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Part 1

Part 1 came easily to me. After re-reading part 1 I realized how much I don’t like the first two paragraphs. For me the story didn’t pick up until the flashback sequence.

Speaking of the the flashback sequence. That was the easiest bit of writing in the whole series. The images came to me quickly and the words flowed easily. If only all writing was like that!

In case you are wondering, Frank and Susan are not based on anyone in particular. I just tried to think of a couple who share a deep love for each other, and Frank and Susan were the result.

Part 2

Part 2 was fairly easy to write with one exception. How does someone die? It is easier said than done. I had chills when I read the final draft out loud. BTW, it was Susan’s idea to clean the gutters, not Franks. (That is for you Mom) After I figured out how Susan died the rest fell into place pretty quickly.

Part 3

Part 3 was the hardest piece of writing I have done in a long time. If my calculations are correct I worked on Part 3 for 6 weeks! I wrote 4 versions of Part 3 before I ended up with this one. To be honest I am still not happy with it, but by this point it was close enough for me to publish, and I was tired of working on it.

In case you are interested, Frank does eventually ask Jesus into his heart. I wanted to show the struggle people have grasping that concept. To a non-Christian male the thought of inviting another person, especially another man, into his heart has to sound pretty silly, or worse. You will notice the Holy Spirit was working on him in Part 3. Sooner or later he is going to get there

The Father taught me a couple of valuable lessons.

One - Don’t start writing something without a clear ending in mind. One published author even suggests writing the ending first. If you don’t have a clear ending in mind you will end up struggling to finish your work. I started The Father knowing I wanted Frank to end up becoming a Christian. He didn’t quite make it. Trying to force a character to become a Christian before he was ready added significantly to the delay in publishing Part 3.

Two - Don’t start a story for the wrong reasons. To be honest I started this story to see if I could write a serial story like Tom did with The Treehouse on In Continuous Pursuit. I didn’t really want to write a story about Frank losing his wife, it was more of a competition with Tom. This might be a good thing to learn how to do, I am not sure, but the end result was I had to force myself to finish the project. Hindsight tells me that I should write a story because I like the story, not because I want to see if I can write as well as someone else.

What do you like, or dislike, about The Father? Leave your answer in the comments.

- Sean