Today I’m trying to figure out how to write a tough scene: Jack realizes he needs to tell Holly about his drug abuse, before someone else does, and does so in a not-so-nice way. (Not that there is anything nice about drug abuse.)

Holly is 6, and I’m like how does Jack tell her in a way that doesn’t scare her, but also doesn’t make her hate him? She’s already a bit afraid, and ask him if what happened earlier was dying. (as Jack is experiencing heart related pain connected to his drug use)

And I was trying to think, do 6 year old’s know what death is? Did I, when I was 6? I’m not sure, I knew all the details, I believed some died and went to Heaven, but I think the most I found it scary. Perhaps that’s the angle I need to go with: Holly understands people going to heaven and death, but it’s still scary for her, and she just now has her dad in her life, she doesn’t want to lose him.

Wow, typing this out, gave me clarity on which angle to come from with her. And I think this scene needs to be in her POV. As a child of a substance abuser (alcohol), losing a parent to an addiction is one of the worst and hardest things a child can experience. You don’t know how to cope with that, or what to even call it. But you feel it deeply, the loss of that parent. And it doesn’t even have to be death – you can lose them to their addiction. And sometimes they may not be very hands on parents to begin with, so then the loss almost takes on a deeper or different absence. One that makes it hard to define or put into words.

For Holly, she’s spent six years of her life, wanting to know her dad and have a father, and feeling that absence. Now that she has her father, knowing a drug habit or side effects of it, could take him from her, scares her.

Amazing I’m sitting here writing this out, and it’s helpful for me emotionally as well. Maybe I am more like Holly than I realized.

Thank you, Holy Spirit for the clarity and deep dive on this scene, the character and emotions! I will re-work it from the POV of six year old, Holly. It will be much stronger and I think better that way. <3

How has the Holy Spirit personally spoken to you, on an emotional level, helping to heal you, while your characters go on a healing journey also?

And the Bee Gees song, inspired the title of this blog, “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You”: