Christian Storytellers Manifesto
Calling Christian Fiction to High Standards
Foreword
Where will Christian fiction be in a decade?
Ultimately, that depends upon you. Do you want to craft temporary entertainment, or art that endures?
Many writers focus on what sells right now, and producing marketable fiction is a challenge no matter who you’re trying to reach. But imagine how much more memorable and meaningful your stories would be if you delved deeper than current trends.
Christian authors of the past who dedicated themselves to timeless techniques and themes continue to touch hearts through the centuries. Wouldn’t you love to see more of those kinds of books published in our modern culture? And wouldn’t you love for yours to be one of them?
To pursue that dream, you need a vision that inspires you, holds you accountable, and keeps you on course.
This manifesto clarifies the principles and practices that lead to engaging, faith-grounded stories. It declares a commitment to exceptional rather than average literature. And it unites like-minded writers who will support each other as, together, they strive to raise Christian fiction to new levels.
Are you ready to join the movement? Sign your name below!
The Manifesto
As human beings created in God’s image, enabled to sub-create stories that reflect and reveal God’s story, and enlightened by the Word to see and display this reality, we resolve the following:
– We resolve to be passionate and dedicated in our pursuit of excellent storytelling, knowing that we are reflecting the Creator’s image within us and fulfilling God’s commands to take dominion over the earth, love fellow image-bearers, and steward the resources He has provided.
– We resolve to fearlessly embrace and wisely exercise imagination as a gift from God, trusting Him to use it, not by limiting our creativity but by benevolently directing it.
– We resolve to look for ways to explore meaningful themes while delighting our readers, avoiding futile attempts to depict truth devoid of beauty.
– We resolve to infuse our storytelling with truth, being bold and unafraid of our stance while presenting it with love and tact, recognizing that truth in storytelling is best communicated when shown, not told.
– We resolve to avoid pointing readers toward false sources of hope or unbiblical answers to thematic questions, but to seriously consider how we can naturally and powerfully portray or allude to God’s reality in our stories.
– We resolve to craft characters who remain true to how flawed human beings live and act, affirming that Christian storytellers have the freedom to portray the full human experience in all its beauty and depravity, not to glorify or endorse sin but to accurately reveal the brokenness of the world.
– We resolve to seek to understand readers’ thought processes, emotions, and worldviews so we can connect meaningfully with them in our storytelling, knowing that human nature is repelled by simplistic representations.
– We resolve, in light of God’s ultimate victory in our fallen world, to paint traces of hope in even the darkest situations.
– We resolve to accurately represent beliefs that differ from our own in order to help readers understand people rightly and challenge misconceptions.
– We resolve to strive for excellence and not settle for mediocrity by developing a competent command of grammar and style, understanding that skilled use of language points to the splendor of God’s created order.
– We resolve to let our work shine before others in an effort to reach, encourage, and challenge them.
– We resolve to exhibit Christlikeness by nurturing authentic connections with readers that transcend their potential as customers, building a rapport with fellow authors, and responding to critics with patience and grace.
– We resolve to base our confidence in God and not the opinions of others, to rely on God by praying over our writing, and to bury ourselves in Scripture, for we can only exemplify truth when we are immersed in it ourselves.
– We resolve to be teachable, weighing the advice of others because we always have room to grow, and to be humble, acknowledging that we are not writing the greatest story but merely pointing readers to it.
– We resolve to remember that the purpose of storytelling is to glorify God and that our worth is not founded in our authorship, but in being sons and daughters of the King.
Paul McCusker
Writer of 300 Adventures in Odyssey episodes & 30+ novels
Wayne Thomas Batson
Author: The Door Within
Anna Raats
Chief Operating Officer of Ambassador International
Sharon Hinck
Author: The Restorer, The Restorer’s Son, The Deliverer
Faith Blum
Author: Hymns of the West, Orphans of the West
Paul Regnier
Author: The Emerald Enigma, The Iron Gauntlet
S. D. Grimm
Author: Scarlet Moon, Phoenix Fire, Summoner
Morgan L. Busse
Author:Â Daughter of Light, Tainted, Mark of the Raven
Nicole Sager
Author:Â The Heart of Arcrea, Hebbros, Burdney
Kyle Robert Shultz
Author: The Beast of Talesend, Horseman, The Janus Elixir
Nate Philbrick
Author:Â Broken City of Crows, Where the Woods Grow Wild
K. L. Pierce
Author:Â Two Lives Three Choices
Jaye L. Knight
Author: Resistance, The King’s Scrolls, Samara’s Peril, Exiles
Kim Vandel
Author:Â Into the Fire, Among the Flames
Aleigha Israel
Author:Â A Light for Christ Trilogy
Hannah Heath
Author:Â Colors of Fear, Skies of Dripping Gold
Further Reading
We’ve written several in-depth article series that unpack the practical applications of the manifesto resolutions. Learn how to live out the manifesto by clicking one of the article series below.
(Why download? Resolutions work best when they’re visible. Sign a physical copy and put it somewhere it will inspire you.)
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1,017 | NICHOLAS JOHNSON | Sep 29, 2024 | |
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