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Pre-order ‘Hooked’/Easter Video

Dayo Benson

Happy Easter Everyone 🙂

Whatever you have planned I hope you’re having a blast. Me and my family have been attending an Easter retreat at my church. Two full days (10am to 6.30pm) on Friday and Saturday, and just a morning session today. It’s been a time of deep reflection for me. 1 cross + 3 nails = 4Given.

Just before I pop off to church, I figured I should send you guys a video (in which I reflect on some of the events in the Easter story), and also a book update I’ve been meaning to send all week (after church all I’ll want to do is have lunch and relax 🙂 )

Video

As I was reading the book of Matthew last month it hit me that:

  • Peter and Judas were both warned by Jesus, they both reacted to Jesus’ warning in the wrong way, and they both fell…but things ultimately turned out very differently for them. How do you react after an epic failure?
  • Jesus’ detractors said they would believe in Him if He would come down from the cross and save Himself. Well, He did more than come down from the cross. He resurrected. How about that!
  • The women of the Easter story are amazing. I give them a shout out near the end of the video.

https://youtu.be/eq57TLYDnk8

Subscribe to my YouTube channel HERE.

Book Update

Hooked is releasing on Monday 9 April (just a week away!!!). It’s available for preorder on Amazon. Click HERE to preorder. Like I said a few weeks back on Facebook, it’s a serial. I feel like I should stress that fact so that nobody is surprised when they read it, lol. I’ve wanted to write serial fiction for years. It’s basically a story told in ‘episodes’ like a TV drama, so they tend to be shorter than a full-length novel. The whole serial is called Paradise Lost, and Hooked is installment 1.

Paradise Lost is about two messed up preachers kids, and Hooked is basically the story of how they meet. I’m a preacher’s kid myself and had a time of being borderline messed up, ha ha, but no, Paradise Lost is not in anyway autobiographical. No, seriously, it isn’t, lol.

The series is very edgy. ‘Edgy’ is code for it goes where most Christian fiction doesn’t 🙂 I feel called to write for a particular kind of reader and I picture that reader when I write. This is ‘normal’ fiction though. Not my usual supernatural, spiritual warfare stuff. I find I need to write non-supernatural stuff alongside the heavy supernatural stuff, as I find it a welcome break.

Here’s the back cover blurb:

Two messed up preacher’s kids. One reckless decision. Zero chance of survival.

Katie Clarke has been disillusioned with God and religion for years—ever since her father, a small-town preacher, fell from grace. But meeting Hudson, the son of a famous mega preacher, makes her wonder whether Hudson will be the tool God uses to restore her faith. However, she soon discovers that he is even more messed up than she is.

A decision Katie should never have made lands her in a shocking situation with Hudson that gives her some insight into just how damaged he is. She can see the pain, but she doesn’t know what has caused it. More importantly, she doesn’t know whether, by sticking around, they will help to heal each other or just feed off each other’s pain.

Hudson is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Adonis but there is darkness beneath his beauty.

And his warning to her ‘get away from me before I taint you’ rings loudly in her ears.

Is she already too intrigued to save herself from him?

A story of brokenness, healing, and God’s mercy.

Preorder now on Amazon

So that’s my update. I might blog about the main characters of the series over the coming week. If not, you’ll just meet them in the book.

God bless & Happy Easter once again.

I’m off to my retreat xx

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Out Now: The Chef (The Lincolns 7)

Dayo Benson

Hi Peeps,

Hope you’re well and are having better weather than us here in the UK. We woke up to snow yesterday morning, just when I thought spring is on the horizon 🙂

I’ve had lots of (semi) patient emails about when the next Lincoln book will be out so I’m happy to announce that it’s out now!!! I’m really excited about this book because I got to deal with some themes that are really close to my heart, such as how God favours and blesses the undeserving and how true love can overcome any challenge.
I won’t go into too much detail because the synopsis is below and I also wrote a blog post introducing the book a few weeks ago, which you can read by clicking HERE.

Get your copy of The Chef: Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Smashwords.
(coming soon to B&N)

From the Back Cover

Lilah Luckett was promised a protector.

As a coven slave, Lilah is desperate for freedom. The only way that can happen is if a practitioner more powerful than her master takes her under his wing.

Enter, the enchanting Locke Lincoln.

His surfer dude good looks are enough to make any girl crave shelter in his arms, but he’s more than just a pretty face; he also has the power to be Lilah’s protector. But how does Lilah get his attention?

Locke Lincoln is looking for distraction.
Locke’s younger brother was the closest friend he ever had. Now that he’s dead, Locke’s life is in turmoil. When Lilah shows up, offering fun in Vegas and an escape from reality, Locke is game.

Neither of them has any idea what is about to happen.
Locke seems perfect, but he’s far from it. He is fighting dark forces that want him to continue his father’s evil agenda. It seems becoming a Christian means nothing when blood covenants have been made and oaths taken.

Then Lilah’s past catches up with her and all her careful plans begin to crumble.

Will Locke be able to escape the clutches of his father’s legacy?
And once he works out that Lilah is just using him, will he fight for her or let her die?

Get your copy of The Chef: Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Smashwords.

As always, I look forward to your feedback once you’ve read The Chef. Leave a review at whichever store you buy from and you can also drop me a line at dayo@dayobenson.com if you’d like.

Thank you to everyone who emailed me after The Physician to let me know which is their favourite Lincoln book so far. Also, thanks to all who commented on my last post and told me which Lincoln series heroine they like best. I really appreciate it and I’m ever grateful to have such awesome readers.

God bless 🙂

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Already Broken your New Year’s Resolutions?

Dayo Benson

Happy new year guys!

Today is the 15 of January, and according to research, this is the day by which most people have already broken their new year’s resolutions. Can you believe that??? Most people’s new year’s resolutions last 15 days! There’s other research that says the 24th of January, which is slightly better, but still awful.

So…if you’ve already broken your resolutions, I want to tell you that it doesn’t make you a failure, it doesn’t make you a bad person. Maybe you just didn’t plan enough, or you didn’t anticipate a certain setback you’ve experienced, or you haven’t made it compelling enough. Here are 4 tips for getting back on track (You can either watch the below video or carry on reading below):

https://youtu.be/H0iVuhUTddc

1. Regroup

It’s one thing to fall off track, it’s another thing to abandon your resolution and your goal altogether. Giving up on a resolution just because you’ve fallen off track is like smashing your phone just because you’ve dropped it. If you drop your phone you don’t stamp on it and smash it to pieces. You pick it up, because it’s useful. Because it’s something of value.

Your goals and your vision are valuable. If you’ve dropped the ball, pick it up. Regroup. Think about what you’ve done wrong and how you can do better. If it’s a diet goal, are you being too drastic? Are you focused on what you’re not allowed to do rather than the benefits? Let’s say you want to lose ten pounds. Are you focused on all the don’ts?

Don’t eat chocolate.

Don’t have ice cream.

No donuts.

Or are you focused on the goal and getting yourself excited about it? Getting excited about the body you want and the positive improvement in your health that it’ll give you?

2. Remind yourself of your reasons

Why do you want to lose that weight? Why do you want to wake up at 5am? Why did you decide to stop drinking? Why do you want to work harder? Why do you want to read through the whole bible?

How will it change your life, your family’s life, your future?

Hold your reasons in your mind and it will fire you up to act.

3. Refine your vision

You refine your vision by seeing your destination. See where you want to be on December 31st of this year. Engage your imagination. Stop looking at the things that stand in the way, the things that have caused you to already get off track, and look at the endpoint. You go in the direction of what you focus on. What are your looking at? The here and now, or that destination that you want?

A wise person once said, ‘Only those who can see the invisible will achieve the impossible’. And if you’re saying, ‘Hold up, Dayo. I’m not trying to achieve the impossible here. I just want to lose some weight, I just want to stick to my bible reading plan, I just want to be nicer to my kids.’ I hear you. But if you’re not already doing it, it means it’s been impossible for you so far. Maybe you’ve managed to do it in the past, but right now, it’s become impossible. Refine your vision and start looking at the invisible. Talk to yourself and claim the behaviours you want in your life. Tell yourself, ‘I like to drink water and eat healthy food; I work out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; I read my bible every morning; I wake up at five am every day and pursue my priorities; I am a loving and patient parent.’

It may not be true just yet, but guess what? Give it some time and you’ll start moving in that direction. Your behaviour will adjust to match your new beliefs and you’ll begin to move in the direction of that vision that you’ve decided to focus on.

Some people will say that’s being fake, but it isn’t being fake. It’s faith. It’s being like God who calls the things that are not as though they are. That’s Romans 4:17 and it means that God sees the mighty man of valor in Gideon while he’s threshing wheat in secret, hiding from the Midianites. He sees the great king in David while he’s a mere shepherd boy. He sees the mother of a mighty nation in Sarah while she’s still barren. All of these people through whom God worked in Bible times had to have faith and get in alignment with the vision.

The Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4 had just lost her son. He’d died. But she said ‘it is well,’ not ‘he’s dead’, because that was the vision she had about the situation. And things did turn out well in the end.

Refine your vision. Look at the invisible. Things will begin to change.

4. Regular review

Review your resolutions regularly if you want to stay on track. It’s up to you how often you want to review them. For my writing goals, I record how many words I’ve written in a spreadsheet every single day and that’s a kind of review for me that helps me ensure that I’m being productive.

For all my other goals (non-writing ones) I review myself weekly on Sundays. After church my kids go to their grandparents house, me and my husband have a nice meal and hang out, then at some point before I go to the evening service I make some time to review the week and see where I fell short, where I did well, and plan my action points/to-do’s for the coming week.

If you’ve already dropped the ball with your new year resolutions, pick it back up. Dribble it. And determine to slam dunk it by December 31st 🙂 And if you’re still on track well done, keep going and may God prosper all our endeavours.

I’ll have a book update for you soon so watch this space.

God bless.

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Cover Reveal – The Physician (The Lincolns 6)

Dayo Benson

Hi Peeps,

The next Lincoln book, The Physician, is almost ready to be released 🙂 🙂 🙂

This will be my last book for this year. Then I think I might hibernate for a while (maybe around 6 months) and get the rest of the series all written before I publish the next book. I could change my mind about this, but at the moment, that’s what I’m inclined to do.

Anyway, to find out more about The Physician, watch the below video. I talk about some of the scriptures that inspired the book (I’ll be posting the back cover blurb tomorrow).

https://youtu.be/YvU_6ZcBJQA

If you don’t like watching videos, here’s a summary of what I said:

The Physician is Rebel Lincoln’s book and it was good to write about Rebel because he’s a little bit different from the other Lincoln brothers that I’ve written about so far. He’s kind of mellow and easy-going, but he’s also got this really impulsive side to him. You’ll see what I mean when you read the book 🙂

The heroine’s name is Daisy. You guys met her in The Model (The Lincolns 2). She’s one of Keltie’s friends who goes to Ash Lincoln’s yacht with Keltie, so reread that scene from The Model and reacquaint yourself with Daisy.

At the beginning of each Lincoln book I usually have a Scripture which serves as the controlling idea or main theme for the book. For The Physician I took my inspiration from  Matthew 10:21-37 where Jesus is talking about how he didn’t come to bring peace, and oftentimes when somebody accepts Jesus into their lives it makes them a target and can cause strain in their closest relationships.

Matthew 10:21-22 says, ‘Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.’

And verse 36 says, ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’

if you’re in a family where your spouse is saved, your parents are saved, your siblings and your children are saved, you should be extremely grateful to God because not everyone has that. Sometimes, taking a stand for Christ or making the decision to become a Christian causes strain in your close relationships. Imagine a situation where a woman becomes a Christian, but her husband is a Muslim. How is that going to work out? Or a child becomes a Christian but their parents are staunch atheists. Or maybe they’re not even atheists, but they just don’t believe in God and they don’t understand why you’ve changed. Why you’re not doing certain things anymore. Why you’re going to church and talking about Jesus all the time. What do you do?

Matthew 10:37 says, ‘He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.’

Jesus gave everything for us. Are we willing to endure anything for Him?

Now, in case you’re one of those lucky people whose whole family is saved. For you it might not be your love for Jesus that’s the issue. Your issue might be doing God’s will, stepping out in faith, following God’s lead. Maybe God has told you to do something, but you know that the people around you, who are fellow Christians, will be against it, or they might not understand why you’re doing it. Could you obey God anyway? Could you do what God says regardless of what anyone thinks?

Matthew 10:38 says, ‘he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.’

What is your cross? What has serving God cost you? What relationships have been strained as a result of your decision to follow Jesus or step out in faith? God sees, and He appreciates every sacrifice we make in order to put Him first. I want to encourage you to keep carrying that cross, keep putting Him first. In The Physician some crazy things happen as a result of Rebel’s decision to follow Jesus, and I know that’s true for many real people in real life. The Physician is fiction, but the issues are real.

Make sure you get your copy when it comes out. I hope it encourages your faith. I hope it solidifies your resolve to live for Jesus no matter what it’s going to cost you. And I hope it encourages you to take that step of faith that He’s calling you to take.

***

Ciao xx

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Out Now: The Gamble (The Dare 3)

Dayo Benson

The Gamble is out now, peeps 🙂

Get your copy at: Amazon UK, Amazon US, Kobo & Smashwords. (Coming soon to iBooks and Nook).

CLICK HERE to watch a video of me talking about it. And in case you’ve missed my previous emails about it, here’s the back cover blurb:

Love never gives up
Marshal: Maybe I’m crazy, but I can’t let Sloane go. She’s at an all-time low and Miss World is coming up, but she doesn’t have a game plan. I’ve helped her in the past so Miss World might just be my opportunity to win her heart again. This time, I’m not going to let her go.

Parents know what’s best
Eli: Marshal still hasn’t gotten over his pathetic crush on Sloane. As his father it’s my duty to do what’s best for him. Even if it means further ruining Sloane’s already messed up life, and even if it means that Marshal will hate me forever.

My life is a nightmare that I can’t wake up from
Sloane: I thought I hit rock bottom last summer, but this is a whole new level of defeat. I let Marshal get under my skin again and that choice has blown up in my face. Life is crushing me. I’m drowning. And I don’t know how to save myself.

 

***

If you haven’t read the first two books of the series yet, here are links for them:

The Dare

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Available at: Amazon UK, AMAZON US, BARNES & Noble, iBooks, Kobo & Smashwords

The Bet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Available at: Amazon UK, Amazon US, B&N, iTunes, Kobo, & Smashwords

I hope you enjoy them. I’m off to work on The Designer now, the next book in my Lincolns series 🙂

God bless.

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Sneak Peak – The Record Boss

Dayo Benson

Hi guys,

March 16th is almost upon us!!! Just two days to go until the release of The Record Boss and The Bet. Here’s a little more about The Record Boss. (I’ll do a separate post for The Bet).

**I have attached sample chapters just after the preorder links :-)**

The Record Boss (The Lincolns 4)

If you’re a fan of the Crystal series you’ll love this book because Crystal and Juda make a few appearances, as do Max, Alejandro and a few other Crystal series characters.

My central scripture for this book is Romans 12:1 which says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”

This book is all about the contrast between life as a servant to the devil and life as a child of God. Before I changed the titles for all the books of this series it was called Poison (remember, Ash’s book, the Model, was originally supposed to be titled ‘Toxic’) so you’ll see the poison references near the end when Nigel’s eyes are finally opened to his spiritual state.

About Nigel

In The Model, he was one of the closest brothers to Ash and he and Rebel accompanied Ash to his yacht to meet with Keltie and her friends. He was constantly stressed because of his job managing Lincoln Entertainment. He was especially stressed out because of one of his singers Andie Rose, who never listens to him.

About Andie

You also met Andie in The Model. She was in a photoshoot with Ash. Keltie was the photographer but she had to leave because of the occult imagery they were portraying. Andie is headstrong, stubborn and independent, but only because she’s lived a hard life and knows no other way of surviving.

The Social Butterfly and The Recluse

Image result for opposite couples quotes

Nigel and Andie couldn’t be more different than chalk and cheese, and their relationship has been turbulent since day 1. Maybe that’s why they’re so drawn to each other…

Being Andie’s manager, Nigel is trying to keep his distance, despite his feelings. Then he realizes that Andie is in danger and decides to defend her against powerful people.

Love Hate

But how do you defend someone who thinks she can defend herself? And how do you love someone who constantly drives you crazy?

Most of all, Jesus told us in Luke 11 that ‘If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?’ Nigel is trying to fight powerful people by the same power they’re using, but it takes light to overcome darkness.

Here’s the synopsis.

How far should you go for success?
Starlet, Andie Rose, knows a lot about the dark side of the music industry. She’s happy to use this knowledge to her advantage until things start to spiral beyond her control.

How far should you go for love?
Nigel Lincoln has been drawn to Andie since the day he set eyes on her at an audition, but he’s her manager, so there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed.
When danger comes knocking on Andie’s door, Nigel decides to intervene, but it may be at his own expense.

True love is sacrificial, but if it came down to it, could he really lay down his life for her?

Preorder now: Amazon UK, Amazon US (coming soon to all other stores)

Read a sample: The Record Boss – Sample

Coming out 16 March 2017.

Look out for the post about The Bet.

God bless xx

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Sneak Peek – The Bet

Dayo Benson

Further to my previous post, The Bet (The Dare 2) is also coming out March 16th.

**I have attached sample chapters just after the preorder links :-)**

In book 1, The Dare, Sloane found out that her mom was having an affair and it became her excuse to go off the rails. In this book you get her mom’s point of view about the whole situation and her dad’s too. And Sloane learns some big life lessons.

Lottie Golding

Sloane’s mom is ambitious and highly driven. In The Bet you get answers to why she was always so hard on Sloane and why she had an affair.

Kurt Golding

Sloane’s dad’s POV was pretty hard to write. I wanted to take out some of the thoughts he had and some of the things he does to deal with the failure of his marriage, but he’s a man who feels like he has lost everything so his thoughts and actions had to be realistic.

Sloane and Marshal

Image result for relationship quotes about breaking upHe’s still chasing and she’s still running. With all that’s going on, Sloane just can’t be in a relationship. She’s battling tough decisions, and after her decision is made she must battle with whether she made the right choice. On top of all this she has her college finals and Miss USA coming up.

Other key players:

Jacob Wright – Sloane meets him at her new job at the governor’s office. After all that has happened with Marshal maybe there’s no hope for them. Maybe she needs to start over with another guy.

Eli Aaronson, Marshal’s dad – He’s a womanizing marriage-wrecker who thinks he can do whatever he likes and get away with it. Is he ever going to get what’s coming to him?

Isaac Aaronson, Marshal’s uncle – bitterness towards Eli has festered in his heart for years, especially when Eli does nothing to help his fifteen-year-old daughter Christy who is dying of cancer. He’s close to cracking.

Here’s the synopsis:

If your mom was having an affair would you tell your dad?

Sloane:
My mom is supposed to be the perfect Christian, but she’s a hypocrite, and it’s eating me up inside. Is staying quiet about it the right thing to do, or is my silence consent? Her disappearance is tearing my dad apart. He deserves to know that the woman he’s so worried about is a liar and a cheat. But do I have the guts to tell him?

Marshal:
Watching Sloane’s life unravel isn’t easy. And it makes it even harder for me to stay away from her despite her saying we’re over. We don’t have to be defined by our parents’ mistakes, but Sloane seems to be on autopilot on the highway to self-destruction. And I don’t know how to help her.

Preorder now: Amazon UK, Amazon US (coming soon to all other stores)

Read a sample: The Bet – Sample

Coming out 16 March 2017.

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Bible in a Year?/The Dare

Dayo Benson

I’ve been working on my goals for this year. My writing goals, as usual, are pretty unrealistic. I don’t know why I do this to myself but let’s see how close I can get to achieving them 🙂 I won’t bore you with exactly what they are, but they’re all about how many books I want to write and how many words a day I need to be writing in order to achieve that.

Bible in a Year

One of my personal goals is to read through the Bible. The last time I read it through, it took me much longer than a year. I really don’t like the idea of reading through the Bible in a year and have always been pretty resistant to it, but I’ve decided to give it a go. I don’t know if I’m actually going to make it, and it feels like an unrealistic goal for me but I know lots of people do it every year. To be honest, I think that reading the Bible in a year is one of those things that some people decided to do and now it’s become almost like a ‘must do’ for everybody (at least among the Christians that I know).

One of the main reasons I don’t like the idea is because I feel like I’m just rushing. It’s hard to ‘meditate’ on four or five whole chapters. There are just too many lessons to draw from such a large chunk. I’m one of those people who meditate on one verse and write a page of notes on it. Okay, that’s really slow and painstaking, but we’re all different. Anyhow, I’ve decided to give it a try. I’m already three chapters behind, and I’m making a conscious effort not to write notes on every verse, but I am still making notes of things that I just can’t ignore, ha ha.

The Dare

I finished writing The Dare early last year, but put it aside. I should have released it in December, since a significant portion of the book takes place in December, but I decided to release The Runaway instead. I’ve had emails from people who want books without any supernatural stuff in them so this book is for those of my readers who don’t like supernatural thrillers. It’s book one in a trilogy. Here’s the back cover blurb:

A good girl with an edge, a bad boy with a heart, and a devastating secret.

Sloane:
“I dare you to kiss Marshal.”
If I knew what was good for me I would have run a mile when I heard those words. But I didn’t, and now Marshal, the campus bad boy, is stalking me—his version of courting.

Marshal:
I’ll admit to nobody that I’m a sheep in wolf’s clothing. My reputation served me well until Sloane got close enough to peel away the façade.
But our parents have a crazy secret that is tearing Sloane apart. And it might spell doom for our relationship—just when I’ve lost my heart.

Is love enough for Marshal and Sloane, or are there too many obstacles?

The Dare is already available for pre-order, but as usual I’ll send an email alert on release day. Release day is 26 January 🙂

So…what are your new year’s resolutions/2017 goals?

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The Crystal Series: Writing about Jesus, God and Angels

Dayo Benson

Jesus

I’ve just hit publish on Legacy (Crystal 9), which is very exciting. It’ll be out by tomorrow. I’m feeling particularly happy and grateful 🙂 You guys have been so amazing. I really didn’t expect the support that the Crystal series has received. This is my final post for the Legacy launch, and what better way to finish than with a discussion about our great and awesome God?

When I first started the Crystal series, I didn’t know that Jesus, God and angels were going to be in it. Neither did I know that God was going to work in me personally in so many awesome ways. I’d like to take you behind the scenes, so step into my office for a moment and let’s talk. Okay, so I don’t actually have an office as of the time I’m writing this. I write in my living room. My husband kindly bought a desk and chair and set it in the second half of the room (it’s a pretty big living room). Please ignore all the toys on the floor, and sorry about how hot the room is. My mum says I roast myself. My husband says I barbecue myself. I just like to be nice and warm. (I don’t know why the saying goes ‘the best thing since sliced bread’. It should be ‘the best thing since central heating’ as heating is my favourite invention; apart from laptops, internet and Indie publishing—but I digress).

So, take a seat in my chair. Don’t worry I’ll just sit on my daughter’s toy car 🙂 Cup of tea? Coffee? Comfortable? Okay, so…

Jesus in Powerful Enemies

I was actually a little reluctant to have Jesus as an on-screen character in Powerful Enemies. I felt kind’a like it might be wrong of me to put Him in a book alongside fictional characters. Another issue I had was ‘what if I don’t do Him justice?’ What if I write Him into a scene but it doesn’t fill readers with any awe? I didn’t want to just toss Him in there just to have Him in the mix, I wanted to get a reaction. I wanted my Jesus scene to be like an artist’s impression, with me as the artist giving you my take on Him. I wanted my interpretation of Him to fill people with awe, illustrate His love and goodness and majesty, and make people love Him more. Obviously, I got over these issues and just went for it. Believe me, my heart was in my mouth as I wrote that scene. The reason I thought it was necessary was, the book is called Powerful Enemies, and every single one of us has powerful enemies (the devil and all his agents) but we have no reason to be afraid because we have a Powerful Friend. Powerful Enemies could have been called Powerful Friend to be honest, but that doesn’t sound as dramatic, ha ha.

Jesus is an expression of God’s love (God so loved the world that He gave us Jesus). So, I wanted the whole scene to illustrate Jesus’ love. That’s why I had Him appear to Luke, who is pretty much the most evil person in the book. Yet, he is the one Jesus appears to. Not Crystal, not Pastor Dan, not any of the Christians. It’s easy to love your friends, but Jesus said ‘love your enemies’ so I wanted to show Him loving an enemy. I wanted to show Him seeking a lost soul. By the way, we were all His enemies when He died for us. And He knew that despite Him dying for us, many of us would still reject Him and never become His friends. But He died in our place anyway. Isn’t He awesome?

God in Legacy

In Legacy, God the Father is an on-screen character. That was particularly awesome to write. It was so different to writing about Jesus, because I wrote about Jesus from Luke’s POV. Not from Jesus’ own POV. In Legacy I write from God’s own POV. I had to resist the urge to use ‘thou’ and ‘thy’. It was so cool. When my friend read it, she texted me to say how moved she was at reading that scene. She’s one of my closest friends so I take her opinion seriously and I know she would never just try to flatter me. So mission accomplished. At least I know it had the desired impact on one person :-). I used Isaiah 6 as my guide for that scene. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are also present. I was also careful about using ‘I’ preferring ‘we’ and ‘us’ because that was how God spoke in the Creation account and at the Tower of Babel, although there are many other instances in the Bible where He uses ‘I.’

Angel’s POV in Legacy

I was a little worried about writing about angels in Powerful Enemies, but not as worried as I was about writing about Jesus. By Legacy I was totally cool with it. In Legacy, I write from an Angel’s POV, which was a little more challenging than I thought it would be. I read about Daniel’s encounters with angels and tried to base things from that angle. It was fun.

***

Friends, if you want to go deeper with God I totally recommend writing to you as a means to that end 🙂 (not that there’s ever an end since God is infinite). Writing is cathartic, it encourages introspection, and it makes you dig deep into your own beliefs. I have learned so much through writing the Crystal series. God has taught me a lot about Himself, and He’s challenged me about being real. Not just going to church on Sundays and spouting clichés to my Christian friends. What’s the point of having the form but not the power, being religious but not righteous, or saying I’m a Christian but taking God for granted? I really don’t want to be like that.

I don’t like watching the news because the horrific things going on in this world are disturbing and so depressing. But the news is just a snippet of all the horrors and atrocities. However, God doesn’t get a snippet. He sees it all. Remember Genesis 6 where it says God looked down on the earth and was grieved? Well I would like Him to be happy when He sees me. I want to be like Noah. Faithful, living right, putting a smile on God’s face. Not being a hypocrite or just drifting through life or, God forbid, being part of the problem. Writing the Crystal series has made me think about my attitude to God. Do I love Him no matter what? Do I stand up for Him and refuse to compromise? Is my life a witness? Do I influence others for Him? It’s made me think about what God thinks of me. Is He happy when He looks at me? Am I living out His love?

The Crystal series also made me put the devil in his place, so to speak. I made his human followers very powerful in the Crystal series. Maybe more powerful than they are in real life. But that was because I wanted to show that it doesn’t matter how powerful the devil and his people are. Even the ‘smallest’ of Christians has authority over them, because God is greater.

So, thank you for your support with the Crystal series. I often pray for those who read it to experience God. I definitely experienced God while writing it. I’m much better at worshipping Him now than I used to be. And I’m more conscious of His presence around me (I don’t know if Christians really do have fire around them but I used fire as God’s stamp upon His people in the Crystal series–who knows, maybe we do). I hope you are too.

Whatever am I going to write next???

God bless 🙂

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3 things I have learned from writing the Crystal Series

Dayo Benson

Crystal Box Set JPEGSo, all 9 books in the Crystal series are complete, and I’ve just finished doing my own edit of Delirium (book 5) in preparation for sending it to my editor, and I’ve realized that I have learned a lot of things from writing this series. I thought I’ll share with you 3 of the things I have learned.

1. Women (even Christian women) love bad boys

I envisioned Juda’s character before I started writing the series and I knew how weird I wanted him to be, but I wasn’t sure if readers would be able to handle him. In fact, I almost made him just some ‘normal’ guy; still Luke’s son but not a practitioner and not a killer. More like a son that Luke is disappointed in. But I thought there would be much more scope for conflict and moral dilemmas if I wrote him exactly as he looked in my imagination. I’m so glad I went with my gut. I thought everyone would hate him, but even at the end of Surrender (Crystal 2), before Juda had shown many redeeming qualities, readers were rooting for him. I knew I’d gotten the portrayal of his character right when my best friend who is a voracious reader, very serious about her walk with God and hates reading anything that isn’t ‘sound’ scripturally told me she likes Juda after reading Surrender. My jaw almost literally dropped. I thought she’d hate him and just not give any comment about the book so as not to hurt me. Her name is Sade, by the way. I usually write with her in mind as she represents my target audience. I thought she would either love or hate this series and that she might just about tolerate Juda. I’m so glad she, and most of you, get what I’m doing with Juda’s character.

2. Spanish words and phrases

As I edited Delirium, the next installment of the series, I realized that Alejandro wasn’t speaking enough Spanish, so I added some phrases and exclamations as I went, and for most of them I didn’t even have to use the online translation tool that I usually use. I just know so many Spanish words now as a result of writing his character. I love Alejandro. His silly, obnoxious, flirtatious and vain–but lovable. I enjoyed writing from his POV in Delirium.

3. Christians truly have nothing to fear

I recently tweeted this quote because it really resonated with me:

‘The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe’ – Gustave Flaubert.

This has been so true of me in writing this series. I come from a Christian background where I have seen a lot of things happen with regards to ‘deliverance’ and things like that. I have heard things that freaked me out but simultaneously gave me an awe for God. And I am a total wuss who was terrified when I watched Scary Movie 2 (lol, okay I’m actually not that bad), so I’ve always thought I need to deal with my borderline fear of the supernatural.

I believe in the power of God, I believe in His supremacy, I believe that at His Name every knee bows, and these beliefs guided this series. The whole series has taken me just under a year to write, which is a long time to spend thinking about how God is greater than anything/anyone else and how the occult is all just counterfeit. My mind has been immersed in thoughts about God’s nature, His power, His love and His supreme authority over everything, and I have found that the more focused I am on God and His attributes, the less afraid I am of anything else and the stronger my faith is.

There is a scene in Secrets (Crystal 6) that made me stop and think about just how matchless God’s power is. There is another scene in Powerful Enemies (Crystal 8) that moved me to tears because I tried to imagine myself in the situation I’d put my characters in and asked myself if I would have faith and trust God to deliver me. Lol, if people watched me as I wrote this series they’d think I’m nuts, ha ha.

Anyway, writing this series has made me a stronger and more confident Christian. Writing about Crystal’s defiance and refusal to submit to pressures that would estrange her from God has made me more resilient myself. I hope the series has this impact on everyone who reads it.