How to Find Hope in Unexpected Places: Lessons from My Characters
Hope doesn’t always show up like a sunrise. Sometimes, it’s the tiniest flicker in the fog—a candle lit in a storm. As a storyteller, I return to this theme over and over. Through the journeys of my characters, I explore how we hold on when things fall apart… how we find light again, even when everything feels dim.
These stories aren’t just fiction. They carry pieces of me—and the people who shaped me.
The tears, the silence, the rearview ache—hope flickers here too. A moment, where fiction meets feeling. Actress Isabella Blake Thomas as Jessi in Hashtag Blessed.
Finding Hope in the Darkest Times
When everything seems lost, my characters discover that hope isn’t something handed to them—it’s something they decide to believe in, often before they have any proof it’s real.
Brigid stands at the edge of time and heartbreak, and still takes the next step. Jessi (Hashtag Blessed) is raw, overwhelmed, and barely holding it together—but somehow, she keeps showing up. Her story reflects my own emotional battle through college—the pressure, the expectations, the aching loneliness underneath the smile.
Sometimes hope isn’t heroic. Sometimes it’s showing up in sweatpants with mascara under your eyes, saying, “I’m not okay… but I’m still here.”
Using Fiction to Explore Real-World Struggles
My stories may have magick and portals and snow-dusted spellwork—but the emotions are real. Jessi’s struggle to feel seen, Duncan’s quiet grief, Morgan’s spiral of uncertainty… they’re all rooted in lived experiences.
Fiction gives us a safe place to face what’s hard. Through my characters, I get to say what I didn’t always have the words for when I was living it.
The Transformation of Characters Through Adversity
Adversity is where transformation begins—not in a shiny montage, but in the raw middle of things.
Duncan has always held a special place in my heart. His perseverance, his gentle strength, his way of listening before speaking—they remind me of my Papa. When I was ten, my grandfather went blind from a failed surgery. He could’ve stopped reading. He could’ve given up. But he didn’t. He learned braille. He filled his house with audiobooks. He made voice notes long before smartphones made it easy.
He refused to surrender to the dark. That shaped me more than I knew.
Duncan carries that same light. He reads the room with quiet wisdom. He sees with his heart. And he helps others see themselves more clearly, too.
Hope as a Central Theme in My Stories
Hope in my stories isn’t a given—it’s a choice. Sometimes, it looks like a character forgiving themselves. Sometimes it’s a letter. A whisper. A spring bloom in a forgotten field.
In The Christmas Witch, hope is cracked and complicated, but it’s still there. In Lost in Time, hope lives in stolen moments and hidden truths. And in Hashtag Blessed, it’s the very heartbeat of the story—a reminder that faith, doubt, and healing often walk hand in hand.
If you walk away from my stories with anything, I hope it’s this: Even in the messiest chapters of your life, there is something worth holding onto.
You are allowed to grieve and still grow. To feel lost and still be worthy of love. To fall apart and still believe that things can get better.
Let my characters be a mirror, a friend, or a flicker in the dark.
Sometimes, the tiniest glimmer of hope is enough to keep going. And sometimes… that’s everything.
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