R.M. Archer's Blog, page 23

Preptober Prompts Day 7 – 2020

Today’s prompt is all about multi-cultural influence:

Have outside cultures impacted your story’s core setting? How so?

These prompts are making me miss Deseran, because Aleruus is so much less dynamic. XD I mean… King Julen influenced King Lorcan and Queen Valda to ship their kids off to Earth for safe-keeping while Julen was trying to conquer a bunch of stuff, so the royal children were gone for ten years. And Thienid can be thanked for the Dewin, several of whom are currently stationed in The Hylands. Although neither of those are really… cultural. Um… King Lorcan decided to hire a faerie high steward, which is rather akin to Teradel?

Nope. I got nothin’. :P Someplace in Kersir would have been so much more interesting for this prompt. XD

How about you? Have your cultures intermixed, or are they still young and unique?

Preptober Prompts Day 6 – 2020

What’s the biggest change your storyworld has seen?

Well… it’s seen a lot of nations fall and spring up. But the creation of The Dewinen was probably the biggest change. Magic-users didn’t have a systematic way to learn about their powers before Eloren Damerel created The Dewinen, so there were a lot of unskilled magic-users running around making messes. Then The Dewinen were established and skilled magicians were assigned to certain places around the worlds to oversee magic academies and the like so that magic might not run so rampant and dangerous. That change is probably the biggest, if only because it affects both planets.

How about you? What events or changes have most significantly altered your storyworld?

Encouragement & Challenge for the Christian Author

A couple of weeks ago I discussed different categories of books written by Christians, and last week I laid out some reasons Christian fiction is important. In this post, I want to provide some encouragement and maybe even a little bit of challenge to those of you who are also Christian authors, regardless of what category you write.

For the “Clean” Authors

Thank you for writing quality books that are safe for all ages. Thank you for exploring deep themes without venturing too far into the specifics of the dark. Thank you for providing witness to Christian values through your works.

If “clean” fiction is what you’re called to, keep doing what you’re doing! We need fiction that’s “easy” and “feel-good.” We need fiction that can be appreciated by both young folk and adults. We need your writing. Keep it up. Keep learning about the craft. Keep improving your work. Keep striving for quality, working not only unto men but also as unto God.

Consider your purpose in writing. Don’t sacrifice depth for cleanliness, if a theme would be better served with more detail. And don’t grow too easy in your content levels and grow shallow in your themes. May our work never be considered “idle babbling”! But hold fast to prayerful conviction and keep serving the Church, glorifying God, and ministering to others through meaningful and approachable books.

For the “Raw” Authors

Thank you for fearlessly exposing the works of wickedness. Thank you for opening eyes to hard issues that need to be seen and addressed. Thank you for using realistic content to minister to people and to spread truth and to ultimately highlight hope and light all the brighter in the end.

If you’re called to be “raw,” be fearless! We need fiction that’s real. We need fiction that’s honest about both darkness and light. We need fiction that reaches out to unbelievers where they are and is honest about brokenness and healing. Keep it up. Keep strengthening your craft. Keep improving your work. Keep striving for quality as you work both to reach men and to glorify God.

Consider your purpose in writing. Be careful to show the light even stronger than the dark. Be careful not to slip into detail for its own sake. But hold fast to prayerful conviction and keep ministering to readers, glorifying God, and revealing truth through deep and sometimes gritty books.

For All Authors

It’s my prayer that all Christian authors, regardless of where on the spectrum we fall, would grow in our knowledge of God, first and foremost, and our understanding of His purpose for our writing; would grow in their knowledge of the writing craft, so that the quality of our work might contribute to more effective storytelling; and would strive to build up others in the Christian writing community, regardless of where we stand on the “cleanliness” spectrum.

I also want to challenge all of you to consider what your passions are outside of writing and to consider working them into your fiction, if you don’t already. If there’s a topic that God has placed on your heart, a cause that you fight for in your day-to-day life, why not combine it with your God-given gift of writing to bring more awareness to it and to write stories that are even more uniquely yours? While obviously it’s not always appropriate to combine the two, I do believe that involving our God-given passions in our writing can lead to richer and more meaningful stories.

“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.” – 1 Corinthians 12:4-7

Just as our interests and gifts are used for the edification of the Church in classically “spiritual” matters, I believe those interests are also what will lead to a rich diversity in Christian fiction and, ideally, a body of work that ministers to people of all kinds, should we focus on nurturing those interests and encouraging one another in the writing that we’ve each been uniquely called to do.

And that sort of encouragement is what I’m going to talk about in the next post. Until then, keep pressing on.

Preptober Prompts Day 4-5 – 2020

Today we get to dive into my personal favorite topic: Worldbuilding. Today’s prompt is

How has your character’s home changed within their lifetime?

This is an especially interesting question for The Half-Elves, because Elk hasn’t been home for most of his lifetime. If we’re talking The Hylands as a whole, an entire village has been mostly destroyed since Elk (or even Saria, his youngest sibling) was born. It was destroyed only a year before the Elfbournes returned to The Hylands, and though it’s been cleared of all the raiders who initially made a mess of it, it remains largely a ruin.

Around the castle, specifically… There’s a head astronomer position that didn’t exist until a few years before the Elfbournes returned, a couple of traveling merchants have come to be frequent visitors, the gardens have expanded, a new Dewin has been appointed and taken up residence in the castle, another is in training, one or two children have been born, and one of the royal dogs has grown quite old. The castle itself hasn’t really changed much, aside from the expansion of the gardens; only its inhabitants.

Has your MC’s home changed over the course of their lifetime? Have they noticed, or has it been so gradual they’d only see it if they looked back on it? What do they think of the changes?

Preptober Prompts Day 3 – 2020

Today’s prompt is a flash fiction prompt from R.A. Oke.

What would push your protagonist to become an antagonist? Write that scenario.

This would be too easy to answer for Leafman, so I’m going to go with Elk for this one.

“With King Julen back again, we’ve decided we’re sending Leafman and Saria back to Earth.”

Elk blinked at his father in disbelief. They’d just come back, and already Lorcan was shipping them off again? Maybe Leafman was right and they simply didn’t want them around. Elk’s chair screeched across the floor as he leapt to his feet.

“No. They’re staying put. You already sent them away once.”

Lorcan’s expression hardened. “The decision has been made. They will be safer on Earth.”

“And what about Sarabrina? Twilight? Me? I’m starting to think you just don’t want to deal with children.”

Lorcan rose so fast Elk struggled not to step backward. “You know nothing.”

“You’re right. I do. Because I haven’t seen you in ten years!”

Valda stood, hands folded in front of her, and frowned at both Elk and Lorcan. “Gentlemen. You’re behaving like children.”

Elk and Lorcan stood glaring at each other, locked in a battle of wills, before Elk shook his head. Lorcan wasn’t worth the effort. Elk turned on his heel and walked out, boots clicking on the stone floor. These awful boots. He couldn’t believe he’d ever thought they were cool. Had ever thought maybe he belonged here. Behind that kind, caring facade, Lorcan was just as self-absorbed as King Julen was said to be.

Elk climbed the stairs to his room and slammed the door shut behind him. The boots were the first thing to come off, then he traded his Hylian garb for the cuffed jeans, t-shirt, and plaid button-down he’d arrived in. As he tied on his green Converse, he took a deep breath. This was who he was. Not that stuffy prince he’d been playing make-believe as.

Although…

What if he could have the best of both worlds? Keep the place he’d grown up, but also defend his siblings without Lorcan’s ignorant interference?

What if he wasn’t a prince?

What if he was a king?

A smile spread across Elk’s lips. Yes. He could send Lorcan to Earth instead of his siblings. Make him understand what they’d gone through. He certainly wouldn’t miss another lost decade with his children; he’d already chosen that once.

Elk skipped down to Leafman’s door and knocked.

So, the golden boy can go dark. How about your MC? What would push them over the edge?

Preptober Prompts Day 2 – 2020

Another day, another prompt. Today, Maple‘s dare is to

change up your outlining process for a day!

I usually make a pretty straightforward outline—describing what each scene in each chapter needs to contain—but this post on Fearless Type about using mind maps to plot came into my inbox last night, and it looks like the perfect method for me to try out today. The Half-Elves is kind of a disorganized mess at the moment with a lot of pieces I’m not sure how to fit together, so hopefully mind mapping will help me organize all those pieces and see them more clearly (and not miss any of the little things I’ve started to set up for). The post mentions a handful of mind map format options, but I personally like using a digital program like FreeMind or Scapple, since it gives me infinite space and somewhat more order than I would have with my own handwriting, lol.

How about you? What does your plotting process usually look like, and what method would you like to try today?

Preptober Prompts Day 1 – 2020

Happy October! Brisk weather, changing leaves, pumpkin and apple everything, extra excuse to wear flannel (and boots!)… And, of course, Preptober Prompts! If you’re unfamiliar with how this works, check out this year’s announcement post.

Because of how this month is laid out, I decided to do “Reader’s Choice” prompts for these first three days of October instead of at the end, and I asked for prompts from members of one of my writing groups. I didn’t get a whole lot of submissions, so these first two happen to be from this year’s Flash Fiction co-host, Maple! She’s an awesome blogger and author, and she has something up her own sleeve for Preptober that I’m super curious about, so go give her a follow! (Plus, you don’t want to miss her flash fiction prompts later this month. ;) )

But without further ado… this year’s first prompt!

What change does your main character need to make to become a healthier them?

I’m working on The Half-Elves this year, and I think I’m going to answer this for both Elk and Leafman. (I could answer for Sarabrina, too, if I went off of which characters are primary enough to have POV chapters, but let’s keep it a little simpler.)

Elk: I have this one character type that I have a tendency to idealize (I should work on that), and Elk strays kind of close to that type… But even so, I do know he could be more gracious toward his siblings (and Leafman, in particular). He tries, and he usually does a good job of being a big brother, but he can be pretty impatient at times and still struggles to fully understand what’s going on in his siblings’ brains so he can love them better. (*cough*totallynotinspiredbymyself*cough*) As far as the actual “change he needs to make,” it would probably be taking a moment when he feels himself getting frustrated with a sibling to think through their perspective and try to understand where they’re coming from.

Leafman: *sighs* Leafman is… a dear. But he’s a very emotional, angsty dear and he reminds me a lot of myself when I was 13-14. Which means… very angsty and very oblivious to reality, lol. I simultaneously want to give the poor kid a hug and to shake some sense into him. XD So the main thing he needs is to get out of his own head and start focusing more on other people, because right now he’s sabotaging himself and doesn’t even know it. (Oof, the flashbacks.)

After discussing my characters, I’m curious: Do the main characters of your WIP have significant portions of you in them? And, of course, I’d love to hear your response to the prompt! ^-^

September 2020 Wrap-Up

Writing

I have two more chapters to go with this round of Calligraphy Guild edits, which I’m hoping to get done today so I can switch my whole focus to The Half-Elves in October and November. For some reason, while working more emotion and description into others’ books is a strong suit of mine, it’s an area in which I’m quite weak when it comes to my own work, which has been frustrating through this part of the process. :P But I’m hoping to strengthen that skill as I go through further rounds of editing, and hopefully that will not only benefit this project, but also those that come along down the line. :)

A lot of my focus this month, though, has been on non-fiction. I wrote out my entire Christian fiction series and planned something cool to close that out, and I’ve also been working on getting things together for a series I’ll be doing early next year. Plus, preparing for Preptober Prompts! I’ve had a lot of fun with all of these projects, and I’m super excited to see them come to completion. :)

Reading

Women of Kern: Book Two by Maris McKay
None of the Above by Joseph Farah
The Youth Builder by Jim Burns
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

All of this months reads were 4-5 stars, so I’d say this month’s reading went pretty well.

Women of Kern was more evidently adult fiction than its predecessor, unfortunately, but the worldbuilding and characters were as rich and engaging as in Book One, so with some skimming I was still able to enjoy it.

None of the Above is a political book written around the time of the 2008 election that discusses why neither candidate is worth voting for and why voting third party is worthwhile. While many of the specifics are obviously outdated, the principles still stand and I’d definitely recommend this book.

Children of Blood and Bone wasn’t really my thing, between a magic system I just didn’t click with and a romance thread that irked me, but the craft was fantastic and it was definitely a “me, not you” situation.

It’s so sad finishing The Lord of the Rings. I love this conclusion to the trilogy (who knew the Scouring of the Shire could be so relevant?) and I’m hoping not to leave so much time between rereads moving forward. There’s so much to love about RotK, but I’ll spare the fangirl ramble. XD

Other

I got my driver’s license! :D I’m super, super excited and I’ve already been out more in the past week than I’d probably been for the whole month prior. XD So this has been a huge blessing and my mental health has been quite thankful. XD

I also started my self-led classes, although I didn’t gain any real consistency until this past week or so. I’m hoping that consistency carries through and I’m able to get more done in the coming months. :)

Plans for next month

Preptober Prompts! That’s the big thing next month. Or… one big thing. But the other one I can’t talk about yet. Anywho, Preptober Prompts is going to be awesome, and I have a good feeling about its consistency this year. (I know I haven’t been the best at keeping up in years prior… it’s something I’m working on ;P) So I’m super excited!

I’ll also be posting the second half of my Christian fiction series, which I’m even more excited about. I’m super passionate about this topic, and I love hearing y’all’s thoughts, and I pray that God works through these posts to encourage other Christian authors and prompt some thought. :)

And I plan on driving more. ;)

I don’t have any solid TBR for October, since I’ve been mood reading a lot more lately, but I’ve started A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan (which is awesome so far) and I might give in to the spooky aesthetic (thanks, Jill) and read The Quick by Lauren Owen this month. Beyond that (and books on history), I guess we’ll find out when we get there!

How about you? How was your September? What are you looking forward to in October? Will you be plotting a writing project for November? Do you have any books you’re dying to read?

Why Christian Fiction is Important

Now that I’ve established the different kinds of stories that I mean when I say “Christian fiction,” but before I get into my encouragement posts, I want to explore a few of the reasons Christian fiction is important, in all its forms.

Fiction Impacts Culture

Everything we take in affects our worldview and our behavior. Fiction—whether in the form of books, movies, TV, or music—is something that we take in a lot of, and it shapes our thinking and our approach to certain issues. Just as one example, taking in a lot of media with “mild” language can cause us to become less sensitive toward that language and can even lead to our using it ourselves. But beyond behavioral things like language, perhaps more important is its ability to shift our thinking on issues of morality and social norms. If our worldview is unsteady and we read a lot of fiction with premarital relations in them and no consequences presented, will we begin to wonder if those relationships are really so bad?

But just as fiction can have negative impacts on our worldview, it can also have positive impacts. If we see honorable characters praised, will we have a stronger desire to be honorable ourselves? If we see characters who are firm in their biblical beliefs, will we dig our heels in deeper to the truths we believe ourselves? I think we will.

So why are we letting secular authors (and filmmakers, and artists of all kinds) be the loudest, most skillful voices in the media? Why do we settle for sub-par media from our own communities, and why don’t we do more to produce quality content that shows realistic consequences for actions and biblical morals? Now, I’m not at all saying we should shove our beliefs down people’s throats, nor am I saying that it’s unreasonable or surprising that there are more secular authors than Christian—there are fewer firm Christians than unbelievers, and even fewer of those are artists—but can we do better? And can the Church do better to encourage those who are aiming to produce godly media? I think so, and that’s the purpose of this series.

Quality Christian Fiction Encourages the Body

Many, if not most, people read fiction, and that’s just as true in the Church as outside of it. Fiction that is honest about the Christian life, fiction that provides hope in contrast to real darkness, and fiction that simply allows for an escape can all be encouraging and edifying to a Christian reader. We need to see the real struggles of the faith and know that we’re not alone and we’re not expected to be perfect, but that encourages us to do our best and stand on truth. We need fiction that isn’t afraid to show darkness, but shows an even greater light and reminds us that all is not lost. And we need fiction that doesn’t try to be anything but a good story, that allows us to escape from the real world for a little while and take a deep breath. All of these allow us to grow in our faith and in our character, all of these allow us to draw closer to God, and all of these—when done well—fulfill their purpose of entertaining and educating a reader in some way.

Quality Christian Fiction is an Outreach Opportunity

Whether it’s a good story that happens to have some biblical themes, a dark story that points to true hope, or any other skillfully woven story written by a Christian, fiction is an opportunity to reach unbelievers in a way that is entertaining and doesn’t shove the gospel down their throat, but that hopefully also leads them to think and to ask questions. While it’s fully God who changes hearts, He can and does work through fiction. Whether we’re “raw” authors reaching people where they are in their brokenness, not shying away from the harder parts of life; or we’re “clean” authors providing examples of honorable characters and characters who struggle and including themes of grace or unconditional love or justice… God can use our work to reach the lost. I believe it’s an important calling, and one that the Church can often overlook. Jesus Himself frequently spoke in stories. Why would story be any less effective now than it was then?

Biblical Purposes for Writing

These are just some Bible verses I want to bring up as food-for-thought as we talk about writing as Christians, and understanding and encouraging those who write, whether writers in general or writers who specifically write a different “flavor” of fiction. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions and your own personal convictions from these, and I encourage you to explore Scripture yourself on this topic to gain a fuller understanding. (And I’d welcome your thoughts, if you’d like to share.)

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. – Ephesians 5:11

My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. – Psalm 45:1

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. – 1 Corinthians 10:31

But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. – 2 Timothy 2:16

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. – Philippians 4:8

“Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” – Matthew 15:11

He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. – Romans 14:6

There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. – 1 Corinthians 12:4-7

I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth From the great assembly. – Psalm 40:10

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. – Ephesians 4:11-16

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” – Matthew 10:16

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic. What are some reasons you think Christian fiction is important? Or even reasons you don’t? What is your view on the purpose of Christian fiction (either how it should be or how you think it is, if they’re two different things)? What are some books you think have fulfilled the purpose(s) of Christian fiction particularly well?

Flavors of Christian Fiction

Something that’s been on my mind a lot lately is the idea of Christian fiction. That specific phrase, “Christian fiction,” puts an unfortunately sour taste in my mouth. “Christian fiction,” to me, means a lackluster story that really only serves to push the gospel and be squeaky-clean and happy-go-lucky and show that Christians are good and nothing bad ever happens to them and non-believers are either malicious or stupid. But “Christian fiction” isn’t what I’m going to be talking about today (and over the next few blog posts). For the purposes of this post, and those that follow, I’m using the term to refer, quite simply, to fiction that is written by Christians. No Christian themes attached, no specific “cleanliness” level… just fiction that is written by Christians. And I specifically want to talk about two varieties of fiction-by-Christians (though I’ll mention three).

Candy Land Christian Fiction

This is the horror that I described above. It’s squeaky-clean, paints the Christian life as all sunshine and rainbows, and everyone ends up a Christian at the end because the whole thing is one big sermon and obviously that’s going to convert people. The reason I dislike this category so much is because it appeals to no one. (Unless maybe you’re a Christian who really believes life is all sunshine and rainbows in which case… how?) It doesn’t appeal to non-believers because it’s too-good-to-be-true, paints Christians as faultless angels who look down on those around them, and is constantly trying to shove the gospel down their throat. And it doesn’t (or maybe shouldn’t) appeal to believers because we know life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, we know we’re fallible (ohhhhh… maybe the target audience is Christians who want to feel better about their faults), and we know (I hope) that wrapping the gospel in a half-baked story idea isn’t going to convert anyone.

Am I being too harsh on this particular category? Maybe. If anyone wants to defend Candy Land Fiction and point out its appeal, go ahead. I just… genuinely don’t see the point of the category, personally.

“Clean” Christian Fiction

This is the category that I feel like is most widely accepted in Christian circles. It’s what I write (for the most part) and it composes a lot of what I read, personally. Generally speaking, authors in this category strive for quality of writing as well as “quality” of content and will often specifically aim to subtly display Christian themes in their books. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this category. (As a category. Obviously there can be bad books in any category.) It’s clean, so people of all ages can enjoy it and more conservative readers don’t have to worry about stumbling across objectionable content. There might be a cuss word here or there, or some subtle hint of something less-than-“clean,” but it’s generally very “appropriate.” An argument could also be made that it simply provides quality storytelling that can be enjoyed by both believers and non-believers and provides a testimony to our way of life through its cleanliness. (I’m not aiming to make that argument at the moment.)

While it’s “clean,” it also doesn’t aim to skim over characters’ faults or the difficulties of life, it simply… softens them a little sometimes. This contributes both to its cleanliness and its appeal as relatively feel-good entertainment, though the best “clean fiction” is still as honest as possible within the confines of “cleanliness.” Those that don’t tend to veer toward “Candy Land Fiction,” in my opinion.

Obviously, this category has value. It appeals to a broad audience, doesn’t offend anyone, and is still quality storytelling. It’s a witness to Christian values and Christian craftsmanship, which ideally bridges the gap between Candy Land Fiction, which is often of poor quality, and what I’m going to call “Honest Christian Fiction.”

“Raw” Christian Fiction

“Raw” Christian Fiction is a category that I think a lot of the Christian writing community doesn’t understand and doesn’t appreciate enough. “Raw” Christian Fiction doesn’t cling to a “clean” label, but instead isn’t afraid to venture into topics that are harder to swallow. It doesn’t revel in these topics, but it seeks to expose them and be honest about them from a Christian standpoint. This standpoint isn’t always overt, but a Christian’s worldview will leak into whatever they do, and this is no less true in “raw” fiction, in which the aim is to provide a wholesome conclusion to a given topic even if the Christian worldview isn’t obvious.

I think “raw” fiction makes the Christian writing community uncomfortable, because (when done effectively) it forces the reader to confront and wrestle with dark truths. We’d rather stay in our comfortable church bubbles. But these issues are things we need to face, even though they’re uncomfortable, and “raw” Christian authors are the ones to do it. Storytelling is a powerful medium, and I think it’s a fantastic way to present issues in a way that causes us to think about them without necessarily feeling like we’re directly threatened. Though the best of them will bring to our awareness things we should be doing and move us to action, fiction is a relatively non-threatening medium.

Who does “raw” fiction appeal to? First, it appeals much more to non-believers than Candy Land or even “Clean” Fiction, because it’s not afraid to step into the dark when necessary. And how are Christian artists going to reach out to unbelievers if we’re not willing to meet them where they are? Or even if we’re simply afraid to be real about the darkness of the world? Second, it should appeal to Christians, if not for our own sake (though it should, because it can open our eyes to things we need to see) then for the sake of the unbelievers who could be ministered to by it. Even if a well-established Christian doesn’t need to be evangelized to, they should still be able to appreciate the work of an evangelist, and I think the same principle applies here.

We need to stop writing off “Raw” Fiction and instead recognize that “there is diversity of gifts, but one Spirit” and work to encourage and build up “raw” authors as much as we do “clean” writers. We may have a personal preference for one category or the other, but both are important. Both can bring glory to the Lord and minister to readers. And both should be accepted and built up in Christian writing communities.

I also view this as something of a spectrum; some authors are closer to the “clean” end but still aren’t afraid to be “raw” when necessary, and some “raw” authors have certain things they keep “cleaner” than others. I don’t think there is, or should be, an inherent dichotomy between the two. This is just to lay out the basic ends of the spectrum, as I understand them.

In my next post I want to share some encouragement for Christian writers, and maybe a little bit of a challenge, and I want to follow that with a post on how best to encourage Christian writers and minister to those who are seeking after the same goal as you are: writing well-crafted stories to the glory of God and the benefit of others.

But for now, I want to hear your thoughts. What do you think of the categories I talked about? Which category do you tend to gravitate toward, and why? Do you see both categories encouraged in Christian communities, or just one? This is a topic I’m really passionate about, and I’d love to discuss it with y’all in the comments. :)