2013 - Roseanna M. White

Remember When . . . Characters Appeared

by Roseanna White | Aug 21, 2013 | Books, Companion Guides, Remember When Wednesdays

I’m having a blast digging into the writing of A Soft Breath of Wind. Right now, on chapter 2, I’m still getting to know my characters. And so, I’m building Pinterest boards and playing with Photoshop and coming up with images to inspire me.

I thought it would be fun today to introduce the characters that will be ruling my brain for the next little while. =)

Let’s start with my heroine, Zipporah.

My cover model is so delightfully Zipporah
that I’m describing my character to match her, right down to
the clothes and accessories. =)

Zipporah was always the not-so-pretty one. Anna, her older sister, was the type of gorgeous that men fight wars over, and Zipporah always knew she was just a shadow in comparison. But she was okay with that. She loved her sister, and she was happy enough with her good qualities. But when a gift of the Spirit opens her eyes to the angels and demons swarming around her, she faces down the enemy and comes away scarred.

As she grows from that thirteen year old into a young woman, Zipporah sometimes has a hard time balancing her internal and external lives. She desperately needed to learn how to restrain her emotions when her spiritual eyes were opened…but as a result has closed them up a bit too much. She can be witty, she has deep abiding friendships–but in a group setting she tends to stick to the walls and leave the socialization to others.

Zipporah is confident in who she is, likes to say that the Lord in His wisdom chose not to burden with beauty, as He well knew she couldn’t have handled it. She carries herself well and serves her masters with love.

But she has long ago resigned herself to never experiencing any other kind of love. For years now she has watched her master, Benjamin, with adoration. But he, much as he values her as a friend and sister in Christ, has never seen her as anything more.

Which is just as well. She is all but sure that someday, she will have to lay her life down for her faith, and the last thing she wants is to leave a husband mourning for her, like Samuel when Anna died in childbirth.

A stylized Zac Efron (with the costume of Billy Zane’s character from Cleopatra)
as Benjamin Visibullis

Benjamin Visibullis is in some ways the most important person to the growing Roman church. He’s the legal owner of the Visibullis estate outside Rome where Jews and Christians congregate. Tutelos is more than a villa now, more than home–it’s a small town full of many families, all of whom rely on him.

Benjamin takes his responsibilities seriously and wants nothing more than to serve the Brethren…but he cannot shake the feeling that the Lord is calling him away from Tutelos, off to see the rest of the churches and, perhaps, spread the good news to places who have yet to hear about the Messiah. His mother insists he cannot put his life at such risk until he has married and established an heir, and that is logic he understands. But no woman in Rome fits his idea of the bride Jehovah has in store. And so, after years of prayer, he finally sets sail to visit the growing churches, Samuel with him to keep him safe.

Their travels take them eventually to Jerusalem for the Passover, but returning to the land of his birth only shows him that it’s time to go home to Rome. When a trip through the city leads them unexpectedly to Samuel’s birth-family–including the mother who sold him as a slave to Benjamin’s father 25 years before–he has to admit his eye is caught by his step-brother’s beautiful sister. Dara’s face, Dara’s words say she is what he has been waiting for.

But something within Benjamin knows she’s trouble–and he finds out the hard way that he should have heeded the whisper. But by then, the enemy is already entrenched at Tutelos…and he fears he may have undone all he was ever called to do.

A stylized Jason Lewis as Samuel Asinius

Samuel kinda took me by surprise in A Stray Drop of Blood. While I had planned the BIG plot twists from the get-go, I didn’t see the little slave boy coming, and so I certainly didn’t know the pivotal role he would end up playing in the second half of the book. But I fell in love with that beautiful little boy with a nurturing touch, and oh, how I’m already enjoying seeing the man he’s become!

At the end of Stray Drop, Samuel was legally adopted by Titus Asinius, so he’s the joint-heir of a pretty impressive Roman estate. This for a boy born a poor Hebrew, sold into slavery to a Roman, and moved to Rome when only 6. Now 31, Samuel is still a nurturer, a healer. Though not officially a physician, he’s been trained by one and is the man to whom everyone at Tutelos turns when they need medical help.

He’s also still the self-appointed protector of Benjamin, brother in heart if not by blood. After his wife and their child die in childbirth, Samuel mourns long and hard…and finally welcomes the excuse to escape her memory and travel with Benjamin. When he meets his “real” family in Jerusalem, his heart doesn’t even stir, though. These people are less than strangers to him. He had long ago erased his mother from his heart, and the sister who seems bent on coming with him back to Rome…he knows there’s something wrong with her claims. But who is he to turn away someone who claims she wants to learn more about Christ?

But when they take her home to Tutelos and Zipporah immediately recognizes the evil within her, he knows they’ve made a grave error. Perhaps the rest of the church would prefer to chalk Zipporah’s strong reaction up to jealousy–it’s no secret she’s always loved Benjamin, who Dara now dares to claim–Samuel has always trusted his wife’s little sister when it comes to matters of the Spirit. And he’ll stand with her now and fight for the Way.

A stylized Sophia Myles as Dara

Dara is beautiful–and she uses it as a weapon. Endowed with a spirit of fortune telling, she serves a master in Jerusalem who has taught her how to hone her skills, both as a beauty and an oracle. Those who know what she is serve or fear her…and those who don’t still stand in awe of her unusual looks. She doesn’t just always get her way–she makes her way when the world might try to stand against her. She wants nothing more than to belong fully to her master, but he has said since she was little more than a child that she can serve him best through her marriage. That only by waiting for the right man can she serve their cause–and bring an end to the sacrilege of Christianity worming its way throughout the world.

When she realizes she has an older brother–and sees the one he calls “brother” by adoption–she knows her master was right. Her fate lies with Benjamin Visibullis. He is the fulcrum of one of the most important sects of the blasphemers. And it will be no great hardship to pass her days–and nights–beside the handsome Benjamin.

Who is Dara beyond the tool of this “master”? Well that’s just the thing–she doesn’t know. She has served him so long, so fully, always in secret that she cannot separate anymore who-he-made-her from who-she-was-born-to-be. Her whole purpose in living, in her eyes, is to serve him. To make his causer her own. To undermine their sworn enemy–Christians. Can she be cruel? Without question. Can she be kind? When it suits her. Has she a heart underneath the hatred? She’s none too sure.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a bad girl who doesn’t reform right away, so this is going to be fun. 😉 Of course, I have some plans in store for our nasty little Dara. First though, we pit discernment against fortune telling. One Spirit against another spirit. Darkness against light.

And the real fun? Light doesn’t just defeat the darkness, right? It banishes it, and the things once dark become light.

Yep. Gonna have a blast with this one. =)

Word of the Week – Student and Pupil

by Roseanna White | Aug 19, 2013 | Word of the Week

It’s the first day of school in our house, and the kids are rather excited. (Don’t worry, it’ll fade, LOL.) Their desks are organized (that won’t last either…), they made their “1st Day of…” signs last night for pictures this morning, picked out their outfits (no reason why homeschoolers shouldn’t have that joy too!), and demanded I wake them up early. Gotta love eager little students. =)

And I thought that today, I’d take a quick look at some school-related words in keeping with the occasion.

Student is an old one, from the 14th century. It comes to us from the French estudient, “one who studies,” which is directly from the Latin studiare, “to study.” No surprises there. Interestingly, student teacher didn’t join in until 1907, which is, I think, more a reflection of the educational and training system than language.

But I wanted to look up pupil too. I think to us, this word has fallen out of fashion and so sounds old-fashioned. So I was intrigued to see that while just as old as student, it didn’t have its current meaning nearly as long. Pupil literally means “orphan child, ward.” This too is taken from French and Latin and is a diminutive of the word for “boy.” It took about 200 years for the “student” meaning to come along. Which, yes, was still way back in 1560, LOL. But I didn’t realize it had ever meant anything else.

Now off to get some work done before my little students arise. 😉

Thoughtful About . . . Motivation

by Roseanna White | Aug 15, 2013 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized

First, thanks for all the birthday wishes yesterday–I had an amazing day! Now on we go. =)

Sometimes reading the Old Testament can be baffling. We’re told that the Lord our God never changes, that He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. Yet when we read about all that transpired in those early days with Israel, all the times He lashed out against someone for what we would deem nothing…well, that makes us go “Huh?”

I recently read the portion where Aaron’s sons lit a profane fire to the Lord, and He struck them down, three of them. Because it was there, I read a note on it–the note simply said that God wanted to be very clear about the rules of the Tabernacle, and they had disobeyed them.

Rembrandt – Balaam and his Ass

I had to shake my head on that one. Because you know, in all these confusing places–where someone was commanded to be stoned for picking up sticks on the Sabbath, where Moses strikes the rock instead of speaking to it, where Balaam’s donkey has to talk because Balaam keeps trying to force the creature past an angel that came simply because he rose too early–there’s one obvious thing in common.

People are disobeying the letter of God’s word.

But beyond that, I think it’s this–that people are disobeying the spirit of God’s word.

Very rarely do the Old Testament writers provide us with motivation, beyond “they grew discontent” or “His anger was roused against them.” That’s all we hear. But what do we know? That God doesn’t change. And that God sees not our outward actions, but our inward heart.

My first realization of this was in Genesis, when Cain’s sacrifice is unacceptable to the Lord. Why, when we know He does in fact except produce as offering later? The only answer I see is that Cain didn’t give his best. It specifies that Able did, but just says Cain brought “some.” Some isn’t good enough for our Lord.

When the sons of Aaron lit a fire the Lord had not told them to light, what were they trying to do? And what would that fire have meant to the gods of the lands around them? Where they trying to take or conjure power not meant for them?

Was Moses too angry to follow the instructions God gave him? Did he think it not enough of a show to speak to the rock, even though the Lord then says he ruined the point with his outburst?

Motivations are what I allow myself to change and interpret when writing historicals, so I give them a lot of thought when reading these examples.

And I need to give them a lot of thought in my own life. Is my heart right when I’m performing the small tasks set before me? Do I turn astray even a degree with the thought that I want to do it my way instead of the way I know He wants me to do it? Do I greet clear, precise instruction with a “No”?

Maybe right motives aren’t always enough if we fail to do something–but wrong motives can destroy us. So Lord, cleanse my heart anew today…that I might hear those detailed instructions and obey them precisely.

Is there a particular Old Testament passage

that has always baffled you?

Remember When . . . We Chose Pets?

by Roseanna White | Aug 14, 2013 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized

As I was taking my walk the other morning, I was thinking about my next biblical and my heroine, Zipporah. Zipporah is going to be interesting to write. She’s scarred (physically, I mean), but still confident. Not in the beauty she knows she doesn’t have, but in who she is. She’s outspoken with enemies, yet often hesitant with friends. Friendly and witty, but too different to be totally understood. Respected, but sometimes in a don’t-get-too-close way.

She has quite a story to tell. =) And as I was thinking through one of the moments I have planned for late in the book, I realized she needs a catalyst for really flying off the handle. My original jotted notes was that this villain would insult her looks, but she’s so used to that by now, I don’t think it would have any great effect after all.

But then a dog barked at the house I was walking past, and I had to pause to say, “Good morning, Tipsy.” (Her owner pauses every day as he drives by to say, “Tipsy’s out. Say hello.” So I do, LOL.) Another neighborhood dog answered. Squirrels jumped up the tree at my side, and birds twittered overhead. That’s when it came to me.

A pet! Zipporah needs a pet! Some poor creature she rescues, perhaps with an injury of its own that she can relate to.

So…now to decide on what kind. =) She’s on a villa outside Rome, so I have to make sure it’s an animal that would have been there. Still, Rome was a bit of a hub (ahem), so the options should be pretty wide.

Thoughts? What kind of pet should my biblical heroine have?

And yes, that’s all I’m talking about today. 😉 It’s my birthday, and I’m off to enjoy a day of pampering. Which reminds me–last day to place your orders for my online Mary Kay party!! www.MaryKay.com/TerriHarr and put “Roseanna White Hostess” in the memo box at checkout.

Word of the Week – Upbeat

by Roseanna White | Aug 12, 2013 | Word of the Week

I have frequently been accused of optimism. I confess: it’s a malady of mine. Why, after all, should I look at the dark side, when the bright side is right there? I just can’t do it. And so, my critique partners nicknamed me RO. It’s short for Roseanna-Optimist. I claimed once that Optimism was my middle name, and they argued that it was surely my first–at the least, it must be hyphenated, LOL.

So happy words have a permanent place in my vocabulary, and apparently they occasionally sneak into my writing even when they shouldn’t. 😉 I was reading through a proposal the other day and caught myself having used “upbeat” in a story that takes place in 1910. This stood out to me on the re-read like a sore thumb, so I looked it up.

Sure enough, upbeat as “with a positive mood” didn’t join our language until 1947. It had existed since the mid 1800s in its technical sense–the beat of a measure of music where the conductor’s baton is raised. Why did it take on optimistic tones? According to the experts, simply because it sounds happy. =) (That’s my kind of reasoning!)

And speaking of happy things, this is the week of my birthday, so don’t forget that I’m hosting an online Mary Kay party that ends on the day itself, 8/14 (Wednesday). If you’re a fan of MK, do hop on over to http://www.marykay.com/terriharr and put “Roseanna White Hostess” into the memo box when you check out. Mucho appreciated!