For decades, Christian fiction has suffered from the stigma that many of the genre’s books are unrealistic.

What’s worse is that the stigma exists for understandable reasons. There are hundreds of Christian books on the shelves that paint unrealistic versions of Christianity, where hardships never happen, characters are goody-two-shoes and never mess up, and all the villains are unbelievers.

If you’re a Christian, you know as well as I do that those circumstances do not represent what truly living as a Christian is like. So, how on earth can we combat the stigma and write Christian books that are realistic, spiritually sound, and entertaining?

It can be quite a feat to tackle, my friend, but as long as we let God lead and trust Him to guide us throughout the process, we can revolutionize the Christian fiction genre for the better. Here’s what I’ve learned about writing Christian fiction for over half a decade.

Discuss Tough Topics and Show How Characters Can be Saved and Cleansed Through Jesus

The top lesson that I’ve learned from reading and writing Christian fiction is that the best Christian fiction books I’ve read have never shied away from discussing tough topics from a Biblical standpoint.

Some Christian readers believe that tough topics should not be included in Christian fiction because the topics are considered “negative content”, but I dare pose this question: What if a non-Christian reads this book featuring tough subjects that they have experienced in their own life, reads about how the characters dealt with the topic from a Biblical standpoint, and then decides to give their heart to Jesus? Is the “negative content” so negative then?

Romans 8:28 states, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” I feel that this verse applies to writing Christian fiction as well. No matter what we go through in our lives, we as Christians know that everything will eventually bring glory to God, right? What if we had that same attitude about fictional situations as well, that perceived “negative content” can be used to glorify God?

Now, I’m 100% not saying that Christian books need to feature tough topics and present what God’s Word tells us is sin as acceptable. If Christian fiction is written to have an impact on the kingdom of God, we can’t call what He says is wrong right in our eyes. We don’t have the authority to change God’s standards of sin, and we are misleading others if we do that.

Instead, what I’m proposing is that, to make Christian fiction more relatable to the general population, we shouldn’t sugarcoat–or completely overlook–the existence of sin in our books. Show how sin negatively impacts the characters’ lives. Show how Jesus works in their lives to cleanse them of those sins. And show that life with Christ offers freedom from the burden of sin.

To me, that’s much more realistic than portraying a fictional world where sin doesn’t exist at all. It’s a real and present danger, and we as Christian writers need to present it as such and point readers to our Redeemer.

Write Christian Characters Who Go Through Situations That Test Their Faith

It’s completely nerve-wracking to me when I read a Christian book and the main character is a Christian whose entire life is sunshine and rainbows.

First of all, that makes for boring storytelling. Characters need both internal and external challenges in a story to show character growth.

Second, I’ve never met a Christian whose life is full of sunshine and rainbows, who never slips up or gets angry or upset. So, why on earth are Christians often portrayed like this in books? Like I stated in the section above, presenting Christianity like this to readers, especially any non-believers who pick up the book, is misleading.

I mean, consider Job. He went through the worst of the worst. And you know what? Job is one of my favorite books in the Bible, because it demonstrates how his faith was tested, and how he chose to maintain it, even after all he went through. He was allowed to grieve. He was allowed to cry. He was allowed to have human emotions. But, at the end of the book, his faith never extinguished.

Writing effective Christian fiction comes from demonstrating how real and raw Christians’ lives really are. Christians experience depression. Christians experience anxiety. Christians experience cancer. Christians go through family trauma. Our lives aren’t sparkly little realms of constant peace and prosperity. We constantly face situations we need to rely on God to get us through. Show that in fiction! Show readers how God can change our hearts, heal our wounds, and pull us from the pits of despair.

Don’t Make Every Antagonist Be a Non-Believer

Another thing that I believe turns a lot of people off from Christian fiction is that for the most part, the antagonists or villains are described as non-believers or atheists.

Growing up in public school, some of the nicest kids I knew had beliefs that did not align with Christianity. I also know some pretty hateful people who identify as Christians. Sometimes people identify as Christians but don’t act like Christ. Instead, they say they believe in God, think they have punched their ticket into Heaven, and still live worldly lives.

What I propose is that we reveal those toxic traits in Christian fiction. Sometimes, the “Christian” can be the villain.

For example, in my book The Crush, there is a subplot about Emery and her family experiencing church hurt due to favoritism and cliques that formed in their church. Emery was bullied by members of her youth group for years. Stuff like this happens every day in real churches. My own family experienced church hurt around the time I graduated high school. Covering these things in Christian fiction will help young believers know that just because one church or one Christian hurt you, it doesn’t mean that all churches or Christians are toxic. Show readers how Jesus can help characters heal from these hurtful situations.

Don’t Force the Gospel Into Every Conversation, Thought, or Action

Lastly, Christian fiction gets labeled “overly preachy” a lot, even from some Christian readers. Why is that?

Well, as I’ve come to realize, a lot of it is overly preachy, because God, Jesus, or the gospel is forced into every paragraph and every conversation. It isn’t presented naturally, and that turns a lot of readers off.

Think about your own life. Is every sentence that comes out of your mouth, or every thought that pops into your head, Christ-centered? I would suspect not.

All of us slip up and fall to Satan’s traps. Sometimes someone gets on our nerves and we think “ugh, they’re so annoying” or we get angry and say something we don’t mean in the heat of the moment. Not everything we say, think, or do is 100% Christ-centered, so we don’t need to portray Christian lives that way in books. Again, it’s misleading. It could even give Christians an inferiority complex, thinking they don’t measure up to this Super Christian who is 100% dialed in to God 24/7.

Instead, write dialogue, thoughts, and actions from the perspective that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Yes, Christian characters should strive to honor God in all they do, but they’re still going to have their shortcomings. Don’t neglect to add the shortcomings. To make the characters read as real as possible, allow them to act like normal people.

Talk to Me, Arrowheads!

If you’re a reader, what suggestions do you have for making Christian fiction more realistic?

If you’re a writer of Christian fiction, what techniques do you use to make your books realistic portrayals of Christianity?

Aim high, stay strong, and always hit your mark.

-Allyson 😀