Writing "Locusts and Wild Honey" Part II

I began trying to organize what I thought would be the chapters for Locusts and Wild Honey.  Note that I had "The Prey" and "Hellhound" as separate chapters because, at the time, I thought the black dog would be the antagonist and therefore could take two chapters.

In thinking about the black dog as adversary, I realized that I was truly wanting a personification of Satan so why not in human form rather than animal? At that point, I began to understand the totality of what I did not know about old Lucifer.  I would have to research the topic.

The Internet is a wonderful tool but if you conduct a search on "Satan," it generates 56,590,000 responses. Realizing that I needed direction, I approached two ministers about Satan or the Devil or the Fallen Angel. The late Reverend Ralph Osborne asked me "why do you want to write a story with the Devil as the central character?"

Simon Bening (1483-1561)

Stunned by his question, I stammered a response. "For the reader's entertainment."

"Wrong reason," Ralph said with a laugh.  "This is far too serious a subject to approach as entertainment."

"What would be a good reason?" I asked, hoping to salvage something out of my scribbles and late-at-night thoughts.

"Education, comes to mind, but even then, you would have to be careful that you didn't create such a curiosity about the matter that you would convert people to the other side.  Change direction, dear Friend. Find another way."

Ralph's response was not satisfactory to me but I had to respect it.  Maybe there was another take on the matter.  I called my friend, Shannon Hall Walker, a Medium and a Reiki Master Teacher.

(To be continued.)