An excellent point. What I read as this: If we are going to write fiction, the story needs to be the primary focus. Also, our lives should be so formed by our faith that it cannot avoid being in our stories.
I am grateful to have read this. I found great confirmation of a lesson that I endeavor to learn. So, like the rest of our faithful journeys, may God lead us to doing this one story at a time.
Gotta admit, my heart dropped a little when I saw Love Comes Softly in the examples because I think Janette Oke gets lumped in with a lot of things that she is absolutely not. So relieved to see that recognized! 😅
And I agree with the point overall. I'm starting to head toward a conversion point in one of my series and praying I can handle it in a way that's true to the story and characters and not just a preachy interlude. 🩷
Sometimes those conversions are hard. I wrote Michael's in NONE, and it was completely by feel. I believed the dialogue, pacing and place in the arc were all correct for his character.
Thank you for this. I totally agree. This echoes the sentiment that I think is wrong with so much of modern movie making. Hollywood is trying to teach us points instead of just entertaining us, and that falls flat. Christians can’t just have the goal teaching the Bible without also entertaining.
I tried to do that in my novel, but I had to work very hard at it. I am a psychologist and want to teach detrimental health, which ideally comes through faith. However, the first draft was way too preachy and Teachey and I had to make it much more story based.
Thank you so much, and I am so glad it was a blessing. I agree that modern storytelling bends over backwards to preach an ideology. Our art is like our fingerprints. I often do not see the point of the story until I near the end. Then it clicks and I think that is the best.
I appreciate that you’ve shared your own struggle with keeping a story from becoming preachy. I go back and read many of my first drafts and cringe now. We are writers are often told to trust the reader, and I wonder if perhaps we should also be trusting the story more often to carry our point.
Ohhhh. You’re sharing your novels NONE, and Shambler on here serially, I see? I’ll have to check that out. I’m publishing my novel here serially as well, The Ona Question. I’d love for you to check that out.
Jessica, this is EXCELLENT! I especially love that you included Jesus in your list of storytellers. I find that, as a writer of fiction, it's so hard to find a place in the body of Christ (i.e. my church), because I'm not writing devotionals or Christian non-fiction, and I'm not even writing "Christian fiction". I'm a Christian who writes fiction, and my worldview is threaded throughout my stories, even though there is no actual Christianity in it (I write fantasy and sci-fi, so mostly made-up worlds). I often remind myself that Jesus himself, as a Rabbi, found great value in telling stories.
I also love what you have to say about theology not being the be-all-end-all of a story. For decades, I have railed against the less-than-stellar Christian offerings in pretty much all the arts. My goodness, but we are called to excellence! Good theology does not equal good story.
I am so grateful it was a blessing, I had to include Jesus, the greatest Storyteller of all time. 😊 And thank you so much for the encouragement and sharing your story. It is helpful for me to hear your perspective as I sharpen next week's article. Your Worldview Isn't a Genre. I know that one is going to be controversial, and hearing from authors such as yourself helps me to know I'm not the only person who sees fiction this way. 💕
Think: G.K. Chesterton (Father Brown Mysteries), C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia), J.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit), and Walker Percy (Love in the Ruins), to name but a few.
An excellent point. What I read as this: If we are going to write fiction, the story needs to be the primary focus. Also, our lives should be so formed by our faith that it cannot avoid being in our stories.
I am grateful to have read this. I found great confirmation of a lesson that I endeavor to learn. So, like the rest of our faithful journeys, may God lead us to doing this one story at a time.
Yes! You have summed up my point perfectly, especially as I lead up to next week.
A story should be made strong because of our faith.
Thank you for the encouragement.
Gotta admit, my heart dropped a little when I saw Love Comes Softly in the examples because I think Janette Oke gets lumped in with a lot of things that she is absolutely not. So relieved to see that recognized! 😅
And I agree with the point overall. I'm starting to head toward a conversion point in one of my series and praying I can handle it in a way that's true to the story and characters and not just a preachy interlude. 🩷
Oh, I'm so glad you were not disappointed.
Sometimes those conversions are hard. I wrote Michael's in NONE, and it was completely by feel. I believed the dialogue, pacing and place in the arc were all correct for his character.
If you ever want feedback, I'm happy to help. 💕
Thank you for this. I totally agree. This echoes the sentiment that I think is wrong with so much of modern movie making. Hollywood is trying to teach us points instead of just entertaining us, and that falls flat. Christians can’t just have the goal teaching the Bible without also entertaining.
I tried to do that in my novel, but I had to work very hard at it. I am a psychologist and want to teach detrimental health, which ideally comes through faith. However, the first draft was way too preachy and Teachey and I had to make it much more story based.
Thank you so much, and I am so glad it was a blessing. I agree that modern storytelling bends over backwards to preach an ideology. Our art is like our fingerprints. I often do not see the point of the story until I near the end. Then it clicks and I think that is the best.
I appreciate that you’ve shared your own struggle with keeping a story from becoming preachy. I go back and read many of my first drafts and cringe now. We are writers are often told to trust the reader, and I wonder if perhaps we should also be trusting the story more often to carry our point.
Ohhhh. You’re sharing your novels NONE, and Shambler on here serially, I see? I’ll have to check that out. I’m publishing my novel here serially as well, The Ona Question. I’d love for you to check that out.
I will definitely check out your serial. I love finding new fiction here on Substack. I like to leave feedback when that is appreciated.
Wow. You made even more good points just then in that reply!
Thank you! Those points are the main theme of next week's article, Your Characters Are Not A Doctrinal Statement.
Jessica, this is EXCELLENT! I especially love that you included Jesus in your list of storytellers. I find that, as a writer of fiction, it's so hard to find a place in the body of Christ (i.e. my church), because I'm not writing devotionals or Christian non-fiction, and I'm not even writing "Christian fiction". I'm a Christian who writes fiction, and my worldview is threaded throughout my stories, even though there is no actual Christianity in it (I write fantasy and sci-fi, so mostly made-up worlds). I often remind myself that Jesus himself, as a Rabbi, found great value in telling stories.
I also love what you have to say about theology not being the be-all-end-all of a story. For decades, I have railed against the less-than-stellar Christian offerings in pretty much all the arts. My goodness, but we are called to excellence! Good theology does not equal good story.
Thank you for writing this! :)
I am so grateful it was a blessing, I had to include Jesus, the greatest Storyteller of all time. 😊 And thank you so much for the encouragement and sharing your story. It is helpful for me to hear your perspective as I sharpen next week's article. Your Worldview Isn't a Genre. I know that one is going to be controversial, and hearing from authors such as yourself helps me to know I'm not the only person who sees fiction this way. 💕
Ooooooo I'm looking forward to your next article!!
I've read this more thoroughly and all I can say is: Amen, Amen, and Amen! Can't wait to read your thoughts in subsequent posts.
Absolutely. This is one way we reach the culture.
Think: G.K. Chesterton (Father Brown Mysteries), C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia), J.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit), and Walker Percy (Love in the Ruins), to name but a few.
Exactly—and all four of those men published before “Christian fiction” became a distinct modern publishing category.