Greetings All,
I am a writer, who is at present working on a novel, and I am developing a character/characters who has/have been Jehovahs Witness(es), and I have some questions that I am hoping someone may be willing to answer.
First, my general credentials. I am a working writer, with a number of professional poetry publications in journals and lit. mags, including The Country Dog Review, The Lake, Pirene's Fountain, and Harpur Palate. My first chapbook of poetry was published by Kattywompus Press in 2015. I worked for over a decade as a college composition instructor, up until Spring 2013, when I left teaching to work full time as a writer, and as a community volunteer. I have worked as a volunteer creative writing workshop facilitator at two local shelters/transitional homes for women and children, as well as, as a volunteer for our local adult literacy tutoring program. My current project is my first work of long fiction, and is a work in progress. For more detailed or specific credentials, you may message me.
Next, a bit of information about the plot line in question: The bulk of the novel is set in 1986-1987. In 1975, a couple was disfellowshipped for allowing a blood transfusion for their daughter with leukemia. The child (unfortunately) passed anyway. After having been disfellowshipped, the couple moved to a different town with their two surviving small children, and did not continue in any formal way with the Jehovahs Witnesses (e.g. attending meetings). These characters are part of a larger "cast" and the plot line is running concurrent with and is intertwined with other plot lines (which have nothing to do with Jehovahs Witnesses, but do in some part deal with matters of faith, belief, and truth).
Now, the questions:
1. If someone is disfellowshipped, how common is it (if at all) for that person to NOT seek reinstatement, but to still adhere to most or all of the tenants/beliefs of the Jehovahs Witnesses? (Aside from attending meetings, going door to door, etc.). In other words, to continue to adhere to doctrine, without this sort of formal practice?
2. If one half of the couple in question desires to be reinstated, but the other does not, what would happen? Would or could one half of the couple do so? What would be the likely impact on the relationship if that person were to be reinstated? Would/could they even be reinstated in the scenario above?
3. if someone were disfellowshipped for this reason, (or any reason, for that matter) how long does this process take, and what form does it take? How does it come about, and how is it carried out?
4. What are the problems with the scenario I have presented (the plot line I've described at the top of the post)? Based on the knowledge you have of the Jehovahs Witnesses, what are the "plot holes" in this idea?
5. Is a more likely scenario for the couple in question to have walked away from the Jehovahs Witnesses, moved to a new town, but to have continued to adhere to the doctrine (or, for one of them to have continued to adhere to the doctrine)?
My desire is to craft characters who are complex and true to life, and to be sensitive and accurate in my representations.
Also, I have another (related) question. How might I find out the date(s) that particular Kingdom Halls opened/were incorporated? If anyone has this information, what Kingdom Halls existed in the Southeast Michigan/Northwest Ohio region in the 1950s (if any) and into/through the 1960s and 1970s?
Thank you in advance for any and all input. Should anyone who provides information wish to be included in the Acknowledgements page of the book, please send me a message to this effect, along with the name you wish to be acknowledged by, and I will gladly include you. Should you absolutely NOT want to be acknowledged in this way, that's perfectly fine as well, but please let me know that as well, either in your response, or by message.