Christian, Write Fiction
Historically, where the Bible has gone, literacy rates have tended to increase. Being a good reader can help you be a good Bible reader. Understanding and reflecting on great narratives can help you see God’s grand story in Scripture—the gospel. Great narratives also help us to feel.
If you have read more than a few books, you can probably think of one in which a character experiences a difficulty. You can’t help but gain empathy or experience remorse, and perhaps a motivation occurs, one that comes from the author showing you a story instead of telling you how to act, think, or feel. Fiction effectively sends out meaning for readers to catch, which in turn, promotes character growth and, in many instances, spiritual maturity.
“There’s not only a benefit in reading great stories but in writing them.”
There’s not only a benefit in reading great stories but in writing them. Christian, you who love to read, have you ever considered writing fiction? In 2021, believers who will begin writing fiction can send out gospel-drenched words of hope into the world.
Fiction Helps Us Ask Questions
Bilbo bumbles over his words and goes around barefoot while he journeys with thirteen dwarves who believe him to be their hero. Generations of readers have followed along and enjoyed the memorable story of The Hobbit, thus proving the novel’s popularity. If a book of fiction can be so likable, there’s something to be noted about the power of fiction.
When a character is flawed, the reader listens and asks, “How are they like me?” or “How will they overcome?” and “Is there hope?” When the character does overcome, or if he or she fails again and again, the reader listens and learns, and feels. And then, the message or the question posed by the author organically meets the reader on the pages of a novel.
Some stories invite you to ask broader, more theological questions. Questions such as: “What do I think about the purpose of life?” or “How does this particular issue impact a person created in God’s image?” or “What am I to do as a Christ-follower?”
Writers of fiction can place a message in a story that allows the reader to grow in discernment. For example, most parents agree their children should eat vegetables. Yet directly telling them to eat vegetables doesn’t often tend to convince them. Instead, when parents cook a delicious recipe that includes vegetables, children might decide they like their veggies.
Apply this truth now to reading fiction. You can simply tell a child to be kind, but there is a better way to help him or her see this. When one character in a story treats another character unkindly, the child suddenly understands empathy and yearns to show kindness to others. One might know racism is wrong, but in experiencing the negative effects through a story, a reader suddenly understands how racism impacts a person who is made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27).
Fiction Is Needed in 2021
“NaNoWriMo” is an annual event in November where writers across the globe aim to complete a novel in a month’s time. Since we recently passed November, imagine the word-counts floating on computers that could potentially reach publishers. Now, consider what you could write to share beauty and truth in the form of fiction. What kinds of stories do you want to read to your children or give to future generations? Write them.
There is a vast amount of talent among people that know how to use tools for writing, and they produce heart-moving content. A quick look online will also show you many Christian writers exist and they want to make an impact. The need for quality fiction exists now, for this generation, to encourage the hearts, minds, and souls of readers and give families books to open together.
Your love for Christ Jesus and your passion for God’s glory resonate in the articles you write, the blogs you host, and the social media posts you share. Take these same themes and embed them into stories of fiction.
How to Begin?
Heroes are in every story in the form of a protagonist. What sort of hero could you write about today that someone else may need to read about tomorrow? And who will your family cheer for when the foes of this age are as real as Smaug, the dragon whom Bilbo faces? Through fiction, you could show them. The same sort of imagination used to create a lovely meal or decorate a cake can be employed to invent a character and craft a story. If you love reading, then you already know about likable characters, moving dialogue, and captivating settings.
Jonathan Rogers’ blog, The Habit, encourages creative writers. To his subscribers he says, “Let’s all be allies in making beautiful things and telling a truer story.” One well-known example in Christian literature for doing just this is Andrew Peterson. I’d encourage you to pull up a chair and look over his shoulder to see a gifted practitioner at his work. Then, let’s try to join them.
Next, think about what you enjoy: the ocean or the mountains? Where might you choose to travel if you could: little villages in old Europe or the big, bustling city of Dubai? Choose a place and a time period that fascinates you and begin there.
Then, consider your audience. Are you writing for children or young adults, or to be more specific, are you writing for Christian youth, those raised in the church, or for those who have never heard the gospel? John Beeson says in Blogging for God’s Glory in a Clickbait World, “The most successful authors know their audiences.”
In the early months of the pandemic, I wrote a 17,000-word short novel. It’s flawed and continues to need editing, but I learned that writing fiction is possible. Five years earlier, I wrote a 10,000-word chapter book for one of my children who struggled to enjoy reading. I wrote a story I thought he would enjoy, and it included friendship, baseball, and an adventure.
“I learned writing fiction is a skill that can be tuned. It takes a teachable heart and one determined to revise and keep trying.”
After that, I sent 14 queries to both agents and publishers and learned publishing isn’t a guarantee. At the same time, I learned writing fiction is a skill that can be tuned. It takes a teachable heart (Rom. 12:3), one that can receive feedback from others and one determined to revise and keep trying.
Shorter fictional stories or snippets of a novel can be shared with friends and in blog posts or on social media. Join an in-person writers’ community in the city where you live or join the online GCD Writers’ Guild, if you haven’t already. Be faithful to writing fiction, either in the form of short stories or in the length of a novel.
I heard of a pastor-writer who read Jared C. Wilson’s new fiction book, Echo Island, in one sitting. When asked if he always reads books this quickly, his answer was, yes, only when it’s fiction. Writer, keep this thought in mind as you create beautiful stories with relatable characters. Let your gospel-centered thoughts and purposes find their ways onto the pages.
Pray and Write
Pray and consider if this endeavor is for you. Ask God for wisdom here (James 1:5), and if so, why not make it a goal for 2021 to begin? Perhaps, try to complete a novel of fiction this year. Fiction writers are a minority. In the two writers’ groups I belong to, most of the writers share stories of admonition from real-life examples. I especially love the stories in memoir form of writers growing up in poverty on Midwestern farms and those with personal accounts of overcoming a trial or in the sharing of their Christian testimony; Christ transformed them and they came to know and love him.
At the same time, there’s a need for meaningful fiction as another avenue to impact readers. Sometimes this kind of writing can be more time-consuming for authors to produce, yet many readers want to catch meaning hidden under the layers of a beautifully crafted story. If you have the desire and vision to write fiction, I encourage you to begin doing so this upcoming year.
“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word” (2 Thess. 2:16–17).