Activity

. How do we write about bondage without letting it pull our readers down either with the temptation of the bondage or the despair of its power?

Always offer an alternative, the hope and knowledge that this isn’t the end, even if it seems that way to the character/s in the moment. It’s dark, it’s bleak, it’s the end road to them, but as the author (and therefore reader) there are other context clues that bring us through to the other side. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” comes to mind. For one, we know there’s another side to the valley, there’s a way out. It’s not a pit into nothingness. River valleys have two sides, after all. Secondly, we know Yeshua’s rod and staff are there to guide us in the right direction, even if we can’t see the end. In writing, we’re the ones responsible for providing the reader (and sometimes the characters) with a rod and staff.

 Are there techniques that make bondage more effective?
I typically am an emotional writer. The characters, relationships and scenes I write are typically fueled by the underlying emotions. I’ve found my most effective bondage elements are emotional, psychological, and attack the heart and mind, rather than the physical. It’s not the jail cell, but the betrayal that led to it. It’s not the years-long imprisonment, but the perceived failure in assigned mission.

How are you using/how do you plan to use bondage in your story?
– Alina is trapped between loyalty to her father as a father-figure, and the knowledge that he’s fast approaching a point of no-return in tyranny over the kingdom.
–Lidour is trapped between wanting to aid the resistance, and the horrific memories of his years of interrogation when thought a spy by the community he was trying to befriend (the guilt bonds are all over the place with the folks he interacts with now, too)
–Raleksa is trapped by the perceived threat of an old alliance/marriage and unresolved grief for lost family