Voices for Voices®

When God Breathes: Creating Art That Matters | Episode 233

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 233

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When God Breathes: Creating Art That Matters | Episode 233

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From the first spark of inspiration to the final draft, the creative journey demands both passion and persistence. Eve Bloor, sister of previous guest Gabriel Bloor, joins us to share her remarkable 12-year odyssey writing her first sci-fi novel while developing her skills as a self-taught illustrator.

"Don't worry about the process," Eve advises aspiring creators struggling with perfectionism. She candidly reveals how her own perfectionist tendencies nearly prevented her from completing her work, leading to an astonishing 27 drafts before completion. Her story resonates with anyone who has ever felt their creative efforts weren't "good enough." The breakthrough came when she learned to focus on story flow rather than technical flawlessness—a lesson that transformed her approach to both writing and illustration.

Eve's unique perspective bridges multiple worlds: her counseling education informs her character development, while her faith grounds her creative choices. She describes herself as "cruel to my characters," explaining that meaningful growth requires significant challenges—both in fiction and real life. This philosophy extends to her illustration work, where she applies principles of geometry and anatomy to create authentic representations that honor what she sees as divinely created beauty.

What sets Eve apart is her commitment to authentic expression. Whether discussing her preference for traditional art materials (feeling the texture of the paper matters!) or her insistence on incorporating genuine human emotions like grief into her stories, she demonstrates how creative work becomes powerful when it reflects genuine conviction. As she puts it, "Real beauty is soul deep."

Reach out to Eve at evebloor@outlook.com or find her on Discord as Evelyn Inkwell to join her writing group or commission her artwork. Her journey reminds us that the most meaningful creative expressions often come through perseverance and staying true to your unique vision.

#whenGodBreathes #creativeArt #artMatters #spiritualArt #faithInspiredArt #inspirationalArt #christianArt #artThatInspires #artWithPurpose #faithAndCreativity #artAndSpirituality #purposefulArt #artForGod #creativeExpression #faithArtist #voicesforvoices #justinhayes #justinalanhayes 

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Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Welcome to another episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I am your host, Founder and Executive Director of Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes. Thank you for joining us, whether you're joining us here in the United States or in 55 additional countries, 700 cities across the world. Additional countries, 700 cities across the world. Thank you for the love and support you've given us and allow us to share stories, voices, especially with the guests that we have today. And so we are continuing on the writing and author diving deep with another author and illustrator, so we'll just jump right in.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

So she is a pastor's kid, an amateur illustrator. She's self-taught, so I think that'll be interesting to hear about that for those of you who are illustrating and may not know you are, and maybe it sparks a fire and says oh, you know what I can do that she likes to have a blend in her writing of mystic fantasy and sci-fi. She is in college for counseling, which that's a very in-need major, and occupation, for definitely sure, major in occupation, for definitely sure. A waitress unashamed of the gospel. And she's actually a sibling. She is the sister of one of the prior guests that we had. We had Gabriel Bloor on, and so for this episode. We want to welcome to this show Yves Bloor. Thank you for joining us, yves.

Eve Bloor:

Thank you so much, justin. It's a pleasure to be here and be able to talk and just express that, even though you know I may not be published just yet, it's the fire of not giving up that keeps it going.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah, absolutely. I think that's the big thing. It's it's easy to give up. If something's not easy, uh tell y'all. You know what, I'm just gonna try something different and I I think that you're a testament to that. Uh, that obviously you have to have to balance and juggle all of life and all of the things that come with it. But being a self-taught and just being an inspiration for those that have an interest and maybe even just wondering kind of what the process is, Okay, so what really inspired me to write?

Eve Bloor:

which helps with the process? Just so you're aware, the help of the process was learning, learning how to read and write. That's all starting the process, because when you learn how to read and write, you you're looking through another author's eyes, seeing their style, their structure, and it can inspire you to do something else. A lot of written work is inspired. It's inspired, including the Bible. It's all God, breathed and inspired by him. So there is always an inspiration behind a book. But when it comes to writing your own novel, you have to have a spark of inspiration and then a spark of originality. And the big thing that I've learned as an author about the process is don't worry about the process. Don't worry. Oh, I have to get this done and I have to get that done and I have to get this.

Eve Bloor:

Worry about the flow of your story and is it good? The biggest issues I have noticed when it comes to writing my own writing is that I am a perfectionist. Goodness, I'm ashamed of it, but I am a perfectionist and it has to be one way which really stifles the creativity. Don't stifle your creativity.

Eve Bloor:

Again, the only thing you need to worry about in the process is the flow of your story and what's important for it. Because what's important for your story to grow and your characters to grow will make you want to read it, will make others want to read it. Because, remember, when you're writing a story, you're the first audience, but you have to kind of like it first. And then the process is you know the idea, the inspiration, your own twist and originality, and then kind of playing around with concept, ideas like what the characters are, what's the playing field, what kind of world are you making for them, and then it gets really creative on from there. Um you the kind of language systems, government systems, and I could go on yeah, no, that, no, that's great too.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

I mean, you mentioned being a perfectionist. I'm a perfectionist at some things and not others, so I can totally agree that that can really stifle, as you mentioned, just the process of working through the project that you're working on, that you know we could do that for hours and hours, and hours and hours and never come up with something, and and so so, to your point, I mean really my gosh analyzing it as you're writing it.

Eve Bloor:

Exactly Editing when you write your first draft, because that's typically what people do is you write a first draft. When you write that first draft draft, it is going to have 700 bajillion imperfections and you're going to look at that and say did I spell that right? And you know what it really is. Okay, it's okay if it's messed up, if you misspelled words, if you didn't write it exactly how you wanted it, because this is where, when the first draft is written, this is where you can do gentle editing. And this is another thing that I've noticed as an author.

Eve Bloor:

Reading other authors' work is self-deprecation is a very big issue. They're like, oh, I don't write like them and I don't write like that person or that person. That author writes better than me. Don't ever say that to yourself. It's not good for your mental health things that I'm learning in college and it's also not good for your writing, because you're going to look at it and be despised at the hard work you put into it. So look at it and say, okay, I made mistakes, like a lot of mistakes, like a lot of mistakes, but that's okay, it's a work in progress.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah, I think that's huge, whether it's writing or anything else in life. We're all a work in progress and with that in mind now how did you get your start in writing and how did the interest really catch you and say you know what? I want to give this a shot, I want to give this a try and see what happens.

Eve Bloor:

I started writing my own novel when I was 14 years old and, because of before said issues of perfectionism and bad self-talk, I have been working on it for 12 years.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah.

Eve Bloor:

I just finished it last year, that one book, that one book it was inspired by have you heard of Hero Factory?

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Lego.

Eve Bloor:

Hero Factory. Do you remember Nex?

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

I do.

Eve Bloor:

I loved Nex. He was my favorite. I love the character. I love the humor. I just like the. I love the character. I love the the humor I love. I just like the design of his character. Okay, so I like that character. I'm like gosh. I want to write my own hero story. So I started writing my own hero story and, instead of robots that you build and whatever, it's an actual alien race that's halfway across the galaxy, and I simplified the math for how they get around with time zones. You travel the galaxy like you would time zones, which honestly makes sense, since the galaxy is shaped like a clock. So it made sense to me at the time, still does, and I just finished it last year December. I haven't finished the editing process, but it's it's finished. It's a really um, epic story of my story, really of trying to find who you are after realizing everything that you thought you knew wasn't this what reality was?

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

and having to come to terms with it and I'm sure that your, your education and counseling, I'm sure that plays a big part in that as we kind of look back in the past of things we've done, experiences and going, oh okay, and then we see life kind of I don't want to say tilted, but more the 180 degree of what life really is and like, oh okay, here are things that are happening. And to your earlier point, for authors, illustrators, not to be hung up on time, because I think sometimes, or maybe a lot of times, individuals have in their mind, oh, it's going to take me a year or a month or whatever the time may be, and if we put limitations on it, then we're really limiting what our work can be.

Eve Bloor:

Exactly, and that's another thing that I noticed as I progressed in the story, because I have so many drafts of this book, this one book, so many drafts. I think I have about 27 drafts, and I'm not even exaggerating because it had to be perfect. It had to be perfect in my mind Again, perfectionist talking, not reality. And then I just this past semester, I looked back at that story and I said it's good. It presents the feeling of being lost. It presents the understanding that your family is your safety net and your biggest amount of encouragement and even if there's things that they have never told you, that they now tell you, not because they didn't trust you but because you didn't understand, you have a better appreciation for their protecting, your innocence and true flair.

Eve Bloor:

When it comes to writing the main character, I wrote in first person and I'm saying, yeah, so the story is very first person, uh, through his eyes, but it's really he's very sarcastic. That is a, unfortunately, my major trait. Uh, a lot of the sarcasm I think of I don't say out loud so the, especially in the first couple of chapters you read and it's like sarcasm 101. And I look back and read it and I'm like that's hilarious and I've had a few people because I'm in a writer's group, so they kind of give you feedback and all that. And that's another thing that you need in the part of the process to help encourage you, because a lot of times I know for my, my group, we don't allow bad self-talk. We don't say, oh, it's bad, it's this needs to be tweaked here and that needs to be tweaked there.

Eve Bloor:

And I think you misspelled this, so I don't know what this is. Are you trying to say this word? And hey, I think this scene would flow a little bit better if it was like this. That is positive feedback, and when you put it in for a critique, it's what we call. Constructive criticism is never easy, but I have learned that better to have honest criticism, constructive criticism, than have flattery. I'm a very honest person. I don't like people sucking up to me at all. It's fake and you want your stories. Although it is a story, you want it to feel real. So the feelings have to be real, the expressions have to be real, and that's one of the things that I have done.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah, and then that obviously helps.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

As I've already said, you got to be a fan, you got to believe, you got to have the passion before another person, other readers are and nobody's gonna be a bigger champion to any of our work, champion to any of our work if, if we're not bought in and passionate about it, how are? How are we thinking that others are going to be like oh yeah, this is great, let me go pick it up and right and and, and then you know a lot of people have that writers support group and others have family.

Eve Bloor:

I have both. Um, and now we say spitballing all the time. It's just bouncing ideas. Hey, what if? What would be the result for this? What would be the result? That there are so many searches that I've done on the Internet that make it look creepy. But it's not meant to a story. You're trying to understand the physiology of a human being, or what would be a counter physiology of a half human being and a half alien, an alien that is physically twice as strong, physically typically a little bit taller than human beings and a lot neater at times. And again, it's a sci-fi hero story.

Eve Bloor:

It's meant to be very sci-fi because my main character's dad is based off of my all-time favorite character in the whole world besides you know, jesus, of course you know yes, correct uh, my all-time, uh favorite character in any fandom, anywhere in the whole world is optimus prime, and his dad is very much like that, a lot like that. He has the, the gentleness and the compassion and the wisdom, but at the same time, he has the father's protective nature. Does that make sense?

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

It does. Yeah, oh, I was going to say I was going to bring in the counseling part again of being compassionate to the individuals, the patient.

Eve Bloor:

Exactly.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

And that being a helpful element for you as you write, as you illustrate.

Eve Bloor:

Oh yeah, All the time I have people Now. I am not graduated yet.

Eve Bloor:

I'm still working, it's still in progress oh yeah I have people who open up to me about everything, their whole life story, and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna log that down, not because I want to remember and gossip, but I'm going to use their stories as inspirations for my own because, oh you know, this would make sense for this personality and in that context and that would be perfect in a mirrored context. That's basically the same, just in another world. And so I do things like that and I love to. I'm very extroverted, very extroverted. I love to talk to people, I like to get out there and, you know, learn, see if I can help. That's another thing about me. I love helping people. I love helping people and I've said this so many times and I stand to it, not because it's self-deprecation, but because it's true.

Eve Bloor:

I'm a mean author. I mean absolutely cruel to my characters, because if an action in the story is not something that the character can grow, the story's not worth it. That's another thing about the elements of a story. Is that it has to be? You have to ask yourself, you know, why is this happening to the character? Is it going to benefit their character? Is it going to grow them? Is it going to make them more like christ. Basically, because I write christian fiction, I'm not going to write a non-christian fiction. It has to reflect christ, it has to have a biblical foundation and it has to point back to God. It has to point back that the foundation has to be growing, that person to be more like God and that they, you know they'll stumble, they'll fall, but they'll honestly get up and they'll say you know, I'm going to learn from this and I'm not going to be crushed by it. Or, if they are crushed by it, I'm going to learn from this and I'm'm not gonna let myself be defeated again by it. Does that make sense?

Eve Bloor:

it really does, yeah and I've noticed so many author, I've met so many people who are like I couldn't write a book like you can. And I say, well, why, why can't you? And they're like, well, you're so imaginative, I said, but you have an imagination too. All it takes is, what if, once upon a time, that's all it takes, and then you can spin off from there and and create this whole world. And they're like, well, I can't do that. I'm like, well, what can you do? Oh, I just like stories that are monotonous, something like, um, I don't know if you've ever seen the secret life of walter mitty yes they like stuff like that and they're like, but those are boring to most audiences, are you kidding?

Eve Bloor:

I've read the book and I've watched the movie. It went from monotonous into an adventure, and the thing that made it not monotonous is because of his imagination. Imagine yourself as Walter Mitty. What would you create? What are the adventures you'd make? And it all has to have a purpose, because if it has purpose, it's not worth reading.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Absolutely yeah, maybe we shift over to the illustrating side of things. So you're you're self-taught and I I see a background. Is that the cover?

Eve Bloor:

No, that is something I made on mid-journey.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Okay, yeah, can you maybe talk about like that process and how it might be relatable to the writing part and how it might be different?

Eve Bloor:

I actually started drawing around. I've been drawing since I was a little girl. I've been drawing since I was maybe five and um, what really got me into illustrating was when I turned 14. This all happened when I turned 14. Uh, right about the same time I got called, uh, to be a counselor. I at first it was a calling to be a missionary and I'm thinking, oh, you know, I'm missionary, they go out to the world. And then I started realizing that that call was to be the missionary at home your, your Jerusalem, basically your, your local community and that local community needs Christ-like love as much as everybody else. And, um, one of the things I started saying as I was drawing and I started perfecting I, I got this comic drawing thing. So I was like, oh, I want to learn how to do that and I started perfecting.

Eve Bloor:

I got this comic drawing thing so I was like, oh, I want to learn how to do that. And I started diving deep, diving into the structures and then at I'm at this point now that I've noticed that because, again, I took anatomy I know the physique, um, the physical structures I still struggle with certain areas of, of course, everybody will, and I'm never going to perfect it because I'm not perfect and it is okay. It is okay, um, but it's understanding the muscle structures and understanding that each muscle structure, each facial structure and facial expression and movement of the body when you're drawing it, and movement of the body when you're drawing it, each structure you draw, each plant, it is a representation of you seeing the beauty in it. Yeah, that it was fearfully and wonderfully made with a god that said it's good.

Eve Bloor:

Every drawing I, when I I make a drawing, an illustration, I always keep that in mind that no matter what I'm drawing, it's to honor and glorify god. It all of it has to honor and glorify him, otherwise I'm nothing, and I don't say that to be mean. I am nothing without him and everything with him, and all of my work has to honor and glorify the lord. So everything I draw, even if it's a villain, and the villain is a female and she's trying to be seductive, there is nothing. There is no amount of smut that you will see. You will see the pull to the seduction. You will not see anything further Because I believe, as the Bible says, that every temptation known to man has been given a way out, and that way out is knowing there is. It's a facade, it's fake, it's not real. And the real is because fake I've always been shown this is that fake beauty is skin deep.

Eve Bloor:

Real beauty is soul deep I like that so when I look at somebody and I'm thinking, oh wow, I like their, I don't just look at faces. I do love looking at faces because I love to draw faces. But I look at people and I'm like I like how the geometry of their chin works, because, again, geometry is written math, drawn math. It's math I use practically all the time. I couldn't pass I hardly passed algebra, oh, yeah, it takes me back to rough times.

Eve Bloor:

I hate algebra, but geometry makes sense, Makes a ton of sense, Just like your head. When you're drawing a head, super easy is an oblong circle, a triangle and a line. That's literally all it is. Because if I can show you the circle which is the head, it's not even a perfect circle, it's an oval. And then the line, it creates the jawline, it creates the head. And when you see the basic shapes, and then okay, I see the basic shapes, Now where does the line of the eye go? Well, if you look the line of the eye go.

Eve Bloor:

Well, if you look the line of the eye goes halfway through the circle and then the way it lines up. I've noticed this with every drawing, every drawing book because I have had so many every drawing book, every instruction manual you can think of. I have looked at them all and it's the same basic premise, basic shapes, that you then add details as you go along. And it's okay if you make mistakes because, especially if you're using pencil along, and it's okay if you make mistakes because, especially if you're using pencil, all it takes is a little bit of a yeah, all you have to do is erase it a little bit and make sure your pressure is gentle. That's another feature when it comes to illustrating is that when you're working on the product, not to be harsh on the paper, because when you ink because I I do freehand, I do not use computer okay it's, it doesn't feel right on a computer it doesn't feel right at all, it feels so weird. And because I can't feel the paper.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah.

Eve Bloor:

It doesn't have that papery feel. It doesn't feel like I'm actually drawing on anything because my screen is way too smooth. I like the. I can tell the gauge of the page and how it's going to hold the ink, the pencil, Because I use watercolor pens.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Oh cool.

Eve Bloor:

Yeah, I use watercolor pens for, like coloring the pictures in. I love doing that too and I always feel, before I ever buy a book to do my illustrations in, I always feel the paper, if it's really really smooth, that means it's really good for pencil. If it's a little bit on the rougher edge, it's good for something more robust, like if you're going to do charcoal or a lot of grass, I usually go for a little bit heavier paper and then I like to use really really thick paper, like watercolor paper that has a thicker gauge too and it absorbs a lot of water, which is very important when you're doing a watercolor painting out of pens that are watercolor. And I have so much art supplies. It's not even funny, it's hilarious.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah, and I think that's important and I don't think talked about very much is the illiteracy. You just mentioned the different types of paper, how those are important for pencil, pen watercolor Exactly. Not a lot of people might skip pen watercolor Exactly.

Eve Bloor:

Not a lot of people might skip right over that.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah, yeah, well, so we have just a couple of minutes left.

Eve Bloor:

Hold on.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Okay.

Eve Bloor:

Sorry, that's okay. So, yeah, that uh, the process of uh, art is very similar to the process of writing. It's patience, a lot of blood, sweat and tears. And I do mean blood and sweat and tears because you're going to cry, you're going to want to hurt something, because you're frustrated, and it's okay, your feelings are okay on a story.

Eve Bloor:

When you're feeling frustrated because you can't get out of this writer's block and you can't get out of this one scene, or it sounds too bland or sounds too vague, it's okay, it's okay to feel those things and you know what. It's okay to cry over a scene because it reminds you of something that happened to you, like grief, because grief is very real. That's one of the big things that I don't see a lot in stories, especially modern novels, is grief. Grief is very, very, very real.

Eve Bloor:

Eyeballs out yesterday writing a heartfelt scene over grief, because I've gone through grief and there's so many people who have gone through grief and don't know how to process it because everybody just shoves it under the rug. Yeah, and one of the things I'm learning in counseling is people need to be able to let their feelings go in the page. If you're frustrated, write how frustrated you are. If you're angry, write how angry you are in your character. Write that passion. When you're sad, write about it, because the only way you're going to be able to express effectively in your writing, in your drawing, is feeling it, honing in on it and being constructive about it instead of destructive.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah, you bet we still have a couple of minutes left. I want to give you an opportunity of how people can find you, learn more about you, follow you know the work that, that that you do whatever you feel comfortable obviously sharing for people to you do whatever you feel comfortable obviously sharing for people to follow you, because I can sense that there's more to come. Even though this first one took a period of time, the second one might as well, but still there's more to come with what your work is illustrating. Authoring.

Eve Bloor:

Right, well, you can always email me at eveblore, at outlookcom, and, uh, you can find me on discord. I'm evelyn inkwell on discord and, uh, I have. If you are interested in writing with me, if you're interested in joining my writing group I'm the leader of that group feel free to contact me, email me If you are interested. I have, I do have commissions, and if you want a commission I have I'm on the lower end because I am amateur Contact me. I have very reasonable rates and very, very easy, simple rules to follow when it comes to commissioning a piece. I don't do smut, I don't do anything demonic stuff like that, and you know, if you guys want to reach out to me, say, hey, I have ideas but I don't know how to put it to paper, reach out. Reach out to my email.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Did we miss anything? I want to make sure we cover what you wanted to talk about and share. No it's good, okay, cool. Well, eve, thank you for joining us on our show today. It was great to get your insight and feedback on illustrating authoring counseling being your biggest fan and, to your point, it's okay. Authoring counseling being your biggest fan and to your point, it's okay if something's not super perfect and we know that nobody is, so that's okay.

Eve Bloor:

It is, and that's a big thing is that the Bible says that God already expects us not to be perfect. So, when it comes, my last thing that I will say to your listeners is that when you do something, I'm going to bring you to one of my favorite Bible verses. It's my life verse, it's Colossians and it goes whatever you do, do an honor and glorify the Lord and everything. I know, I paraphrased it, but in everything, all unto the glory of God, because without him it's not going to work.

Eve Bloor:

That's, that's, that is the biggest piece of advice I can give.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Thank you for that. Yeah, we're. We're merely just a grain of sand. In the grand scheme of things, if we try to do everything ourselves, that's not going to work out.

Eve Bloor:

Exactly.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah, Well, Eve, thank you so much for joining us. We're grateful that you took time out of your day to share your experience, your expertise and inspiring people all across the world. So thank you for joining us.

Eve Bloor:

Thank you.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

You're welcome, and this is Justin Alan Hayes, and I am the host. Founder, Executive Director of Voices for Voices. Thank you so much for joining us, whether this is your first episode or whether you've been with us from the beginning. We're over 230 episodes in our catalog. We're going to be hitting 300 total in-studio, remote, out-of-stud by the end of calendar year 2025, we have some great things going on with the organization and we just want to thank everybody, especially Eve, for joining us on this episode, because there's a lot to take in and a lot to be inspired by. So until next time, we always try to say you know, be a voice for you or somebody in need. We'll see you next time.

Eve Bloor:

Bye.

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