The Strange Path of Inspiration

I started writing "Into the Light" back in September of 2006. I had just finished reading Matthew Pearl's "The Dante Club," which lead me to do some research on Dante, which inspired further investigation into the history of thought and teaching concerning heaven & hell. Which lead me to re-read one of my favorite books: C.S. Lewis' "The Great Divorce." It's a story about people who make the trip from hell to heaven, and what happens to them. And that got me thinking...

Background: I grew up conservative. Liberal was bad. Liberals were undermining the foundations of our country, of our church, of our faith. Liberals must be stopped, and I was on board in the cause. But Jesus kept getting in the way. Because, well, he seemed kinda liberal to me. He gave liberally of himself. Always healing people. Always reaching out to lepers and prostitutes. Making lots of food out of a little, and then giving it way. Turning water into wine, for Pete's sake! So I started asking questions. I found some answers in reading about the emerging church. (There are lots of good sites out there on the subject. My favorite, and one I frequent regularly, is The Ooze.) There is a great deal of freedom of thought in the emerging church. A lot of rethinking what we thought we knew. A great belief in the power of story to transform people. I really identify with things.

So, back to my research. One of the things I have been rethinking is my own concept of the afterlife. And it struck me that, while the emerging church talks a great deal about the power of story, there is very little in the way of "emerging fiction." And it hit me that there was no better way to unpack how my thoughts on "whatever comes next" than to place some characters there and see what happened. It worked for C.S. Lewis, didn't it?

And that is how "Into the Light" came about.