We made it to Friday again and I’m excited about sharing some things today in this focus edition.

On Wednesday, we talked about being worthy, or feeling unworthy. Think about characters you’ve created who fit this scenario. Have you made characters who felt unworthy of happiness or love?
I did.
In A Noble Bargain, Rose Blaine had suffered physical abuse at the hands of her alcoholic father and sexual abuse from her father’s moonshine partner. They lived in a shack of a house, and her only friend was her younger brother. She had a lot to overcome.
She had to get past believing:
- She was to blame
- She was replaceable
- She was something to be used, not protected
She thought she had to be useful, obedient, silent and invisible. How could she ever step away from the crippling feeling of unworthiness?
Rose’s healing begins when she understands that worth is inherent, not something she has to earn through suffering. A meaningful moment happens when Rose encounters love that listens, waits and respects through her friendship with Oliver.
So, in writing our characters, we have to explore all these things. We have to find ways to move our characters forward, and facilitate their growth.
For Rose, it took kindness from people who where strangers, acceptance without judgement and opportunity to escape.
I’d love to hear how you’ve helped a character move from feeling unworthy to finding their worth.
Those feelings of worthlessness, rooted in children, are so difficult to overcome. I don’t know that we ever do. We can adapt, integrate, but do they ever go away. I felt that in Rose.
You are so right, Jacqui. I know most parents don’t mean to instill such deep rooted beliefs in their children. Maybe it’s because it’s normal to them? We can overcome and yet all it takes is one incident to bring it all back around. Thank you for your comment.
I absolutely have written characters who felt unworthy–of love, affection, friends. What springs to mind is my Hangman’s Daughters series. Maura and Emma Taggart. Both have been so beaten down, run of every town, and feel they don’t deserve anything much. Jan, your Rose was such a special character. Loved her slow path to feeling worthy of Oliver was excruciatingly painful. How my heart rejoiced when she finally accepted that she was worthy of love. Good job, Sister.
Maura and Emma are great examples of characters who were made to believe they were not worthy of live and affection.They were such strong characters. Thank you so much for commenting today, sister. Love you!
To create a character who felt unworthy of happiness or love is great writing, Jan.
Thanks so much, Tim! I appreciate you stopping by and leaving a comment today!
My pleasure, Jan. 😍
I have not had a character who felt unworthy. I think you did a great job in creating the situation that Maura and Emma had to escape.
Thank you for your comment, John! Maura and Emma were my sister’s characters and she did a great job with them. And two YAYS!! I showed up in the WP reader today and your comment came through. Things are looking up!
Rose is a perfect example of this, Jan, and you handled her character arc beautifully!
Thank you so much for your comment, Teri. Rose was broken and I loved mending her a little.
This is really good and I’ll be thinking about it all day.
I’m glad to hear that Craig. Thanks for dropping by!
Hi Jan, your posts are showing up in the Reader again. This is a lovely post about two wonderful characters.