by Peter Leavell, @PeterLeavell

Sometimes we need to create a character that works outside our understanding. In a computer file, I keep notes on why specific people chose certain careers. Because these are real people, I can plug in the data into a secondary character, and like magic, they’re realistically nuanced.

Today, I’m cracking my file open to talk about a person who loves social justice. I’ve seen banter lately on the subject, some seeing social justice as the God-given championing of great causes for the oppressed, while others see social justice as creating a vehicle into personal lives, and still, others see it as sinful.

I’ll offer a quick overview. Here’s how my file looks.

Step #1 A social justice person exercises the brain. Mental juggling. Literally jogging the brain. Lightweights (news articles) will help take on heavier weights slowly until they can lift more than their own weight (like Derrida and Lacan). Once the mind can read and comprehend any writing, it’s time to get to work.

Step #2 The Great Conversation. Once they can handle the weight, time to pick up deep works. Western thought is a good place to start for many. A list of works has shaped western culture, from Ancient Greece to now, and the list is continually being revised. Reading this massive list is a lifetime effort and helps expand the mind as well as creating an understanding of why the West thinks as it does. The following link is an example of an older list:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World

Step #3 Representation. The Great Conversation is written by white men—pale dudes writing to other dudes. That’s cool…to a limit. Some voices aren’t heard. What’s their experience? Women weren’t allowed to vote. What was that like? Find their diaries. African Americans struggle for elusive equality. What do they have to say about it? Middle Eastern men and women are continually harassed. What kind of literature are they putting out—how do their experiences change their work? What is a refugee’s life really like?

Step #4 Critical Analysis. Start asking unanswerable questions while working toward some semblance of an answer. Women won the vote. Excellent. But who withheld it? Who did they have to ask to be given the right to vote? They gained the vote by men granting it to them. Are there other freedoms a woman must ask men to give her? If yes, then is there a system? If no, are there freedoms a man must ask for?

Step #5 Bringing Thought Forward. Now that the person has discovered, for example, a group who has no voice, they bring forward their education, the thoughts from The Great Conversation and the writings of a wide variety of other works to disassemble the problem and find an answer.

Before I fold up my file and return it to my computer, notice how these points create a nuanced character that allows for enough lines of tension to propel a plot forward. In this career, there are aspects we can respect, hate, and add to our own lives—a sign of a fantastic character!

Dino Hunters: Discovery in the Desert

Siblings Josh and Abby Hunter don’t believe their parents’ death was an accident. After taking pictures of the most incredible find of the 1920’s—proof humans and dinosaurs lived together in the same time and place—desperate outlaws armed with tommy guns are on their tail! Only Josh and Abby know where the proof is hidden—in the canyons of Arizona’s desert. When an intruder searches Josh and Abby’s bags inside their new home, the two convince their uncle Dr. David Hunter to return to the canyon and find the pictures they’d hidden. But the outlaws are just as eager to find the proof before Josh and Abby. Can Josh use his super-smart brain to outfox the villains in time? Will Abby’s incredible physical abilities stop full-grown men? And will their uncle believe them?
Dino Hunters is an apologetics-adventure series aimed at the middle reader to help them trust the Bible from the very first verse.