New!
Author resources • Lorehaven Guild
Podcast sponsors • Subscribe for free
Crew manifest Faith statement FAQs
All author resources Lorehaven Guild Subscribe for free

148. Why Do Some Christians Revile ‘The Chosen’? | with Josiah DeGraaf and Jenneth Dyck
Fantastical Truth Podcast, Feb 7, 2023

Into the Darkness
Reviews, Feb 3, 2023

The Chosen Succeeds Where ‘Woke’ Stories Fail
Jenneth Dyck in Articles, Feb 2, 2023

Library

Find fantastical Christian novels

fantasy · sci-fi · and beyond
middle grade · young adult · grown-ups
All novels Search Add a novel
The Wayward, Tabitha Caplinger
Fortified, V. Romas Burton
Canaan Sleeps, Daniel Camomile
Silver Bounty, Victoria McCombs
A Sword for the Immerland King, F. W. Faller
Calor, J. J. Fisher
Once Upon A Ren Faire, A. C. Castillo
The Genesis 6 Project, Michael Ferguson
Exile, Loren G. Warnemuende
Aberration, Cathy McCrumb
The Truth Beyond the Lies, Kathleen Bird
Frost, Winter's Lonely Guardian, E. E. Rawls
Dream of Kings, Sharon Hinck
The Change, Bradley Caffee
Podcast

Get the Fantastical Truth podcast

Podcast sponsors | Subscribe links
Archives Feedback

148. Why Do Some Christians Revile ‘The Chosen’? | with Josiah DeGraaf and Jenneth Dyck
Fantastical Truth, Feb 7, 2023

147. Why Can Christians Celebrate Stories about Merlin and King Arthur? | with Robert Treskillard
Fantastical Truth, Jan 31, 2023

146. How Did Animators Adapt The Wingfeather Saga For Streaming TV? | with Keith Lango
Fantastical Truth, Jan 24, 2023

145. How Did Edmund Spenser’s ‘The Faerie Queene’ Shape Christian Fantasy? | with Rebecca K. Reynolds
Fantastical Truth, Jan 17, 2023

144. Which Top Six Fantasy Franchises Gave Fans Grief in 2022?
Fantastical Truth, Jan 10, 2023

143. Which Top Ten Lorehaven Stories Proved Most Popular in 2022?
Fantastical Truth, Jan 6, 2023

Quests

Join our monthly digital book quests.

Lorehaven Guild Faith statement FAQs

Rose Petals and Snowflakes
Book Quests, February 2023

Prince Caspian
Book Quests, January 2023

Dream of Kings
Book Quests, December 2022

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
Book Quests, November 2022

Reviews

Find fantastical Christian reviews

All reviews Request review

Into the Darkness
“Charles Hack’s Into the Darkness summons a close-range science fiction story, focusing on the personal challenges of space warfare among alien cultures with a steady pace and serious tone.”
—Lorehaven on Feb 3, 2023

A Crown of Chains
“A Crown of Chains creatively retells a biblical tale to explore themes of providence, racism, faith, and fidelity.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 27, 2023

Lander’s Legacy
“Lander’s Legacy stacks modern thrills and complex characters on a foundation of biblical what-ifs.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 20, 2023

Prince Caspian
“Pacing starts slow but creature lore grows in C. S. Lewis’s sequel, introducing practical tyrants and talking-beast politics into a Narnian resistance.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 13, 2023

Gifts

Find new gifts for Christian fans

Archives

The original SpecFaith: est. 2006

Speculative Faith | archives

Lorehaven issues (2018–2020)

Order back issues online!
New
Library
Podcast
Quests
Reviews
Gifts
Archives
Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
Subscribe free to Lorehaven
/ SpecFaith /

Grace Through ‘The Story Peddler’ Helped Me Find Healing from Trauma

Lindsay A. Franklin: While creating The Story Peddler and its sequels, I found a safe place to pour out the emotional turmoil of my own story.
Lindsay A. Franklin on Aug 2, 2019
6 comments

Readers of The Story Peddler have told me about its heroine, “She felt so real.”

It’s a compliment for an author, I know. And when people tell me my character felt real, or that her struggles resonated, I smile. Say thank you. And I mean it.

But I don’t always reveal the full truth in that moment—the truth that she feels real because she is real. She is me.

Not every character I write is a direct reflection of me as a person, of course. And perhaps no single character is exactly like me. But the story people I get the most comments on are the ones in which I have buried a piece of my heart—the ones I’ve chosen to help me process something dark and difficult from real life.

This may seem somewhat obvious—that authors include themselves in their work. But here’s a strange expansion of this phenomenon that’s true for me and perhaps other authors: the intersection between my writing and my true story is the sharpest, most painful, and most poignant in my fiction.

In one of my devotional books, I explored the story of Tamar and Amnon. I wrote devotionals about sexual assault, abuse at the hands of a family member, consent, agency, finding God in the midst of that particular kind of suffering, and putting the pieces of a shattered life back together through God’s grace. I have written an essay with a stark description of the first time I experienced sexual assault as a preschooler. That essay is published in a book, and my name is attached to it.

I have written about the topic of sexual trauma in a factual, straightforward manner, no holds barred, no pseudonym in which to shroud myself and no buffer with which to protect myself. It’s out there, black and white, for anyone who wishes to read about it.

So how is it that pouring this sexual trauma history into a fictional character for the first time in The Story Raider was more difficult, more taxing, and yet more healing than any writing I’ve previously done on the subject?

Story is powerful—perhaps more powerful than we realize.

The Story Raider, Lindsay A. FranklinShortly after The Weaver Trilogy was contracted, my editor and I had a discussion about the books’ titles. He loved my title for book one, The Story Peddler, and wanted each book in the series to contain the word “story.” That was the magic of the concept, after all.

While we have since changed the titles of books two and three for a variety of reasons, his original suggestion for book three, The Story Thief, spawned the creation of a supporting character in my mind almost immediately. And, almost immediately, I gave her my own real-life backstory.

The particulars were different, of course. But the emotional story is the same. Her character is a bleak study on the aftereffects of prolonged sexual abuse on a young person.

And as I drafted the sequel to The Story Peddler, called The Story Raider, under intense time pressure and during a very dark season in my life, I found myself deep in the heart of this very broken character—this very broken part of me.

I recall telling my best friend that I wasn’t sure if this character was going to be okay because I wasn’t okay.

How could I possibly write something happy or hopeful or remotely uplifting while simply trying to survive the real-life emotional onslaught myself? I cried my way through her scenes in Raider, became angry with myself when her storyline in book three was just one big cloud of fog I couldn’t decipher, and wondered more than once if I had a made a mistake to include her.

But that’s where the magic happens.

Through wrestling with her story, I was given a safe place to pour out the emotional turmoil of my own story. I got to try on different futures for her—different choices, different ways of processing the trauma. I got to experience interactions with her through my other characters’ eyes, and I began to understand what watching from afar must feel like for my loved ones.

I began to desperately seek hope for my fictional girl in a way that felt too risky, too big to first seek for myself.

Within the safe confines of fiction, through the distance of story, I was able to get closer to my trauma than I ever had before. And in that closeness, my past began to knit itself together in a way I hadn’t truly believed possible. My heart began to hope again.

Book three is written now. The fictional story begun by The Story Peddler is complete. Ultimately, my character had to make her own choices, deal with her own consequences, and struggle to find herself in a journey apart from mine.

But I know that through her story and the stories of countless other characters by countless other creators, people will discover the same healing I did. That is, perhaps, the sweetest twist of all: the gift of story is not meant only for the story’s author. In fact, it is not even meant primarily for the author.

Stories exist to entertain, to teach, to welcome the reader into a wondrous space to experience an emotional journey. Through the safety and wildness of fiction, through its simultaneous distance and closeness, readers are invited to process their own triumphs and heartbreaks. These stories—all stories—are for you and me and us.

Your invitation awaits.

Lindsay A. Franklin
Lindsay A. Franklin is a best-selling author, freelance editor, and homeschooling mom of three. She would wear pajama pants all the time if it were socially acceptable. Lindsay lives in her native San Diego with her scruffy-looking nerf-herder husband, their precious geeklings, three demanding thunder pillows (a.k.a. cats), and a stuffed marsupial named Wombatman. Lindsay's debut novel, The Story Peddler, won the 2019 Realm Awards for Young Adult, the readers' choice Alliance Award, and Book of the Year.
Website · Facebook · Instagram · Twitter
  1. Jes Drew says:
    August 2, 2019 at 11:07 am

    I’m so sorry for what you went through. But I’m glad you found some healing in writing. My sister is actually reading the sequel right now.

    Reply
    • Lindsay A. Franklin says:
      August 2, 2019 at 12:22 pm

      Thank you, Jes. I hope your sister loves it. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Autumn Grayson says:
    August 2, 2019 at 2:32 pm

    I’m sorry you went through all that, and I’m glad that writing the series was therapeutic for you or at least helped you vent.

    Might have to try these books some day. I really appreciate stories that authors put their whole heart into.

    Reply
  3. Chris Morris says:
    August 2, 2019 at 3:47 pm

    Lindsay,
    Thank you for being brave enough to write some of your story into The Weaver series. I am convinced that this is part of what makes the stories so compelling.

    Reply
  4. Brennan McPherson says:
    August 5, 2019 at 6:23 am

    Wow… I am so sorry you experienced such insane trauma. Articles like this make me wish I could just put every precious child in the world into a big home and protect them all. I’m so glad you have experienced at least partial healing through writing. I experienced something similar to this through my own writing about fatherhood (though I wasn’t abused like you). I’m picking this series up, for sure. Blessings on reaching the end of your story…

    Reply
  5. Caroline says:
    August 6, 2019 at 7:31 pm

    Lindsay, thank you for sharing your story through The Weaver Trilogy and everything else you have written. It’s people like you who have the bravery to share that inspire me to share as well! Your writing goes beyond the normal story…it is anointed and blessed. ?

    Reply

What do you think? Cancel reply

  • Fantasy Authors Win Three Awards At 2019 ACFW ConferenceFantasy Authors Win Three Awards At 2019 ACFW Conference
  • What Wonderful Worlds: Five Fantasy Novels to Foster Your Sense of WonderWhat Wonderful Worlds: Five Fantasy Novels to Foster Your Sense of Wonder
Lorehaven magazine, spring 2020

Wear the wonder:
Get exclusive shirts and beyond

Listen to Lorehaven’s podcast

Authors and publishers:
Reach new fans with Lorehaven

Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
Website · Facebook · Instagram · Twitter