Linda Goodnight here,
talking about sacrifice. That’s a word most of us don’t want to think about.
Oh, I might sacrifice a cookie to save a few calories. I might sacrifice an
hour or two to help out at school or church. But I’m talking about real
sacrifice, the kind that costs us something we’d rather not lose. I’ve known
people who gave up Christmas to work in a soup kitchen. Other’s who gave up
summer vacation to serve on the mission field. Of course, nothing can match the
sacrificial love of Jesus.
When I start a book, I try
to come up with something really important to a main character—and then
I make him/her give up that one thing for the sake of love.
In my latest Love
Inspired, A SNOWGLOBE CHRISTMAS, hero Rafe Westfield makes a major sacrifice
before the story opens and his choice costs him more than the girl he loves.
In my ebook, CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS, a duo with Mary Connealy, my hero Seth faces a different kind of
sacrifice. The sacrifice of revenge.
I can think of many books and movies that feature sacrificial characters. Remember Patrick Dempsey in Sweet Home Alabama? Because he loved Melanie, he let her go. Made me cry!!
What kind of sacrifices do you like to see characters make? Do you have a favorite from a book or movie?
Posts
Read Candlelight and finishing up Snowglobe.Love em both.
ReplyDeleteSacrifices that set the story in motion, grand gestures at the end of the book are great. But I love those little sacrifices sprinkled along the way. Little gestures that keep the reader aware of how secretly good a character is at heart underneath a rough exterior.
I need caffeine but hope you get the drift!
Blessed Monday.
Peace, Julie
Last of the Mohicans is my favorite movie of all time!
ReplyDeleteI'm partial to life or death sacrifices. :-)
Showing how big a sacrifice someone is willing to make is a great way to show character. In the romance genre one of the classic stories with this theme is O'Henry's Gift Of The Magi. I still remember how much it touched me when I read it the first time.
ReplyDeleteIn what movies regards I'm thinking of ultimate scarifices like in Armageddon and Message in a Bottle from Nicholas Sparks.
ReplyDeleteBoth have huge sacrifices in it. Those same sacrifices leave those who stay behind, and we the readers, sad and hollow but when it strikes the gradiosity of them makes you think - believe - that if the circumstance arise you'd step of those shoes.
But we all make sacrifices. And do it so willingly and genenrously that somehow goes unnoticed to ourselves but not for the others.
Like Juli says above: "ittle sacrifices sprinkled along the way". Not everyting in life has to be done with a bang and sometimes - most of the time - it's the small gestures and attentions that lead to a big difference on other peoples' lives.
All the best to your stories!
I think of sacrificial love as real love, the ideal love. Other types of love are superficial. I like the hero or heroine to recognize that true, sacrificial love in the story. Either they realize that's how they love the other or that's how the other loves them. Either way works.
ReplyDeleteLinda, I'm a couple of days late to your post. This is excellent, though. I really should think about the sacrifice before I start writing. I think this could be what makes your books such great, emotional stories!
ReplyDelete