fb
Ethics
5 Guidelines to Consider When Portraying Mental Illness

5 Guidelines to Consider When Portraying Mental Illness

by | | 1 Comment

Despite being the most prevalent health condition in the United States, mental illness causes a devastating sense of isolation in the victim. That’s why those readers need characters they can empathize with—to remind them that they’re not alone and inspire them to push through dark moments. However, misrepresenting mental illness can be far more harmful than avoiding the topic altogether, as Netflix’s adaptation of 13 Reasons Why demonstrates. The month after the show’s premiere, youth suicides increased by 28.9 percent.

read more
How to Avoid Unnecessarily Offending Readers

How to Avoid Unnecessarily Offending Readers

by | | 2 Comments

When writers work hard and pursue publication, at some point their words will be on a shelf or webpage for the public to consume. But the downside of our Internet age is that readers can instantaneously share negative opinions with thousands of viewers. We’ve all encountered posts about an author who got “cancelled” because of something their book included or excluded, and that can fill us with anxiety about how our own stories will be received.

read more
How Should Christian Authors Portray Bittersweet Endings?

How Should Christian Authors Portray Bittersweet Endings?

by | | 12 Comments

All of us are experts at sad stories. We’ve read novels that schooled us in death scenes, betrayals, fractured relationships, and harrowing pasts. These examples taught us that tormenting the protagonist is easy: just thwart his deepest longings. Then we can type “the end” and congratulate ourselves for accurately reflecting our fallen world. But the real sad story is how untrained we are in the art of weaving meaning into tragedy.

read more
How Should Christian Authors Portray Trials of Faith?

How Should Christian Authors Portray Trials of Faith?

by | | 6 Comments

Since the rebellion in the garden of Eden, our souls have longed for wrongs to be righted and life to be whole. Happy stories aren’t heaven on earth because they ignore our brokenness. One of the most challenging aspects of the human condition is when we fall into hardship, where we begin to question who we are and why God has seemingly forsaken us.

read more
How Should Christian Authors Portray Suffering?

How Should Christian Authors Portray Suffering?

by | | 6 Comments

Books were history’s first long-range torture devices, subjecting readers to vivid renditions of holocaust, suicide, doubt, and betrayal. As the worlds and characters shatter, so do our hearts. But can we write about such situations without creating emotional scars? Should we even try?

read more
Life Isn’t a Hallmark Film, and Christian Authors Shouldn’t Pretend It Is

Life Isn’t a Hallmark Film, and Christian Authors Shouldn’t Pretend It Is

by | | 6 Comments

Stories that focus on the rosy sides of reality are rarely compelling or memorable. They’re predictable—and indistinguishable from other patented plot lines. Just like Hallmark films. Although lighter fiction has a place in today’s market, I’d argue that we need more stories tackling the gritty sides of reality from a Christian perspective. We explored this two years ago with our Tricky Subjects series. And this year we’re addressing it again from a new angle based on the eleventh resolution of our Christian Storytellers Manifesto.

read more
How to Showcase Light in a Story’s Darkest Moment

How to Showcase Light in a Story’s Darkest Moment

by | | 1 Comment

A non-writer friend once told me that I seem to enjoy making my characters suffer. I disagree. Sure, portraying pain can be an exciting challenge, but I don’t relish putting my characters through trials. If their hearts are breaking, so is mine. Despite this, I realize that characters, like people, grow through adversity, and oftentimes they experience the greatest change when their circumstances can’t get any worse. In storytelling terminology, this hopeless moment is known as the low point, and it happens shortly before the climax.

read more
How to Delicately Yet Meaningfully Write a Suicide Scene

How to Delicately Yet Meaningfully Write a Suicide Scene

by | | 7 Comments

Last August, a young man in my church killed himself. He came from a large family, and our community loved him. I decided to chronicle the impact of his death, because a Christian suicide is a troubling situation. If the gospel is a message of hope in the midst of ultimate suffering, what happens when a Christian commits the ultimate hopeless act?

read more

Article Categories

Pin It on Pinterest