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HEY GUYS. IT’S ME. I WILL BE JOINING YOU.

*proceeds to act as though she didn’t just fall off the face of the earth for a while there*

I like @Daeus-lamb‘s idea about the commentators, but let’s see if we can hash out some plot/character details before we make any serious stylistic decisions.

What are some things NOT to do? What’s the biggest thing for you that makes most conversion scenes fall flat?

For me, it’s the rapidity of transformation. Or maybe more accurately, the drastic transformations that seem to happen all in an hour. Especially in a short story like we’ll be doing, taking a hardened criminal who’s fought the light his whole life and changing that powerfully all in one scene would be tricky. To say the least.

I love the contrast of a truly hardened sinner finally coming to grace though, so let’s see if there are any ways to make that work.

A few that come to mind…

Bringing in backstory very generously. If we can show the character’s progression through their life towards this moment, it helps build up believably to the climax.

Making the character completely aware of God, but still rebellious. Perhaps they’ve felt Him pursuing them like the sound of tireless footsteps through their whole life and have spent the whole time running, but becoming increasingly more aware that this is something they’re going to have to confront. This could be a cool one to experiment with, as the character has a relationship with God but it’s not likely to be a repentant one. They might even be in the habit of talking to Him, asking questions, expressing frustration, etc., without realizing they’re opening the doors of their heart one inch at a time.

Having the character turn to God first on behalf of someone else. For some reason this idea is coming to me with a very nineteenth century vibe— I’m thinking maybe a woman imprisoned for whatever crime learns that her blameless child is on trial on suspicion of murder and becomes so desperately determined that her baby isn’t going to live the life she’s stuck in that she half-angrily goes to God to demand that for once His justice be served.

Any suggestions?

One unrelated idea is to have God embodied in some fixed point or person in the scene. We could go full vision experience and have it half a dream, or we could give it a fantasy twist and get mystical with a stranger at night, or we could even just have it be set in a cathedral and have the character speak to a picture of God in a stained glass window.

@r-m-archer @literatureforthelight @msqueen8 @sesi @germaine-han