Sheep Among Wolves Publishing

Behind the Scenes of By This Shall They Know—The Real Maple Creek

By Chelsea August 23, 2021 Behind the Scenes, By This Shall They Know, SAWPublications

Do you like hearing the true incidents behind a fictional story? Do you wonder how much an author’s own experience affects the stories she writes? Come behind the scenes of By This Shall They Know, and see how much the Real Maple Creek influenced this soon-to-be-released novel!Do you ever wonder how much fiction is truly fiction? Do you try to see the author in the characters and imagine which parts of the story are taken from real life?

If you’re anything like me, a little trip behind the scenes makes a story more meaningful and more relatable.

And today you’ve come to the perfect place for just that! Book 1 of my debut series, Fellowship of Light, is releasing on September 27th, and there’s plenty going on behind the scenes!

By This Shall They Know is DEFINITELY more than fiction—it’s also decidedly less than autobiography! (Funny how we jump to extremes as humans!) The truth of the matter is, that while there is a lot of fact in this story, it is still a work of fiction. The emotions, scenes and events of the story are a complicated combination of real things and just what worked for the story and the characters as we went along.

Today, I want to take a little trip behind the scenes of one major aspect of By This Shall They Know: Maple Creek Church.

Do you like hearing the true incidents behind a fictional story? Do you wonder how much an author’s own experience affects the stories she writes? Come behind the scenes of By This Shall They Know, and see how much the Real Maple Creek influenced this soon-to-be-released novel!A Real Church?

The simple answer to that question is—no. You will not find Maple Creek Church anywhere on a map of North Bay—in fact, the place where I envision it is a remote, out-of-the-way rural road that contains absolutely nothing but trees where the fictional Maple Creek is supposed to stand! To my knowledge, there is not even a Mennonite or Anabaptist church in the area. So in that sense, Maple Creek is entirely fictional.

HOWEVER—and this is a big however—the people and culture of Maple Creek are quite largely based off my own experience at a somewhat larger congregation in a totally different location, and many incidents and details are drawn directly from real life.

So in that sense—yes, it totally is a real church!

​Maple Creek in the Story

Many of the incidents in the story are inspired or influenced by true circumstances. Much (although not all!) of the wedding scene, Biblical social, and feetwashing, as well as details such as the question of forks, what you wear to a social, and calling adults by their first name, are all in some measure taken from real life.

Only one character, however, is directly inspired by a real-life member of the true “Maple Creek”, and that was sort of by accident. As I wrote through the first draft, I kept finding myself including incidents and details involving a certain dear lady who helped make my own transition to a new church culture a positive experience. And somehow, Cheryl Ross continued to fall nicely into the role until I reached the end of the story and realized that I’d actually based her almost entirely off my friend (although not EVERYTHING she does or says in the story was actually from real life)!

And yes, some of you who read this MAY be able to figure out who I’m talking about!

The Real Maple Creek

​In a very crucial sense, this story would never have been written without the factual element of Maple Creek Church. The characters and part of the setting had been living in my imagination for a number of years already, but the real “Maple Creek”, and the love and acceptance I found through that body of believers, was the first, foundational inspiration for the story.

Without your love, dear church family, I would never have dreamt of writing this story, nor would I have had anything to write about!

Without the Real Maple Creek, I can truly say there would be no By This Shall They Know!

For more information on By This Shall They Know (and to preorder!) see our cover reveal post:

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