Christian fiction is a strong creative writing format to portray Christian-based ideas, stimulating topics and reach audiences. You, as the writer, are creatively inputting biblical content, such as interpretations of Bible verses, coupled in dramatic tales with suspenseful plot twists. Your characters may have dark secrets, or have to face emotional dilemmas with complex narratives in adventurous settings, with a healthy dose of conflict. It’s very convenient to use direct, matter-of-fact writing styles, to portray all of the above, to tell readers what God may want in your Christian fiction books, but showing them may create a deeper resonance in readers’ hearts. Showing and telling are ways to express ideas, which both impact the reader in different ways.
Showing in fiction paints a picture with your words, and adds dimension to your storyline. Telling can come across as preachy, and can turn the reader off. Take the example of a mother who learns her son has been convicted of a crime. As the writer, you may want to express the disappointment the mother feels as she internalizes her son’s identity as a criminal; you may also choose to focus on the mother’s anxiety. If you’re ‘showing’, give the reader visuals (i.e. “her eyes, downcast, brow furrowed as she thought about her son’s future in prison. She turns her head upward, reaching out for God for relief ”). Telling can abruptly interfere with building a mood or emotion in your reading, as it contains less visuals, more direction and less details to build a mood or scene (i. e. “She turned to her son and expressed her sadness”).
By using metaphors and descriptions, you paint a mental image for readers, connection readers into the narrative. Using imaginative dialogue and inner monologue additionally express what the characters are feeling, and can show the depth of emotions rather than telling the reader what the characters felt. In producing Christian fiction, you are acknowledging God’s works in your story. Characters can, for example, evolve based on faith-filled actions, as you show them through metaphors, sensory images and detailed visuals to emphasize a moral or resolve a spiritually troubling conflict.
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I am a Japanese born in 1934 Dec. 23. In Kyoto, Ayabe city I was born as 6th child of 2nd daughter. Yes, I have 5 brothers and 2 sisters. 4 are desciest and 4 are still living. I am marries to an American born in Oklahoma in 1934 Jan. 17th and came to Japan as a marincore Lt. for a year. Loved Japan and went back to get his masters as an English proff. and a principal of Ashiya International School. 51 years ago he was a chairman of the bord of Mikage International Preschhhl as I stared for our daughter, now the principal of Hi. in Houston, Tx. So before I go to heaven, thinking to write our life stories, as ” The West met the East, the West Wed in the East! or ” Boardless Love” Help me Krysina, when I can start and what do I do to end the book on time that our 3 granchildren, the oldest, 23,Mie Elizabeth Millared, in Africa as the Campus Crusade story teller,Millon Burke Millard in Baylor, Tx. and the David Burke Millard will graduate this June from the Clear cleek Hi as an honor to Baylar can know how the enemies 70 years ago can have the peace loving families in Japan and in USA! I can tell you about us one day at a time so We want to publish our life story book both in English and later in Japanese or do you do in Japanese, too?
May the bless you as you help all of us who do not know how to start and end the books while we are still here on Earth! Thank God for you, Yoshiko Burke now 80 yrs. old, love the Lord as He first loved me!
Thank you much for this article on Christian fiction. This was very encouraging.