Marcy G. Dyer
Writing stories of faith, doubt, and the grace that meets us in the valleys.
I always wanted to be a writer, but for most of my adult life, writing was something I did in the margins — stories started and abandoned, notebooks full of stories trashed, computer folders filled with partially written books, and a strong desire to keep writing in spite of the voice that said I needed to give up.
My mother was always encouraging me to write. She had read the stories I wrote and pushed me to keep it up. She was wonderful in her encouragement, but she wasn’t much of a fiction reader so she didn’t critique my writing.
On the other hand, my sweet daddy was a voracious reader. He would read some of my writing and would give me a gentle critiques to think about. One story in particular, (a story still in my drafts folder) he read the first chapter. Afterward, he said, “Pumpkin, think about this character. They’re in the former Soviet Union. It was illegal to own a Bible. If someone got caught with it, they went to prison. In your opening, the main character shoves a Bible in his hands. How is he feeling? If it were me, I would be terrified thinking about having a Bible in my duffle bag.”
His gentle encouragement helped put my character’s motivations into perspective. While I will never stop working on improving as a writer, I’ve come a long way from those first days. My goal is always for my next book or series to be better than the last.
When I started writing seriously, my mom had gone home to be with the Lord, but my sweet daddy, husband, and extended family were my biggest cheerleaders. They encouraged me and prayed for me.
I hope you have encouragers in your life who love you and help you strive to improve.
Faith and my stories
My books aren’t safe, or easy. They deal with messy, doubters who struggle in daily life – a life that has curveballs, pain, and trauma.
I write Christian fiction because as Christians, we still face brokenness, doubt, and only the grace of God an gets us through tomorrow. We are broken, beloved, and being made new. My goal is to show how broken people can be made whole again, with Christ.