by Josiah DeGraaf | Jun 10, 2019 | Articles |
At a conference I attended last summer, a New York Times best-selling Christian author taught a session on why people read fiction. During it, the speaker made an interesting claim: while most Christian authors are passionate about their stories’ messages, readers...
by Josiah DeGraaf | May 17, 2019 | Articles |
A couple weeks ago, I saw the teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. One shot captured me instantly: Rey, Finn, and Poe overlooking the shattered remains of (presumably) the second Death Star. Those few seconds made me more excited for the trilogy’s...
by Josiah DeGraaf | May 6, 2019 | Articles |
Over the years, I’ve repeatedly encountered certain mistakes in Christian fiction, and since I hope to eventually break into the genre, I don’t want to commit the same errors. Thus, I’ve formulated a few guidelines: Don’t depict Christian characters as perfect....
by Josiah DeGraaf | Apr 3, 2019 | News |
One year ago, we founded Story Embers, and we weren’t sure what would happen from there. Over the past 365 days, we… Reached 20,000+ visitors on the site. Got a listing in the Christian Writers Market Guide. Crafted a manifesto that defines the attributes of...
by Josiah DeGraaf | Feb 11, 2019 | Articles |
Have you ever loved a book or TV series as a child, re-watched it as an adult, and realized how terrible it actually is? Several stories fall into this category for me—many of which are Christian and contain heavy-handed messages. Some I refuse to revisit...
by Josiah DeGraaf | Nov 12, 2018 | Articles |
Editor’s note: This article is the final installment in our five-part series on how to portray tricky subjects in Christian fiction. To learn why we did this series and how we’ve approached these topics, read our introductory post. “One day we two were reading...
by Josiah DeGraaf | Oct 15, 2018 | Articles |
“Is he quite safe?” “Safe? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” Mr. Beaver’s statement about Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe upends Lucy’s assumption that danger and goodness are...
by Josiah DeGraaf | Oct 9, 2018 | News |
Christian storytelling is facing a crisis. Though good intentions abound, many Christian stories in the 21st century are cheesy, unrealistic, and artistically bland. Publishers struggle to find a market for Christian stories. And readers are leaving the genre....
