About Story Embers
Over the span of eight years, we helped Christian storytellers craft stories that are raw, real, and resonant, with resources you can still use today.
What We Believe
Writing Is a Craft
Five-star stories don’t happen overnight. You don’t need get-rich-quick schemes shoved in your face. You need training and support that sets you up for the long haul.
Storytelling Must Be Genuine
Novels should be about more than a faith-based message. Storytellers honor God by imitating the way He tells stories, not by bland sermonizing.
Quality Matters
You don’t need beginner’s advice you’ve read on a dozen other blogs. In everything we do, we seek to provide a unique perspective on melding robust faith with exceptional craft.
Monthly Readers
Manifesto Signers
Articles Published
Why a Site for Christian Writers?
A world burdened by brokenness, nihilism, and suffering needs novels written from a Christian perspective. Not the ones collecting dust because their pages are saturated with blunt piety. We’re talking about stories that honestly depict all facets of reality—the beauty as well as the brokenness.
As a child of the greatest storyteller to ever live, not only do you need to know how to write excellently but also faithfully. If you try to follow in His footsteps without guidance, you’re bound to stumble. Yet few places combine lessons in craft with explorations of theology and personal integrity.
Story Embers helps to bridge that gap through our four-step Growth Strategy:
- Our quiz helps you identify the skill that’s preventing you from thriving and matches you with resources to strengthen it.
- Our manifesto shows you the attributes of masterful Christian storytelling so you can orient yourself on that goal.
- Our article archive offers you opportunities to learn new techniques and receive encouragement.
- Our courses provide more in-depth instruction on ideas and methods you can apply to your work-in-progress.
Here are three of our most popular articles as examples of the outside-the-box advice you can expect from us:
A (Brief) History of Story Embers
The Birth of the Site
In February 2018, ten novelists, two poets, and one editor shared a dream that seemed to be dying. We’d formed a bond through a website for writers that we all loved volunteering at, but it was heading toward an indefinite hiatus. So we discussed the possibility of founding a new company, and within two stressful yet rewarding months, we turned an ending into a beginning.
After brainstorming (and arguing over) a couple dozen name options, we settled on Story Embers because it symbolizes how every story starts with a glimmer of an idea that can be fanned into flame. Moreover, it hinted at our desire to spark a movement within the Christian writing community.
The version of Story Embers that launched in April 2018 consisted of only a blog, podcast, quiz, and forum. We had limited funds and a lot of energy. As our readership steadily expanded, a burning question drove us forward: How could we help Christian storytellers aim for high standards?
The Manifesto
Most of our staff members were scattered across the Midwest, with a few in Canada and the South. However, every summer we met in person for team building and project planning. At the first retreat we held in June 2018, a seemingly simple exercise became a pivotal moment.
It started with this prompt: What does it mean to be a Christian storyteller? Over the course of several long conversations (and gallons of caffeine), we jotted down a series of resolutions describing the qualities we believed Christian fiction needed to display to make a lasting impact. When we showed our rough draft to professionals and amateurs alike, it struck a chord.
Four months of revisions later, we released the Christian Storytellers Manifesto that defined the site’s vision.
Pursuing the Manifesto
Now that our vision for Christian storytelling had crystallized, we devoted our time to developing initiatives that aligned with it. Over the next seven years, we released hundreds of articles, created a library of downloadable resources, and ran multi-part series that covered niche topics in depth.
In the Spring of 2020, we also began running annual virtual summits where we handpicked best-selling authors, professional editors, and experienced writing teachers to teach various sessions, all from a Christian perspective. While we no longer host these summits, we did turn a couple of them into courses that you can still purchase and go through today.
A New Adventure
After eight years of running the site, many of our team members entered new seasons of life—marriage, growing families, book contracts, and other commitments that required their full attention. And in December 2025, we made the difficult decision to stop releasing new content and to turn the site into an archive for future Christian storytellers.
Now, the next stage of the journey is up to you. With the resources we created, we’d love to still help you pursue noble heights as you hone your craft and discover how to become a memorable Christian storyteller.
What will you do with the gifts God has given you?