My biggest pet peeve when it comes to Christian fiction is that too many Christian writers see storytelling as a means to an end\u2014preaching a message\u2014rather than an end in itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I encounter such writing, I tend to go off on a rant comparing two of the most well known Christian storytellers\u2014C. S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In terms of fiction, C.S. Lewis is perhaps best known for The Chronicles of Narnia, <\/i>a series of seven allegorical fantasy novels about a group of children who discover a secret doorway to the magical land of Narnia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oddly enough, I read the first book in the series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe<\/i>, when I was 12 years old, and I had no idea that the author was a Christian or that he had carefully designed the story as an allegory for certain elements of the Christian faith. Only as an adult did I realize an entire cottage industry had grown up around teasing out the various theological and literary \u201cEaster eggs\u201d Lewis had hidden throughout the text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While I found the first novel quite satisfying\u2014and continue to enjoy it to this day\u2014I can\u2019t say I felt the same way about the rest of the novels in the series. And to be honest, the more I learned about Lewis\u2019s efforts to work Christian ideas and symbols into the story, the less keen I was to explore it, because it made me feel like the story was nothing but a sham\u2014a piece of propaganda whose ultimate purpose was not to reveal anything meaningful or beautiful, merely to indoctrinate me with the author\u2019s worldview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, we have J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s masterwork The Lord of the Rings, <\/i>and it\u2019s prequel of sorts, The Hobbit. <\/i>While a veritable industry has also grown up around unearthing Christian ideas and symbolism in Tolkien\u2019s writings, such elements are not the novels\u2019 raison d\u2019etre. <\/i>As Tolkien, himself, said, The Lord of the Rings<\/i> is a \u201cfundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.\u201d But he also warned readers not to look for any hidden meaning or message in his books. Unlike Lewis, Tolkien \u201ccordially disliked allegory in all its manifestations. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think many confuse \u2018applicability\u2019 with \u2018allegory\u2019; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purpose of the author.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therein lies the rub. Not even Tolkien realized the fundamentally religious nature of his work until he began to revise it. His only concern up to that point was to try his hand at telling a really good story. That\u2019s it. He had already developed the languages, history and cultures of Middle Earth. Now he wanted to see if he could craft an effective narrative within that milieu. Only when he had finished his initial draft of the tale did he consciously insert or, more likely, develop its inherently religious elements. But even then, these elements were a natural outworking of the storytelling process rather than its reason for being, <\/i>which was really more of a personal challenge that Tolkien had set for himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, it\u2019s virtually impossible to determine definitively which of these two men was the best storyteller, because such assessments are highly subjective. However, if you compare the number of copies sold\u2014over 150 million copies of the three LOTR <\/i>books vs. over 100 million copies of the seven Chronicles<\/i> books\u2014the figures pretty much speak for themselves. Clearly, Tolkien\u2019s work (not to mention the films adapted from his books) resonates with far more people than Lewis\u2019s writings. Furthermore, Tolkien\u2019s work is just as appealing to non-Christians as it is to Christians, because they feel less like they are on the receiving end of a thinly veiled sermon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I realize not every Christian will agree with my assessment, but you should at least consider the principle I\u2019m arguing. If you\u2019re a person of faith, and you feel compelled to write fiction, great. Challenge yourself, like Tolkien, to see if you can tell a really good story. Chances are, when you\u2019ve completed your first draft, you\u2019re going to find evidence of your faith all over the page, which is great. Only then should you go back and develop those elements. Why? Because more likely than not, rather than something imposed on the story\u2014or the reader\u2014those elements will be a natural, organic part of your tale that will enhance your storytelling rather than inhibiting it by blatantly preaching a message.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My biggest pet peeve when it comes to Christian fiction is that too many Christian writers see storytelling as a means to an end\u2014preaching a message\u2014rather than an end in itself. When I encounter such writing, I tend to go off on a rant comparing two of the most well known Christian storytellers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianeditorsnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianeditorsnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianeditorsnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianeditorsnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianeditorsnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christianeditorsnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2270,"href":"https:\/\/christianeditorsnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions\/2270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianeditorsnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianeditorsnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianeditorsnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianeditorsnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}