Writing Christian Fantasy
How can you make Christian fantasy entertaining? … Have you ever tried asking God?
If you’ve come here with a certain set of rules in mind, you need to abandon them now. If you’ve come here thinking you need to learn something new to make Christian fantasy good, you are in the wrong mindset. There are problems in every genre—unfortunately, the smaller a genre, the larger and more prevalent the problem.
Christian fantasy is not new, its simply unpopular. This is largely because agencies and publishers are convinced that Christian readers are not interested in fantasy—but that’s simply not true. I am a Christian and I love going on adventures, seeing new worlds, and watching magical battles unfold before me. I wish I didn’t have to turn to Game of Thrones for tales of dragons and war, I wish I didn’t have to read The Cruel Prince to explore a kingdom of faeries.
Imagine a world where Christian fantasy was as creative as secular fantasy. That world already exists, its simply a matter of shining some light on it.
Christian fantasy is not bad. Get any negative thoughts about this genre out of your mind right now. I see a lot of Christian authors posting articles on how to write Christian fantasy and the first thing they do is trash their own genre. Yes, there are some terrible Christian books out there—but there are terrible books in every genre. Have you forgotten you are still a child of the Most High God? Your words have power! Stop claiming negative stereotypes over a genre you supposedly love and want to enjoy! What sense does that make???
I had a lot of tips prepared to give you for this article, but I think I’m going to scratch those and be honest with you.
There is no right or wrong way to write good Christian fantasy.
I’m not going to lay out a set of rules based on what I think makes good fantasy because if you are truly writing from a Christian’s perspective then you should be consulting God about it. ALL my stories have come from the Lord. I get on my knees in prayer and ask my Father for something new, refreshing, and creative—and He gives them to me. It’s that simple! I even consult God about what to write for this website.
There are some who are likely wrinkling their nose or shaking their head right now, but I’m not telling you this to convince you of anything. I’m telling you from my own perspective and my own experience. I used to spend months worrying over a story, trying to get the plot just right, flipping through pages of notes, hoping I’m not being corny, pushy, or preachy. Hoping I’m not hiding my faith but also not screaming it at people.
And then I got fed up.
I just want to write stories that Christians readers can enjoy. I don’t care to entertain people who aren’t Christian—they have plenty of entertainment already. Jesus, give me stories YOU want me to write for Your people and I will write them.
Those were the words I prayed to God one day. Some Christian authors want to write stories for Christian and secular audiences and that’s fine—but I do not. My purpose is to entertain Christians alone, not to try to convert anyone, not to interest secular readers, not to impress unsaved audiences. But that’s MY calling. Yours might be different! God might have a story only you can write, and that story may be something for secular readers and Christians too. I don’t know. I’m just telling you my experience.
The best Christian fantasy is something that comes straight from God. The closer you get to Christ, the better your writing will be. You won’t have to worry if you are being too preachy, if your ideas are corny, if you have or have not included enough diversity, culture, adventure, etc. Christian writers need to stop getting so worked up over following the Do’s and Don’ts of Christian fiction. Just trust God, walk with Him, talk to Him about your stories and watch them unfold on the pages.
You want a Christian story about a spear-wielding princess who can tame the wind? Tell God! He’ll give it to you! Want to write something about an underground assassin who can summon shadows to fight by his side? OK! Pray about it!
Christian authors get so focused on writing a story that the world defines as good that we have forgotten to ask Jesus what sort of story HE thinks is good.
Maybe Jesus doesn’t want you to cut out the message of salvation. Maybe He wants you to write characters who are preachy and loud and rambunctious. Maybe He wants you to forget fantasy altogether and write a Christian detective series, or a steampunk novel, or a haunting ghost story.
You are a Christian! You don’t have to follow any rules to write good fiction in ANY genre! You just have to follow and trust God. Hand your writing over to Him, let God take over. I can’t get any clearer on this.
I am not going to tell you not to include magic. I am not going to say stay away from angels vs demons clichés. I won’t tell you that being preachy is cheesy. My only advice to you is to simply ask God. He is the one who gave you this passion; you don’t think He’ll cultivate it for you? Grow it? Nurture it? And cause it to be successful? Jesus loves you and He wants you to be a successful author. So stop writing your books based on what people have decided is the standard of good Christian fiction and write your stories based on what God defines as good Christian fiction. Aren’t sure what that is? Ask Him! And dare to have the patience to wait on an answer (this is a good time to plug my article on Patience, check it out haha).
I have written other articles on Christian fiction, be sure to read my posts on World-Building Christian Fantasy, Redemption Arcs, and a List of Good Christian Fiction. Also check out a few of my short stories in the Archives—Painting Genesis and The Creation are two favorites.
Since we’re talking about Christian fantasy, its pretty appropriate that I point out The Rebel Christian is always on the lookout for excellent Christian fiction. The purpose of this website is to provide an archive of Christian entertainment.
Thank you so much for reading! Be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter using the form at the bottom of this page!
God bless!