Not only was her life saved, it was changed forever. But never forget, the choice to throw her lot in with the Israelites required incredible courage.
After thinking about Rahab from this angle I knew she was the kind of heroine I wanted to write. Enter Katia Kerensky, a Russian princess turned stage actress in 1939 Nazi Germany. Katia risks everything, even her life, to help the British defeat the Third Reich.
So, what about you? How do you define courage? What Bible characters come to mind? Leave a comment and we’ll enter you into a drawing to win a copy of DANGEROUS ALLIES.”–Renee
For more info, drop by www.reneeryan.com
